The document provides an overview of Socrates, a classical Greek philosopher known for founding Western philosophy and his method of questioning. It discusses his life, teachings, and depiction in the works of his students, particularly Plato, who portrayed Socrates in dialogues to illustrate concepts such as Socratic questioning, irony, and paradox. Socrates ultimately faced trial and execution for allegedly corrupting the youth and impiety, famously stating that "the unexamined life is not worth living."

1. Assignment.
Submitted to:
Dr. Dil Afroze Quader,
Professor.
Student: Zafar Hossain
ID: 133 1345 655
English- 501
Department of English
North South University

3. Socrates.
1
Classical Ancient Greek Philosopher(469 BC-399 BC) and founder of
Western Philosophy.
2
Appeared in the Golden Age of Athens & shaped Greek beliefs.
3
Wisdom and truth was the only search at his young age.
4
Not worldly-minded & never took money against his services.

4. Father was Sophroniscus and mother was
Phaenarete.
Father was stone sculptor mason and mother was a midwife.
His father wanted him to become a sculptor but he became Socrates
the greatest one.
His wife is Xanthippe, she has contributions as a shrew; they have
3 children.
Menexenus, Lamprocles and Sophroniscus

5. i.
Walking around the places in Athens, talking and questioning people.
ii.
Socrates would stand on stoa at the time of giving speech. Ruins of stone stoas is
still found in Athens.
iii.
He is a brave solider, Fought in Peloponnesian war as an Athenian infantry.
iv.
He is strange, ugly and quite opposite, often went into trance while thinking hard.
v.
Athenians would stand by him to enjoy watching him; walk away being slapped from
trance.
vi.
The "Socratic Intellectualism" states that one must know how to use the virtue of
generosity as well as courage, honesty and loyalty.

6. Plato: 30 dialogues
Xenophon: Memorabilia
Aristophanes: The clouds
Teaching his methods to his pupils

7. i.
In Socrates’ time business were run orally-oral tradition was strong.
ii.
In ancient time, philosophers were more concerned with teaching disciples
speaking than writing. Example: Confucius & the divine figure Jesus.
iii.
Socrates’ words were portrayed by his students Plato, Xenophon and Aristophanes.
iv.
Some says, he didn’t write anything because he was forever asking questions and
learning.
v.
Nowadays, a series of dialogues written by Plato are as chief source of insights
into Socrates; on his The Trial and The Death. In Phaedrus; Plato being Socrates,
says “Writing is inhuman, pretending to establish outside the mind what in reality
can only be in mind.”

8. Early, Middle and Late Dialogues
Plato is a Greek philosopher, born in Athens
to an aristocratic family, studied under
Socrates.
Socrates appeared as a character in many
of Plato’s dialogues. Through Plato’s hand
we meet Socrates’ thoughts and knowledge.
Plato’s 36 dialogues and 13 letters have
been assigned to him. Which are called
Socratic Dialogues. Example: Euthypro,
ION, Apology, Phaedrus
In his dialogues we find Socrates, going
around Athens, questioning and questioning
everybody he could find: “What is justice?”
“What is piety?” “What is right and
wrong?”

9. 




The Cloud is a caricature of Socrates. Unlike in Plato’s Apology where it depicts the old man’s trial
and execution.
Socrates is demonstrated as a cynical sophist. He offers teaching in his “Thinking Shop” to his
students in the Protagorean technique, for paying a fee.
In The Cloud, Socrates is such a person who can make a good argument seem bad and a bad
argument seem good.
His pupils were taught how to argue effectively for any position, even an offensively immoral one.
A bright picture is pointed in The Cloud, that the son of protagonist, which is Socrates’ pupil,
blatantly argues that a son has the right to beat his parents.
Aristophanes uses Clouds as a means of criticizing the
Sophists. Although Aristophanes grossly
misrepresents Socrates, who actually was not a
Sophist, and also misrepresents Sophism

10. 1. Socratic
2. Socratic
3. Socratic
4. Socratic
5. Socratic
6. Socratic
Dialogue.
Method.
Questioning.
Irony.
Paradox.
Problem.

11. Socratic Dialogue.
i. As we know, Socrates actually didn’t
write anything himself, his disciples
did as successors.
ii. Plato’s renowned series of Dialogues
and Xenophon’s works are depicted as
Socrates’ Dialogues.
iii. The Dialogues are either Dramatic or
Narrative.
iv. In their Dialogues Socrates is the main
character; this is why they are called

12. Socratic Method.
i. Socratic Method is
all about Inquiry
and Discussions
among the group
of people.
ii. To arouse critical
thinking and new
ideas Socrates
made his pupils to
ask and answer
questions

13. Socratic Questioning.
i. Socratic
Questioning is
systematic and
disciplined.
ii. Socratic
Questioning
system is applied
to reach at
complex solution
in many purposes.
iii. Differentiating

14. Socratic Irony.
i. Irony is a term where a statement
depicts the opposite meaning of
literal meaning.
ii. Socratic Irony is pretending to be
ignorant and asking
questions(knowing the fact) others to
know how ignorant they are.
iii. It’s a way to trick other person to
reveal his own lack of knowledge.

15. Socratic Paradox.
i. "I know that I know nothing" or "I know
one thing: that I know nothing” is the
widely known phrase of Socrates, which
often represents Socratic Paradox.
ii. Some other sources state that, knowing
nothing is the beginning of wisdom.
iii. This paradox defines that in knowing
nothing is the first step to learning.
iv. In response to answer of “who is the
wisest man in Greece” from Oracle at

16. Socratic Problem.
Historians and scholars, while trying then facing problem in accumulating
particular information about Socrates, is called Socratic Problem.
There are 3 key features about Socratic Problem:
1.There is no proof that Socrates had ever wrote anything.
2.All we know about Socrates is from the works of 4 scholars Plato,
Xenophon, Aristophanes and Aristotle.
3.The details about Socrates in their works are truth or imagination is a fact.

17. 1. Young men of Athens humiliated their
tradition and elders by participating in
Socrates “Thinking Shop”.
2. The association with his two pupils
Alcibiades and Critias regarding the
democracy of that time created
hostility.
3. Alcibiades once commented that their
Democracy “acknowledged folly”. Thus,

18. The Trial
Reason one: For
Reason one: For
corrupting the young
corrupting the young
men!
men!
Reason two: Impiety;
Reason two: Impiety;
rejecting the state’s
rejecting the state’s
religious belief!
religious belief!
Socrates was sentenced to death by drinking hemlock

19. “The unexamined life is not worth living
“The unexamined life is not worth living
for aa human being.”
for human being.”
“False words are not only evil in
“False words are not only evil in
themselves, but they infect the soul with
themselves, but they infect the soul with
evil.”
evil.”
“By means of beauty beautiful things
“By means of beauty beautiful things
become beautiful”
become beautiful”
Socrates

20. …Thank
You!