48
Q. So you think
that the gods
know everything?Therefore the gods
cannot know
everything!A. I suppose
they must do.A. Yes, of course
they do. They are
always fighting.A. I suppose
that is true.A. Yes, because
they are gods.Socrates’ central concern, then,
was the examination of life, and it
was his ruthless questioning of
people’s most cherished beliefs
(largely about themselves) that
earned him his enemies—but he
remained committed to his task
until the very end. According to the
account of his defence at his trial,
recorded by Plato, Socrates chose
death rather than face a life of
ignorance: “The life which is
unexamined is not worth living.”SOCRATES
Socrates’ dialectical method
was a simple method of questioning
that brought to light the often false
assumptions on which particular
claims to knowledge are based.But what exactly is involved in this
examination of life? For Socrates it
was a process of questioning the
meaning of essential concepts that
we use every day but have never
really thought about, thereby
revealing their real meaning and
our own knowledge or ignorance.
Socrates was one of the first
philosophers to consider what it
was that constituted a “good” life;
for him it meant achieving peace of
mind as a result of doing the right
thing, rather than living according to
the moral codes of society. And the
“right thing” can only be determined
through rigorous examination.
Socrates rejected the notion
that concepts such as virtue were
relative, insisting instead that they
were absolutes, applicable not just to
citizens of Athens, or Greece, but to
all people in the world. He believed
that virtue (areté in Greek, which at
the time implied excellence and
fulfilment) was “the most valuable
of possessions”, and that no-one
actually desires to do evil. Anyone
performing evil actions would be
acting against their conscience and
would therefore feel uncomfortable;
and as we all strive for peace of
mind it is not something we would
do willingly. Evil, he thought, was
done because of lack of wisdom and
knowledge. From this he concluded
that “there is only one good:
knowledge; and one evil: ignorance.”
Knowledge is inextricably bound to
morality—it is the “only one
good”—and for this reason we must
continually “examine” our lives.Care of the soul
For Socrates, knowledge may also
play a part in life after death. In the
Apology, Plato’s Socrates prefaces
his famous quote about the
unexamined life by saying: “I tell
you that to let no day pass without
discussing goodness and all theI am a citizen
of the world.
SocratesQ. So gods disagree
about what is
true and right?Q. Do some gods
disagree with others?Q. So some gods
can be wrong
sometimes?