Socrates was born in 469 BC and died in 399 BC. Socrates lived his 70 year of life in Athens Greece.
• For Socrates, philosophy & the love of wisdom, was itself a sacred path, a “holy quest and not a game to be taken lightly. ”
5. Time Period &
Location
• Socrates was born in 469 BC
and died in 399 BC. Socrates
lived his 70 year of life in
Athens Greece.
• For Socrates, philosophy & the
love of wisdom, was itself a
sacred path, a “holy quest and
not a game to be taken lightly. ”
6. • the father of Western
philosophy.
• He never wrote down
any of his teachings,
his student, Plato, did
this for him
• Socrates’ philosophy
arose out of his
negative feelings in
relation to the
SOCRATES
7. Who were they?
• Intelligent men, who travelled from
place to place, teaching subjects like
grammar, rhetoric (debating, argument,
logic)and literature;
• Athens was an emerging democratic
center and educated people were
needed;
• The Sophists charged for their services,
usually employed by the wealthy and
T H E S O P H I S
T S
8. The problem with the
Sophist
Truth was not the most important
issue but rather the ability to
persuade your audience of the truth
of your position
- this is how they taught their
students
The sophists’ philosophy created
tensions in Athens.
They suggested there were no
10. Not everyone in Athens loved
Socrates, due to his “unorthodox
political and religious views” it gave
the people of Athens a solid reason
to sentence him.
Socrates died because he was
accused of refusing to recognize
the gods that were recognized by
the state and was also accused of
12. The Historical Socrates I
• A working class man, served in the
army, a bricklayer by trade
• The Oracle at Delphi labeled him
“The wisest man in Athens”
• Socrates did not believe he was
wise, so he set out to prove the
oracle wrong
• “There must be someone wiser than
I, since I am not wise at all”
13. The Historical Socrates II
• Most of the men he questioned
were Sophists, wealthy men whose
profession was to teach aristocratic
young men how to be successful.
• According to the Sophists, success
was the ability to gain and hold
onto
Wealth
Fame
14. The Historical Socrates III
• Socrates believed that the
Sophists were wrong
• Wealth, fame, and power are not
important.
• What matters most in life is our
moral goodness
• In order to be morally good, we
need to think and re-evaluate our
moral values
16. Socrates - His Main Ideas I
1. Our interior life – our “psyche” or
“soul” – is the most important
part of life.
2. Our psyche is “healthy” when it
seeks goodness, truth, justice,
and self-knowledge.
3. A soul in search of wealth, fame,
and power becomes weak, sickly,
17. Socrates - His Main Ideas II
4. Being ignorant is to mistake the
appearance of good for the reality of
it.
5. All evil is caused by ignorance.
6. People who cheat, lie, steal, harm
others are always motivated to do so
by their own ignorance concerning
what is good
7. They don’t know what is important
in life, so they seek wealth, fame,
power, and in doing so they find
18. Socrates - His Main Ideas III
8. “The unexamined life is not worth
living”
9. If we spend our lives examining and
criticizing ourselves, our psyches
become strong.
10.In seeking goodness, justice, truth
and self-knowledge, we will not
become self-satisfied, bigoted, and
ignorant.
11.We may not find what we seek, but
the life we live will be one that
19. SUMMARIZING SOCRATES
Virtue (knowledge) is the most valuable
of all things.
Life should be spent in search of
goodness.
Truth is possible to achieve.
People should focus on self-
development rather than material
wealth.
It is the job of the philosopher to show
people how little they really know.
An action is right when it promoted true
SOCRATES
20.
21. Socrates teachings of
absolute truth will
always apply to
mankind. But truth
requires knowledge.
And that what is taught
by law or parents is not
always what is right in
terms of your moral
life. But to find this
truth you first must
explore and consciously
make decisions based
