As a citizen of Athens, it is recorded that Socrates was finally sentenced to death by the Athens court, because he did not believe in God and corrupted the thoughts of the young people in Athens. Although he had the opportunity to flee to Athens, Socrates chose to drink the poisonous violet juice and die, because he thought that fleeing would only further weaken the authority of Athenian law, and at the same time worried that Athens would not have a good tutor to educate the people after fleeing.
One night in June 399 BC, a 70-year-old man was about to be executed in Athens prison. I saw him in rags and barefoot, but his face was very calm. After seeing off his wife and family, he chatted with some friends, Kan Kan, who seemed to have forgotten the upcoming execution. It was not until the jailer brought in a cup of poisonous juice that he stopped talking, picked up the cup and gulped it down. After that, he lay down, smiled and said to his friend who came to say goodbye, he ate the chicken from his neighbor's house and hasn't paid him yet. Please give it back to him. With that, the old man closed his eyes peacefully and fell asleep. This old man is the great philosopher Socrates.
Socrates (470-399 BC) is not only a famous philosopher in ancient Greece, but also a famous historical figure with distinctive personality and different reputations from ancient times to the present. 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 often argues with others. In the debate, he made the other side correct and give up the original wrong ideas by asking and answering questions, and helped people produce new ideas. He abstracted the universal things from the individual and took four steps: satire, midwifery, induction and definition. "Sarcasm" is to make the other party contradict itself and admit ignorance of this issue through constant questioning; "Midwifery" is to help the other party abandon fallacies and find the right and universal things, that is, to help the truth come out; "induction" is to find commonness from individual things and find general laws by analyzing and comparing individual things; "Definition" refers to the classification of a single concept into a general concept.
Socrates never gave students ready-made answers, but made students unconsciously accept the influence of his thoughts by asking questions and refuting them. Please look at an interesting example of him answering questions with students.
Student: Socrates, what is good?
Socrates: Stealing, cheating and selling people as slaves are good deeds or evil deeds?
Student: It's evil.
Socrates: Is it evil to cheat the enemy? Is it evil to sell captured enemies as slaves?
Student: This is a good thing. But I'm talking about friends, not enemies. Socrates: As you said, stealing is evil for friends. However, if a friend wants to commit suicide, you steal the tools he is going to use to commit suicide. Is this evil? Student: This is a good thing.
Socrates: You said it was evil to cheat friends, but in the war, the commander-in-chief of the army told the soldiers that reinforcements were coming to boost morale. But in fact, there are no reinforcements. Is this deception evil?
Student: This is a good thing.
This teaching method has its advantages. It can inspire people's thoughts and make people actively analyze and think about problems. He used dialectical methods to prove that truth is concrete and relative, which can be transformed into his own negation under certain conditions. This epistemology is of great significance in the history of European thought.
Socrates advocates the theory of expert governance. He believes that all walks of life and even state power should be managed by trained and knowledgeable people, and opposes the democracy implemented by the lottery election law. He said: managers are not those who hold heavy power and bully the weak, not those who are elected by the people, but those who know how to manage. For example, ships should be driven by people who are familiar with sailing; When spinning wool, women should take care of men, because men are good at it and men don't understand it. He also said that the best people are those who are competent for their own work. Good farmers are good farmers; A good doctor is proficient in medical skills; People who are proficient in politics are excellent politicians.
In 404 BC, Athens was defeated in the Peloponnesian War, and "the rule of thirty tyrants replaced democracy." Critias, the leader of the Thirty Tyrants, was Socrates' student. It is said that once Clerides called Socrates and ordered him to lead four men to arrest a rich man and seize his property. Socrates refused to obey and left. He not only dared to resist Clerides' illegal orders, but also publicly condemned his atrocities. Clerides angrily called him away, forbade him to come near the young man again, and warned him, "Be careful, don't let us have to reduce another sheep from the flock." Socrates simply ignored him and went his own way.
Later, the rule of the "Thirty Tyrants" was overthrown and the Democrats came back to power. He was accused of having close ties with Clerides, opposing democratic politics and poisoning young people with heresy. Socrates was arrested and imprisoned for this. According to the laws of Athens, before the court decides the defendant, the defendant has the right to propose a penalty different from that demanded by the plaintiff, so that the court can choose one of them. Socrates took this opportunity to make an impassioned speech. He claims to be innocent, believing that his words and deeds are not only innocent, but also conducive to social progress. As a result, he was sentenced to death. During his detention in prison, his friends tried their best to persuade him to escape and bribed the jailer to make an escape plan, but he would rather die than violate his beliefs. In this way, the 70-year-old man passed away peacefully.
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.
Record of Socrates' famous aphorisms
Know yourself.
The less we need, the closer we are to God.
The gods kept the most important knowledge for themselves.
People who want to control the world must first be able to control themselves.
Only by knowing yourself can we know life.
Beauty is difficult.
Virtue is knowledge or: virtue is knowledge, and ignorance is the source of evil.
Ignorance is evil.
Others live to eat, and I eat to live.
Wisdom means self-knowledge and ignorance.
I only know one thing in my life, why I am so ignorant.
There are two kinds of people in this world, one is a happy pig and the other is a miserable person. It is better to be a miserable person than a happy pig.
If you put all the pains in the world together and let you choose, you may still be willing to choose your original one.
Men live by forgetting, while women live by remembering.
Only reason is the most precious.
I know very well that I have neither great wisdom nor small wisdom.
Education is a tool and method to seduce our hearts.
The most effective education method is not to tell people the answer, but to ask them questions.
If you want to learn from me, you must first have a strong thirst for knowledge, just like a strong desire for survival.
Ideas should be born in students' hearts, and teachers only play the role of midwives.
Everyone has a sun, mainly how to make it shine.
Education is not instilling, but lighting a flame.
The problem is the midwife, which can help the birth of new ideas.
The best person is yourself.
The more you know, the less you know.
I know my ignorance, I know my ignorance.
An unexamined life is worthless, or an unexamined life is not worth living.
In front of many people, my tongue is particularly healthy.
Secret love is the most beautiful love in the world.
Don't get friends by giving gifts.
Tell me your friends, and I will know what kind of person you are.
In this world, what else do we need besides sunshine, air, water and smiles?
Who is happier when I die and you live, only God knows.
I walked around, doing nothing, just asking you, young people and old people, not only to care about your bodies, but to protect your souls.
For philosophers, death is the ultimate self-realization. It is popular because it opens the door to real knowledge. The soul is freed from the bondage of the body and finally realizes the visual realm of the bright kingdom of heaven.
I only know one thing, and that is nothing.
Anyone who could have done better is lazy!
People can make mistakes, but they can't make the same mistakes.
When you are angry, keep your mouth shut so as not to increase your anger.
If I can stand my wife, I can stand anyone!
A good marriage can only bring you happiness, and a bad marriage can make you a philosopher.
No one refuses to be better because he knows it.
Any definite experiment shows that any physical or psychological disease can be alleviated by vegetarian diet and drinking pure water.
I am not only a citizen of Athens, but also a citizen of the world.
Come to think of it, I still owe someone a dick.
Socrates' language is simple, his appearance is ordinary, his nose is flat, his lips are thick, his eyes are protruding, his body is clumsy and short, and his thoughts are sacred. He gave a speech on the streets of Athens, asking people questions everywhere, for example, what is piety? What is democracy? What is virtue? What is courage? What is truth? What is your job? What knowledge and skills do you have? Are you a politician? If so, what do you know about governance? Are you a teacher? How to conquer your ignorance before educating the ignorant? Wait a minute. For the purpose of asking this question, Socrates said, "My mother is a midwife, and I want to follow in her footsteps. I am a spiritual midwife, helping others to generate their own thoughts. "
Socrates himself, he said, "I only know one thing, that is, I know nothing." "I follow the footsteps of truth like a hound." In pursuit of truth, Socrates ignored his own interests, career and family. He is a martyr of philosophy. He once asked himself: What is philosophy? He answered himself, "Know yourself!"