Socrates

Socrates is the main character of all four of our texts and the only character who appears in them all. He is in fact the main subject of the book. Socrates is in many ways the father of philosophy. He lived from 469-399 B.C. and is considered something of an enigma. He left no writings of his own; we only have accounts of his life from his students Plato and Xenophon and the great Greek satirist, Aristophanes. To this day, the veracity of these writings are questioned. We know that Socrates was very ugly, with wide, bulging eyes; he had long hair, walking around Athens barefoot and without bathing. Socrates never sought riches, fame, honor or anything else. He instead preferred simply to talk about the nature of reality without Athenians, particularly ones of great stature. Socrates often claims that a god or daimon has spoken to...