SOCRATES

Socrates (469?-399 B.C.) was tried by the Athenians on charges of "impiety" and "corrupting the young of Athens", but it seems clear that his real offense was opposition to, or even lack of sufficient support for, the leaders of the newly restored democratic regime. Socrates had associated with the aristrocratic families that overthrew the first democracy, and his disciple Plato, was a member of one of the powerful families that ruled Athens for a while before the restoration. Since an amnesty had been declared, it was legally impossible for the rulers to prosecute Socrates for political offenses, so they trumped up the religious accusations and enlisted a religious fanatic, Meletus, against the 70 year old philosopher.

Socrates could have fled from Athens before the trial, conviction in which could carry a death sentence. Even after his conviction, he could have proposed banishment as an alternative to death, and the Athenian jury of 501 citizens would almost certainly have accepted such a compromise. But Socrates was convinced that he had done Athens no harm by his philosophical questioning. Indeed, he insisted that he had, by his activities, been a benefactor of his native city, and so, as an alternative to the death penalty demanded by the prosecution, he proposed that Athens pension him off as a respected citizen. The Athenian rulers, trapped by Socrates' uncompromising integrity, were forced to carry out the sentence of death, though they would probably have been all too happy to allow their prisoner to escape before his execution. One month after the trial, following a long night of philosophical discussion with his friends, Socrates drank the poison hemlock prepared for him by his jailers and died.

The Socratic Method

A technique used of probing questions, developed by Socrates, for the purpose of prodding, pushing, and provoking unreflective persons into realizing their lack of rational understanding of their own principles of thought and action, so that they can set out on the path to philosophical wisdom. As used by Socrates, this method was a powerful weapon for deflating inflated egos.

"First Audience." First, or superficial, audience thinks Socrates is humbly confessing inferiority to him. Second audience (Socrates' follwers), realizing Socrates is making fun of first audience. Third audience (the reader) laughs at first audience, smiles at second. Third audience realizes both that Socrates is making fun of first audience and that Socrates' own followers don't realize the true meaning of his statement.