Socrates
One evening in June 399 BC, a seventy-year-old man was about to be executed in an Athens prison.
I saw that his clothes were ragged and his feet were bare, but his face was calm and composed. After sending away his wife and family members, he chatted with several friends and seemed to have forgotten about the upcoming execution. It wasn't until the jailer brought in a glass of poisonous juice that he stopped talking, took the glass, and drank it all. Afterwards, he lay down, smiled and said to his friends who came to say goodbye,
He once ate one of his neighbor's chickens, and he hasn't paid for it yet, so please repay it for him. After saying that, the old man closed his eyes peacefully and fell asleep.
This old man is the great philosopher Socrates.
Socrates (470 BC - 399 BC) was not only a famous philosopher in ancient Greece, but also a famous historical figure with a distinctive personality who has been criticized and praised from ancient times to the present.
His father was a stonemason and carver, and his mother was a midwife.
As a teenager, Socrates learned crafts from his father, was familiar with Homer's epic poems and the works of other famous poets, and became a very knowledgeable person through self-study.
He made a living by imparting knowledge. When he was in his 30s, he became a social ethics teacher who did not receive compensation or set up a library. Many children from rich and poor families often gathered around him to learn from him and learn from him. Socrates often said: "I only know that I know nothing."
He spent most of his life outdoors. He likes to talk with people from all walks of life in public places such as markets, sports fields, and streets on various issues, such as war, politics, friendship, art, ethics, etc. He participated in the war three times, served as a hoplite, and rescued wounded soldiers in battle more than once.
At around the age of 40, he became a well-known figure in Athens.
Socrates lived a hard life. Regardless of the severe cold, he always wears an ordinary single coat, often wears no shoes, and is not particular about eating.
But he didn't seem to notice this and just concentrated on his studies.
Socrates’ teachings are mystical. He believes that the survival, development and destruction of various things in heaven and on earth are arranged by God.
God is the master of the world. He opposed the study of nature as blasphemous. He advocated people to understand the principles of life and live a moral life.
His philosophy mainly studies ethical and moral issues.
Socrates often debated with others. During the debate, he used question-and-answer formats to help the other party correct and abandon their original misconceptions and help them generate new ideas.
He abstracted the universal from the individual and took the four steps of sarcasm, midwifery, induction and definition. "Satire" means to make the other party contradict themselves and admit their ignorance on this issue through constant questioning;
"Midwifery" means to help the other party abandon their misconceptions and find the correct and universal things.
It is to help the truth come out; "Induction" is to find out the essence from individual things, and to find general rules through individual analysis and comparison;
"Definition" is to classify a single concept Go to the general.
Socrates never gave students ready-made answers when teaching them. Instead, he used rhetorical questions and refutations to make students unconsciously accept the influence of his thoughts.
Look at an interesting example of a question and answer session between him and his students.
Student: Socrates, what are good deeds?
Socrates: Are theft, deception, and selling people as slaves good or bad?
Student: It’s an evil act.
Socrates: Is it evil to deceive your enemies? Is it a bad act to sell captured enemies into slavery?
Student: This is a good deed. But I'm talking about friends, not enemies. Socrates: According to you, stealing is a bad thing to a friend.
But if your friend wants to commit suicide and you steal the tools he plans to use to commit suicide, is this an evil act? Student: It’s a good deed.
Socrates: You said that lying to friends is a bad thing. However, during the war, in order to boost morale, the commander of the army told the soldiers,
Reinforcements are coming. But there are actually no reinforcements. Is this deception evil?
Student: This is a good deed.
This teaching method has its merits. It can inspire people's thoughts and make people actively analyze and think about problems.
He uses dialectical methods to prove that truth is concrete. It is relative and can transform into its opposite under certain conditions.
This epistemology is of great significance in the history of European thought.
Socrates advocated the theory of expert governance. He believed that all walks of life and even national political power should be managed by trained, knowledgeable and talented people.
He opposed the election by lot. Democracy practiced by the law. He said: Managers are not those who hold power and bully others.
They are not those elected by the people, but those who know how to manage. For example, a boat should be driven by someone who is familiar with sailing; when spinning wool, women should manage men because they are good at it and men don't. He also said that the best people are those who are competent at their jobs.
A person who is good at farming is a good farmer; a person who is good at medicine is a good doctor; a person who is good at politics is a good politician.
In 404 BC, Athens failed in the Peloponnesian War, and "the rule of the Thirty Tyrants replaced the democratic government."
Clitias, the leader of the Thirty Tyrants He was a student of Socrates. It is said that once Critias called Socrates and ordered him to lead four men to arrest a rich man and seize his property. Socrates refused to obey and walked away.
He not only dared to resist Critias' illegal orders, but also publicly condemned his atrocities. Critias called him away angrily and forbade him to approach the young man again, warning him: "Be careful, lest we have to lose another sheep from the flock."
Socrates ignored him at all and continued to go his own way.
Later, the rule of the "Thirty Tyrants" was overthrown, and the democrats regained power. Some people accused him of having a close relationship with Critias, opposing democratic politics, and poisoning young people with heresies. Socrates was arrested and imprisoned. According to Athenian law, before the court condemns the defendant, the defendant has the right to propose a penalty different from that requested by the plaintiff, so that the court can choose one of the two. Socrates took this opportunity to deliver an impassioned speech.
He claimed to be innocent and believed that his words and deeds were not only innocent, but also conducive to social progress. As a result, he was sentenced to death.
While in prison, his friends tried their best to persuade him to escape, bribed the jailer, and formulated an escape plan, but he would rather die than violate his beliefs.
. In this way, the 70-year-old man passed away peacefully.
Socrates had a large number of fanatical admirers and a large number of fierce opponents both during his lifetime and after his death.
He did not leave any writings in his life, but his influence was huge. Historians of philosophy often regard him as a watershed in the development history of ancient Greek philosophy, and call his previous philosophy Pre-Socratic philosophy. As a great philosopher, Socrates had a great influence on later Western philosophy.
A collection of Socrates' famous aphorisms
Know yourself (know yourself)
The fewer our needs, the closer we are to God.
The gods have reserved for themselves the knowledge of the most important things
Those who want to control the world must first be able to control themselves.
Only by knowing yourself can you know life.
Beauty is difficult
Virtue is knowledge or: Virtue is knowledge, ignorance is the source of evil
Ignorance is evil
Others live to eat, I eat to live.
Wisdom means knowing one's ignorance
I only know one thing in my life, why am I so ignorant.
There are two kinds of people in this world, one is a happy pig, and the other is a painful person. Be a miserable person, not a happy pig.
If you put the pain of everyone in the world together and let you choose, you may still be willing to choose your original share.
Men live by forgetfulness, and women live by remembering.
Only reason is the most valuable
I know very clearly that I have no wisdom, no matter how big or small.
Education is a tool and method to seduce our hearts
The most effective education method is not to tell people the answers, but to ask them questions.
If you want to learn knowledge from me, you must first have a strong desire for knowledge, just like you have a strong desire to survive.
Ideas should be born in the hearts of students, and teachers should just act like midwives.
There is a sun in everyone, the main thing is how to make it shine.
Education is not indoctrination, but igniting a fire.
Problems are midwives, helping new ideas to be born.
The best person is yourself
The more you know, the less you know.
I know my ignorance, I know my ignorance.
An unexamined life is worthless or: An unexamined life is not worth living
My tongue is especially strong before many people.
Secret love is the most beautiful love in the world
Don’t rely on gifts to get a friend
Tell me your friends and I will know what you are like people.
In this world, besides sunshine, air, water and smiles, what else do we need!
I will die and you will live. Only God knows who will live happier.
I go around and do nothing else but ask you, young and old, not to care only for your bodies, but to protect your souls.
For philosophers, death is the final self-realization. It is a desirable thing because it opens the door to true knowledge.
The soul is freed from the fetters of the body and finally realizes the visual realm of the bright kingdom of heaven.
I only know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.
Anything that could have been done better is considered lazy!
People can make mistakes, but they cannot make the same mistake.
When you are angry, keep your mouth shut to avoid increasing your anger.
If I can tolerate my wife, I can tolerate anyone else!
A good marriage can only bring you happiness, but a bad marriage can make you a A philosopher.
No one refuses to do good just because they know it
Any real experiment shows that any kind of physical or mental disease can be alleviated by eating a vegetarian diet and drinking pure water illness.
I am not just a citizen of Athens, I am also a citizen of the world.
Thinking about it, I still owe someone a rooster that I have yet to pay back.
Socrates has a simple language and ordinary appearance, with a flat nose, thick lips, bulging eyes,
a clumsy and short body and a sacred mind. . He talked loudly in the streets of Athens and asked people questions everywhere. For example, what is piety? What is democracy? What is virtue? What is courage? What is truth? And what is your job?
What knowledge and skills do you have? Are you a politician? If so, what have you learned about domination? Are you a teacher?
How do you conquer your own ignorance before educating ignorant people? etc. The purpose of asking this question, Socrates said:
"My mother is a midwife, and I want to follow in her footsteps. I am a spiritual midwife, helping others to generate their own thoughts."
As for Socrates himself, he said: "I only know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." "I follow the footsteps of truth like a hound."
In order to pursue the truth, Socrates ignored his own interests, career and family. He was a martyr of philosophy. He once asked himself: What is philosophy? He answered himself: "Know thyself!"
The Death of Socrates
Western civilization originated from ancient Greek civilization, which was a prosperous Greek world dotted across the Mediterranean region. If the spirit of ancient Greece could be summed up in one word,
it would be - freedom. At a time when most countries or nations in the world were crawling in fear under the despotic power of tyrants, the ancient Greeks had already embarked on the path of autonomy and freedom.
They live freely around the Aegean Sea, like the singing birds in the sky. A masterpiece of ancient Greek civilization is the city-state of Athens, which was named after Athena, the goddess of wisdom, daughter of Zeus, the king of gods, and respected her as the city's patron saint. There are countless stories about the city-state of Athens. In the hundreds of years after the founding of the city of Athens,
this city-state known for its wisdom, bravery and democratic system experienced countless swords and natural disasters
but under the influence of the goddess of wisdom and Under the protection of the goddess of reasoning, she always stands firm. However, in 399 BC, the city of Athens began to decline,
and was completely defeated mentally. The opponent was an old man in his seventies, a man known as The philosopher of "Western Confucius"——Socrates, because of a trial.
There seems to be a glorious figure wandering in the smoke and grass of Athens, Socrates, this immortal soul is never tired of carrying God's oracles,
No The residence sends an aura of rationality to people who come and go in a hurry. He was a citizen from a middle-class family in Athens. His father was a sculptor and his mother was a midwife.
He was born at the moment of complete victory in the Greco-Persian War, and grew up in the heyday of Pericles, when wise men gathered in Athens from all over Greece,
bringing democracy to Athens. There came a period of much new knowledge and a new fashion for free debate. The young Socrates sought advice from the famous wise men Protagoras and Prodicus, and discussed various important social, personnel and philosophical issues. He ushered in a new era of Greek philosophy with a new understanding of philosophy. Through his teachings, Plato and Aristotle were produced, and new schools such as the Cynics were produced. Through them, he has continued to influence to the Hellenistic-Roman era. He was not outstanding in appearance,
but his words were charming. He spent his life debating and teaching philosophy to young people. In 399 BC, he was accused of guilt.
The main charges were two: disrespecting the gods worshiped by the city-state and introducing new gods, and corrupting the youth, and he was sentenced as a result. Friends planned to rescue him and escape from Athens, but he refused. He believed that he must abide by the laws of Athens because there was a sacred contract between him and the country that he could not violate.
Socrates believed that although you do not have to obey the laws of the city-state if they are unjust, if you violate the laws of the city-state,
you must still submit to punishment. Socrates
exactly did this. He felt an obligation to obey the legal authority and laws of the city-state,
so he accepted it very consciously. Even before his death, he still discussed philosophical issues with his friends. When the time came,
He drank the poisoned wine peacefully and used his life and philosophy to repay the city-state of his motherland. He died at the age of 69. In the case of Socrates,
one side is a great philosopher who pursues truth and sacrifices his life for justice, and the other side is the city-state of Athens, which flaunts democracy and freedom and is regarded as the source of democratic politics.
Who is right and who is wrong, who is good and who is evil, are not so clear-cut, and the emotional choice becomes a kind of painful torture, so its tragic color becomes more obvious.
Socrates’ philosophy is integrated with his life practice, and his personal destiny is inseparable from the destiny of Athens.
He pursued the ideal of goodness for his motherland, and his motherland used the death penalty to reward his contribution and fulfill his philosophy.
Socrates did not show the slightest anger, fear or sadness, but still used his wise tone to sincerely advise everything.
He understood that he was God's messenger, and that all this was God's arrangement. He still had unfinished parts of his life, and death could give him a perfect ending.
In ancient Greece, law was regarded as the basis for the security of the city-state. It had the dignity of a goddess and could be said to be the real protector of the city-state.
Under the protection of this god, the ancient Greek city-states were governed by law, and no one's status was higher than the law.
Socrates believes that the laws of a city-state are agreements made unanimously by citizens and should be implemented unswervingly.
Only by abiding by the law can the people work together and make the city-state strong. Incomparably, strict compliance with the law is the fundamental guarantee for the happiness of the people and the strength of the city-state. Its value is far higher than an individual's life.
Socrates also believed that laws, like city-states, all come from God and are principles set by God. Law was originally embodied as natural law, which is also the law of nature. It is purely a kind of God's will or God's intentional arrangement. Later, the laws promulgated by city-states were called human laws.
Although man-made laws are not as universal as natural laws but are volatile, because man-made laws are derived from natural laws,
People accept and obey the guidance of man-made laws. It means that people accept and obey the constraints of natural law, that is, obey the will of God.
The ideal state of a city-state must be a state where everyone abides by the law from the heart. This is not only the ideal and belief of Socrates throughout his life, but also the inner motivation for his generous sacrifice for the law in the end.
When Socrates was unjustly sentenced to death by his compatriots, he still talked about "obeying morality, respecting justice, the law is the most precious thing, and the rule of law is the most precious",
believes in the value of life Nothing more than this can truly be considered a free spirit. Socrates is a hero who realizes the power of moral ideals and realizes them consciously and voluntarily, even if he sacrifices his own life for it. His death is a tragedy. The tragedy is that both sides of the conflict have reasons for existing, but they are irreconcilable. So Socrates used his own body to shoulder this great conflict and the responsibility and mission of free personality.
For Socrates, his career was his spirit, the spirit of consciousness, voluntariness, self-discipline and thus freedom, which was magnified through him.
Socrates loved the city-state of Athens, and he would not allow the most sacred ideal to be desecrated in the slightest. Therefore, he resolutely chose death.
It’s not that he doesn’t cherish his life, but he pays more attention to his soul. He believes that God is everywhere and omnipotent.
Everything is conscious and purposeful by God. Clever arrangement. He did not betray God. In that case, death was God’s call to him.
What else could he hesitate about? Maybe people laugh at him, laugh at his naivety, laugh at his stubbornness and stubbornness, but only those who truly have insight into his inner world will be impressed by his wisdom and loyalty: wisdom is what he sees. And has been paying close attention to the virtues that no one has noticed. He is loyal to the city he loves, to the laws he obeys throughout his life, and to his eternal pursuit of ideals.
"The Apology" paints a clear picture: a very confident person, with a high mind who does not care about worldly success or failure,
believes that he is a divine voice Guided by, and convinced that clear thinking is the most important condition for a correct life.
There seems to be no doubt that the historical Socrates did claim to be guided by theism or the god of destiny.
Whether it is what Christians call the voice of conscience, or whether it is a real voice for Socrates, we have no way of knowing.
Before philosophy, Homer’s epic was the most popular and widely circulated cultural and ideological treasure house in Greece. It interweaves heroic stories with the humane activities of the gods, and expresses the Greeks' life imagination and world view. In fact, most of the Greek gods came from West Asian countries and Egypt.
The Greeks accepted them from them and then changed them in their own way, organizing them into their own universe and life picture.
The Orphic myths, legends and religious teachings, which were popular in various parts of Greece around the same time as philosophy, also gave Pythagore the basic ideas of soul reincarnation and purification.
Lars, Empedocles, Socrates, and Plato had an extremely profound and huge influence.
Socrates’ teachings are indeed mystical. He believes that the survival, development and destruction of various things in heaven and on earth are arranged by God.
God is the master of the world. He opposed the study of nature as blasphemous. He advocated people to understand the principles of life and live a moral life.
He defined philosophy as "the love of wisdom". One of his important points is that he knows that he is ignorant.
He concluded: "Only God is wise.
His answer is to point out that human wisdom has little or no value. God is not talking about Socrates.
p>He just used my name as an explanation, as if to say, people, only those who know that their wisdom is actually worthless, like Socrates,
He is the wisest man." He is proud of his ignorance and believes that everyone should admit his ignorance.
Socrates regarded himself as a gift and a messenger given to the Athenians by God. His task was to find people to talk to and discuss problems all day long.
To explore the most important things for people. Useful truth and wisdom. The theme throughout these discussions is to guide people to understand: on these issues that are crucial to people,
In fact, people are very ignorant, so people need to seek what is true justice and goodness through critical discussion , to achieve the purpose of transforming the soul and saving the city-state.
He also compared himself to a gadfly, a gift from God to Athens. The purpose of God giving him to Athens was to use this gadfly to stimulate the country.
Because Athens is like a horse, but it has become dull and lethargic due to fatness and laziness, so it is very necessary to have a horse. The gadfly stings it tightly, scolding and persuading it anytime and anywhere, so that it can wake up from its drowsiness and be refreshed. Sucrates regarded criticizing Athens as a sacred mission given to him by God. This sense of mission and the resulting thinking and exploration became the purpose of his life and philosophical practice.
He knew that doing so would make many people very angry and would trample the gadfly to death, but he could not violate the mission given to him by God, so he risked his life.
Socrates did advocate a new god who was the true source of moral goodness and wisdom: the god of cosmic reason.
This rational god of the universe is the ultimate basis for Socrates’ philosophical pursuit—the true good. People can have knowledge because they have received special care from God. , was endowed with a part of divinity, and therefore had a soul, a heart and reason that loved wisdom.
But people should understand that the little bit of soul you have is incomparable to the wisdom of God. Therefore, this new concept of rational God and the teaching that people should "know their own ignorance" have become a powerful force that inspires and promotes people to pursue true knowledge and criticize what is not true, not good, and hypocritical.
Aristotle also believed that the highest existence is God, which is goodness. His statement also came from Socrates. The concept of God has always been the origin and destination of Greek philosophy.
Greek philosophy has also continuously changed and purified people's original concepts of God in its development. The two aspects interact with each other. One of the most original of philosophers, Socrates drew the wisdom and power of his transformative philosophy from the fear of God. He regarded himself as a gift from God to the Athenians, a gadfly, a messenger who shouldered the mission of God to help people be kind, loving and wise. This is his reverence for God and his love for people.
Only by connecting with his concept of God, can we understand the profound meaning of the proposition of "self-knowledge of ignorance" that he advocated.
The death of Socrates is a far-reaching event in the history of Western culture, like a fable and a mystery.
He planned his own death, sentenced himself to death in the name of legal justice in a huge trial, and condensed the embers of his life into a mystery of death. , leaving behind a "Goldbach Conjecture" in the humanities for future generations. Socrates seemed to be defending himself,
but he also intended to seek truth in death. His death seemed to be a conspiracy between morality and law.
Socrates is called the Confucius of the West because they both created a new era, which was not achieved by military or political power.
It is about gaining a thorough understanding of human life through reason, thereby guiding a new attitude towards life. The city of Athens did not regain its glory because of the execution of Socrates, and there are no written records of the judges' thoughts after the trial. I think many of them are no longer able to face and convince their consciences.
Their souls will be shrouded in the lonely and tenacious figure of the old man. Socrates went to his gods. "Which way is better, only God knows."
Thousand-year walkers have walked farther and farther, but no one can erase this illusory name from their hearts - Socrates.
Socrates is a saint and martyr of philosophy. So far, no philosopher is as obsessed with living a just life as he was. He lived a person's life to the fullest.
From his life experience, we can get inspiration and realize that life will always face various encounters, successes and failures, even if we face difficulties When it comes to justice, we must accept it calmly.
More importantly, when people live in the world, they must shift their focus from the outside to the inside. Socrates had a large number of fanatical admirers and a large number of fierce opponents both during his lifetime and after his death. As a great philosopher, he did not leave any works in his life, but his influence was huge. He injected a booster into Greek philosophy and stirred up extremely turbulent waves. The aftermath continues to this day.
Socrates’ legal awareness is indeed worthy of our touching. I have read some books by the British scholar Hart. He divided the motivations for obeying the law into two types.
One is to go out of the country. To voluntarily accept and uphold the law, and to use legal rules as a guide for one's behavior. One is to discover through observation or practice that if one does not obey the law, one may be punished,
and is therefore forced to obey the law. Obviously, people with the former motive are very determined to abide by the law. Even if they face difficulties or temptations, they will overcome them, even at great cost.
As for a person with the latter motive, if the illegal benefits he can obtain at present are far greater than the possible punishment he may suffer in the future, he will take risks and violate the law.
It is not difficult to find that most Chinese people’s motivation for obeying the law belongs to the second type. When this happens, we don’t need to blame the low quality of the Chinese people,
because this is caused by our traditional legal culture and history. In the legal culture of ancient China, the law has no authority at all. Those who have authority are those who are in charge of the law.
People must never naively think that as long as they obey the law, they will be safe throughout their lives. Therefore, in the hearts of Chinese people, the law cannot become their code of conduct, and it is impossible to form the first law-abiding motivation mentioned by Hart. Many of the Chinese people’s legal psychology can be explained by this. For example, the Chinese believe that the law does not punish everyone.
The implication is that if many people break the law and I break the law, I will definitely not be punished, but he will not Thinking that you are doing something wrong by breaking the law. Chinese people do not regard obeying the law as a very honorable and noble thing. Instead, they regard taking advantage of the law as a sign of cleverness. When encountering a lawsuit, some people will seek help from the judge through personal relationships, hoping to win a judgment that is favorable to them, rather than pinning their fate on the fairness of the law. Therefore, today we propose "abiding by the law" as the most basic moral norm for our citizens
So that governing the country by law and governing the country by virtue can penetrate and complement each other, and only then can we enhance the people's awareness of law-abiding, which will be more effective It is conducive to the organic combination of governing the country by law and governing the country by virtue.
With the gradual establishment of our country’s market economic system and the deepening of opening up brought about by our country’s accession to the WTO, our country’s legal system has become more and more complete.
Citizens’ legal awareness It is becoming more and more popular that the market economy is an economy governed by the rule of law, and foreign exchanges must abide by the principles of the rule of law.
In such a social environment, we should seize the opportunity and make law-abiding the basic moral code of people's social life through a series of solid work.
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