SOCRATES EARLY LIFE AND BACKGROUND

According to history, Socrates was born in 469/470 BCE in Alopece, a suburb of Athens,

Greece. His father, Sophroniscus, was a stonemason, and his mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife.

As a member of the Athenian middle class, Socrates' family was considered respectable but not

wealthy. His father's profession allowed Socrates to learn the skills of a stonemason, which he

would later use to support himself.

Diogenes just like any other philosopher would say, Socrates, one of the most influential

philosophers in Western history, who left behind no written works. 1. "It is so shocking to realize

that even with Socrates high impact on philosophy, he did not pen down any notes or books.

Some scholars think that he had no interest in writing. It is known that Socrates belonged to an

oral tradition. Brickhouse, while stating some of the reasons Socrates could not pen down

anything, cited the writings of Plato (C. 380 BCE), Phaedrus; says, to Socrates, "written words

are static and lifeless".2 To him, knowledge should be lived not merely recorded, oral tradition

allows for dynamic interaction and critical thinking. In other words, if something is recorded the

room for discussion have been distorted. Our understanding of his life and teachings relies

heavily on the accounts of his students, particularly Plato and Xenophon.

Records have it that since Socrates participated in the peloponnesian war of 431-404

BCE which also have significant influence in his life and Philosophy, his student Plato in one of

his writings, "the dialogue of Plato" mentioned Socrates military service. 3 Nextly since so great

was a citizen of acting he would have been obligated to solve in the military during times of war.

1
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosopher. Trans. R. D. Hicks (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1925) Pg. 2.21
2
Brickhouse, T. C., & Smith, N. D. The Philosophy of Socrates. Westview Press, 2000.
3
Plato. Symposium. (Trans. Jowett B.) In the dialogues of Plato. (Circa 380 BCE)
 Scholars believed widely that Socrates acquaintance with the war give him a further

exposure to human nature. The war showed him human worst behavior influencing his view on

morality and ethics. Some of this views will be discussed subsequently in the paper. It is also

believed that because of this war Socrates had to question the authority of the Athenian

democracy because of their flaws. Brickhouse states, "Socrates Experiences in the war reinforced

his focus on individual virtue and moral character. Again, the war brutality and loss of life made

him acutely aware of Morality, shaping his view on the importance of living a virtues life. 4 He

realised life is short and unpredictable.

Because of Socrates position in the society some people were not happy. Socrates was on

trial for his life, after rejecting a number of farfetched accusations. (Accusations that suggested

he was a natural philosopher and a suphist: surface wear a group of traveling philosophers and

teachers in ancient Greece, the emphasized eloquence, and intellectualism, often teaching for

payments). "Certainly since one was a reaction against the other Socrates cannot be both.

Socrates wonders what the real charge against him is. He settles on the charge that he is guilty of

corrupting the morals of the youth of Athens".5 His accusation specifically was on impiety. He

was accused of not recognizing the gods of Athen and introducing new divine beings, of

corrupting the youths, he was alleged to have led young Athens astray, teaching them to question

authorities and traditional values.

In his defence, for create the night the natural philosophy and sophism. He distinguishes

himself from natural philosophers (e.g Anaxagoras) and Sophist (e.g Protagoras) emphasizing

his focus on ethics and self knowledge. He argues he never intended to corrupt anyone, he claims

his methods encourage critical thinking benefiting Athens. "Despite its impressiveness, Socrates
4
Brickhouse, 2000
5
John Cooper, Socrates from the Routledge Encyclopaedia of philosophy. 2005. P. 3
speech failed to convince his jury of 501 male fellow citizens, and he died in the State prison by

drinking hemlock as required by the law".6

SOCRATES METHOD

"Socratic method is directed towards finding a truth or the essence of teams through

dialogue between the provocateur and respondant".7 He (Socrates) engaged in conversations with

individuals usually experts, asking probing questions to challenge their views and understand

their meaning.

John says, he would test their ideas for logical consistency with other highly plausible

general views about mortality that they respondent also agreed to accept once Socrates presented

them.8 Socrates use this method of teaching to expose ignorance, to reveal the limitations of

knowledge and understanding and encourage critical thinking through this skills of questioning.

It helps to arrive at a deeper understanding of truth and wisdom. He succeeded in showing, to his

satisfaction and that of the respondent and the bystanders that the respondent's idea are not

consistent; "this practice is called "elenchus" or refutation".9 He was able to prove that politicians

and others who claimed to have wisdom about human affairs but in fact lacked it, drawing

attention to apparent and possible errors in their world view or thinking. John viewed that

Socrates does this as he wants them to think harder and to improve their ideas about virtues and

how to conduct a good human life. He never argued directly for ideas of his own but always

question those of others first".10 With some of these, he was declared as the wisest man in Athens

by the Oracle of Delph.

6
John Cooper, 2005
7
Christian Riffel. The Socratic Method Reloaded: How to make it work in large classes? 2021 p.33
8
John Cooper, 2005
9
John Cooper, 2005
10
paraphrased. John Cooper, 2005
 Socrates reached his film for his wisdom in the act of engaging others in the face-to-face

interrogation technique. "He do this with the aim of exposing the other limitation and to define

broadly ideas like virtue, beauty, Justice, and courage by discussing their ambiguity and

complexities".11 His position in those dialogue was that of a student, forcing his respondant to act

in the role of a teacher who in turn correct their perspective and educate them for further

response. Haris and Becirovic quoted Nicholas Schiller who give another interesting definition

of Socrates method, thus, "... Accordingly he asked questions, letting the other man do most of

the talking but keeping the cause of the conversation under his control and so, would expose the

inadequacy of the proposed definition of courage. The other will fall back on a fresh or modified

definition and so the process Will go on with or without final success.12

The assumption of ignorance of the truth by the teacher is also called "Socratic irony".

This mode could be both inductive and deductive reasoning. So critic method has five stages

according to Harris D. and Becirovic:

1. Wonder (possing questions such as: what is courage, what is virtue, etc);

2. Hypothesis (an answer to the wonder. Here, one gives his opinion or claim about the

question which becomes a hypothesis of the dialogue);

3. Elenchus, refutation and cross-examination (the core if Socrates practice; the hypothesis

is called into question and counter example is given to prove or disapproved the

hypothesis);

4. Acceptance/rejection of the hypothesis (participants accept or reject the counter

example);

11
Haris Daris, Senad Becirovic, 2016, Socratic Method as an Approach to Teaching. P.3
12
Haris D., Becirovic S., 2016
 5. Action (acting on the findings of the inquiry).13

CLASSIC AND MODERN SOCRATIC METHOD

Classic Socrates Method, Haris and Becirovic quoted Maxwell work, he explains that, "classic

refers to the early Socrates dialogue and some other dialogues of Plato. In this dialogues Socrates

claimed to have no knowledge of even the most fundamental principles such as Justice, holiness,

friendship, or virtue".14 Those the purpose of these dialogue is getting only short answers that

address very specific points. It begins with an initial question, followed by the interlocutors

response. Socrates would challenge the rest from and refutate it if necessary. This process repeats

until the interlocutor acknowledges tell limitations of their knowledge, the goal is to expose

ignorance and intellectual arrogance and encourage critical thinking.

In Modern Socratic Method, it leads a person step by step and knowledge is gained by

more and more question unlike the classic method. If the classic style is just naming or identify

topics of different kinds, the modern method is one that goes deeper, producing the specific

knowledge of those topic. People are questioning their own ideas and thus, developing their

critical thinking. "In modern Socrates critical thinking skilled facilitation and can be time

consuming. The emphasis is on axing well formed questions and continuing the investigation not

on finding absolute answers".15

13
Haris D., S. Becirovic, 2016. P.3
14
Haris D., Becirovic S., 2016. P.3
15
Haris D,. Becirovic S., 2016. P.4