Athenian philosopher (c. 470 to 399 BCE) who left no writings of his own; his life and thought survive only through the accounts of others, chiefly the dialogues of his student Plato and the memoirs of Xenophon, supplemented by the hostile caricature in Aristophanes' comedy The Clouds. Central to the founding of the examined-life tradition and to the elenctic, question-and-answer method that bears his name. Tried and executed by the Athenian polis in 399 BCE on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth.
Facts
Death YearCorroborated in detail by Plato's Apology, Crito and Phaedo, and by Xenophon; the year itself is not in dispute even where the surrounding portrait is. TraditionFounder of the examined-life tradition and the Socratic (elenctic) method underlying Western ethics and epistemology 1 Disputed
Birth YearAncient sources place his birth in 470 or 469 BCE; no contemporary record survives, and the date is reconstructed from later testimony about his age at death in 399 BCE and his recorded military service. Classification
NationalityCity-State of Athens (Historical) 1 Connections
Associated With
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
In Branch
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Influenced
Plato was Socrates' student and cast him as the central speaker of nearly all his dialogues; this closes the gap of Plato carrying no teacher on record.
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Education Atlas: Socrates, the same subject.
- Also in Education Atlas: Socratic Method, is where this subject originated.
Sources
1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Informationentry: Socrates, sec. 1 Life and sources
When Socrates was born in 469, a Persian invasion had been decisively repulsed at Plataea, and the Delian League that would grow into the Athenian empire had already been formed.
- In Category: Philosophers
- In Branch: Ethics
- In Branch: Epistemology
- Associated With: Ethics, entry: Socrates
View the Source Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Description
The Plato-derived portrait recorded here, an ironic, philosophically radical Socrates pressing the elenctic method toward first principles, is itself one side of a genuine, unresolved scholarly disagreement known as the Socratic problem. Xenophon's Memorabilia and Apology present a more practical, morally conventional Socrates concerned with everyday virtue and civic duty, closer to the mainstream Athenian gentleman than to Plato's philosopher-hero. Since Socrates left no writings of his own, there is no independent standard by which to adjudicate between the two accounts, and modern scholarship remains divided on how much of Plato's Socrates is historical reconstruction rather than literary invention built on a historical figure.
A dissenting reading, from Xenophon (the Socratic problem)Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Information
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