Socrates

by Anthony Gottlieb

Philosophy is one of the most intimidating and difficult of disciplines, as any of its students can attest. This book is an important entry in a distinctive new series from The Great Philosophers. Breaking down obstacles to understanding the ideas of history's greatest thinkers, these brief, accessible, and affordable volumes offer essential introductions to the great philosophers of the Western tradition from Plato to Wittgenstein. In just 64 pages, each author, a specialist on his subject, places the philosopher and his ideas into historical perspective. Each volume explains, in simple terms, the basic concepts, enriching the narrative through the effective use of biographical detail. And instead of attempting to explain the philosopher's entire intellectual history, which can be daunting, this series takes one central theme in each philosopher's work, using it to unfold the philosopher's thoughts.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Biography

58 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Anthony Gottlieb is a British writer, former Executive Editor of The Economist, historian of ideas, and the author of The Dream of Reason. He was educated at Cambridge University and has held visiting fellowships at All Souls College, Oxford, and Harvard University. He has taught at the CUNY Graduate Center and the New School in New York, and been a visiting scholar at New York University and fellow at the Cullman Centre for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. He is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities and the series editor of The Routledge Guides to the Great Books.

Reviews

[❀ Diana ❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nietzsche spunea despre Socrate că avea o „înțelepciune glumeață”, gluma fiind Muza sa. Nu ne este necunoscut faptul că marele filozof petrecea ore întregi uitându-se lung în orizont, uneori fără să se miște. Mulți îl considerau nebun, dar eu cred că pregătea cea mai bună glumă pentru atenieni! Iar poanta a fost că a băut cucută fără să le zică pe față tot ce gândea despre ei. La fel cum i-a luat în derâdere mai toată viața lui.

Câteva vorbe de duh de la bărbosul nostru:

,,Nu ți-e rușine că de bani te îngrijești, ca să ai cât mai mulți si cât mai multă glorie și cinstire, iar de cuget și de adevăr și de suflet, ca să fie cât mai frumos, nu te îngrijești și nu-ți pasă?"

,, ( . . . ) să te temi de moarte, cetățeni, nu este nimic altceva decât să-ți Închipui că ești înțelept fără să fii, înseamnă să crezi că știi ceea ce nu știi.”

"Și ce vrei dovadă mai bună de neștiință decât să nu ai aceleași păreri cu cei întelepți? Am însă o minunată calitate, și tocmai ea ma salvează : nu-mi este rușine să învăț, ci, întrebând, caut să aflu cât mai mult. "

[Mars Cheung · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book to better understand Greek Philosophy in context with the Sophists, Pre-Socratic thinkers and Plato/Aristotle. Short but insightful read detailing the ideas and methods of Socratic avenues of thought/questioning illustrated by Plato's Dialogues.

[Kubuś]

Z pewną ironią o starożytnym filozofie. Jest to skrót "Obrony Sokratesa" z dodatkowymi informacjami na temat Sokratesa, które w sumie ciężko znaleźć, bo nie ma o nim wielu źródeł.

Dowiedziałem się dzięki tej książce, że w "Chmurach" Arystofanesa jest karykatura Sokratesa i cały utwór jest zabawnym przeinaczeniem jego szkoły. Dobrze wiedzieć.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A succinct analysis of Socrates and his ilk. I can see how bohemians of the 60's generation sought Soc as their inspiration: the socratic method of dialogue, leaving nothing and no-one above and beyond questioning, is one of his greatest contributions...bringing to mind the 60's rally cry, "Question Authority!"
Ethically, Socrates espoused wisdom as the path to virtue, leading to happiness. Blind reverence of Gods and goddesses is not applicable. So, it's not suprising that the ruling oligarchs of Athens found him irreverant and his life forfeit as a result.
Today, in certain less common circumstances you may even find his method used in classrooms by more enlightened teachers, but our current "test 'til you drop" regimen is an sad suppressant on this mind expansive tool of education.

[Syed Fathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gottlieb tried to recreate our understanding of Socrates, but I don't think he gone far enough. The reason I guess was because the lack of sources available to modern researcher for the subject. Most of the gems from the classical world has been lost forever. But I think Gottlieb did a good sketch of the old man, his thinking, his humor, and of course, his favorite activity, his dialogue and arguments. Gottlieb did a great job in simplifying Socrates method of inquiry, mainly to stay ignorant of the subject, let others define it, and then send a barrage of questions to scrutinize the thesis. A short read, but indeed, fulfilling.

[Anderson Paz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trata-se de uma introdução razoável a Sócrates. Apresenta os principais elementos do pensamento socrático, seu julgamento, e os pontos críticos de seu pensamento, como seu intelectualismo moral. É uma boa introdução, mas existem algumas opiniões pessoais do autor um pouco questionáveis, como a que a defesa de Sócrates teve argumentos fracos, que ele tinha uma postura sofística por se alimentar na casa de admiradores.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief account of Socrates life and career, complete with excerpts from his many interactions and a peep into the situation in Athens at that time and it's sophists, sceptics, cynics, governance structure and other activities. The likes of his followers Plato, Xenophon and others are also mentioned.

[Shira · Rating 5 out of 5]

מעניין, קולע, וכתוב טוב.
המון ציטוטים, ודרך כתיבה שמאוד שאפה לצייר נכונה את הדמות של סוקרטס על סמך המקורות הידועים והכתובים
עם זאת, מרגיש לי שהוא צויר יפה מדי
אני תוהה כמה סוקרטס באמת היה כך
לא ניתן לדעת מן הסתם אבל אני מאמינה שההתחכמויות שלו היו מעט יותר מצדקניות אלא גם לועגות כלפי הדמוקרטיה והאנשים איתם דיבר.
אבל כן, אני חושבת שהמעמד שאליו הגיע מוצדק וחשוב הרבה יותר משחשבתי

[Patrick Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like a Nilla Wafer. Very nice, but leaves you wanting more. Gottlieb gave a good summation of Socrates and his life (what little we know about it), including the influence that he would have on his philosophical ancestors. A good way to spend an hour or two.

[A.T. Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong introduction to Socrates.

[Natalia Botero · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Hacer el bien consiste en cuidar de la parte de uno mismo que más importa: el alma”

[Amelia Dupla · Rating 4 out of 5]

short, to the point, great introduction to the man the myth the legend: Socrates

[Fred Ayres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enough to get an idea about Socratic philosophy. However it dives more into his life rather then the philosophy itself. I guess I’ll be reading The Republic soon then…

[Zuan van Schalkwyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I'm on over to Plato and Aristotle now.

[LK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. To live a Socratic life is to live a wild life.

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really awesome for me too read because I didn't know anything about Socrates and it was really cool to read all about his beliefs and life. I think that it was a really good, short book all about him and his life

[Arax Miltiadous · Rating 5 out of 5]

μπορεί να μην διασώθηκαν γραπτά του, μα το γεγονός ότι σαν πατέρας της φιλοσοφίας έγινε αθάνατος και αξεπέραστος, διδάσκοντας γενιές και γενιές μέχρι και σήμερα μιλάει από μόνο του.

[Esther Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh great philosophers, what's in your mind? You are so close to Truth but there's still one step.

[Michael Prendergast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taken from his book this brief chapters details Socrate's death and why he was sentenced to die. It deals, in part, with his brand of philosophy. It's a taster book and it left me wanting more.

[Lauren Bisignano · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book unfortunately focused a bit too much on his life for me and not the ideas Socrates had, and the conversations, arguments and overall impact they had.