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1. SOCRATES
(470-399 BC)
“As for me, all I know
is that I know nothing”
- Socrates

2. Biography
• Father of ethical philosophy
• Son of a sculptor and midwife
• Educated in music, language and
gymnastics
• Sculptor
• Married with three children
• Served as city councilor
• Teacher of Plato and Xenophon

3. Teachings
• Socratic Methods
• Examining ourselves to find truth
• Moral values
• Ethics
• Socrates did not write anything.
• Everything we know about him was written
by others

4. Teachings
• Our interior life – our “psyche” or “soul” –
is the most important part of life
• Our psyche is “healthy” when it seeks
goodness, truth, justice, and self-
knowledge
• A soul in search of wealth, fame, and
power becomes weak, sickly, ignorant

5. Teachings
• “THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH
LIVING”
• If we spend our lives examining and
criticizing ourselves, our psyches become
strong
• In seeking goodness, justice, truth and self-
knowledge, we will not become self-
satisfied, bigoted, and ignorant
• We may not find what we seek, but the life
we live will be one that strengthens our
inner selves

6. Socrates and Sophists
• 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
– Power

7. Socrates and Sophists
• 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

8. Socrates and Greek
• Greek use to pray many gods , while
Socrates believed there is only one God
• Greek people considered wealth , fame
and power to be most important but
Socrates believed there human have souls
which needs to nourished with ethics and
moral values

9. Why Socrates?
• Socrates is father of modern western
philosophy
• Introduced us with Socratic method which is
widely being used in Law school all over the
world
• Giving us the concept that it is important to
know that ‘How’ to think instead of ‘What’
to think
“I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only
make them think” -Socrates

10. Why Socrates?
• His approach to ethics and moral values
gave a new meaning to life
• One day a well-dressed man came to
Socrates , he asked him to speak so that
Socrates would know of the man value.
This incident show us that Socrates didn’t
believe in wealth to be the essence of life
• Through his acceptance to death he
showed that death is cure

11. • In seeking goodness, justice, truth and
self-knowledge, we will not become self-
satisfied, bigoted, and ignorant
• “There must be someone wiser than I,
since I am not wise at all” his words point
out that ego and ignorance are the roots
of any evil , indeed he was wisest
• “What is it” Question. What is virtue,
justice, moderation,beauty…?

12. Socrates’ Approach to Philosophy
• Socrates did not write anything.
• Everything we know about him was written
by others
• He pursued values in conversation with
others – Goodness, Justice, Truth, Self-
Knowledge
• He criticized the self-satisfied Sophists
because they claimed to possess the final
answers to all questions – wealth, fame,
power

13. Socrates’ Approach to Philosophy
• His appearance
• Treating others according to their moral
values
• His demise
• Focus on teaching how to think instead of
what to think

14. The Demise of Socrates

15. Accusations
• Corrupting the minds of the youth of
Athens
• Impiety - not believing in the gods of the
state
Nevertheless found guilty of any charges
And sentenced to death by drinking
mixture containing poison hemlock

16. Plato’s Apology
Meletus :“Well, I tell you well, Socrates. If
you will stop doing it, we will drop these
charges”.
Socrates:“ I am not going to do that. I am
going to continue. As long as I live, I am
going to go around and question, and
follow the truth wherever it is.”

17. Repudiation
Socrates had an opportunity to escape, as
his followers were able to bribe the
prison guards
He chose to stay, declining their offerfor
following possible reasons:
• indicate a fear of death, which he
believed no true philosopher has
• unprincipled act
• his friends would become liable in law

18. Final words
• "Crito, we owe a rooster to Asclepius.
Please, don't forget to pay the debt."
• Asclepius was the Greek god for curing
illness, and it is likely Socrates' last words
meant that death is the cure—and
freedom, of the soul from the body.

19. Legacy
• “I am not going to escape, I am going to
stay right here. If I were to escape after
having been found legally guilty, that
would set a bad example. I am going to
obey the law. And so the young people
will not be corrupted by my example.”
• Claiming that his whole life – a search for
absolute truths – had been a preparation
for death