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The Philosopher’s Way
It would be very difficult for a student of philosophy to examine and model the Philosopher’s way without closely examining the life and perspective of Socrates. In some ways, he defined philosophy as a practice in history. For many, he is the ultimate example of the Philosopher’s Way because of his utter devotion to the craft and the fact that his sacrificial demise was a direct result of his teachings. He went against his culture and the people around him, continuing to teach the youth of Athens even as he upset powerful figures of the time. Today, Socrates represents a turning point in the history of philosophy, so much so that thinkers before him are labeled as “pre-Socratic”. He was praised after his death by philosopher of stoicism Epictetus, who told his followers, “though you are not yet a Socrates, you ought, however, to live as one desirous of becoming a Socrates” (Enchiridion, 50). He could also be considered a cornerstone of modern western ethical thinking. Where other philosophers had previously focused on mathematics and the reason of reality, Socrates was revolutionary not only in his continuation of knowledge theories but in his search for value and true wisdom, a mindset carried on by philosophers who emerged following his death.
Pre-Socratic philosophers were given their label in order to contrast their ideas with the moral perspective of Socrates. Many of those predecessors were concerned with cosmological, mathematical, and physical speculation, while a few explored ethics and the value of life (as Socrates would soon continue to do). These thinkers were set apart from the general public they existed in. Heraclitus, for instance, called himself an inquirer. The subjects of pre-socratic thought were vast, including views on physics, mathematics, psychology, and early epistemology (Graver, 2017). Figures such as Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Empedocles explored and explained the world within its own inherent terms and boundaries (Graham, 2019). The insight that could be gathered from thought was limited by its nature, so much so that Heraclitus considered himself the true possessor of knowledge, saying, “Much learning does not teach understanding; else it would have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras, and again Xenophanes and Hecataeus.” (Graham, 2019). He refers to four other great thinkers in and around his time, limited by the boundaries of the nature of their studies. These boundaries would be surpassed by Socrates and the men that followed him. Nevertheless, the ideas that came before the model of the philosopher's way provided the foundation for the beginning of western philosophy.
Socrates marked a shift in the contents and application of philosophy that would be emulated for decades after his death. He signifies both the effective bridge between philosophy and ethics and the philosopher’s way. While thinkers before him had rarely broached the topics of truth, wisdom, and the value of life, Socrates devoted his life to the study of those concepts (Ambury, 2002). His words and ultimately court trial were recorded by Plato, and Socrates is noted for stating “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” (Plato) In order to understand the outside world, Socrates evaluated himself and his own morals and truths. He was unafraid to ask questions, to search for answers, to evaluate wisdom at all levels, even to the highest officials of Athens. This devotion to knowledge and the Socratic questioning method led to Socrates’ demise, as he was put on trial and eventually executed for “corrupting” the youth and not paying sufficient homage to the various Greek gods (Ambury, 2002). But even in the face of his dire fate, Socrates was unapologetically a philosopher, calling out to his students and pointing out fallacies in his accuser’s arguments. To him, the unexamined life was “not worth living” (Plato). Since he had influenced Athens to such a degree, causing many to study their own values as a result of direct questions, Socrates was willing to die. In fact, Plato in his piece Apology recorded Socrates saying, “I regard this as a proof that what has happened to me is a good, and that those of us who think that death is an evil are in error.”(Plato) He believed that nothing harmful could happen to a man as long as he retained truth and knowledge as his value (Ambury, 2002). The great thinker, in death, had fulfilled his duty as a philosopher to the highest degree, and thus is the model for the philosopher’s way.
Following the life and death of Socrates, many philosophers continued his tradition of questioning, of searching for the value of life in both the abstract and the physical. The Cyreniacs, followers of Aristippus of Cyrene, adopted Socrates’ idea that pleasure was the ultimate form of good for the betterment of a society, furthering it and adopting it as their primary school of thought (Ambury, 2002). Antisthenes, a thinker who learned from Socrates while he was still alive, spread the concept of the value of virtue as the true measure of happiness, and therefore the common man’s inability to be harmed by the physical world (The Pursuit of Happiness, 2018). Perhaps one of the most Socratic-like philosophers to follow him in the later years, Diogenes devoted himself to studies concerning ethics and the nature of separation from the things that typically provided happiness to man (McCunn, 2016). He, too, taught in the marketplace, influencing the young generation of his time as Socrates did. However, the followers of Diogenes, titled Cynics, regarded cultural traditions and distinctions such as marriage, family, and authority as detriments to the ultimate life of virtue they sought (McCunn, 2016). Thus, thinkers following the life of Socrates built on his original ideas, influencing their own perspectives from his example of the philosopher’s way.
Socrates is the mark of the philosopher’s way, an advancement of the philosophers before him and a foundation for the thinkers who came after him. He surpassed the limitations of the men before him, accessing wisdom of the world not by the physical, but from within. The great figures who succeeded Socrates then took this idea and developed it, the Cynics being one group out of many. Even today, Western philosophy remembers Socrates. He remains the true model for the philosopher’s way and will continue to influence generations to come.
Works Cited:
Ambury, James M. “Socrates.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, King's College, Aug. 2002, www.iep.utm.edu/socrates/#SH4a.
Graham, Daniel W. “Heraclitus.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 3 Sept. 2019, plato.stanford.edu/entries/heraclitus/.
Graver, Margaret. “Epictetus.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 17 Apr. 2017, plato.stanford.edu/entries/epictetus/.
Jowett, Benjamin. “ Apology by Plato.” The Internet Classics Archive | Apology by Plato, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009, classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html.
McCunn, John. “The Cynics.” University of Chicago Press Journals, The University of Chicago, 14 Oct. 2016, www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2376142.pdf.
The Enchiridion by Epictetus.” The Enchiridion by Epictetus, The Internet Classics Archive. 1998, classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html.
The Pursuit of Happiness. “Socrates and Happiness.” Pursuit of Happiness, The Pursuit of Happiness Incorporated, May 2018, www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/socrates/.