The son of an Athenian mason and midwife, apparently born in 469 BC, became known to the whole world. The biography of Socrates, the “father” of idealistic philosophy, is available to us from several sources. First of all, this is the work of his follower Plato, who wrote the “Apology” of his teacher, as well as the work of Xenophon. The hero of our article himself did not write any works, but was satisfied with conversations with his listeners. He believed that in this way he developed the art of thinking. In addition, the biography of Socrates (or rather, some information about her) can be partially restored from the comedy of Aristophanes “Clouds”. However, in this work a caricature of a famous thinker is read rather, which the Greek author confused with his rivals - representatives of the school of sophists.
The famous Athenian philosopher, who was called the "gadfly" of the Athenians, lived in the era of the Peloponnesian Wars. In defiance of his contemporary sophists, he did not call himself a sage. He invented the word "philo-sophia." That is, Socrates considered himself a lover of wisdom, saying that he did not know anything for sure, and only he knew for sure. He criticized the principles of democracy in his native Greek city, was objectionable to many, aroused the wrath of eminent citizens and accusations of blasphemy, and was eventually sentenced to death. Here are a few words of his brief biography. Socrates, despite such parsimonious information about him, gave rise to a whole school of philosophical thinking, which in Soviet textbooks was called "objective idealism."
The main difference between the Athenian "gadfly" from the sophists was that he considered important not only the subjective factor in cognition ("man is the measure of all things"), but also objective. The last he believed Reason. It is he, “Nus” - this is a substance of divine origin in the human brain, and he is the judge of the whole subjective. Thanks to Reason, truth is available to us. Otherwise, everyone will remain in their own opinion, and there can be no common goal. The guarantor of approaching the truth is Daimonion (inner voice, conscience). The creativity of the philosopher was his own life. Socrates' biography shows us that he took his views very seriously. Philosophy, from his point of view, is the art of living right. Therefore, the main subject of reflection should not be ontology (what happened and where), but ethics.
However, the biography of Socrates also suggests that the question of knowledge was also one of the priorities for him. We must seek the essence, discover the common of the many. But this induction is good only for ethics, because in this way you can only know yourself and develop your virtues - restraint, justice, courage ... The only way to achieve the common goal of mankind - the absolute good. Many biographers of Socrates believed that he was an "ethical rationalist." After all, the philosopher believed that if you know about virtue, then you can practice it. To do this, there is a method that Socrates "spied" on his mother - mayevtika. This is a kind of dialectic, with which you can push the interlocutor to ensure that he himself found the right answer.
Among the many students of Socrates was the politician Alcibiades. Rumor has it that he was carnally in love with the philosopher, but the latter rejected his offer. He believed that all sorts of bodily relationships hinder such virtues as restraint. Socrates saved this politician and commander during the battle with the Spartans, being armed with only a club - none of the soldiers wanted to kill an unarmed philosopher.
But friendship with Alcibiades had a bad effect on the fate of the thinker. The political situation in Athens has changed, the politician fell into disgrace, and Socrates was accused of not honoring the gods and corrupting youth. The philosopher held himself very proudly during the trial and declared that he was not worthy of punishment, but of the highest honors. However, he was sentenced to death. As a free man, he drank poison himself (by the way, not in cycles, as the legend says, but, obviously, a hemlock infusion) and thanked Asclepius (the god of healing) for his recovery. So the thinker expressed his desire to get into a better world than the one in which he lived before. This happened in 399 BC. The philosopher Socrates, whose biography was briefly described in this article, made exemplary and instructive not only his life, but also his death.