Mark Johnson

Socrates Mark Johnson

Socrates, the philosopher, remains an enigma, an inscrutable person who, despite having written little, is considered one of the handful of thinkers who forever altered how philosophy was to be formulated, as he was throughout his lifetime (469-399 B. C. E.). Much of our knowledge on him is secondhand, and much of it is fiercely argued, but his trial and execution by the Athenian democracy is the founding myth of the academic discipline of philosophy, and his presence can be felt far beyond philosophy and across history. Socrates has been burdened with the adulation and emulation usually reserved for religious leaders, despite the fact that he tried too hard to convince people to do their own reasoning and was accused and executed on the charge of irreverence against the gods. He was certainly impressive, so much so that many others were inspired to write about him, all of whom thought him unusual by fifth-century Athens standards: in his beauty, attitude, and behaviour, as well as his beliefs and methods.