Jai SuryaDeva Jai GangaDevi Jai Bhagiratha With Blessings of Pavadapurusha, Jnanayogi, Sri Immadi Siddarameswara Swamiji Jay Bajrang Jay Vadar/Bhovi/ BoyarOd Who Said we dont have Heros in our community SOCRATES Worlds Greatest Philosopher, teacher of Plato who is in turn to Aristotle whose student was none other than Alexander The Great SOCRATES Socrates (469–399 BCE) is famous for his dialectical method of questioning people. Born and raised in Athens, he was from a poor family, his father a stone mason and his mother a midwife. Socrates married and fathered three sons with his wife, a much younger and most difficult woman. It is not known by what method he supported himself and his family, although tradition has it that he followed in his father’s footsteps as a stone mason. In any event, he did not have much money, and spent his time dialoging with the young and old on moral issues—often in a very confrontational way. In market places, on the streets, at people’s homes: wherever people would listen, he’d engage them in discussion. His personal appearance was not particularly inviting; he dressed like a bum, had a snubbed-nose, cloudy-eyes, and a large mouth. Socrates lived in Athens during a critical time in its history. While the city was at the height of its cultural glory, it was besieged in a war lasting almost 30 years with the neighboring Greek city-state of Sparta. At its lowest point, 150,000 Athenean citizens encamped behind the city walls, fending off attacks. At different times Socrates himself served in the Athenian army. Ultimately, Athens suffered a humiliating defeat, and in an effort to stabilize society, there was no room for a social troublemaker like Socrates who challenged Athenian traditions. He was charged with the crime of atheism and corrupting the youth, and when alienating himself further during his trial, he was found guilty and executed. In spite of Socrates’ historic fame, this is pretty much all that we know for certain about him—and even some of this might be folklore. Part of the problem is that he wrote nothing himself, and what we do know of his life and teaching comes largely from the writings of Plato, and to a lesser extent those of another student of his named Xenophon. In both cases these authors composed their works in a literary style that mixed historical facts about Socrates with fiction. This is most evident with Plato who composed his philosophical works in dialogue form, modeled after Greek plays of the time; in these he honors Socrates by making him the lead character. In these dialogues Socrates moves among a strange cast of politicians, aristocrats, and Sophists—most also based on historical figures. On the one hand, Plato deserves the highest praise for being the first to write in the form of a philosophical dialogue, thereby heightening the drama of a potentially tedious subject. On the other hand, this makes it almost impossible to know where the Socrates of history stops, and the Socrates of Plato’s imagination begins. Many scholars believe that Plato’s earlier dialogues reveal a bit more of the true Socrates than his later ones. Thus, in our study of Socrates here we draw out features of Socrates’ teaching from a couple of these early sources, most notably Plato’s Apology, which purports to be an account of the defense that Socrates gave at his trial.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 09:20:35 +0000
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