The life of Socrates

Socrates was born in an ordinary citizen family in Athens. Socrates' language is simple, his appearance is ordinary, his nose is flat, his lips are thick, his eyes are protruding, his body is clumsy and short, and his thoughts are sacred. He asked people some questions in the streets of Athens, for example, what is piety? What is democracy? What is virtue? What is courage? What is truth? What is your job? What knowledge and skills do you have? Are you a politician? If so, what do you know about governance? Are you a teacher? How to conquer your ignorance before educating the ignorant? Wait a minute. For the purpose of asking this question, Socrates said, "My mother is a midwife, and I want to follow in her footsteps. I am a spiritual midwife, helping others to generate their own thoughts. " He inherited his father's footsteps in his early years, engaged in carving stone statues, and later studied philosophy. In Athens, he discussed philosophical issues with many wise men at that time, mainly about ethics, education and politics. He was regarded as the cleverest man at that time. As a citizen, he joined the army three times and showed tenacity and courage in the war. In addition, he served as a jury officer in the Athens citizens' assembly. After the restoration of slave-owner democracy in Athens, Socrates was accused and sentenced to death on charges of flouting traditional religion, introducing new gods, corrupting youth and opposing democracy. He refused the advice of friends and students asking him to beg for mercy and go out to escape, and committed suicide by drinking poisoned wine. [1] In the history of European culture, he has always been regarded as a saint who devoted himself to the pursuit of truth, almost in the same position as Confucius in the history of China. For many years, he was regarded as an anti-democratic philosopher who defended the interests of reactionary slave owners and nobles. Recently, some people have put forward different views on this. As a teenager, Socrates studied handicrafts with his father, became familiar with Homer's epic and other famous poets, and became a self-taught scholar. He made a living by imparting knowledge. In his thirties, he became a social morality teacher who didn't get paid or run a library. Many children from rich families and poor families often gather around him to learn from him and ask him for advice. Socrates often said, "I only know that I know nothing." He spent most of his life outdoors. He likes to talk with people in various fields, such as war, politics, friendship, art, ethics and so on, in public places such as markets, sports fields and streets. He fought in the war three times, served as a heavy infantry, and helped injured soldiers in battle more than once. Around the age of 40, he became a household name in Athens. Socrates lived a hard life all his life. No matter whether it is cold or hot, he wears an ordinary thin coat, often without shoes, and he doesn't pay attention to eating. But he didn't seem to notice it, just buried himself in his studies. Socrates' theory is mysterious. He believes that the existence, development and destruction of all things in the world are arranged by God, who is the master of the world. He opposed the study of nature as blasphemy. He advocates that people know how to be human and live a moral life. His philosophy mainly studies and discusses ethical issues. Socrates had a large number of fanatical admirers and fierce opponents before and after his death. He left no works in his life, but his influence was enormous. Philosophers often regard him as a watershed in the history of the development of ancient Greek philosophy, and call his previous philosophy pre-Socrates philosophy. As a great philosopher, Socrates had a great influence on later western philosophy. Socrates himself has never written any works. His behavior and theory are mainly passed down through the records in the works of his students Plato and Xenophon. About Socrates' life and theory, because there are various records and statements since ancient times, it has always been the most discussed issue in academic circles. [Edit this paragraph] It is not a simple matter to study Socrates' philosophical belief: because he didn't leave any works of his own at all, we can only explore from Plato's and Xenophon's records, but their records are often contradictory, so it has always been a controversial topic about which record is closer to the truth. Some people think that Socrates actually has no specific beliefs, but only interrogates each belief; His long theory published in the Republic is actually Plato's idea. Some people claim that he doesn't actually have his own beliefs or theories, but there are many arguments about this, because it is quite difficult to distinguish the concepts of Plato and Socrates from the records, and it is even more difficult to explain their concepts. Therefore, it is not easy to find Socrates' thoughts from Plato and Xenophon's records-it must be pointed out that these thoughts are probably not put forward by Socrates himself, but closer to the views of these writers. The evidence from the dialogue shows that Socrates had only two mentors: the grammarian Prodikus and the priestess Diotima, who taught Socrates about love. Some dialogues also show that Socrates was influenced by thinkers such as parmenides and Anaxagoras at that time, and history books usually regard them as Socrates' mentors. John bull Nate, a classical historian, believes that Socrates' main mentor is the scholar of Anaxagoras School, Akilaus, whose record is actually Socrates' own theory. Havelock believes that the relationship between Socrates and Anaxagoras School proves the difference between Socrates and Plato. Before Socrates, Greek philosophy mainly studied the origin of the universe and what the world was made of, and was later called "natural philosophy". Socrates thinks that re-studying these problems has no practical significance for saving the country. Out of concern for the fate of the country and people, he turned to study human beings themselves, that is, to study human ethical issues, such as what is justice and what is injustice; What is courage and what is cowardice; What is honesty and what is hypocrisy; What is wisdom and how knowledge is acquired; What is a country, what qualities a person should have to govern a country well, how to cultivate talents for governing the country and so on. Later generations called Socrates' philosophy "ethical philosophy". He opened up a new field of philosophical research and made philosophy "return from heaven to earth", which is of great significance in the history of philosophy. Socrates has no works, and his two disciples Xenophon and Plato have both written voluminous accounts for him, but their accounts are quite different. At present, most of the knowledge about Socrates' thoughts comes from his disciple Plato's dialogue, which is based on Socrates' dialogue with others, but it is usually difficult for us to distinguish which thoughts belong to Socrates and which belong to Plato. Socrates' philosophical thought is mainly reflected in the following aspects: the turn of thought began with the wise, and ancient Greek philosophy turned from paying attention to nature itself to paying attention to social ethics and people. But they only stay in the perceptual stage and can only draw relativistic conclusions. It was not until Socrates that this situation was fundamentally changed. Socrates called for a "turn of thought" to turn philosophy from studying nature to studying self, which is often said later to bring philosophy back from heaven to earth. He believes that the pursuit of natural truth is endless; I feel that the world is constantly changing, so the knowledge gained is also uncertain. Socrates wants to pursue an unchangeable, definite and eternal truth, which cannot be sought from the outside of nature, but only from himself and himself. Since Socrates, self and nature have been clearly distinguished; Man is no longer just a part of nature, but another unique entity different from nature. The theory of immortality of soul Socrates' theory of soul further clarifies the distinction between spirit and matter. Philosophers before Socrates have long said that the soul is immortal, and the opposition between idealism and materialism has sprouted. However, philosophers before him still had vague views on the soul, and some even regarded the soul as the finest substance, so the boundary between idealism and materialism was not clear. Until Socrates clearly regarded the soul as a spiritual entity that is essentially different from matter. In Socrates' view, the emergence and disappearance of things is just the aggregation and dispersion of something. In this way, he clearly opposed spirit and matter and became the founder of idealistic philosophy in the history of western philosophy. According to Aristotle's records, Socrates gave up the study of nature, wanted to seek the universal truth on ethical issues and began to seek the definition of things. He opposed the relativism of wise men and thought that there could be various opinions, but there was only one truth. "Viewpoint" can change with everyone and other conditions, but "truth" is eternal. In Plato's early dialogues, almost all the topics discussed were how to define ethics. Socrates pursues the understanding of "beauty itself" and "justice itself". This is a universal definition of beauty and justice, real knowledge, Plato's "idea of beauty" and "idea of justice". This is the original form of "idealism" in the history of western philosophy. Socrates further pointed out that the causal series of nature is endless, and if philosophy only seeks this causal series, it is impossible to know the ultimate reason of things. He believes that the ultimate cause of things is "goodness" and goodness is the purpose of things. He replaced the study of causality with teleology, which opened the way for later idealism philosophy. Midwifery and Dialectics of Exposing Contradictions Socrates believes that all knowledge comes from problems. The more you strive for progress, the more problems you have, and the greater your progress. Socrates admitted that he had no knowledge, and he wanted to teach others knowledge. He solved this contradiction in this way: this knowledge is not what he instilled in people, but what people already have; People have a "fetus" in their hearts, but they don't know it yet. Socrates is like a "midwife", helping others to produce knowledge. Socrates' midwifery is concentrated in the form of "cross-examination". He often uses cross-examination to expose the contradictions in various propositions and theories put forward by the other party, so as to shake the foundation of the other party's argument and point out the other party's ignorance. In the cross-examination, Socrates himself did not give a positive answer, because he admitted his ignorance. This way is generally called "Socrates' satire". Socrates' method is developed from the logical reasoning of Elijah School and Zhi Nuo's reduction to absurdity in Elijah. In the negative form of Socrates' satire, there is a positive result of dialectical thinking that exposes contradictions. Sue compared herself to a midwife, and used the method of cocoon reeling from the conversation to let the other side gradually understand their ignorance, discover their mistakes and establish a correct view of knowledge. This kind of conversation also has several characteristics: first, the conversation finds out the other party's thoughts by asking and answering questions, so that they can discover the truth themselves. Only in conversation, Sue focuses on asking questions, and he doesn't answer each other's questions easily. He only asked the other party to answer his questions. He asked questions with humility, and the other party elicited information about other questions in his answer, until finally, due to constant questioning, the youth admitted his ignorance. In the process of asking questions, Sue gave students the highest wisdom, which is the famous Socratic irony. Socrates' method is the earliest form of dialectics in the history of western philosophy. From the development of philosophical thought, Socrates put forward the distinction between spiritual entity and material entity, which made the opposition between idealism and materialism break away from the simple state of early philosophy and enter a more mature stage; He raised the maxim-like ethical thought of early Greek philosophers to the height of philosophy; He inspires thoughts and exposes contradictions by way of logical debate, and goes deep into the essence of things by way of dialectical thinking. All these are helpful to the development of philosophical thinking. However, as the first systematic idealist philosopher in the history of western philosophy, he began to exaggerate the subject and rationality, exaggerated abstract thinking, and replaced religious myths with philosophical idealism myths. [Edit this paragraph] Educational Thought Socrates has been engaged in educational work all his life, and has rich educational practical experience and his own educational theory. But he didn't start his own school. Where does he teach? How did he teach it? Squares, temples, streets, shops, workshops, gyms, etc. Both are places where he teaches. Young people, old people, rich people, poor people, farmers, artisans, nobles and civilians are all his teaching objects. Whoever asks for advice, he will teach enthusiastically. At that time, other teachers-wise men-charged tuition fees. They regarded being a teacher as a means of making money, while Socrates taught people not to charge tuition fees. He taught and educated people for the benefit of the polis and was a compulsory teacher, so Socrates was poor all his life. He thinks that education is very important for a person's growth. In his view, no matter whether talented people are smart or dull, if they are determined to achieve commendable achievements, they must study hard and practice hard. Socrates' educational purpose is to cultivate talents for governing the country. After Pericles's death, Athens became extremely democratic and anarchic without good leaders, and even national leaders were elected by drawing lots or lots. Socrates was very sad about it. He believes that the talents who govern the country must be well educated, and advocates that the talents who govern the country should be trained through education. He devoted his whole life to cultivating talents for governing the country. Regarding the content of education, he advocates cultivating people's virtue first, and teaching people to learn to be human and become virtuous people. Secondly, we should teach people to learn extensive and practical knowledge. He believes that rulers must have extensive knowledge. He said that in all things, those who are respected and praised are the most knowledgeable people, while those who are condemned and despised are the most ignorant people. Finally, he advocated teaching people to exercise. He believes that a healthy body is very important for physical activities and thinking activities, whether in peacetime or in wartime. And a healthy body is not born, only through exercise can people be strong. In terms of teaching methods, Socrates formed his own unique teaching method through long-term teaching practice, which he called "Socrates method" and "midwifery". His mother is a midwife, which is a metaphor for his teaching methods. His mother's midwifery is midwifery, and his teaching principle of midwifery is to deliver babies for ideas and to guide people to produce correct ideas. Socrates' method is always in the form of questions and answers between teachers and students, so it is also called "question and answer method". When Socrates taught students to acquire a certain concept, he did not tell them directly, but first asked the students questions and asked them to answer. If a student answers wrong, he doesn't correct it directly, but asks other questions to guide them to think, so as to draw a correct conclusion step by step. The question-and-answer teaching method advocated by Socrates has a great influence on later generations, and it is still an important teaching method until today.