Historical Personality - Socrates

Socrates

Only a few personalities in history enchant me as much as Socrates. He had some of the character traits I value the most: lightness of soul, bravery, simplicity, humility and the assumption that “all I know is I know nothing”.

Philosophical writings report that Socrates, since very little, tirelessly dedicated himself to what he considered his mission: to dialog with people. But they were dialogues in which he asked more about things he heard than provided elucidation. The rationale behind it was that the questions would lead the interlocutor to analyze their own convictions. By doing so, he put into question several alleged “talents” and unfounded sapience reputations. For those who accepted to submit themselves to the socratic dialogues, acknowledging their own ignorance regarding something could mean a “conscience renaissance”.

Once, after a prolonged conversation with a local personality, who considered himself a wisdom model, Socrates told him that he (the interlocutor) presumed to be wise, but he was not. Socrates then became hated by most of those present in the occasion. His conclusion about that is the following: “I am wiser than this man; it is highly probable that none of us knows anything, but he supposes to know something and he does not; while I, if I don’t know, I don’t suppose to know either. It seems, then, that I am a little bit wiser than him for not assuming to know what I don’t know”.
 
Accused for not accepting the State’s gods, for introducing new ones and for subverting the young, Socrates is judged and convicted. He never denied his words and attitudes in order to change the opinion of the tribunal. On the opposite, he proclaimed to those who were suppose to judge him: “I have no occupation, other than trying to persuade you all, old and young, to focus less on your bodies and goods and more on the perfection of your souls. Also, in telling you that virtue does not come from wealth or from what you consider useful, either in the public or the private life. If, by doing so, I am subverting the young, there is not much I can do; but if someone states that I say otherwise, they’re lying”.

Socrates refused to make any kind of concession, even to pay the fine for his freedom, because that would be endorsing the guilt that was denied by his own consciousness. About the death penalty Socrates said: “If death is the extinction of all sorts of feelings and if it resembles one of those sleep mode where we see nothing, not even while dreaming, then dying is a wonderful gain (…) On the other hand, if death is like a passage from here to somewhere else and if it is true, as some advocate, that it is there where the dead get together, can we, dear judges, imagine anything better?”

When he declined the support of his friends to escape the prison, he said: “The only thing that matter is to live honestly and without committing injustices, not even in retaliation for a perpetrated injustice”. 

When the jailer brought him the hemlock (a highly poisonous plant), he took it in a single swig, telling your friends afterwards: “Everything must end with words of good augury. Remain, then, serene and strong”

*Born in Athens in 470 (or 469) B.C. and died in 399 B.C.
Source: The Thinkers Collection – Nova Cultural (Socrates)