lazy and bored. With the collapse of the Soviet Union,
the move of Communist China toward a market econ-
omy, and the impoverishment of Cuba, the contempo-
rary world views socialism with less optimism than
many did a hundred years ago.
Further Readings
Laidler, H. W. History of Socialism.New York: Crowell, 1948.
Landauer, C. European Socialism: A History of Ideas and Move-
ments.Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959.
Socrates (469–399 B.C.) classical Greek phi-
losopher
Often compared to Christ because he criticized the
religious establishment, was executed by the STATE, but
forgave his accusers, Socrates was a teacher of PLATO,
influencing all CLASSICALpolitical thought.
Most famous for his dictum “Know Thyself” and
“the unexamined life is not worth living,” Socrates
begins the Western philosophic tradition. His “Socratic
method” of educating students by asking them ques-
tions continues in the Oxford tutorial system, the
adversarial legal method, and the free press as a
“Fourth Estate,” critically examining the government.
Socrates wrote nothing himself, but his philosophi-
cal life and activity is written by various disciplines,
especially in the Dialoguesof Plato. The most biogra-
phical is The Apology,a description of Socrates’ trial in
Athens on charges of heresy and corrupting the young.
In his defense (“apology”), Socrates provides logical
refutation of both charges and reveals, through ques-
tioning, their true source in his challenging of the
established authority in Greece. Most serious was his
embarrassing of the proud, self-satisfied, prominent
leaders of Athens, who only think they are wise, when
in fact their pride and arrogance makes them foolish
and ignorant. True wisdom, for Socrates, is a humble
appreciation of one’s own lack of knowledge. Such per-
sonal, intellectual humility fuels the search for knowl-
edge and is the true “philosopher’s” (“lover of
wisdom”) premier trait. Most prominent people are
infected with the sin of pride and therefore are stupid.
This attitude lands Socrates in court, in jail, and finally
to being executed by the state. He insists that he is not
being disrespectful to Athens’s leaders or disloyal to
his country; quite the contrary, Greece in its Golden
Age has become so rich, proud, and decadent that it
needs a patriotic “gadfly” to sting it and wake it up,
according to Socrates. He did that to save his country.
The Platonic Dialogue Critodetails Socrates’ time,
his obedience to the states’ laws, his patriotism, and
his love of country. He even refuses to escape and save
his own life when the opportunity presents itself.
Socrates insists that he is following a “higher law,”
God’s command, when he criticizes the state.
Elsewhere, Socrates is recorded as critical of the
Athenean democracy because the majority of people
are selfish, proud, and ignorant. He faults the political
leaders for pandering to the masses to be elected,
rather than having any independent intelligence, judg-
ment, or principles.
These Socratic views are developed by his greatest
student, Plato, especially in The Republic.His concern
for education leads to a Platonic state, ruled by a
PHILOSOPHER-KINGand preoccupied with educating the
VIRTUEs of all its CITIZENS. His plea that Athens treat his
sons as he treated them and that then they will have
“justice” (getting their “due”) becomes the central
theme of Plato’s Republic—the definition of justiceand
how to achieve it.
Many subsequent philosophers claim Socrates as
their inspiration and example, including John Stuart
MILL, C. S. LEWIS, and Henry David THOREAU.Further Reading
Kraut, R. Socrates and the State.Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1984.sovereignty
The ultimate political AUTHORITYor POWERin govern-
ment. For example, DEMOCRATICpolitical thought says
that “the people” are “the sovereign” because they pos-
sess ultimate, legitimate political authority. During the
European MIDDLE AGES, the king was often referred to
as the sovereign because a MONARCHhad absolute polit-
ical power. In SOCIAL-CONTRACT theory, because the
individuals form the government, they have sover-
eignty.
In the history of political thought, the term sover-
eigntydoes not become prominent until the latter Mid-
dle Ages. St. Thomas AQUINAS, the leading medieval
CATHOLIC theologian, places ultimate sovereignty in
God through DIVINE LAW. The ruler’s sovereignty (or
human law) is dependent on that divine authority and
must be exercised within the bounds of Christian truth
for the common good, or justice. Frenchman Jean
BODIN develops this notion of CHRISTIANsovereignty
into a doctrine of DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS. British liberalsovereignty 281