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 from all walks of life in markets, sports fields, streets and other public places about various issues, such as war, politics, friendship, art, ethics and so on. 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. Regardless of the cold weather, he wears an ordinary thin coat, often wears no shoes and 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 Xeno Finney. 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.
Philosophical thinking
Socrates' philosophy is mainly embodied in the following aspects:
Change of thought
Starting from the wise, 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.
Immortality of soul
Socrates' theory of soul further clarifies the difference 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.
Seek a universal definition of things
Aristotle believes that Socrates gave up the study of nature, wanted to seek universal truth on ethical issues, and began to seek a definition for 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 Contradiction
Socrates believes that all knowledge comes from problems. The harder you make 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.
Ethical theory
Socrates established an ethical thought system that knowledge is morality, and its center is to explore the purpose and kindness of life. He emphasized that people should know the universal laws of social life and "know themselves", and thought that all kinds of beneficial or harmful purposes and moral norms that people obtained in real life were relative. Only by exploring the concept of universal and absolute goodness and mastering the true knowledge of this concept can we realize the highest purpose of life and the highest virtue of human beings. Socrates believes that a person must have moral knowledge if he wants to have morality, and all immoral behaviors are the result of ignorance. Only when people get rid of the temptation of material desires and the limitation of acquired experience and acquire conceptual knowledge can they have virtues such as wisdom, courage, temperance and justice. He believes that morality can only be arranged by the mind and God, and moral education is to make people know the mind and God and obey God's instructions. This ethical thought of asceticism and mysticism was later inherited and developed by antisthenes, forming a cynic school characterized by emphasizing asceticism; The hedonism thought contained in Socrates' ethical thought was inherited and developed by Aristib, and the Guler School advocating hedonism was formed. Plato completely inherited Socrates' ethical thought system and further systematized and theorized it. Socrates emphasized the importance of knowledge and thought that ethics should be decided by reason. This rationalism has played a positive role in the development of western philosophy.
anecdote
1, debate
Socrates often argues with others. In the debate, he made the other side correct and give up the original wrong ideas by asking and answering questions, and helped people produce new ideas. He abstracted the universal things from the individual and took four steps: satire, midwifery, induction and definition. "Sarcasm" is to make the other party contradict itself and admit ignorance of this issue through constant questioning; "Midwifery" is to help the other party abandon fallacies and find the right and universal things, that is, to help the truth come out; "Induction" is to find out * * * from individual things, and to find general laws through the analysis and comparison of individual things; "Definition" refers to the classification of a single concept into a general concept.
Socrates never gave students ready-made answers, but made students unconsciously accept the influence of his thoughts by asking questions and refuting them. Please look at an interesting example of him answering questions with students.
Student: Socrates, what is good?
Socrates: Stealing, cheating and selling people as slaves are good deeds or evil deeds?
Student: It's evil.
Socrates: Is it evil to cheat the enemy? Is it evil to sell captured enemies as slaves?
Student: This is a good thing. But I'm talking about friends, not enemies. Socrates: As you said, stealing is evil for friends. However, if a friend wants to commit suicide, you steal the tools he is going to use to commit suicide. Is this evil? Student: This is a good thing.
Socrates: You said it was evil to cheat friends, but in the war, the commander-in-chief of the army told the soldiers that reinforcements were coming to boost morale. But in fact, there are no reinforcements. Is this deception evil?
Student: This is a good thing.
This teaching method has its advantages. It can inspire people's thoughts and make people actively analyze and think about problems. He used dialectical methods to prove that truth is concrete and relative, which can be transformed into his own negation under certain conditions. This epistemology is of great significance in the history of European thought.
Manage state affairs
Socrates advocates the theory of expert governance. He believes that all walks of life and even state power should be managed by trained and knowledgeable people, and opposes the democracy implemented by the lottery election law. He said: managers are not those who hold heavy power and bully the weak, not those who are elected by the people, but those who know how to manage. For example, ships should be driven by people who are familiar with sailing; When spinning wool, women should take care of men, because men are good at it and men don't understand it. He also said that the best people are those who are competent for their own work. Good farmers are good farmers; A good doctor is proficient in medical skills; People who are proficient in politics are excellent politicians.
kill
As a citizen of Athens, it is recorded that Socrates was finally sentenced to death by the Athens court, because he did not believe in God and corrupted the thoughts of the young people in Athens. Although he had the opportunity to flee to Athens, Socrates chose to drink the poisonous violet juice and die, because he thought that fleeing would only further weaken the authority of Athenian law, and at the same time worried that Athens would not have a good tutor to educate the people after fleeing.
One night in June 399 BC, a 70-year-old man was about to be executed in Athens prison. I saw him in rags and barefoot, but his face was very calm. After seeing off his wife and family, he chatted with some friends, Kan Kan, who seemed to have forgotten the upcoming execution. It was not until the jailer brought in a cup of poisonous juice that he stopped talking, picked up the cup and gulped it down. After that, he lay down, smiled and said to his friend who came to say goodbye, he ate the chicken from his neighbor's house and hasn't paid him yet. Please give it back to him. With that, the old man closed his eyes peacefully and fell asleep. This old man is the great philosopher Socrates.
2. Friends of Youth
Socrates likes to associate with young people and hopes that young people can get a good education. He believes that after receiving education, a person will not only be happy, manage his own family affairs well, but also make others and the polis happy. He often gives different education to young people according to different situations. Socrates told those who despise learning because of superior genetic conditions that the more talented they are, the more they should be educated. This is like a fierce and unruly thoroughbred horse. If trained from an early age, it will become the strongest and bravest swift horse. Otherwise, it will always be difficult to control. If a person has a low education level, the stronger his will, the easier it is to commit crimes. Socrates taught those who boast of their wealth that they don't need education, and wealth will satisfy their wishes and bring them happiness. Only a fool would think so. He pointed out that happiness lies not in wealth, but in knowledge and contribution to mankind. Only in this way can people gain their respect.
It is said that Plato's cousin Ge Laokong, when he was less than 20 years old, longed to be the leader of the city-state government and gave a speech to many people with great honor and intelligence. It stands to reason that it is not a bad thing for a young man to have such an ideal. Unfortunately, Ge Laokong lacks knowledge and talent in this field. Everyone in the family knows that he is ambitious, daydreaming. I'm afraid he rushed into the forum rashly and was dragged down by others, leaving a laughing stock. But no one can persuade him not to do so. Socrates knew about it, and in view of his relationship with Plato, he decided to enlighten the young man.
One day, Socrates saw Ge Laokong coming face to face and shouted at a distance. "Hey, Ge Laokong, I heard that you are determined to be the leader of our polis. Is this true? " In order to make Ge Laokong happy to listen to his own words, Socrates deliberately pretended to be very enthusiastic and chose the topic that Ge Laokong was most interested in.
"yes. I really think so, Socrates. " Ge Laokong replied.
"That's great. If there is any good thing in the world, it is another good thing. Because, if your goal can be achieved, you will get what you want; You will be able to help your friends; Make a name for your family and win glory for your motherland; When your fame spreads all over the city, it will spread all over Greece and even abroad. At that time, no matter where you go, you will be admired by people. "
Sure enough, Ge Laokong was very happy and stopped to talk to Socrates.
Seeing Glaucon stay, Socrates went on to say, "Glaucon, it seems obvious that if you want people's respect, you must contribute to the polis."
"Just like you said." Ge Laokong replied.
So Socrates asked Ge Laokong to talk about his plans to make contributions. When Ge Laokong was thinking, Socrates asked him if he wanted to make the polis rich first, and the way to get rich was to increase taxes. Ge Laokong agreed. Socrates asked again, where does the tax come from? What's the total? What is the supplementary source of emptiness? Ge Laokong replied that he had not considered these issues. Subsequently, Socrates asked his views on issues that must be considered in governing the country, such as spending reduction, national defense forces, national defense strategies, and food supply. Ge Laokong either didn't consider the answer, or he couldn't say it clearly, or he didn't have to take care of it himself.
Seeing Ge Laokong's predicament, Socrates further enlightened him and said: "The state and the family are harmonious. The country has a large population, and some problems are really hard to say, but if you can help a family, you can start helping more people. Why don't you try to improve your uncle's welfare? "
Ge Laokong said, "As long as my uncle will listen to my advice, I will definitely help them."
Socrates smiled; "Why? You can't even convince your uncle. Do you still want all Athenians, including your uncle, to listen to your advice? Be careful, young man. You want to be famous, but don't do the opposite! Look at the reality, in all things, those who are respected and praised are the most knowledgeable people. On the contrary, they are the most ignorant people. If you really want to be famous and praised in the polis, you should try your best to get the widest knowledge about what you want to do. Because only in this way can you surpass others; When dealing with affairs, you will easily get what you expect. "
Ge Laokong, who is proud and determined to be a leader, was persuaded.
Socrates and his house
Once upon a time, there was a very clever man in Greece named Socrates. Young people from all over the country come to him to study. He said many happy things. The way he tells stories is so vivid that no one who listens is bored.
One summer, he built himself a house The house is so small that his neighbors are confused. How can this house satisfy him?
"You are such a big shot, but you built your house into such a small box. Is there any reason? "
"It really doesn't make any sense." He said, "But this place is small, but if I can make it accommodate real friends, I will consider myself very happy."
Brazil also has a football star ~ ~