Genius of the Ancient World (BBC Four)
#2. Socrates.
My mother, with her limited academic qualifications due to lack of opportunities, still try to enrich her mind. Her daily dose of wisdom used to come from the Tamil calendar. Besides having the daily almanac, it came with famous sayings and quotations. From them, she knew about JFK's 'ask what your country has done for you but what you have done for your country', Gandhian philosophy and Socrates' famous teachings to question everything in life.
At a time when every occurrence happened by the auspices of the pantheon of Gods, Socrates stimulated the minds of the young to ask life's difficult questions. Is wealth a good thing? Does democracy create a just society? What makes Man truly happy?
Probably after being a soldier and seeing the effects of war, he must have been disillusioned by humankind. Having the luxury of comfort in Athens at that time, with plenty of time in the Agora and an average of one to two maids per household, he encouraged people to harness the power of the mind to explain things happening around them. He questioned the roles of Gods and teased the spirit of inquiry.
Democracy was at an infant stage. Athens was ruled by Pericles and was at perpetual war with their nemesis, the Spartans, the lesser beings, the non-democratics. It was during one of this war that Athenians had an acute shortage of food and had to resort to cannibalism, stimulating the philosophical search for answers of this entity called life.
Socrates never believed in putting his thoughts on paper. It was done mostly by his pupil, Plato. Cicero, a later philosophy, refers to Socrates as one who brought philosophy to people's homes. The Pre-Socratic thinkers mainly tried to explain things around us, Socrates tried to impart knowledge through dialogue, not through the traditional teaching method. He brought the students to dizzying heights, to nurture, to help them to think, to break down the problem and to make them realise.
The sophist of that era had the uncanny ability to convince his listeners of something quite frivolous through the art of persuasion. They did for an exorbitant fee whereas Socrates did that with the common people.
He leaves with a plethora of quotations and thoughts. The beauty of the mind is more valuable that the beauty of the body (discussion with Alcibiades). Seek the truth of the human god. He preached against dogma and fanaticism. I do not pretend to know what I do not know.
Socrates was such an important figure in his lifetime, even with his simpleton unkempt, unshaven, bared feet appearance. At the Oracle of Delphi, a priestess, apparently talking on behalf of the Gods, proclaimed that there was no greater man than Socrates. Aristophanes, in one of his plays in the theatre, ridiculed Socrates. All these must have got Pericles and the powers that be very hot under their collars. The deflection of his student, Alcibiades, must have been the best excuse to incarcerate him. Socrates was accused of impiety for ridiculing the Gods and corrupting the young minds. He chose hemlock to end his life, as a cure of the soul from the body uttering, "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Please, don't forget to pay the debt." Asclepius was the God of healing and it was customary to offer a rooster to heal the sick.
Socrates' prophecy is proving to be true. We are fixated with our looks, material god, spin and fame.
#2. Socrates.
My mother, with her limited academic qualifications due to lack of opportunities, still try to enrich her mind. Her daily dose of wisdom used to come from the Tamil calendar. Besides having the daily almanac, it came with famous sayings and quotations. From them, she knew about JFK's 'ask what your country has done for you but what you have done for your country', Gandhian philosophy and Socrates' famous teachings to question everything in life.At a time when every occurrence happened by the auspices of the pantheon of Gods, Socrates stimulated the minds of the young to ask life's difficult questions. Is wealth a good thing? Does democracy create a just society? What makes Man truly happy?
Probably after being a soldier and seeing the effects of war, he must have been disillusioned by humankind. Having the luxury of comfort in Athens at that time, with plenty of time in the Agora and an average of one to two maids per household, he encouraged people to harness the power of the mind to explain things happening around them. He questioned the roles of Gods and teased the spirit of inquiry.
Democracy was at an infant stage. Athens was ruled by Pericles and was at perpetual war with their nemesis, the Spartans, the lesser beings, the non-democratics. It was during one of this war that Athenians had an acute shortage of food and had to resort to cannibalism, stimulating the philosophical search for answers of this entity called life.
Socrates never believed in putting his thoughts on paper. It was done mostly by his pupil, Plato. Cicero, a later philosophy, refers to Socrates as one who brought philosophy to people's homes. The Pre-Socratic thinkers mainly tried to explain things around us, Socrates tried to impart knowledge through dialogue, not through the traditional teaching method. He brought the students to dizzying heights, to nurture, to help them to think, to break down the problem and to make them realise.
The sophist of that era had the uncanny ability to convince his listeners of something quite frivolous through the art of persuasion. They did for an exorbitant fee whereas Socrates did that with the common people.
He leaves with a plethora of quotations and thoughts. The beauty of the mind is more valuable that the beauty of the body (discussion with Alcibiades). Seek the truth of the human god. He preached against dogma and fanaticism. I do not pretend to know what I do not know.
Socrates was such an important figure in his lifetime, even with his simpleton unkempt, unshaven, bared feet appearance. At the Oracle of Delphi, a priestess, apparently talking on behalf of the Gods, proclaimed that there was no greater man than Socrates. Aristophanes, in one of his plays in the theatre, ridiculed Socrates. All these must have got Pericles and the powers that be very hot under their collars. The deflection of his student, Alcibiades, must have been the best excuse to incarcerate him. Socrates was accused of impiety for ridiculing the Gods and corrupting the young minds. He chose hemlock to end his life, as a cure of the soul from the body uttering, "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Please, don't forget to pay the debt." Asclepius was the God of healing and it was customary to offer a rooster to heal the sick.
Socrates' prophecy is proving to be true. We are fixated with our looks, material god, spin and fame.
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