According to Plato, the great philosopher Socrates
Socrates, like the sophists he stands before him, is concerned with the practical problems of human life. Unlike pragmatist sophists, who only look for utility, he approaches this problem with deep moral seriousness.
Socrates, like the sophistic teachers, does not impose what he claims to know already. It gives birth to the common truths of all humanity, which are inherently hidden in the soul, from the addressee, so to speak, with the question-answer dialogue method. – Whether a person falls into a pool or falls into the middle of the sea, his job is to swim, right?
– No doubt.
- So, let's start swimming. Maybe a dolphin will take us on its back, and if something unexpected happens, we will get out of it.
Socrates – (State 453 D)
When it comes to the philosopher; Socrates is the first name that comes to mind of everyone, big or small, in any geography. Great genius, master of irony, midwife of knowledge… Many more names can be given to him. It proves to us how enjoyable, and even more useful, necessary and even necessary work is philosophy, which is described as 'boring' by many of us. Although Socrates is a philosopher in the full sense of the word (knowledge lover), he is a person who loves knowledge.
Today, making our children read only his dialogues will create a brand new and solid climate of thought. It is a real food source for raising a generation that loves thinking and knowledge. Here, before we move on to pieces from the works of the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who introduced him to us in the most comprehensive way, taking a look at the thought environment of the age in which Socrates lived will enable us to understand him much better.
Anarchy of values in Socrates and Athens
From Thales (625 – 545 BC), who is considered the first ancestor of all subsequent thinkers and the beginning of the approximately 2600-year history of Western philosophy, to Democritus (460 – 370 BC), the chief of the old materialist school, roughly. In ancient Greek philosophy, the first attempts to create a scientific picture of the universe take place. The focus of attention of this first philosophy is nature and the beginning of things and the problem of existence and becoming.
In the century following this period; Democratic development, political-economic development in Athens reveals a certain need for training. The theoretical and speculative framework of Bilgi, which was available in previous years, begins to seem narrow and insufficient for the developing life style of the society. The necessity of knowledge to have a practical and social value results in the thinkers leaving the cosmos and becoming problem aside.
The new thinkers who believe in the necessity of keeping up with the new order and shift their attention from nature and the universe to the human and human mind are the Sophists. According to them, knowledge is not to satisfy a theoretical curiosity. It should be at the disposal of practice, that is, real life. In this respect, it has been beneficial for them to bring philosophy down from the sky to the ground and to make Human a subject of value.
But as it is known, the word 'Sophist' (knowledgeable person) has a contemptuous meaning that has survived to the present day. It is the second-period sophists, who grew up later, who placed this negative meaning by excluding the first period sophists such as Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, who should be appreciated and taken seriously. These philosophers, who turned the philosophy into a game and a nonsense, came to conclusions that would endanger not only science but also all life.
For example, a thinker named Euthydemus says: “Everything belongs to everyone. There is no such thing as flaming. Because what is said is something that is thought, so it is something that exists.”
While real dialectics (a method of reasoning that envisages examining reality and its contradictions and seeking ways to overcome these contradictions) turns into a vulgar fighting technique and word salad, anarchy in morality occurs as a result of the overfeeding of individualism. An example of this can be found in another sophist, Thrasymachus. He says: “Justice is what works for the strong. That is the right thing.” This trend naturally spreads to the field of religion. Kritias reports that religion is purely politically concocted, invented by statesmen to make their subjects obey.
These last period sophists left the society in anarchy of values while shaking the authority and tradition. “Stop!” to this mess! The first person to say that was Socrates.
Writer: Melda Gungul
