Socrates Biography
Socrates (460-399 BC), was born in Athens and although he did not leave anything written, what we know about him and his way of thinking, we know thanks to the writings of some of his disciples, among whom Plato stands out. Fue considered uno de mayores pensadores de la Antigua Grecia, diskípulo de maisros cínicos. Se le with oce by his or her diálogos threadosóficos, that Representan el instart de la threadosofed occidentity. Eastuvo compromiseetgone with la búsqueda de la seedad y la moral, a betweenvand de un mofodo lógico Dialéctico that él mismo somearrolló. Finalmente was condened a muerte by el gobereNo. de Athas. He was accused of not believing in gods and corrupting young people.
Socrates' ideas
Socrates sought to know the truth, for this is the goal of philosophy and of the true philosopher. In his search for truth and knowledge, he used a strategy called maieutics . This consists of asking questions to discard false knowledge presented as true. In other words, it involves dialogue to doubt everything until one becomes aware of one's own ignorance; this moment is known as Socratic irony. In this way, the truth, which according to the Athenian philosopher resides within us, will eventually emerge and we will be able to know it. The phrase that summarizes this inner knowledge is "know thyself."
One of the philosopher's best-known sentences is “I only know that I know nothing.” He means that he is not wise who believes he knows, but rather he who recognizes his ignorance. The more I become aware of everything that can be known, the more I become aware of everything that remains to be known. Regarding morality, Socrates can say that he was a moral universalist, that is, he considered that there was a unique, immutable and invariable idea of the good; valid for all places and times. What is good will always be good
Thus, if someone acts wrongly, it is because they are ignorant of the good, for if they knew it, they would act accordingly. Just as we can know all things within ourselves, we can also know the good within ourselves. Socrates speaks of an inner spirit called a daimon that guides us, showing us what is right. Socrates' moral thought can be called moral universalism or ethical intellectualism. Socrates was condemned to death, accused of corrupting the youth and of not believing in the gods of the polis. Although he could have escaped, he chose to accept the sentence because he believed in the universal duty to obey the laws. Socrates considered himself the gadfly of Athens because he insisted on "stinging" people so they would become aware of their ignorance.
The sophists
They were a social and cultural phenomenon that emerged in Greece in the 5th century BC. They dedicated themselves to teaching and charged for their teachings. Among the disciplines they taught was fundamentally rhetoric, which is the art of persuading with words. There are many who want to prosper in politics or win in court and to do so they hire sophists to teach them how to defend themselves and convince through speech. For those who use rhetoric, the truth is not the most important thing, but convincing the interlocutor.
Regarding the morality of the sophists we will find moral relativism and skepticism. Moral relativism defends that the idea of good is not universal, but is based on social conventions that vary from place to place or time. In this way, what is considered good for some may not be so for others. In the same way, what is considered good today may not be considered so tomorrow. Therefore, the idea of good is something relative. A relativist sophist will be Protagoras, who states that since moral laws are created by social convention, they can be altered or modified. On the other hand, we find among the sophists the skeptics, one of the most prominent will be Gorgias. This states that there is nothing that can be known and if something could be known it could not be communicated.
Socrates and the sophists will enter into a confrontation, since Socrates reproaches them that they are not interested in the truth, but only in profit. They will also clash in moral conceptions.
SOPHISTS- MORAL RELATIVISM (Variable and relative moral norms).
SOCRATES- MORAL UNIVERSALISM (Fixed and universal moral norms).
¿Qué Influance tuvo Sócrfire en el pensamfeelo present?
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¿Y with Aristóteles?
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“I spent a long time thinking and finally entered the house of one of our fellow citizens who we all We consider him wise, convinced that this was the best place to clarify the prediction, since I thought: "This one is wiser than me and you said that I was wiser than everyone." Don't demand that I say name; Suffice it to say that he was a renowned politician. And when you examine it, see what experience: I had the first impression that he seemed much wiser than others and that, above all, heHe believed it, but in reality it wasn't. I tried to make him see that he did not possess the wisdom that he presumed to have. With this, I not only earned his displeasure, but also that of his friends. And I left, telling me for my right mind: neither of us know anything, but I am the wiser, because I, At least, I recognize it. So I think that in this small point, precisely, I am very much wiser than he: that what I do not know, I do not presume to know either. And from there I went to greet another of the which enjoyed even greater fame than the previous one and I came to the same conclusion. And I also I disappointed him and his acquaintances. But I didn't give up. I interviewed one after another, aware of that it would only bring me new enmities, but I felt obliged to get to the bottom of it so as not to leaving the god's message unclear. He had to knock on all the doors of those who were called wise men in order to decipher the unknowns of the oracle. And I vote for the dog! —and I swear because I am beginning to bring the truth to light—that this was the only conclusion: those who were reputed or considered themselves the wisest, it was those I found most lacking in wisdom, while others who were considered inferior, surpassed them.”
Xenophon. Apology of Socrates
