Full Name: Socrates.

Father: Sophroniscus.
Mother: Phaenarete.
Wife: Xanthippe, Myrto.
Son: Lamprocles, Sophroniscus, Menexenus.

Date of Birth: BC 469.
Birth Place: Athens, Greece.

Date of Death: BC 399 (age approx. 71).
Location of Death: Athens, Greece.
Cause of Death: Suicide (Execution).

Religion: Cult.
Race or Ethnicity: White.
Nationality: Greek.
Era: Ancient philosophy.
Region: Western philosophy
School: Classical Greek
Main Interests: Epistemology, ethics.
Occupation: Philosopher.
Military Service: Athenian Army.

Notable Ideas: Socratic method, the Socratic irony.

Socrates, the Greek philosopher and moralist, was born in Athens in the year 469 B.C. Little is known of his life except what was recorded by his students, including Plato. His father, Sophroniskus, was a sculptor and he followed the same profession in the early part of his life. His family was respectable in descent but humble in point of means. He had the usual education of the Athenian citizen, which included not only a knowledge of the mother tongue, and readings in the Greek poets, but also the elements of arithmetic, geometry and astronomy as then known. Excepting in connection with his philosophical career, few circumstances of his life are known. He served as a hoplite, or heavy-armed foot-soldier, at the siege of Potidaea, at the battle of Deliurn, and at Amphipolis, and his bravery and endurance were greatly extolled by his friends.

Early Life: Socrates married Xanthippe, a younger woman, who bore him three sons—Lamprocles, Sophroniscus and Menexenus. There is little known about her except for Xenophon's characterization of Xanthippe as "undesirable." He writes she was not happy with Socrates's second profession and complained that he wasn’t supporting family as a philosopher. By his own words, Socrates had little to do with his sons' upbringing and expressed far more interest in the intellectual development of Athens' young boys.

Athenian law required all able-bodied males to serve as citizen soldiers, on-call for duty from ages 18 until 60. According to Plato, Socrates served in the armoured infantry—known as the hoplite—with a shield, long spear and face mask. He participated in three military campaigns during the Peloponnesian War, at Delium, Amphipolis, and Potidaea, where he saved the life of Alcibiades, a popular Athenian general. Socrates was known for his courage in battle and fearlessness, a trait that stayed with him throughout his life. After his trial, he compared his refusal to retreat from his legal troubles to a soldier's refusal to retreat from battle when threatened with death.

Plato's Symposium provides the best details of Socrates's physical appearance. He was not the ideal of Athenian masculinity. Short and stocky, with a snub nose and bulging eyes, Socrates always seemed to appear to be staring. However, Plato pointed out that in the eyes of his students, Socrates possessed a different kind of attractiveness, not based on a physical ideal but on his brilliant debates and penetrating thought. Socrates always emphasized the importance of the mind over the relative unimportance of the human body. This credo inspired Plato’s philosophy of dividing reality into two separate realms, the world of the senses and the world of ideas, declaring that the latter was the only important one.


Socrates and Philosophy: Socrates’ influence among his contemporaries was a result of his interest in engaging people in discussions about all manner of important issues - often making them feel uncomfortable by showing that what they believed or thought they knew was not as justified as they had assumed. Although in the early dialogues he never came to any firm conclusions about what constituted true piety or friendship, he did reach a conclusion about a relationship between knowledge and action.
According to Socrates, no one errs intentionally. This means that whenever we do something wrong - including something morally wrong - it is out of ignorance rather than evil. In his ethical perspective, he added another crucial idea known as eudaemonism, according to which the good life is the happy life.

Socrates’ later influence was guaranteed by one of his students, Plato, who recorded many of Socrates’ dialogues with others. Socrates attracted many young men because of the quality of learning available, and many of them were members of Athens’ elite families. Eventually, his influence over the young was found by many in power to be too dangerous because he encouraged them to question tradition and authority.

Important Books by Socrates: We have no works written by Socrates and it’s unclear whether he ever wrote anything down himself. We do, however, have dialogues written by Plato which are supposed to be philosophical conversations between Socrates and others. The early dialogues (Charmides, Lysis, and Euthyphro) are believed to be genuine; during the middle period (Republic) Plato began to mix in his own views. By the Laws, the ideas attributed to Socrates aren’t genuine.

Execution: In the year 400 B.C., an indictment was laid against Socrates, in the following terms; "Socrates is guilty of a crime; first, for not worshipping the gods whom the city worships, and for introducing new divinities of his own; next for corrupting the youth. The penalty due is death." The trial took place before a court composed of citizen judges, like our juries, but far more numerous; the number present seems to have been 557. His defence is preserved by Plato, under the title Apology of Socrates. He dwelt on his mission to convict men of their ignorance for their ultimate benefit; pronounced himself a public blessing to the Athenians; declared that if his life was preserved he would continue in the same course; and regarded the prospect of death with utter indifference. By a majority of five or six,  he was adjudged guilty and sentenced to death by poison. On the last day of his life, he passed in conversation with his friends about the Immortality of the soul. He then drank the hemlock and passed away with the dignity and calmness becoming his past career.

Before Socrates's execution, friends offered to bribe the guards and rescue him so he could flee into exile. He declined, stating he wasn't afraid of death, felt he would be no better off if in exile and said he was still a loyal citizen of Athens, willing to abide by its laws, even the ones that condemned him to death. Plato described Socrates's execution in his Phaedo dialogue: Socrates drank the hemlock mixture without hesitation. The numbness slowly crept into his body until it reached his heart. Shortly before his final breath, Socrates described his death as a release of the soul from the body.