What kind of personality does Socrates have?

Socrates (σ ω κ rho? 0? 4τη? 0? 9. English translation: Socrates; ; 469-399 years ago)

brief introduction

Socrates was a famous philosopher in ancient Greece. He and his student Plato, as well as Plato's student Aristotle, are called "the three sages of Greece". He is widely regarded as the founder of western philosophy by later generations. His father is a stonemason and sculptor, and his mother is a midwife.

As a teenager, Socrates studied handicrafts with his father, became familiar with Homer's epic and other famous poets, and became a self-taught scholar. He made a living by imparting knowledge. In his thirties, he became a social morality teacher who didn't get paid or run a library. Many children from rich families and poor families often gather around him to learn from him and ask him for advice. Socrates often said, "I only know that I know nothing."

He spent most of his life outdoors. He likes to talk with people in various fields, such as war, politics, friendship, art, ethics and so on, in public places such as markets, sports fields and streets. He fought in the war three times, served as a heavy infantry, and helped injured soldiers in battle more than once. Around the age of 40, he became a household name in Athens.

Socrates lived a hard life all his life. Regardless of the cold weather, he wears an ordinary thin coat, often wears no shoes and doesn't pay attention to eating. But he didn't seem to notice it, just buried himself in his studies.

Socrates' theory is mysterious. He believes that the existence, development and destruction of all things in the world are arranged by God, who is the master of the world. He opposed the study of nature as blasphemy. He advocates that people know how to be human and live a moral life. His philosophy mainly studies and discusses ethical issues.

Socrates had a large number of fanatical admirers and fierce opponents before and after his death. He left no works in his life, but his influence was enormous. Philosophers often regard him as a watershed in the history of the development of ancient Greek philosophy, and call his previous philosophy pre-Socrates philosophy. As a great philosopher, Socrates had a great influence on later western philosophy.

Socrates himself has never written any works. His behavior and theory are mainly passed down through the records in the works of his students Plato and Xeno Finney. About Socrates' life and theory, because there are various records and statements since ancient times, it has always been the most discussed issue in academic circles.

Philosophical thinking

Socrates' philosophy is mainly embodied in the following aspects:

Change of thought

Starting from the wise, ancient Greek philosophy turned from paying attention to nature itself to paying attention to social ethics and people. But they only stay in the perceptual stage and can only draw relativistic conclusions. It was not until Socrates that this situation was fundamentally changed. Socrates called for a "turn of thought" to turn philosophy from studying nature to studying self, which is often said later to bring philosophy back from heaven to earth. He believes that the pursuit of natural truth is endless; I feel that the world is constantly changing, so the knowledge gained is also uncertain. Socrates wants to pursue an unchangeable, definite and eternal truth, which cannot be sought from the outside of nature, but only from himself and himself. Since Socrates, self and nature have been clearly distinguished; Man is no longer just a part of nature, but another unique entity different from nature.

Immortality of soul

Socrates' theory of soul further clarifies the difference between spirit and matter. Philosophers before Socrates have long said that the soul is immortal, and the opposition between idealism and materialism has sprouted. However, philosophers before him still had vague views on the soul, and some even regarded the soul as the finest substance, so the boundary between idealism and materialism was not clear. Until Socrates clearly regarded the soul as a spiritual entity that is essentially different from matter. In Socrates' view, the emergence and disappearance of things is just the aggregation and dispersion of something. In this way, he clearly opposed spirit and matter and became the founder of idealistic philosophy in the history of western philosophy.

Seek a universal definition of things

Aristotle believes that Socrates gave up the study of nature, wanted to seek universal truth on ethical issues, and began to seek a definition for things. He opposed the relativism of wise men and thought that there could be various opinions, but there was only one truth. "Viewpoint" can change with everyone and other conditions, but "truth" is eternal. In Plato's early dialogues, almost all the topics discussed were how to define ethics. Socrates pursues the understanding of "beauty itself" and "justice itself". This is a universal definition of beauty and justice, real knowledge, Plato's "idea of beauty" and "idea of justice". This is the original form of "idealism" in the history of western philosophy. Socrates further pointed out that the causal series of nature is endless, and if philosophy only seeks this causal series, it is impossible to know the ultimate reason of things. He believes that the ultimate cause of things is "goodness" and goodness is the purpose of things. He replaced the study of causality with teleology, which opened the way for later idealism philosophy.

Midwifery and Dialectics of Exposing Contradiction

Socrates believes that all knowledge comes from problems. The harder you make progress, the more problems you have and the greater your progress. Socrates admitted that he had no knowledge, and he wanted to teach others knowledge. He solved this contradiction in this way: this knowledge is not what he instilled in people, but what people already have; People have a "fetus" in their hearts, but they don't know it yet. Socrates is like a "midwife", helping others to produce knowledge. Socrates' midwifery is concentrated in the form of "cross-examination". He often uses cross-examination to expose the contradictions in various propositions and theories put forward by the other party, so as to shake the foundation of the other party's argument and point out the other party's ignorance. In the cross-examination, Socrates himself did not give a positive answer, because he admitted his ignorance. This way is generally called "Socrates' satire". Socrates' method is developed from the logical reasoning of Elijah School and Zhi Nuo's reduction to absurdity in Elijah. In the negative form of Socrates' satire, there is a positive result of dialectical thinking that exposes contradictions. Sue compared herself to a midwife, and used the method of cocoon reeling from the conversation to let the other side gradually understand their ignorance, discover their mistakes and establish a correct view of knowledge. This kind of conversation also has several characteristics: first, the conversation finds out the other party's thoughts by asking and answering questions, so that they can discover the truth themselves. Only in conversation, Sue focuses on asking questions, and he doesn't answer each other's questions easily. He only asked the other party to answer his questions. He asked questions with humility, and the other party elicited information about other questions in his answer, until finally, due to constant questioning, the youth admitted his ignorance. In the process of asking questions, Sue gave students the highest wisdom, which is the famous Socratic irony. Socrates' method is the earliest form of dialectics in the history of western philosophy.

From the development of philosophical thought, Socrates put forward the distinction between spiritual entity and material entity, which made the opposition between idealism and materialism break away from the simple state of early philosophy and enter a more mature stage; He raised the maxim-like ethical thought of early Greek philosophers to the height of philosophy; He inspires thoughts and exposes contradictions by way of logical debate, and goes deep into the essence of things by way of dialectical thinking. All these are helpful to the development of philosophical thinking. However, as the first systematic idealist philosopher in the history of western philosophy, he began to exaggerate the subject and rationality, exaggerated abstract thinking, and replaced religious myths with philosophical idealism myths.

Ethical theory

Socrates established an ethical thought system that knowledge is morality, and its center is to explore the purpose and kindness of life. He emphasized that people should know the universal laws of social life and "know themselves", and thought that all kinds of beneficial or harmful purposes and moral norms that people obtained in real life were relative. Only by exploring the concept of universal and absolute goodness and mastering the true knowledge of this concept can we realize the highest purpose of life and the highest virtue of human beings. Socrates believes that a person must have moral knowledge if he wants to have morality, and all immoral behaviors are the result of ignorance. Only when people get rid of the temptation of material desires and the limitation of acquired experience and acquire conceptual knowledge can they have virtues such as wisdom, courage, temperance and justice. He believes that morality can only be arranged by the mind and God, and moral education is to make people know the mind and God and obey God's instructions. This ethical thought of asceticism and mysticism was later inherited and developed by antisthenes, forming a cynic school characterized by emphasizing asceticism; The hedonism thought contained in Socrates' ethical thought was inherited and developed by Aristib, and the Guler School advocating hedonism was formed. Plato completely inherited Socrates' ethical thought system and further systematized and theorized it. Socrates emphasized the importance of knowledge and thought that ethics should be decided by reason. This rationalism has played a positive role in the development of western philosophy.