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Socrates, the Athenian philosopher who died in 399 BC, left no writings of his own. We know him mainly through his students Plato and Xenophon, and through a comedy that mocked him while he was still alive.

Philosophy history

PhilosophyHistory

The story behind the card

Socrates (about 470–399 BC) taught by asking questions in the streets and squares of Athens, and at about 70 he was tried for impiety and for corrupting the young, and sentenced to death. Plato, his most famous student, made him the main speaker in dozens of dialogues, and Xenophon wrote memoirs of him. The playwright Aristophanes had already mocked him in The Clouds (423 BC) as a crank who teaches young men clever tricks of argument. The three portraits often disagree, and scholars call the difficulty of recovering the real man the 'Socratic problem'. His silence on the page may have been a choice: in Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates argues that writing weakens memory and that a written text cannot answer back when it is questioned.

Türkçe oku
Atinalı filozof Sokrates, MÖ 399'da öldüğünde ardında tek satır yazı bırakmamıştı. Onu bugün başta öğrencileri Platon ile Ksenophon'un yazdıklarından, bir de daha hayattayken onunla alay eden bir komediden tanıyoruz.

Sokrates (yaklaşık MÖ 470–399), Atina'nın sokaklarında ve meydanlarında sorular sorarak öğretirdi. Yetmiş yaşlarındayken tanrılara saygısızlık etmek ve gençleri yoldan çıkarmakla suçlanarak yargılandı ve ölüme mahkûm edildi. En ünlü öğrencisi Platon onu onlarca diyaloğun başkişisi yaptı; Ksenophon da onu anlatan anılar yazdı. Oyun yazarı Aristophanes ise daha önce, MÖ 423'te sahnelenen Bulutlar'da onu gençlere laf cambazlığı öğreten tuhaf bir adam olarak göstermişti. Bu üç portre çoğu zaman birbirini tutmaz; gerçek Sokrates'e ulaşmanın bu güçlüğüne “Sokrates sorunu” denir. Yazmaması bilinçli bir tercih de olabilir: Platon'un Phaidros diyaloğunda Sokrates, yazının belleği zayıflattığını ve yazılı bir metnin kendisine sorulan sorulara yanıt veremeyeceğini söyler.

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Background reading: Socrates
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