In the eyes of many, Socrates is undoubtedly the origin of all philosophers in the world. Although before him there were Thales and Anaximanders, and his contemporaries Protagora and Plato, among these philosophical pioneers he was loved by all.
Speaking from the heart, I also like his figure standing in the sun without saying a word, and I like to listen to his sunburned and his voice. Perhaps all he needs is the midday summer sun, raising his body temperature enough to provide enough energy to support his brain from overclocking.
In the winter, he needs to stand barefoot in the ice and snow to cool his overheated brain and show his superior courage and fighting quality. Moreover, Socrates was absolutely heroic on the battlefield, and even in retreat, no enemy dared to approach this stout bipedal monster.
But academically, my view is the opposite of that of most people: compared with Thales and Anaximander, socrates is the "worst" one of the intellectual lovers, and even the sorcerer Gorgia and others are in some places better than him.
Socrates' dialectics should be regarded as the true face of dialectics. He finally reveals the truth hidden behind him by contradicting others, asking and answering questions and answering, and finally revealing the truth hidden behind him, but his more important purpose is to stimulate the wisdom of the other party. In order to avoid confusion, Socrates' heuristic dialogue is better not to call it dialectics, but to call it cross-examination.
Of course, the actual effect of the cross-examination method does not seem to be ideal, and most people are confused by him before they admit that he is right. This heuristic dialogue is also known as "soul midwifery". But in general, it is Socrates' own soul that needs to be saved the most.
This, like many psychologists who do psychotherapy, heal themselves by healing the sick. But at that time, people did not know that Socrates was ill. It was only the feeling that his excessive pursuit of all knowledge and contempt for the gods made people feel frightened.
They felt that this philosophical madman was destroying the health of the city-state and bringing bad young people. It is not entirely unreasonable for them to think so, they have just experienced the rule of two tyrants, and they have easily overthrown them, and these two tyrants, Archibialdes and Critija, have been students of Socrates, and even if Socrates thinks that they are only nominal, he cannot escape the accusations of the citizens of Athens.
In short, everyone discussed and decided to sue this outlier in athens. At that time, the nobles also gave enough face to give Socrates time to escape, but Socrates decided to face the punishment imposed and dedicate himself to the ideal in his heart.
At the trial, Socrates could have been exempt from the death penalty if he had confessed his guilt, abandoned his philosophical doctrine, or paid a fine, but at the second trial he refused to bow his head, nor did he want his friends to pay the fine for him, and he intensified his demand that the world call him a civic hero of the city of Athens.
Such arrogance greatly angered 500 jurors, and 280 jurors were sentenced to death, and as a result, the number soared to 360. Most of the 500 jurors were lowly, either by making a living by digging iron and farming or by rinsing wool, but only to get a little extra income to become "extra actors", but Socrates wanted to die.
The so-called slap can not be sounded, without Socrates himself to add fuel to the fire, 500 jurors will not kill him. Since the feast of Thera, which coincided with the festival of Delore, which was dedicated to the sun god, Socrates was not immediately executed, but was taken into custody for a period of time.
At that time, the prison system was also relaxed, allowing everyone to come and visit at will, so his cell was closed for a while. Several of his students wanted to help him escape from prison, which was the last chance for Socrates to turn a blind eye to the whole city of Athens, but Socrates regarded death as the practice of his political philosophy, and he did not flee, waiting for the death penalty to come.
Finally, the time for execution has arrived. In the suppressed grief of his friends and family, he calmly drank the poisoned ginseng juice and paced the cell until he felt his legs heavy and slowly died on the bed. After his death, it is said that the Athenians were particularly remorseful and lynched all those who had sued Socrates.
To this day, people are still arguing about why Socrates regarded death as such. Some think that the democratic system has resulted in his life in a democratic way, which shows that democracy also has evil times; some think that Socrates died of deliberately provoking the Athenian polity to see where the limits of its tolerance are; others think that Socrates died of the hatred of the majority of the people for him, and this king is too ostentatious to not kill enough to be indignant...
However, no one wants to ask about the three unlucky eggs who were lynched, as if they were supposed to be killed, and no one will pay attention to whether they have not even enjoyed procedural justice.
From this point of view, it is inevitable that it is a little too selfish. In Plato's Golgia, through Socrates' dialogue with others, we find that many years later, Socrates's reason for "actively seeking death" is quite peculiar:
He thinks that if someone wants to harm him, then that person is more unfortunate than himself, because that person is morally indebted, so it is more unjust, and if that person can still not be punished by the law, then he will double the injustice, so he will be doubly unhappy; in contrast, he, the victim, is relatively doubly righteous, so he has to suffer less than the perpetrator.
When Socrates was talking like this, the people who listened to it all exploded their lungs, but they could not find a reason to refute it for a while. Yes, we have encountered unreasonable people, but we have never encountered such unreasonable people, and we have never encountered such unreasonable people who still firmly believe that they are being reasonable.
It is also believed that Socrates, in order to win the debate, said some crazy things that he did not believe. But now we know that Socrates is playing really. For the sake of justice in his heart, he has gone mad. In addition, another reason why Socrates wanted to die so much may be that he felt that he had lived enough.
Socrates, who was almost seventy years old at the time, did not think that there was anything pleasant about himself living any longer, as he himself said in his court case: "If I continue to live, I know that the old state of the dragon bell is inevitable: the eyesight has deteriorated, the hearing has weakened, it has become more and more difficult to learn, and what I have learned will not be remembered."
When I feel that I am running out of energy and complaining about others, how can I say that I am living happily? ”
It can be seen that Socrates himself felt that there was not much fun in life, and it was better to provoke the judge and ask for a quick death, so that the end of life could become an enduring stage play. In short, Socrates found a peculiar method of euthanasia and succeeded in making the whole world commemorate his bravery to this day.
At the same time, in the process of this heroic death, we modern people have forgotten one thing: Socrates believed that the soul is immortal, that is, he believed that after the body died, the soul would not die together, but would continue to pursue goodness. Under these circumstances, he could not allow himself to owe anything in virtue in order to live.
So this heroic deed is purely a personal event, admirable, but there is no need for infinite praise, such as to discuss the evils of democracy. Democracy was evil at that time, but it was not yet the turn to put Socrates to death. The real evil is to get rid of it quickly, and will never give you a way to live. But it is clear that the tyranny of the majority of Athens gave Socrates a chance to live more than once.
So Socrates is actually willing to cut themselves off from the people, simple, the use of poisonous ginseng, its main component is parsley alkali, the lethal amount of 60 ~ 120mg, the main role of motor nerve endings paralysis and spinal cord paralysis, manifested as weakness, drowsiness, weak and slow breathing, and finally due to respiratory arrest and death.
I think that the study of Socrates' death should be focused on the toxicological analysis of celery, if not on his psychoanalysis, because Socrates' death really has no more significance.
One day you will find that all the reverence for Socrates is nothing more than shouting at the emperor's new clothes, and turning a deaf ear to the truth that Socrates has told you with his heart and lungs: the only thing he knows is that he knows nothing.
Do you really think this is modesty? A philosopher who knows how to stop people in the street all day without studying all day long, compared with other prestigious philosophers, mathematicians, and medical scientists at that time, said such things is really not modest, but true.
We cannot insist that Socrates was humble just because Socrates was killed by the Athenians, because Plato respected his teachers, because countless philosophers liked to sigh.
No, on the contrary, Socrates had a kind of intellectual pride, which stemmed from their lack of curiosity about nature and the universe, and they projected too much energy inward on their relationships with those around them.
This is not a bad thing, but it seems strange to overdo it, although killing yourself is also a plan to deal with mutual relations, but such a plan is somewhat inhumane and even too cold in any case.
This universe is so wonderful, isn't it better to project your energy outward into the sea of stars, learn more math, physics, astronomy, biology, and less gossip with the fools on the street? It's not worth it for Socrates to fight a bunch of bored people for a lifetime and end up with a life.
However, philosophy is not only about everything in the universe, but also about human society, and the death of Socrates is equivalent to contributing to the history of philosophy to a supernova explosion event.
By measuring the luminosity of supernova explosions, human beings can calculate the distances of distant galaxies, and we can also use different interpretations of Socrates' death to constantly explore the pathological symptoms of society as a whole, which is one of the tasks of philosophy.
This article is from Blue Lion Books
A Brief History of Brain-Opening Philosophy