Once Socrates
was walking along the Athenian market place. On the way, he came across
young Xenophon who was
a just a few walks ahead of him. He stopped
Xenophon with his walking stick and then asked him whether he knew
where good vegetables and fish were available. Xenophon showed him the
way. Socrates was less than interested at that and then he asked him
pointblank whether he could tell him where good men could be found.
Xenophon could not help feeling ashamed at his odd query. Then Socrates
told him that if he did not know, he should come with him.
That was Socrates. He struggled all through his life to find
goodness of human beings. Goodness of human nature was the summum bonum
of his life-long quest through thick and thin. And that was the essence
of his
philosophy which he carried through the last cup of hemlock of his life. He lived
for the conquest of his philosophy and he laid down his life for the
conquest of his philosophy. His soul-searching odyssey into human life
was the epitome of a true philosopher practicing philosophy as a paramount mission of life - he lived larger than a life to pursue the philosophy of goodness.
The abiding truth of human existence is to think, know and exist.
This has essentially been the ecology of philosophy through the ages.
But before philosophy was reborn as philosophy, philosophy had been the
carpetbagger of natural science. It would not be far from the
historical truth if it is said that Socrates (470 BC - 399 AD) acted
the midwifery to liberate philosophy from the reins of pseudo-science.
That was why Cicero said that Socrates "brought down philosophy from
the heaven to the earth". That is, he turned the upside down by turning
away from the speculative nature of Ionian cosmology to delve deep into
the essence of human nature and soul.
But what to think and know to exist? To know whatness and suchness
of things - things as they are and should be and that is the
''goodness''. Goodness is the logical extension of truth and it should be
practically known and then should be practiced irrespective of any
consequence. The consequential affects of truth bear with the morality
or virtue of human existence preceding essence. The moral baggage of
human life essentially coheres with the knowledge of soul or
self-knowledge. The oracular dictum "know thyself" comes very close to
saying that a man''s conscience is the sense of knowing himself and
judging by himself what is good and what is evil and that is why a man
should know what is the suchness of good and evil and what should be
cherished and what should be disgraces and forsaken.
Even then such a soul of high moral rectitude was discredited,
convicted in democratic Athens. He was supposed to corrupt the youth
and bring disgrace and ruins to the democratic premises. But is
democracy sans ''demos'' democracy? Were the Athenian plebeians
gracefully offered the political asylum in democracy? Or, was it a sham
democracy in militocracy''s clothing? Socrates voiced against that
shamness. And he roused the intelligent youths by educating them the
philosophical truth of bravery and virtue of politics - the real
virtuality of politics. However great it seemed to be, it is an open
question Athenian democracy was always contended and was never blessed
with moral virtue and political ethics. That was why Socrates took the
initiative to deal occasional body blows to the politics of
Anytus-Meletus.
And again the accusation of corrupting the youth against him does
not hold good so far as the philosophical conviction of him carried him
a long way to bridge the chasm amongst the various cross-sections of
the Athenian people. The unlettered mass of people played decoy ducks
at the hands of the powers-that-be. He motivated the band of youth to
rise to the occasion so that some kind of goodness prevails in the long
run and they tended to pose a sustained threat to the establishment by
theiassociation with Socrates. And that way they were
treated as if they were ''corrupted'' by him.
When there was an erosion of moral values in all walks of Athenian
society, Socrates felt unnerved to shore up the cardinal virtues of
life with a humane dimension philosophical truth failing which the
basic premises of democracy collapse into nothingness. He had to cross
swords with his detractors by the admonition "know thyself". His
heroics made a martyr of himself. But that was just coincidental and in
compatible with his philosophical virtuosity. As he knew himself, he
never cared to know by himself how far he could achieve and how far he
had achieved. The achievement amounted to nothing to himself. Yet the
achievement is all there to see and it is the measure of his success as
a philosopher to his successors.