Philosophers

By the time of Socrates, philosophy had dwindled from the noble pursuits of earlier thinkers to the childish squabbling of the Sophists (SAH-fistz). The Greek root sophos means “clever” or “wise,” as in sophisticated, and certainly the Sophists were clever. A product of the explosion in knowledge that had come from the work of earlier philosophers like Zeno, they sought to use logic for their own purposes. They went around the land, earning money by teaching young men how to be more effective at speaking and arguing, but there seemed no higher purpose to their pursuits. All they wanted was to get ahead in the world—and to argue. For this reason, the word sophist entered the English language as a term for somebody who cares more about winning an argument than they do about the truth.

Socrates stood sophistry on its head, calling on people not to question each other, but to question themselves and the underlying beliefs of their society. He developed what was called the Socratic Method, a dialogue, (DIE-uh-lawg) or conversation, between a teacher and student. The teacher asks the student a series of questions to help the student discover the answers himself.

Famous for his command “Know thyself,” Socrates also said: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” It was the first time that anyone had ever suggested self-examination as a path to wisdom. In a sense Socrates could be called an early prophet of psychology, the study of the mind and human behavior—yet another word derived from Greek. Certainly he was the father of Western thought, in that he originated the attitude of skepticism (SKEP-ti-siz-uhm) toward one's own society that distinguishes the West from all other civilizations.

It was one thing to question oneself and quite another to question government and society as Socrates did, particularly in Athens just after the humiliating defeat of the Peloponnesian War. In 399 b. c., he was arrested and charged with corrupting young minds and encouraging disbelief in the gods. He refused to beg for mercy and was condemned to death by drinking a cup of poison. Present at his death was his disciple Plato (PLAY-toh; 427-347 b. c.), who was so upset by the execution of Socrates that he left Athens and traveled for many years. Upon his return, he founded a school in a garden called Academus (uh-KAD-uh-mehs); hence its name, and that of thousands of schools since: the Academy.

Not only did Plato apply the Socratic Method in teaching his students, he also immortalized his teacher in numerous works that centered around dialogues between Socrates and others. Socrates himself never wrote anything. In Plato's writings he often appeared as a character, not necessarily the actual historical Socrates. This is the case in Plato's most famous work—indeed, one of the most important books ever written—The Republic. In it, Socrates and a number of others, including a leading Sophist of the day, discuss the question “What is justice?”

Much of The Republic is Plato's recollection of Socrates' answer, his portrayal in words of an ideal society. In this polis, the mass of people will go on as before. There will be warriors to defend them, as always. But rather than mere kings and nobles as the other class of society, the ruling class will be made up of philosophers—wise men who also serve as kings. Much of Socrates' description concerns how these philosopher-kings, or guardians, should be educated.

Clearly this is not a democracy. Indeed Socrates admits that his ideal state is an aristocracy, except in this case, the aristocrats are rich with wisdom instead of money. The Republic has been a source of controversy that continues to this day. Many critics charge that Plato helped father modern totalitarianism. Others hold that this view is unfair because the book should be read in view of the time and place in which it was written, a world of tiny city-states rocked by unceasing conflict. In any case, it appears that Plato was merely presenting a model, not something he thought should or would be established.

Plato was interested in ideals and models. The concerns of his greatest student, Aristotle (air-is-TAHT-uhl; 384-322 B. C.), were quite different. Not only did Aristotle develop logic as a formal study, he essentially established the scientific method as a way of viewing the world. Plato would have started with a general idea and then looked for examples of it. Aristotle did just the opposite. He studied nature and

Socrates and his pupils.

Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

From his observations made conclusions. His conclusions were not always correct, but it was his method that mattered. Aristotle is considered the father of the biological sciences.

Aristotle also increased understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, a theme that would occupy philosophers' attention for centuries.

Once upon a time, people had simply made up stories—the myths—to explain the causes of things in nature.

Often they assumed that if something happened before something else, it “caused” it to happen. Aristotle started the process of sorting out such confusion. He also wrote extensively about everything from politics to physics to literature to the ultimate nature of reality, a subject to which he gave the name metaphysics (MEH-tuh-fiz-ikz), or “beyond physics.” Just as Aristotle had a famous teacher, he taught a famous pupil: a young Macedonian prince named Alexander, who would soon rule the world