The Socratic Problem - Who Was Socrates?

Socrates of Athens lived from 469 - 399 B.C.E., spending much of his life walking the streets, starting arguments, and perplexing all of his listeners. Many accredit Socrates as being the founder of Western Philosophy as we know it.

Alexander Nehamas, a Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, commented on Socrates' brilliance and popularity: "with the exception of the Epicureans, every philosophical school in antiquity, whatever its orientation, saw in him either its actual founder or the type of person to whom its adherents were to aspire."

Despite his fame, we know practically nothing about the historical Socrates, in large part because we trust too much the sources that Plato gave us. Plato's writings always tell a story about Socrates but never demonstrate the philosophical opinions of Plato himself.

As a matter of fact, many thinkers suggest that Plato actually perverted Socrates original teachings for the sake of his own philosophical leanings. Not only do we find inconsistencies in Plato's works, we find inconsistencies in other works as well.

Next to Plato, two sources on Socrates are extant today from the Greek thinker Xenophon (425 - 386 B.C.E.) and the Greek playwright Aristophanes (450 - 386 B.C.E.). Aristophanes wrote the play Clouds which currently is our earliest source on Socrates.

Very much like Plato, Xenophon studied under Socrates when Socrates was at least in his 50's, an age at which the two pupils might have been mature enough to study under him. Conversely, Socrates and Aristophanes would have likely interacted when Socrates was much younger.

We have numerous account of Socrates from Plato which include The Republic, Euthypro, Meno, Phaedo, and Symposium. These titles represent just a few of Plato's dialogues on Socrates. In contrast, Xenophon wrote just a few works on Socrates which areApology, Anabasis, Symposium, and Hellenica.

Because all of the accounts differ in some way and highlight several inconsistencies, we cannot determine the most appropriate interpretation of Socrates. To mimic the phrase "Socratic dialogue," scholars have named this interpretive confusion the "Socratic problem."

On the other hand, we do know some important things. First, he spent most of his time strangely traversing Athenian roads. Next, the typical Athenian would strive to fulfill his civic duty by holding a public office, particularly if he was a wealthy man. Socrates never took his civic post. And finally, the Sophists travelled all throughout Greece in search of teaching students for money, and Socrates preferred poverty and never took a dime from any of his students.

Indeed, our lack of historical documentation limits our knowledge of Socrates, but scholars have and will forever herald Socrates for his ingenuity, confidence, and legacy. Although we currently grasp in the dark for the real Socrates, future work in this area of study may reveal new and fascinating aspects of his brilliant life.

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