Socratic or History of the Philosophy of. The phenomena of nature and the system of the world had been the objects of philosophic meditation until Socrates. Philosophers had neglected the study of morality. They believed that its principles were intimately known to us and that it was useless to discuss the distinction between good and evil with a person whose conscience remained silent.

All their wisdom could be reduced to a few maxims that were inspired by daily experience and recited on occasions. Only Archelaus had broached the question of morals in his school, but his method was unsound and his lessons unsuccessful, Socrates, his disciple, born with excellent judgment, a noble soul, and a mind interested in important things with universal and primary usefulness, saw that it was necessary to try to make men good before we begin to make them learned; that while people had their eyes fastened on the stars, they were unaware of what happened at their feet; that by dwelling in heaven they became strangers in their own homes; that understanding was perhaps improving, but people still surrendered their will power; that time was lost in frivolous speculation; that men grew old without questioning themselves about the true happiness of life. And he brought back to earth the study of philosophy that had been led astray to the areas around the sun and the stars. He spoke about the soul and the passions, about vices and virtues, moral beauty and ugliness, society and other subjects directly related to our actions and our felicity. He displayed exceptional liberty in his way of thinking. There was not any sort of self-interest or intense fear which held the truth in his mouth. He listened only to experience, reflections, and the laws of honest men. And he deserved, among all those who had preceded him, the title of philosopher par excellence, a title that taken away by those who followed him. He removed our ancestors from their dusty eclipse and made them citizens and statesmen. This project could not be executed without danger among the brigands who were interested in perpetuating vice, ignorance, and prejudice. knew it, but nothing could intimidate a man who had placed his hopes beyond this world and for whom life was only an inconvenient place that held him in a prison far from his true native land.

Xenophon and Plato, his disciples, his friends, the witnesses and the imitators of his virtue, have recorded the history of his life: Xenophon with his own simplicity and candor; Plato with more ostentation and less attention to the truth. One day Socrates heard the latter reciting one of his dialogues; it was, I believe, the one entitled Lysis. For heaven's sake, cried out the good man, what beautiful lies this young man has told about me.

Socrates did not, believe that his calling as a philosopher exempted him from the perilous duties of a citizen. He left his friends, his solitude, his books to take up arms, and he served three years in the cruel war between Athens and Sparta. . . .

He was not less admirable in his private life. No man was born more temperate and chaste: neither the heat of summer nor the harsh cold of winter suspended his exercises. He did not act without having invoked heaven He did not even harm his enemies. People found him always ready to serve them. He was not satisfied with the good; he proposed the best in everything. Nobody had a more accurate and sound judgment of circumstances and things. There was nothing in his conduct for which he could not account satisfactorily. He kept a watchful eye on his friends, admonished them because they were dear to him, and encouraged them to be virtuous by his example and discourses. During his entire life he was the model of a very accomplished and very happy man. If we know more about how he used all his time, it would demonstrate to us more than any logical argument that for our happiness in this world we have nothing better to do than to practice virtue: an important thesis that embraces all moral questions and has not yet been proven. . . .

Socrates did not believe that he was placed on earth just for himself and his own family; he wanted to be as useful as possible to everyone, but especially to young people, in whom he hoped to find fewer obstacles to the good life. He took away their prejudices, made them love the truth, inspired in them a taste for virtue. He frequented their places of amusement. He sought them out and was seen constantly in their company on the streets, in public places, in the gardens, at the baths, the gymnasiums, and the promenades. He spoke before anyone who desired to approach him and listen. He made astonishing use of irony and induction: his irony revealed without any effort the ridiculous nature of certain opinions, while his inductive procedure dealt with questions remote from a subject in such a manner as to lead people imperceptibly to acknowledge the very thing they had denied. Add to this the charms of a sure, simple, fluent, and lively manner of speaking, the subtlety of his ideas, the graces, lightness, and delicacy peculiar to his nation, a surprising modesty and a scrupulous consideration not to offend, degrade, humiliate, or grieve people. They in turn were constantly proud of his mind. "I imitate my mother," he said: "she was not fertile, but she knew the art of comforting fertile women and of bringing to light the fruits they held in their wombs."

The Sophists did not have a more deadly scourge. His young listeners gradually adapted themselves to his method, and they soon practiced the gift of irony and induction in a manner rather disagreeable to dishonest orators, bad poets, would-be philosophers, and important people of unjust and proud character. No nonsense was tolerated from anyone, not even from priests, artists, or magistrates. The zeal of an enthusiastic and playful youth aroused hatred on all sides for the person who instructed them. This hatred increased and became frequently expressed. Socrates held such an emotion in contempt; so long as he was innocent, he did not care about being hated, deceived, or slandered. Nevertheless he became the victim of these attacks. His philosophy was not a matter of ostentation and pomposity but of courage and experience. Apollo said of him: "Sophocles is wise, Euripides is wiser than Sophocles; but Socrates is the wisest of all men." The Sophists boasted about knowing everything, Socrates about knowing only one thing that he knew nothing. He therefore spared himself the pleasure of questioning, embarrassing, and confounding them in a way that surely would have made them ashamed of their pretenses. Moreover this prudent man of consummate experience, who had listened, read, and meditated so much, quickly perceived that truth is like a thread which rises from one end of darkness and becomes lost in another; that the light of understanding gradually increases to a certain point on the length of this slender thread, beyond which it grows weaker and dies out. The philosopher is the person who knows exactly when to stop; the imprudent sophist always proceeds ahead, losing himself and others: his entire dialectic dissolves into uncertainty. constantly gave this lesson to the Sophists of his time, and they did not profit by it. They went away from him discontented without knowing why. Had they but returned to the question they had discussed with him, they would have perceived that they had allowed themselves to wander beyond the indivisible and luminous point, the limit of our weak reason.

People accused him of impiety; and we must admit that his religion was not that of his country. He scorned the gods and superstitions of Greece. He had nothing but pity for their mysteries. By the sheer force of his genius he arrived at an understanding of the oneness of God, and he had the courage to reveal this dangerous truth to his disciples The ignominy that has fallen upon those who condemned him must encourage all philosophers to speak the truth fearlessly, to make the men of the world who pronounce so lightly upon our conduct and who blame in us what they admire in more consistent and more cautious, and finally to frighten those who have been entrusted by Providence to execute the lazes and to maintain the peace with the thought that the system which they today consider so venerable and so marvelous will in future centuries, by the judgment of those who will examine the absurdity of them with deliberation, a very ridiculous and very contemptible body of myths [1].

After having placed his present and future happiness in the practice of virtue and the practice of virtue in the observation of natural and political laws, nothing could lead him astray. The most troublesome events, far from shaking his courage, did not even disturb his equanimity. He rescued from torture those ten judges who had been condemned by the tyrants. He did not wish to escape from prison. He learned about his death sentence while smiling. His life was filled with these traits.

He scorned insults. Scorn and pardon in return for insults, the virtues of the Christian. are the vengeance of a philosopher. He observed the most rigorous form of moderation, relating the things that nature intended for our use to preservation and not to sensual pleasure. He said that the fewer needs men have, the more they resemble the gods; he was poor, and his wife could never induce him to accept the gifts of Alcibiades and of some powerful men who honored him. He regarded justice as the foremost virtue, and this principle is rather fruitful. His benevolence, similar to that of the Supreme Being, was applied without exception. He detested flattery. He loved beauty in men and women but was not a slave of it: this represented a simple and honest pleasure for which even Aristophanes, the vile instrument of his enemies, did not dare reproach him. What shall we think of the willingness and ease with which some men among the ancients and the moderns have received and repeated the calumny directed against the purity of his morals? Indeed, the mere mention of such slander would make us flush with anger. They were themselves either envious or corrupt. Shall we be astonished that such infernal souls might exist? Perhaps, if we did not know what violent and secret motives could inspire: see what we shall say about his daemon in the article Theosophists.

Socrates did not keep a school and did not write. We know about his doctrine only what his disciples have transmitted to us. We have drawn our information from these sources.

Opinions of on the Divinity. He said:

If God has concealed his nature to our understanding, He has revealed His existence, His wisdom, His power, and His goodness in His works.

He is the author of the world, and the world is the organization of everything good and beautiful. . . .

Opinion of Socrates on the soul. He believed it to be preexistent to the body and endowed with the knowledge of eternal ideas. This knowledge, which dies away when the soul is united with the body, is revived in time with the use of reason and the senses. To learn is to remember again; to die is to return to the first state of happiness for the righteous, of punishment for the wicked.

Principles of Socrates' Moral Philosophy. He said:

There is only one good, that is knowledge; only one evil, that is ignorance. The riches and pride of birth are the principal sources of evils.

Wisdom is the health of the soul.

The person who knows good and does evil is senseless.

Nothing is more useful and sweet than the practice of virtue.

The wise man will not fancy that he knows those things of which he is ignorant.

Justice and happiness are the same thing.

The person who first distinguished the useful from the just was a detestable man.

Wisdom is the beauty of the soul; vice is its ugliness.

The beauty of the body proclaims the beauty of the soul.

A beautiful life is like a beautiful painting: all the parts must be beautiful.

A happy and peaceful life is for the person who can examine himself without shame; nothing troubles him because he has no crime to reproach himself for.

Let man study and know himself.

The person who knows himself will escape the many evils that are in store for the person who is unaware of his own nature; he will understand first of all that he knows nothing and will try to educate himself.

It cannot be said that a man who has a good but preliminary background in a subject has not accomplished anything, for he has accomplished something, although it is very small.

There is only one wise teaching: that virtue is one and indivisible.

The best way to honor the gods is to do what they command.

We must ask of the gods what is in general good for us; to specify something in a prayer is to pretend to have knowledge that is reserved for them.

We must worship the gods of our country and adjust the offering to our means; the gods pay more attention to the purity of our hearts than to the abundance of our sacrifices.

Laws are from heaven; what is according to the law is just on earth and sanctioned by heaven.

What proves the celestial origin of laws, such as the commandments to worship the gods, to honor one's parents, and to love one's benefactor, is that punishment is necessarily tied to their infraction; this necessary linking of the law with the penalty for the infraction cannot be of human origin.

We must be as obedient to a father who is too severe as to a law that is too harsh.

The atrocious character of ingratitude is proportionate to the importance of the service or gift; we owe to our parents the most important of our possessions.

The ungrateful child will gain neither the favor of heaven nor the esteem of men. What can I, a stranger, expect from someone who fails in his duty to precisely those people to whom he owes the most?

The person who sells his wisdom to others for money prostitutes himself like the woman who sells her beauty.

The possession of wealth by an unreasonable man is comparable to his riding a fiery steed that has no bridle.

The wealth of a miser resembles the light of the sun, which gives pleasure to no one after the sun has set.

I call a miser the person who amasses a fortune in a base manner and does not want any poor friends.

The prodigal's wealth is used only for the benefit of sycophants and prostitutes.

There is no fund that pays as much as a sincere and virtuous friend.

True friendship is not possible between two wicked men nor between a wicked and a good man.

We can obtain the friendship of a man by cultivating in ourselves those qualities that he values in himself.

There is no virtue that cannot be improved and enhanced by reflection and practice.

The goodness of man has nothing to do with wealth, birth, status, or titles; for it lies in his own hands.

Fire is spread by the wind, and love by the commerce of human relations.

Arrogance consists in saying everything and desiring to hear nothing.

We must familiarize ourselves with pain in order to receive it when it comes as if we had expected it.

We must not fear death, for it is either a long slumber or a journey to another place.

If nothing remains of us after death, it is still more of an advantage than an inconvenience.

It is preferable to die honorably than to live with dishonor.

We must avoid incontinence by fleeing.

The more temperate we are in our habits, the more we approach the state of the gods, who do not need anything.

We must not neglect the health of the body; that of the soul depends too much upon it.

Peace is the greatest possession.

Nothing to excess; this is praise for a young man.

Men live to eat; the righteous eat to live.

To be wise in time of good fortune means to know how to walk on ice.

An infallible method to gain respect is not to pretend to appear as good as one is.

If you are a good man, people will have as much faith in your word as in your oath.

When you turn your back to the slanderer and to the scandalmonger, there is something perverse that makes them act and speak.

Principles of Socrates' domestic prudence. He said:

The person who knows how to manage his household will take advantage of everything, even his enemies.

Be on your guard against apathy, laziness, and negligence; avoid luxury; consider husbandry as the most important resource. There are ignoble pursuits that we must not follow; they debase the soul.

You must not allow your wife to be ignorant of those things that are important to know for your happiness and for hers.

Everything must be shared by a married couple.

The man looks after things of the world, the woman takes care of the home.

It is not without reason that nature has attached mothers more closely than fathers to the children.

Principles of Socrates' political prudence.

True sovereigns are not those who wield the scepter because they hold it by birth, chance, force, or the consent of the people, but those who know how to command.

The monarch is the person who commands those who have submitted to his authority; the tyrant, a person who forces people to obey: one enforces the law, the other his will.

The good citizen will contribute, as much as he can, to make the republic flourish in time of peace and victorious in time of war; if the people rise in rebellion, he will urge them to settle their differences in harmony; as a deputy of peace among the enemy he will try all honest means of reconciliation.

The law was not made for good men.

The best-protected city is the one that contains the greatest number of honest people; the most orderly, the one where the magistrates act in concert; the one we must prefer to all, where virtue is certain to have rewards.

Live in one where you obey only the laws.

This should be the occasion to speak of the accusations brought against him, of his defence and of his death, but these things are discussed in so many places! Who does not know that he was the of the oneness of God?

After the death of his disciples threw themselves on his gown and tore it to pieces. I mean to say that they devoted themselves to different areas of philosophy and that they founded a multitude of diverse sects, some opposed to others, and that we must consider them as so many divided families, although they all recognize the same lineage.