Profiles

Socrates is arguably the most influential philosopher of all time. Born in Athens who lived c. 470-399BC, Socrates was the son of a stonemason of the hoplite middle class, and fought bravely in the army during the first Peloponnesian War. Like Christ and the Buddha he wrote nothing down, so we must rely on others conflicting accounts about his life, but the bare facts about his life are clear.

Socrates changed the focus of philosophy from the speculation about the physical world to ethics - that is the right conduct of life. In doing so, he became the archetypical philosopher in his disdain for worldly riches, his intellectual curiosity and his bravery.

Socrates intellectual quest began when the Delphic oracle declared that there no one wiser than him. He claimed himself ignorant and became determined to find equally wise men by use of his Socratic method - a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue based on asking and answering questions to draw out ideas and underlying prepositions.

Socrates profoundly influenced his pupil Plato. Socrates’ central conclusions - that happiness depends solely on living a moral life, and that moral virtue is the same as knowledge and therefore teachable - became the springboard  for Plato’s elaborate theory of of reality and system of ethics. Socrate’s equation of virtue with knowledge led to the daring conclusion that evil is ignorance and hence unintentional.

Socrates didn’t seek public office. In 399BC he was accused of not recognising the city’s official Gods and recognising new ones, as well as corrupting the young. An Athenian jury found him guilty by a small majority. Instead of going into exile he didn’t resist a death sentence by drinking hemlock. Claiming he could not abandon his post, he stayed, discoursing on the immortality of the soul until his end.

Plato was born in 428 BC in Athens and was one of the most influential thinkers in world history. Originally named Aristocles, he came from a noble family and received an excellent education. He was nicknamed Plato which means ‘broad’ either due to his physical characteristics his spectacular range of knowledge.

While young Plato joined the circle of the dynamic Athenian philosopher Socrates, whose ethical and political enquiries proved to be be the single greatest influence in Plato’s thought. In most of his writings, written after Socrates death, he immortalised his mentor by making him the central character.

In 387 BC Plato found the world’s very first institution of higher learning, the Academy, which helped shape the course of philosophy for the next 1000 years. There he taught many young pupils his philosophical ideas, among them the famous Aristotle.

Among Plato’s teachings was his theory of Forms which provided a revolutionary concept of reality - a concept that he tied to the corresponding theories of ethics and human knowledge, in a way that seems to explain the universe.

Plato’s writings include the Euthyphro, Apology, Phaedo, Symposium and the Republic. His work covered a broad spectrum of ideas: mathematics, science and nature, morals and political theory. His work on the use of reason to develop a more fair and just society that is focused on the equality of individuals established the foundation for modern democracy. 

Plato also served as a court philosopher in residence in Syracuse, tutoring Dionysus II who became king at a young age. Plato grew up entirely during the Peloponnesian War, and like other youths at the time he likely did military service in the cavalry, perhaps on patrol in the countryside around the Athens. Plato died of natural causes at the age of 80 years in 348BC.