SOCRATES I “What Hegel state about philosophy in genera, shat “the owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the fling of the dusk,”* Ihlds only fora pilosophy of history, thas, tis true of history tnd corresponds o the view of historians, Hegel of course was encouraged to take this view becanse he thooght tha philosophy Ihad really begun in Greece only with Plato and Aristotle, who ‘wrote when the polis and he glory of Greek history were at their ‘end. Today we know that Plato and Aristotle were the calmina- tion rather than the beginning of Greek philosophie thought, ‘which had begun its fight when Greece had reached or nearly reached is climax. What remains trae, however, edhe Pato 36 ‘well as Aristotle became the beginning of the occidental pio Sophic tradition, and that this beginning as distinguished from “ts wor cag fal ene fom Hg Fectos Php iti ic i nag pn Pon ePrice Gad Lakeland Gin ee ong ra eka dc ale Minar gin de ech Dieeg os ap (en pbs yam yrange! Me pow By Pispy eying amu beeen ape Tee ere spdsr wing with ling te sk"the beginning of Greck philosophic thought, occurred when Greek pliccalife was indeed approaching its end. [nthe whole tsadiion of philosophical and pariculrly of political thought, there has been perhaps no singe facta of such overwhelming importance and influence on eveything that wat 10 flow than the fact that Pato and Aristotle wrote inthe fourth century ander ‘the fill impact of «play decaying sociey “The problem ths arose of how man, if he ist ive ina polis, cam live outside of poids; chis problem, in what sometimes Seems a strange resemblance © our own times, very quickly became the question of how its posible tive without belong ingto any polty—thatis, in the condition of apolity, or what we today would caf statelesness, Even more serious was the abyss which immediatly opened berween thought and action, and which never since has been cloned ll inking activity that is not simply dhe caealaion of means to obtain a intended or willed rr, ut is concerned with meaning in the most general sense, «came to play the role of an “afterthought.” that, after action hd decided and determined realy. Action, on the other hand, was relegated to the meaningless resin of the accidental and Iaphacard 1 ‘The gulf berween philosophy and pies opened historically ‘with the rial and condemnation of Socrates, which nthe history ‘of politcal though plays the same role of a turning pont thatthe ‘tal and condemnation of Jesus plays in the history of religion, ue sradtion of poltial thoughe began when the death of Socrates made Pato despair of pois life and, a the same time, Socrates ub ceran fundamentals of Socrates’ teachings. The fact that Socrates ad not been able o persuade his judge of hisinnocence and hismeris, which were socbviows tothe better and younger of Aen’ citizens, made Pato doubt the al have dficaley in grasping the importance of this doubt, because “persuasion” is very weak and inadequate translation of the ancient petkin, th political imporance of which is indicated Dy the fact cha Pith, the goddess of perasasion, had a t= ple in Athens. To pec, pith, was she specially poiial form of spooch, and sace the Athenians were proud tht they, in ditinction to the Babariars, conducted thit political ales in the form of speech and without compulsion, they consid ‘ed shetorie, the artof persion, the highest, te tuly politcal art. Socrates’ speech inthe Apology x one ofits great examples, and it is against thie defense that Plato writes in the Phoedo a "revised apology.” whick he called, with irony, “more pers ve" (pithanteron, 6), since it ends with a myth ofthe Here- afer, complete with bodily punishments and rewards calculated to fighten radhr than merely persuade the audience, Socrates’ point in is defense befor the zens and judges of Athens had ‘been tht his Behavior was inthe bes interest ofthe city. In the Grito he had explained to his friends that he cold not fee but ‘rather, for political reasons, mt safer the death penalty Itseems thar he was pr only unable to persuade his judges ut also could ot convince his fiends. In other words, the city had no use fora Philosopher, and the fiends had no wse for politcal argumenta- tion. hiss par ofthe tragedy co which Pat's dialogues testify. Closely connected wit his doubt about the validity of persua- son is Plato's furious densnciation of dara, opinion, which not ‘only runs like are thread through is polvcl work bu became fone of the cornerstones of his concepe of truth. Platonic truth, ry of persion. Weeven when daxa is not mentioned, ie abvays understood as the very opposite of opinion. The spectacle of Sorat submicting, his own doa to the responsible opinions ofthe Athenians and being outvoted by « majors, made Plato despise opinions and yam for absolute standards. Such standards, by which human seeds could be judged and human thooght could achieve some measure of reliability, fom then on became the primary impulse of his police philosophy, and influenced decisively even dhe purely philosophical doctrine of ideas. donot think, a8 soften ‘maintained, thatthe concept of ideas was primarily » concept of standards and measares,o thats origin was political. But this inerpreation is ll the more understandable and jusiable because Plto himself was the frst wo use the ides for politics pups, that to introduce absolute standards into the realm ‘of human affairs, where, without such transcending standards, everything remains relative. As Plato himself used to point out, ‘we do not know wha absolute greatness, but experience only something greater or smaller in relationship o something ese, ‘The opposition of uth and opinion was cetsnly the most ani- Socratic concasion that Plato drew from Socrates til Socrates, in failing to convince the city, had shown that che city is no safe place forthe pilosopher, not ory in the sense that hs lifes not safe because of the ruc he possesses, but also inthe much more important sense thatthe city cansot be rusted with preserving the memory of the philosopher If she citizens could condemn Socrates to death, they were only too Hable wo forget him when he ‘vas dead. His earthly immorality would be safe only if piloso- hers could be inspired with solidarity of their own, which was ‘opposed to the solidarity ofthe polis and their fellow citizens The ‘old agmentagaint the vephofor wise mea, which recurs in Ais- Socrates ewe os Pa hey do ot tw wat sd fot prt for lal wi) and th hey iis yen tein Sng Tae wo ged ay east hen osingup a sibel imo he wal hi ened Pu pie cy sarcomere enero Pat demand ht Mhphersbedd ome he et hey wemos ep ey ne cman “puto” eich pols hd th Topnoteb ih opes at and oes She ple des aer knw sat od frm ren cand forth pol The pl, te wo racy aes npn care ef he sic udrening io he nigh weld ome fn uf inne ugh of ue nt us Phlooply eve of won wrsorhogo be te secs igi pt The we man ae Zin nes Ske pols Awe ll ahs pic pin whee eens Seitra were tot undenantng ten, They wer ot Hewendi cgpd te men foun ote” Plan ey rhe conc others wih erm Pecan mane Bt ei ge at i Penny yl le He el ot ge wie Ft oc te pnp, ion cme Jee god om Nmsl in coment ange of boing « Fitting Th ton dpe ho ome sree www may ronan abe ene erect pr eel on hina) it