socrates Flashcards
agora
He practiced his craft in a city of 150,000 people; within the confines of Athens’ “Agora”
(marketplace), where he engaged everyone and anyone, from shopkeepers to generals
and aristocrats. He believed that everyone is capable of living a thoughtful life, no matter
their formal, academic training.
why was socrates sentanced to death and what was his death
His activity as a philosopher was perceived by some as a threat to
Athenian democracy; he was sentenced to death for ‘impiety’ and the ‘corruption of youth’ in the
city.
–hemlock
how was socrates a gadfly
He approached an understanding of the truth through questions. He acted as a “gadfly”
(an irritant with few inhibitions) who happily challenged the lazy and timid assumptions of
most people. What we think, he thought, must be scrutinized. We ought to pursue
“intelligent non-conformity.”
phaedo
written by plato on the death of socrates
-Socrates: A man who has spent his life in philosophy is probably right to be of good cheer in the face of death
The one aim of the philosopher is to practice for dying and death
What is death? The separation of the soul from the body
The ‘true philosopher’ despises the pleasures of food and drink, the
pleasures of sex, distinguished clothes and shoes and bodily ornaments
Instead, the philosopher is concerned with the soul, and freeing it from
association with the body; the body is an obstacle in the search for
knowledge
The body tends to deceive the soul; only through reasoning does the
soul grasp the truth
The soul reasons best when the senses do not trouble it in its “search
for reality”
The body keeps us busy in a thousand ways because of its need for
nurture (consider: disease, wants, desires, fears, illusions – all of which
make us too busy to practice philosophy)
We can only have pure knowledge (‘wisdom’) when we escape from
the body
Complete freedom and separation of the soul from the body is death
Men who train for death fear death the least
socrates was a
midwife
