The Socratic Doctrine of the Soul (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Burnet, John

9781330270516: The Socratic Doctrine of the Soul (Classic Reprint)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1330270517 ISBN 13: 9781330270516

Verlag: Forgotten Books, 2018

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Excerpt from The Socratic Doctrine of the Soul

First, however, it should be noted that there are many echoes of the phrase in all the Socratic literature. Xenophon uses it in con texts which do not appear to be derived from Plato's dialogues. Antisthenes, it seems, employed the phrase too, and he would hardly have borrowed it from Plato. Isocrates refers to it as something familiar.1 The Athenian Academy possessed a dialogue which was evidently designed as a sort of introduction to Socratic philosophy for beginners, and is thrown into the appropriate form of a conversation between Socrates and the young Alcibiades. It is not, I think, by Plato, but it is of early date. In it Socrates shows that, if any one is to care rightly for himself, he must first of all know what he is; it is then proved that each of us is soul, and therefore that to care for ourselves is to care for our souls. It is all put in the most provokingly Simple way, with the usual illustrations from Shoemaking and the like, and it strikingly confirms what is said in the Apology.2 I am not called upon to labour this point, however, for Maier admits, and indeed insists, that this is the characteristic Socratic formula. Let us see, then, where this admission will lead us.

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Excerpt from The Socratic Doctrine of the Soul

To him too we owe the colonies that they planted the Lyceum, the Stoa and the Academies. Who ever found salvation in the victories of Alexander? ... Whereas it is thanks to Socrates that all who find salvation in philosophy are being saved even now.

These words of Julian's are still true, and that is partly why there is so little agreement about Socrates. The most diverse philosophies have sought to father themselves upon him, and each new account of him tends to reflect the fashions and prejudices of the hour. At one time he is an enlightened deist, at another a radical atheist. He has been lauded as the father of scepticism and again as the high priest of mysticism; as a democratic social reformer and as a victim of democratic intolerance and ignorance. He has even been claimed - with at least equal reason - as a Quaker. No wonder that his latest biographer, H. Maier, exclaims:

In the presence of each fresh attempt to bring the personality of Socrates nearer to us, the impression that always recurs is the same: 'The man whose influence was so widespread and so profound cannot have been like that!'

Unfortunately that is just the impression left on me by Maier's own bulky volume, though he has mastered the material and his treatment of it is sound as far as it goes. Unless we can find some other line of approach, it looks as if Socrates must still remain for us the Great Unknown.

That, to be sure, is not Maier's view. He thinks he knows a great deal about Socrates, or he would not have written 600 pages and more about him. The conclusion he comes to is that Socrates was not, properly speaking, a philosopher, which makes it all the more remarkable that the philosophers of the next generation, however much they differed in other respects, all agreed in regarding Socrates as their master. Maier makes much of the differences between the Socratic schools and urges that these could not have arisen if Socrates had been a philosopher with a system of his own. There seems to be something in that at first sight, but it only makes it more puzzling that these philosophers should have wished to represent their philosophers as Socratic at all.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.