Socrates

Socrates had a great influence on the young men of Athens, such as Plato and Euclid. He would stroll along the streets and in the market place, talking to anyone who approached him. However the older citizens distrusted him, especially when Socrates showed their ideas to be false or illogical. They felt that in stressing the intellectual rights of the individual he was undermining the stability of the democratic state.

Socrates was not a corrupt man but because of his work a charge of impiety and corrupting the morals of the young was brought against him. He was tried before a court of 50 judges and, being found guilty by the majority, he was condemned to die by drinking poison. The poison was hemlock.

The death of Socrates only served to strengthen the ideas that he had been attempting to instil in the Athenian people. He did not establish a school of philosophy and did not write down any of his ideas or methods but we know of them through the writings of his most famous pupil, Plato. Soon after Socrates' death Plato wrote the Apology of Socrates, which contains an account of the defense made by Socrates at his trial. His teaching, or discussion as he called it, concentrated on ethical questions, discussing how men should live and behave.

He believed in the absolute value of knowledge and truth. If a man did wrong he did so through ignorance not through malice. Socrates insisted that Man determines his own life by using his intellectual ability and, since ignorance causes unhappiness, no man would be deliberately unhappy.

Socrates discussed these issues by asking seemingly simple questions until an acceptable answer was gained. Errors of judgement usually happened because the ideas being compared were too vague and thus the importance of a clear and accurate definition became paramount. This method of philosophical investigation is called the Socratic method and is absolutely basic in any discussion or argument today.