Once Socrates said: "Truth is born in a dispute." And after a while he created his own system of controversy, which seemed to many philosophers to be paradoxical, since it hacked into all the concepts that were considered infallible. The democratic method of dispute is still used in many areas where it is imperceptible for the opponent to bring him to the right conclusion. Elements of this system are used by psychologists and psychotherapists. Thus, Socrates is modern today even more than 2000 ago.
Who is Socrates?
Socrates lived in Ancient Greece in 469–399 BC. e. He did not correspond much to the traditional idea of the philosopher. He lived in Athens, did not describe his concept anywhere, preferring live communication with people. He could often be met in the square, talking to anyone who was interested in discussing a topic. The descendants, including us, became aware of his philosophy through the works of Plato and Xenophon.
In 399 BC e. Socrates was put on trial. He was charged with embarrassment of the minds of youth and the popularization of new deities, for which he was sentenced to death. Socrates did not want to flee, preferring poison. Thus ended the life of a folk sage who never aspired to the philosopher's laurels.
The value of Plato
At the trial, Socrates delivered a speech in his defense, which was presented by Plato in his Apologia. In it, he tried to make the teacher’s performance as close as possible to the original. From this philosophical work today we can find out the details of the process that took place in 399 BC. e., as well as details of the last hours of the life of Socrates. "Apology" is not written in the form of dialogues, which differs from other works of Plato.
The style of his earlier Conversations with Socrates is precisely the exchange of opinions whose purpose is to search for truth. Thanks to these works, the Socratic method came to us. The claim that the manuscripts are not burning turned out to be fair.
The merit of Plato is the opportunity today to approach both the personality of Socrates and his manner of dispute. The distinguishing qualities of the Athenian philosopher were his independence, loyalty to principles and objectivity, thanks to which he could, while maintaining respect for his opponent, prove to him the correctness of his statement.
Principles of Socrates
The approach to the life of the ancient Greek philosopher is very clearly formulated in his last words said in court: “But it’s time to go from here, to me — to die, to you — to live, and which is better, no one knows except God” …
Questions that Socrates considered worthy of discussion concerned exclusively man and his principles. Therefore, the topics of conversation most often became moral categories: the benefit of the individual, the concept of wisdom, who can be considered fair, etc. According to Aristotle, Socrates holds the primacy in the application of inductive arguments and the formation of general concepts. This is the basis of the Socratic method of conversation.
Ethics and opinion on the role of the state
Today, the ancient Greek philosopher would be considered an idealist. Socrates was sincerely convinced that the totality of knowledge acquired by a person a priori makes him virtuous. According to the philosopher, this is a rational approach, and therefore everyone who understands the concepts of good and evil will adhere to ethical principles when choosing decisions. In other words, if a person has accumulated a lot of knowledge and understood what good is, then he will not do evil, since this is unreasonable. Perhaps in ancient times it was …
Socrates' views on politics were a continuation of his ethical principles. He believed that the government should be governed by the best of its citizens, who are characterized by a high level of morality and justice. In addition, only those who have gained relevant experience could become rulers. Reality clearly diverged from theory, and therefore Socrates spoke sharply about the distortions of democracy of that time.
We can say that his picture of the world did not coincide with reality, but the philosopher did not abandon attempts to find the truth. And the Socratic method of conversation was called upon to push those who were dull to the shining heights of justice and good.
Way to the truth
There are a great many ways of coming to the truth. In ancient Greece, there were various schools, and the philosophers who led them had their own view of the world. But many of them sinned by dogmatism, not allowing students to question the basic tenets of their chosen worldview.
The Socratic method radically differed from the generally accepted one in that it was based not on the respectful attention of the teacher, but on an equal dialogue, during which the truth became an award to both sides of the discussion.
Socrates today could be considered the standard for thinkers and philosophers, since its sole purpose was truth, which had nothing to do with the ambitious polemic battles unfolding today on television screens.
We have to admit that for 2000 years, politicians of all stripes have not been able to master the method of Socratic dialogue.
Purpose and means
The road to truth is never straight. To know it, it is necessary to overcome the contradictions both in oneself and in the defense of the opposing side. This is the dialectic of the dispute, that is, the construction of such a system of evidence that would best allow us to demonstrate the contradictions in the way of thinking of the opponent with their subsequent overcoming.
Many philosophers of antiquity relied on the theory of Heraclitus about the clash of opposites, which gives impetus to the development of all things. This system was based on the concept of objective dialectics.
Socrates at the head of his system placed subjective dialectics, which are based on the influence of the sophists and the Elean school. This is nothing but the interconnection of phenomena delimited by the categories of time and space. The concept of subjective dialectics includes the laws of logical thinking and the process of cognition.
Thus, the method of Socrates was to come to the truth through the successive passage of the stages of dialogue, debate, evidence system. Given the ethics of the philosopher, his method became the basis of idealistic dialectics.
Method form and content
The Socratic method is a combination of irony and mayevics with induction and formulation.
The reception of mayevtics was first mentioned by Plato in his Teetet dialogue. This concept was created by Socrates and means a way to identify the hidden qualities of a person through leading questions. Their system and orientation are subordinated to a single goal: the adversary’s awareness of his internal contradictions and lack of competence. Socrates called his technique "midwife art", offering his opponent a new birth, thereby helping his transition to the next level of knowledge. This was the Socratic method of teaching.
As for the form of dialogue, the philosopher emphasized irony and self-irony, as if luring the interlocutor to the "jungle of philosophical constructions" and allowing him to get carried away with clarifications of obvious truths. As a rule, the opponent did not feel too confident with such an exchange of opinions, which contributed to the weakening of his logical defense. As a result, many contradictions were revealed in the system of argumentation, which Socrates used.
