John B. Parisutham
Apr 8, 20132 min
Socrates is one of the most recognized philosophers of all time. He was born in ancient Greece, he is the founder of western philosophy. While all the famous people have written or recoded their life in the history Socrates never wrote anything about himself and even about his philosophies. There is no written evidence by Socrates’ hand. Everything we know about him was written by his students. The most famous student of Socrates was Plato. So, none of us are sure about Socrates words because they are inrpretted by his students. In past some people and philosophers thought that, Socrates was just a character made up by Plato to use as a soul for his ideas. After a long research it was proved that there was a real person named Socrates having greatest philosophical thoughts in him.
Socrates life story is shrouded, as there is lack of evidence, Plato stated that, Socrates had served in the military for a under the Athenian army, but there are no much details about this issue. There are difficulties in identifying his lifestyle, earning living and act. The Socratic Method was developed by Socrates and is still in use today. Socrates took a problem and broke it down into simpler questions. In order to make it good and justice, Socrates would take these simpler questions, and go deep into the issue and find out anything which is contradictory related to that. This led him to win any arguments that he faces from others. He had through knowledge about the issue which he talks about. This method helped to develop branches of philosophy such as Ethics and Political Philosophy.
He was a master of oral speech. He could handle a big crowd with his discussions and hold the attention of many during his speeches. Socrates was not a materialistic person. He was not a very rich man. Socrates taught that people should more focus on self-development and gaining knowledge. An ideal life to Socrates was an ongoing search for the good, and this was the reason for his death. Socrates was found guilty of corrupting the minds of the youth in Athens. Basically, Socrates in his daily discussions with people, in a way he humiliate Athenians in public, by asking questions. High ranked Athenians looked at themselves as foolish in front of him, they turn against him and accuse him with anger because of his questioning method. Socrates was sentenced to death, Socrates died in the name of truth and wisdom