Socrates I

He never wrote any philosophical works. He conducted philosophy by holding conversations with just about anyone who would talk with him. These conversations, as portrayed in Plato's Dialogues (Plato was his student) usually consist of Socrates asking questions that lead his conversant to further and further question their own beliefs. The self-doubt many felt after conversing with Socrates was uncomfortable enough that the Athenian assembly eventually voted to put him to death. Actually, Socrates had plenty of opportunities to escape this punishment, but choose to hold his ground on principle. He regarded cowardice and hypocrisy as fates worse than death. Socrates is as remarkable for his character and actions as he is for his ideas.

Socratic Method: Perhaps the most influential innovation that Socrates left to Western culture is the technique of question and definition (The Socratic method). He habitually started his conversations with others by asking them for an account of some concept;
     What is justice? --asked of the politicians (The Republic) [in parenthesis is the platonic dialogue dealing with that question]
     What is piety? --asked of a young man accusing his own father in court of impiety (Euthyphro)
     What is knowledge? --asked of students (Meno, Theatetus)
     What is love? --asked of his friends (Symposium)
     What is truth? --ask of the teachers (Gorgias, Protagoras)
     What is art? --asked of the poets (Ion)
     What is courage? --asked of the generals (Laches)
The remarkable part is that almost all of the people to whom he put these questions claimed at first to know the answers. Through a process of questioning and testing hypotheses he inevitably led the other person to the inescapable conclusion that their own thinking was riddled with uncertainties and contradictions, and that they did not really know what they thought they knew at all. Most of Plato's dialogues take their titles from the main characters with whom Socrates has his discussion. Needless to say, many people were not pleased to have to admit their ignorance of the very subjects on which they were taken to be experts. Ever since Socrates, philosophers have largely identified their efforts with the inquiry that follows a question of the form "What is X?"

Next - learn about the condition of Socratic Ignorance

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