Socrates - Life, Ideas and Beliefs

There are few philosphers who have influenced us more than Socrates.

His beliefs carry so much weight that historians of philosophy refer to the period before he lived as “pre-Socratic.” Yet, despite his significance, not a single example of his writing has survived until present day. In fact it’s possible that he gave most his arguments orally, eschewing the written word.

Because of this we must rely on what others wrote of Socrates – in particular those of two of his supporters, Plato and Xenophon. How accurate they were at recording Socrates words is open to question – and a source of debate among scholars. The writings depict Socrates as a man who loved a discussion and tackled some of the most fundamental questions of human nature.

What is holiness? What makes a good friend? Does the soul survive after death? These are only a few examples of the questions that Socrates tackled. According to Plato and Xenophon he attacked these problems not with written words or monologues, but often in conversations he had with friends, acquaintances and sometimes people he would bump into at random.

He was awaiting trial when he had a detailed discussion with Euthyphro – a man who was in the process of prosecuting his own father for murder. “Heracles! Surely, Euthyphro, most people do not know where the right lies; for I fancy it is not everyone who can rightly do what you are doing but only one who is already very far advanced in wisdom,” said Socrates.

They go on to have a conversation where they consider the nature of holiness. Euthpyphro argued that “what is dear to the gods is holy, and what is not dear to them is unholy,” an answer which Socrates challenged by pointing out that the Greek gods themselves often don’t agree with each other. “Have we said this also, that the gods, Euthyphro, quarrel and disagree with each other, and that there is enmity between them?”

By the end of the conversation the reader is left with the idea that there is no easy answer to the question. What is holy and unholy, in essence what is right and wrong, are difficult questions that are not easy to grapple with.

This kind of exchange is often seen in Socrates dialogues. The philosopher poses questions, challenges answers and points out the complexity to what had initially seemed like straight forward questions.

NOTE – All quotes in the article courtesy of the Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University. Our selection of Top 10 Socrates Quotes you can find here.

Life and war

We know little about Socrates early life. He was born around 469 BC to his mother Phaenarete, who he described as a “burly midwife,” and his father Sophroniscus who was a “noble.” 

At some point he married Xanthippe, a woman who was quite a bit younger then he was. By the time Socrates was executed in 399 BC he was about 70 years old and had three sons with Xanthippe, two who of which were described as being young.

Like Socrates, she wasn’t afraid to argue. According to Xenopohon, Socrates used a horse as an analogy to describe their relationship. “I follow the example of the rider who wishes to become an expert horseman: None of your soft-mouthed, docile animals for me - the horse for me to own must show some spirit.”

When looking at Socrates life one of the key factors that need to be considered is that of war.  Throughout most of his life Athens was fighting one opponent or another. When he was a teenager, the city and its allies intervened in Egypt, siding with a rebel force against the Persians. In 454 BC this force lost about 200 ships and quite possibly tens of thousands of men.

“Some of these men would have been allies, not Athenians, but the loss of manpower to Athens must have been large in any case,” historian Thomas Martin writes in his book Ancient Greece.

Then in 431 BC tensions between Athens and Sparta boiled over into war. The conflict would continue for 27 years. After a campaign by the Spartan general Lysander, Athens was forced to surrender, leading to a period of dictatorial rule by a group called the “thirty tyrants.” By the time of Socrates trial in 399 BC this group had been driven out of power and Athenian democracy had been restored.

Socrates was involved in these conflicts, serving as a soldier – apparently a very good one. Plato writes that General Alcibiades credited him with saving his life.

“It was he, out of the whole army, who saved my life: I was wounded, and he would not forsake me, but helped me to save both my armor and myself. I lost no time, Socrates, in urging the generals to award the prize for valor to you; and here I think you will neither rebuke me nor give me the lie. For when the generals, out of regard for my consequence, were inclined to award the prize to me, you outdid them in urging that I should have it rather than you.”

Alcibiades also salutes his courage during the Battle of Delium, fought in 424 BC.

“What a notable figure he made when the army was retiring in flight from Delium. I happened to be there on horseback, while he marched under arms. The troops were in utter disorder, and he was retreating along with Laches, when I chanced to come up with them and, as soon as I saw them, passed them the word to have no fear, saying I would not abandon them." 

Socrates turned “a calm sidelong look on friend and foe alike, and convincing anyone even from afar that whoever cares to touch this person will find he can put up a stout enough defence. The result was that both he and his comrade got away unscathed.”

Socrates must have been around 45 year old when this battle was fought – relatively old for the standard of the time. It’s hard to fully gauge how these battles affected Socrates thoughts. We know that Socrates was critical about those who exercised authority – a view perhaps reinforced by watching Athenian leaders lose the war.

Xenophon records him as saying that, “it seems strange enough to me that a herdsman who lets his cattle decrease and go to the bad should not admit that he is a poor cowherd; but stranger still that a statesman when he causes the citizens to decrease and go to the bad, should feel no shame nor think himself a poor statesman.”

Certainly the defeat of Athens had an impact on Socrates. At one point he was faced with a difficult choice when the thirty tyrants commanded him to do some of their dirty work.

“After the oligarchy was established, the Thirty sent for me with four others to come to the rotunda and ordered us to bring Leon the Salaminian from Salamis to be put to death,” he said. This was an order that had to be obeyed on pain of death.

“I did not care a whit for death if that be not too rude an expression, but that I did care with all my might not to do anything unjust or unholy. For that government, with all its power, did not frighten me into doing anything unjust, but when we came out of the rotunda, the other four went to Salamis and arrested Leon, but I simply went home; and perhaps I should have been put to death for it, if the government had not quickly been put down. Of these facts you can have many witnesses.”

Socrates would use this episode to make a point at his trial.

“You will find that through all my life, both in public, if I engaged in any public activity, and in private, I have always been the same as now, and have never yielded to any one wrongly, whether it were any other person or any of those who are said by my traducers to be my pupils.”

Socrates – critical thinker

The surviving writings paint a picture of a man who was quite humble – a person who in fact may have lived in poverty.

“You seem, Antiphon, to imagine that happiness consists in luxury and extravagance. But my belief is that to have no wants is divine; to have as few as possible comes next to the divine; and as that which is divine is supreme, so that which approaches nearest to its nature is nearest to the supreme,” Xenophon quotes him as saying.

He refuses to take money for his teachings – blasting those who do.

“Those who offer it to all comers for money are known as sophists, prostitutors of wisdom, but we think that he who makes a friend of one whom he knows to be gifted by nature, and teaches him all the good he can, fulfils the duty of a citizen and a gentleman.”

However, despite his purported dislike of material wealth, he offers employment advice to a friend name Eutherus who lost property during the Peloponnesian war. Considering his age he advises him to find work as a bailiff.

“Then it would be better to take up some kind of work at once that will assure you a competence when you get old, and to go to somebody who is better off and wants an assistant, and get a return for your services by acting as his bailiff, helping to get in his crops and looking after his property.”

From the writings we also know that Socrates believed strongly in the importance of friends. In fact many of his beliefs were communicated in the form of conversations he had with them.

“Others have a fancy for a good horse or dog or bird: my fancy, stronger even than theirs, is for good friends. And I teach them all the good I can, and recommend them to others from whom I think they will get some moral benefit. And the treasures that the wise men of old have left us in their writings I open and explore with my friends.”

He’s was also wary of “gentlefolk,” people who do no practical work.

“And so, just because they are gentlefolk and related to you, you think they should do nothing but eat and sleep? Do you find that other gentlefolk who live this sort of life are better off and happier than those who are usefully employed in work that they understand? Or is it your experience that idleness and carelessness help men to learn what they ought to know and remember what they learn, to make themselves healthy and strong, and to get and keep things that are of practical use, but industry and carefulness are useless things?”

For that matter he also disliked political leaders were not up to the job.

“The man who persuades you to lend him money or goods and then keeps them is without doubt a rogue; but much the greatest rogue of all is the man who has gulled his city into the belief that he is fit to direct it.”

He even had opinions on love, warning his friend Xenophon of the dangers of romance.

“Do you think, you foolish fellow, that the fair inject nothing when they kiss, just because you don't see it? Don't you know that this creature called ‘fair and young’ is more dangerous than the scorpion, seeing that it need not even come in contact, like the insect, but at any distance can inject a maddening poison into anyone who only looks at it?” Xenophon quotes him as saying. 

He advises his friends to run away as soon as they find themselves falling in love. 

“Nay, I advise you, Xenophon, as soon as you see a pretty face to take to your heels and fly: and you, Critobulus, I advise to spend a year abroad. It will certainly take you at least as long as that to recover from the bite.”

Perhaps some of his most poignant words, as recorded by Plato, are those that discuss his beliefs on the afterlife. Socrates says that when a soul becomes disembodied it is free from earthly desires and one can examine philosophy more purely.

“And therefore those who care for their own souls, and do not live in service to the body, turn their backs upon all these men and do not walk in their ways, for they feel that they know not whither they are going. They themselves believe that philosophy, with its deliverance and purification, must not be resisted, and so they turn and follow it whithersoever it leads.”

He uttered those words shortly before his execution by hemlock poison in 399 BC. If you believe in what he said, Socrates soul was freed from a world of war, Athenian politics and his aging body. At last he got what he truly wanted and became free to pursue the essence of his ideas. 

'The Hemlock Cup' is not 'merely' a Socrates biography; using a unique combination of archaeological, geological and historical clues, historian Bettany Hughes recreates for the reader the world of Socrates with a vivacity not before achieved.

Bettany Hughes visited every spot were the philosopher was said to have walked, loved, fought and philosophised and investigated the many digs that are uncovering the world of 'Golden Age' Athens. She brings this fresh evidence to bear on the life of the man whose idea 'the unexamined life is not worth living' is thought to be at the root of what it is to live in the 21st century.

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Owen Jarus (follow me: e-mail or )

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Owen Jarus is a freelance writer based in Toronto ,Canada. He has written articles on archaeology for a variety of media outlets including The Canadian Press newswire (CP), U of T Magazine, The Mississauga News and The Guelph Mercury. Education: BA from the University of Toronto in History, Geography and Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations.