![]() If we believe in what Plato says in his early dialogues (which are the main references for the analysis of Socrates’s thought), the relation between virtue and a good life, or at least between virtue and a life of success in some specific activity like war, navigation, or carpentry, wasn’t only suggested to Socrates by elements of his culture, but by his own independent reflection. The lives of Achilles and Odysseus, respectively in the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, are examples of that. Every reader of the early platonic dialogues knows that Socrates spends a lot of time discussing the virtues of courage or piety, for example.Īllegory of Virtue triumphing over Vice by Filippo Pedrini (1763–1856), via Sotheby’s.Īlready during Socrates’s lifetime, human virtue ( areté, in ancient Greek) was associated with success, even though in the pre-philosophical traditions of ancient Greece, virtue wasn’t considered something completely under human control, and it was common to think that the favor of the gods could not be dismissed. That is, he asks his interlocutors and himself: how to live well? However, many other times he addresses other questions, only secondary to this matter. In many of his conversations, reconstructed especially in the works of Plato and Xenophon (430 – 354 B.C.E.), we encounter Socrates repeatedly putting the question of the good life in the center of his discussions. This consciousness of his own ignorance propelled him to test the word of the Oracle. When the Pythia at the Oracle of Delphi said that no one was wiser than Socrates, it only motivated him to engage even more in philosophical debate. Socrates is considered a paragon of wisdom to this day, even though he didn’t consider himself wise. Socratic Wisdom: The Importance of Knowledge for a Good Life Socrates, herm from a Greek original, second half of the 4th century bce in the Capitoline Museums, Rome. After that, we will see what Plato and Aristotle thought about the concept of wisdom. We will see, in very broad lines, what Socrates thought about the good life and the place wisdom takes in it. It was also because of this general idea that the schools of Epicureanism and Stoicism developed their theories: they were variations of the socratic idea (so much so that the Stoics recognized Socrates as their direct predecessor).īut if we want to better understand this story, we need to start from the beginning. This line of thought will be articulated in different ways by the main successors of Socrates: first by Plato and then by Plato’s best student, Aristotle. With Socrates, a new way of thinking about human happiness emerged, in a moment of apparent philosophical stagnation – a way of thinking that will be rationally argued for, not merely represented through art: the idea that human knowledge (or wisdom) is essential to the well-lived human life.įrom that moment, human action rightly conducted by reason would be considered as the key to happiness – at least amongst philosophers. Please check your inbox to activate your subscription Thank you! Parmenides, detail from The School of Athens by Raphael, 1509-11, via Musei Vaticani. It is possible that this was known by Socrates, who was first attracted to the kind of naturalistic philosophy of his predecessors. These types of tensions also resembled the conflict between mythologies in the Greek colonies that incited the first philosophers to inquire about nature. As suggested above, there was already some tension amongst the pre-philosophical ideals regarding what a good life is supposed to be. This tension echoed socio-political events that occurred in ancient Greek societies.Īt the same moment that pre-Socratic philosophy seemingly reached a point of stagnation, Socrates began to put the question of the good life in the center of his philosophical inquiries. There was a tension between the individualism of the heroic code in Homer’s work and the more collectivist and work-related values in Hesiod’s work. However, it’s important to note that these models conflict with one another. 750 – 650 B.C.E) delineated models of conduct (or virtue) for their readers and listeners. It was through this perspective that Homer (circa 850 – 750 B.C.E) and Hesiod (c. Greek Society Before Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Photograph of the sculpture Athena Protects the Young Hero by Gustav Bläser, 1854.
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