1. Why did Socrates die?
According to American journalist Si Tong, Socrates was executed mainly because of the contradiction between Socrates and Athenian democracy. This contradiction is embodied in three concepts:
(1) On the nature of human social groups: "free city" or "a group of people"? [2]
For the Greeks, a free city means an alliance of free people, in which people manage themselves and citizens take turns to rule and be ruled. In fact, in the democracy of Athens, the main government positions are elected, and many other positions are produced by lottery, so that all citizens have equal rights to participate in governing themselves. All citizens have the right to vote and speak in the parliament that makes laws, and have the right to participate in jury courts that enforce and interpret these laws.
However, Socrates is neither an oligarch nor a Democrat, and he keeps a certain distance between them. In Socrates' view, it is not ruled by a few people, nor by many people, but by "the one who knows". In the eyes of his contemporaries, this must be tantamount to restoring the most absolute form of kingship. Socrates mentioned the basic principle of the government in the Record of Words and Actions, that is, "giving orders is the business of the ruler, and obeying orders is the business of the ruled." Of course, Socrates distinguished between "kingship" and "tyranny". He said, "It is kingship to rule the people according to the laws of the country with the consent of the people, but it is tyranny to rule the unwilling subjects according to the will of the rulers without legal control." [3]
The Greeks learned a lesson from the shepherd's metaphor. Sheep can't trust shepherds, and human groups can't entrust themselves to the absolute will of someone, no matter how good his goal is. Obviously, this caused the ideological difference between Socrates and ancient Greece.
(2) What is virtue?
Socrates said that virtue is knowledge. This concept seems to be a philosophical issue, but it also has profound political implications. If virtue is knowledge, it can be taught like other forms of knowledge. If it can be taught, it can not be limited to a few people-aristocratic landlord families, but can be learned by many people-the emerging middle class of craftsmen and businessmen. If most people have virtues, then they are qualified to participate in the governance of the city and cannot be rejected.
However, Socrates believes that real knowledge can only be obtained through absolute definition. If you can't give an absolute definition of a thing, you don't know what it is. Then Socrates proved that this kind of knowledge can't be obtained, even he can't get it. [4] In this way, since virtue is knowledge and knowledge is unavailable, then ordinary people, that is, most people, have no virtue or knowledge necessary for autonomy. Through this labyrinthine metaphysical route, Socrates returned to his fundamental proposition: human social groups are a group of "sheep" and cannot be trusted to rule themselves.
As can be seen from the above concepts, the common concept of the Greeks is to give dignity to ordinary people, while Socrates' view is to belittle dignity. This is also an irreconcilable difference.
(3) What is a happy life?
Socrates believes that the main responsibility of human beings is to "take care of their own souls", so the result of their direct action is to withdraw from urban political life, because this is necessary to "perfect" the soul. At that time, Athenians and Greeks generally believed that citizens were educated and perfected by fully participating in urban life and affairs. [6] This is as Aristotle said: "Man is the best animal when he is perfect, but if he is isolated from law and justice, he is the worst animal ... if he has no virtue, he is the most evil and barbaric creature." [7] However, Socrates and his disciples all advocated that people must withdraw from such political life. Naturally, this concept itself is a progress in the history of thought. "Western philosophy began with him, from outward exploration to inward exploration, from natural philosophy to ethical philosophy and political philosophy. This is a deepening of people's understanding and a major development in the history of philosophical thought. " [8]