By many considered the patron of philosophy, Socrates of Athens lived the apogee of the century of Pericles (century. IV a. C.) and the consolidation of Greek democracy. The ancient model of education of the Greeks, based on the idea of the beautiful and good warrior, gives way to the demands of teaching how to speak well. The Greek citizen needed to speak, express, debate and convince in order to assert his interests in the assembly.
From a humble family (his father was a carpenter-sculptor and his mother a midwife), Socrates lived in poverty resigning himself to what was necessary for his survival and completely abstaining from superfluities. Interesting to note how his lifestyle is identical to his philosophical position.
Socrates wrote nothing and the accounts we have of him are the works of his disciples and defamers. But without a doubt, it was Plato, perhaps his greatest pupil, who portrayed him best. It is said of him that he roamed the streets and squares (now) of Athens questioning his fellow citizens about the values and ideals they admitted when they opined about the world. Of unparalleled warmth and pleasant conversation, he was passionate about speeches, so wherever there was an argument, he was there to listen and learn.
However, when questioning his interlocutors about what they were saying, Socrates produced a certain discomfort for refuting them, showing that they were not dealing accurately with the concepts they believed to meet. Many said they were pious, virtuous, courageous, wise and just, but when questioned they did nothing more than that to give particular examples and not the definition of what is Piety, Virtue, Courage, Wisdom and Justice. Socrates showed his fellow citizens that when they say, for example, that something is beautiful, they should say or know what Beauty is and not keep enumerating how many beautiful things there are. He sought, then, a universal definition of the concept that escaped particular opinions and was the foundation of knowledge of these objects.
But the philosophical question about the essence of beings cost Socrates dearly. Some, in fact, followed him, but many, the powerful and pseudo-wise, saw in him a problem, for he denounced the corruption of customs and the possibility of error, lies and illusion through the speeches. And this for two reasons.
The first is that education through ancient myths no longer satisfied current democratic aspirations. The second reason is that new educators used the logos (speech, word, reason) not as a means of attaining knowledge and truth, but as an instrument of persuasion (persuasion) and power. For this reason, Socrates was sentenced to death.
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In his defense, Socrates, who did not accept the accusations, shows that what he did, as a citizen of the freest state that existed, was to follow the advice that the Delphic oracle had prescribed for him. This one said that Socrates was the wisest man in Greece. With that in mind, Socrates, who believed himself to be ignorant and to know nothing, sought, in his conversations, the understanding of the oracle. He realized that the awareness of being ignorant of the topics covered in his dialogues made him in fact a sage already that, in general, the interlocutor claimed to know something that, deep down, he did not know, while Socrates, did not claim to know nothing. This shocked even more his listeners who expected to obtain from him answers to the aporias at which the debate came. Hence its famous maxim "I only know that I know nothing”. This means two things: that people follow opinions, tradition, customs without reflecting on the essence of the values by which they act. And, also, that the recognition of one's ignorance is the starting point for getting out of a world of illusions and, from there, seeking true knowledge. But how to know the essence of things and values? Hence his other maxim, inspired by the portico of the god Apollo: “know yourself”, that is, seek to know what is the man who is the provider of all values. Wisdom, truth is in the inner essence of man and not outside of him.
Therefore, man should search within himself, in his soul or conscience, what he is and what he must do, since it is his reason that he knows and judges correctly about beings. Therefore, it is said that Socrates' thought, turned to man, is the first type of humanism in the history of thought.
By João Francisco P. Cabral
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU
Master's student in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Philosophy - Brazil School
