Socrates

One of the first to take philosophy from discussion of the cosmos to the discussion of man

>>531937
Thanks cousin.

It's my belief that Socrates believed hardly in any form of empirical evidence, and could play devils advocate masterfully against any idea presented to him. Believing in not much at all, he dedicated his life to virtue ethics as the only true source of happiness.

>>531957
It's important to remember he wasn't trying to disprove the ideas in a sophist way, but he was so committed to the truth he couldn't simply accept lousy explanations.

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>>531922
Administrator did that: >>>/lit/ area specially for questions like yours.

Socrates was made up by Plato

>>531963
Did Socrates believe in the existence of objective truth?

>>531964
First time I've been redirected to another board in a non sarcastic way, I'll check it out.

>>531966
So what was Aristophanes doing when he wrote about Socrates in 423BC, when Plato was just a child?

>>531982
take a read through this lad http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates/

>>531990
Will do!

>>531922
Hard to say, and the scholarship on the subject only makes it harder to see with all of contesting over the question of the "historical Socrates" and "Plato's mouthpiece" stuff.

The usual stance still largely accepted is that the Socrates portrayed in Aristophanes, Plato, and Xenophon (and maybe the Socrates discussed by Aristotle) are all different, but that's based on a relatively recent supposition (dating from the 1800s) that Plato's dialogues show his "development" as a thinker. The debates over this hypothesis are so numerous, lengthy, and obscure, that a good summary of them would still be lacking and unsatisfying here.

I think if those three (or four) authors above show anything unified about Socrates, it seems to be his interest in logos (speech) as the primary means of understanding everything, and that there's *some* notion of ideality running through his concerns.

I can say this much: Aristophanes, Plato, and Xenophon all agree that Socrates has an interest in natural philosophy that was dangerous to his well being (in the Clouds, he's shown denying the existence of Zeus as a natural cause, and appealing to observation of natural phenomena), and this is confirmed by Plato in the Phaedo (wherein Socrates discusses his intellectual biography, saying he started out as a student of natural philosophy, found mechanistic cause insufficient as an explanation of human things, and made his "second sailing" by inspecting speech; the Republic goes into this a little bit as well), and by Xenophon in the Oeconomicus (wherein he slyly studies natural phenomena through less direct means; the Memorabilia confirms this as well, though it's easy to be misled by Xenophon's tacit writing style, which seems to be part of his own intention in helping to offer an apology for Socrates--he says that he never spoke about it "in this way" and openly among people, which doesn't deny that he did it in a different and slyer way).

(cont.)

>>532173
Aristophanes seems to disagree, but Plato and Xenophon both seem to marvel at his moderation (sophrosune, lit. "sound-mindedness"; Socrates name contains the first part of that word, and his name means something like "sound-power").

Probably the most characteristic element of him, in both Plato and Xenophon, and alluded to by >>531937 (a quote from Cicero, I think?), is that political philosophy is what's fundamental, though the meaning of that, and how it is that political philosophy is necessary for an understanding of the cosmic Whole is obscure.

>>531922
>What were the teachings of this man?

Dialectical reasoning. Socrates was the first man to emply "elenchus", a form of discussion and questioning where you try to find out what a person thinks about a specific topic, and how they think about that specific topic.

I think he learned it from the Sophists to be honest, but unlike the Sophists, he was more interested in the content of the discussion rather than the discussion itself.

>>531922
Taught us how to detect and call out bullshit

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>>531922
he is the secret chief of our philosophical tradition as we don't have books from him
he has no dark side, thanks to Plato
he died for our sins

>>531986
Probably jacking off to his own philosophical fanfic as he wrote it

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Because western society became nihilistic and corrupt, Socratism had it's day and needs to die.

Let's get back some Dionysian.

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You guys are retarded.

Socrates did not ever exist. He was a fictitious character made up by Plato to demonstrate his form of dialectic.

He was made up for the 10th books of Plato's republic and was later used to mirror the reformation of Judaism.

Socrates = Jesus. Where the fuck do you think he came from?

He was a noble lie (story with meaning) and he was a philosopher.

>>532532
Here's your (You)

>>532532
And I suppose you are sitting on mountains of proof for such a claim?

>>531922
Socrates is a true representation of the gg and ga who was the god of christianity. While he told the truth about time, he also lied about it, to fit a persona, that he happened to be.

>>532610
Also, Socrates said everything that Jesus went on to say.

>>532173
>>532186
Good posts, thanks anon.

>>532486
I believe his dark side became Dionysus.

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>>532573

Socrates is never referenced in history before Plato's republic. It is a ficticious story to convince people of the time against sophistry. His death is a representation of the allegory of the cave. If he was to leave athens, he would be seen as a heretic and his work would be undone.

Socrates was meant to be a puppet for plato to show the importance of proper dialectic as opposed to sophistry (which was the teaching of the time)

Where does jesus coming back from the cave come from? Literally to leave the world they live in worshipping statues (imitations of imitations, phato had an issue with mimesis) and go to heaven (where one can percieve the forms) then come back three days later from the cave and tell all of those who are unenlightened and show them how to see the forms (good, god, whatever you prefer) and transcend their blindness.

Jesus died for our sins, Socrates died for our sins way before he did. There is a reason why greek philosophy has influenced western culture so much, and how christianity is held closely.

Plus, jesus didnt exist, he was a character that was used as a noble lie to change the power structure of roman society to become more equitable and just. Oh shit, thats what socrates did

>>532503
meme philosopher ahoy

>>533115
>Nietzsche
>not superior to all the hacks of history
Plen

>>533221
M E M E S
E
M
E
S

>>533076
>Socrates is never referenced in history before Plato's republic.

>Aristophanes' Clouds, Aeschines of Sphettus's Alcibaides, Xenophon's corpus

good b8 tho. really good feint on yr part.