How Did Socrates the Founder of Western Philosophy Die

Socrates was born in Athens, Greece, around 469 B.C. Previous thinkers had examined the natural world, but Socrates worked with the human experience and focused on individual morality. He questioned what made a good life through examining social and political questions. He is considered the founder of Western philosophy.

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates believed that for a person to have the knowledge, the individual must understand themselves.

To Socrates, a person's actions were directly related to his intelligence and the opposite of this, his ignorance. He believed people should develop personally rather than concentrate on material objects. To achieve this, he used a new unique way to approach knowledge. Socrates would forever change philosophy.

The Socratic method.

Socrates is famous for his Socratic method. The first time we see this mentioned is in Plato's Socratic Dialogues. 

Socrates and a pupil would discuss a certain issue. Then, through a series of questions, Socrates would set out to discover the driving force behind the pupil's beliefs and opinions. By doing this, he got closer to the truth. He continually asked questions through these and showed contradictions in the way an individual thought. 

Socrates used the elenchus, a method in which he would refute the other person's claims. Here are the steps of the elenchus.

An individual would say a statement to Socrates, which Socrates would then argue with. Or, Socrates might ask the other person a question, such as, "What is courage?"

Once the other person provides his answer, Socrates would think of a time where his answer was not the case, asking him to assume his original statement was false. For example, if the other person describes courage as "endurance of the soul," Socrates might refute this claim by saying, "Courage is a fine thing while ignorant endurance is not a fine thing."

The other person would agree with this claim, and Socrates would then change the statement to include the exception to the rule.

Socrates proves that the individual's statement is false and that the negation is, in fact, true. Then, as the other person continues to alter his answer, Socrates continues refuting, and through this, the individual's answer gets closer to the actual truth.

Do we know who Socrates was?

Socrates is thought to be one of the wisest men to have lived. Surprisingly though, he never wrote down any of his thoughts. All that we know about him is based on the written works of his students. Everything that we know about Socrates is based on accounts from others, so we can question the reliability.

Known as the Socratic problem, we know little about him personally. From studying the writing of others, some believe he was the son of a stonemason and midwife. He is believed to have had a basic Greek Education. Some state he was good looking and served in the military during the Peloponnesian War.

He was father to three sons, which he had with a much younger woman and they survived in poverty. Some say he may have even worked as a stonemason before turning to philosophy.

Socrates in death.

The one part of Socrates life that is well known is his death. During his life, Athens began to decline. The state had recently lost to Sparta in the Peloponnesian war and went through an identity crisis. They started fixating on physical beauty, ideas of wealth and romanticising the past. Socrates became an outspoken critic of this way of life; he grew to have many enemies.

In 399 B.C., Socrates was arrested and brought to trial on charges of unreligious behaviour and corrupting the city's youth. Socrates was found guilty and was sentenced to death by poisonous drink. However, rather than flee into exile, which he could have done, he drank the poison without hesitation.

Although his death was quick, his legacy has lived for centuries. The Socratic method is still widely used today, most notably in law schools throughout the United States. 

Whether what we know about Socrates is true or not, most will not argue that he is one of the founders of modern philosophy and a fascinating character.