“That’s the strange thing about writing, which makes it truly analogous to painting. The painter’s products stand before us as though they were alive: but if you question them, they maintain a most majestic silence. It is the same with written words: they seem to talk to you as though they were intelligent, but if you ask them anything about what they say, from a desire to be instructed, they go on telling you the same thing for ever.”
– Socrates, as recorded in Plato’s “Phaedrus”
Before listening to this audiobook, I had read all the primary sources about the trial of Socrates in the original Greek. Thus, I already knew much about that part of his life before listening to this audiobook. I had also gleaned some information about other parts of his life from some other sources. But I still learned a few things from this audiobook. In particular, I enjoyed their presentation of his life story, and what we know about it from the writings of that time.
The standard way of studying a philosopher’s ideas is usually to read their written works. But Socrates left no written works of his own. Like the mortal Jesus, his words were instead recorded by others who knew him. For the mortal Jesus, the eyewitnesses are primarily Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. For Socrates, the surviving eyewitness accounts include Aristophanes, Xenophon, and Plato – the latter of whom was a great philosopher in his own right. (More on that later on in this post.)
Socrates
But the account of Aristophanes is not very reliable, to say the least. He lampooned Socrates in a vicious caricature, in a play entitled “The Clouds.” This ranged from references to Socrates farting, to more serious charges like dishonesty and sophistry. Some believe that these attacks contributed to the Athenian government’s decision to have Socrates executed. Regardless of whether or not this part is true, most scholars would consider Aristophanes’ eyewitness accounts of Socrates to be unreliable.
Aristophanes
The accounts of Xenophon have much greater historical value. He gives an account of a famous drinking-party in his work the “Symposium,” discussing how philosophical issues were talked about late into the night. This is not to be confused with Plato’s work “Symposium,” which covers the same drinking-party. He also provides a secondhand account of the trial of Socrates, which was informed by his interviews with eyewitnesses. Scholars take some parts of Xenophon’s account with a grain of salt, but nonetheless believe that there is much of value in his alternative perspective.
Xenophon
But the best account for the life of Socrates is that of his student Plato. Among other things, Plato’s writings include the only known eyewitness account of the trial of Socrates. Many of Plato’s dialogues record the discussions and arguments that Socrates had engaged in, some of which would make him many enemies among the Athenian establishment. But the later dialogues of Plato are not believed to be historical records, in the same way that his earlier dialogues were. Although they feature a character named “Socrates” who determines the direction of the dialogues, this is probably not a depiction of the historical Socrates. Specifically, works like “The Republic” probably represent the ideas of Plato, rather than those of Socrates.
Plato
Socrates was ironically against the writing of philosophy, since the writings of the dead do not interact with their readers in the way that live conversations do. (See the quote at the beginning of this post, for the details of his reasoning.) But we can well be glad that others wrote as much about him as they did, since they are an invaluable historical record of one of history’s most remarkable individuals. This is a great introduction to his life and ideas, which makes use of these invaluable records from the few eyewitness accounts.
Socrates
“Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend [Socrates]; concerning whom I may truly say, that of all the men of his time whom I have known, he was the wisest and justest and best.”
– Plato’s “Phaedo,” as spoken by the character of Phaedo (after whom the dialogue is named)
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of the audiobook series
The World of Philosophy
Socrates
Stoics and EpicureansAvicenna and Medieval Muslim Philosophy
Others to be covered later
See also the audiobook series
The Giants of Philosophy
Others to be covered later
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