Feature Post

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Socrates (History for Kids)

Socrates was the first of the three great philosophers of Athens (the other two are Plato and Aristotle). Socrates was born in Athens in 469 BC, so he lived at the time of Pericles and the Athenian Empire, although he was too young to remember the Marathon and Salamis. It was not a wealthy family. His father was probably a stone-Carver, Socrates, and worked as a stone, especially when not-so-good sculptor. Mother of Socrates' was a midwife. When he started the Peloponnesian War, Socrates fought bravely for Athens. We have no surviving images of Socrates, which was when he was alive, or who has seen him, but he was supposed to be ugly.

But when Socrates was in his forties or older, he began to feel an urge to think about the world around him, and try to answer some difficult questions. He asked, "What is wisdom?" And "What is beauty?" And "What is the right thing to do?" He knew that these were difficult questions to answer, and he thought he would be better to have a large number of people to discuss the answers together, so they can come up with more ideas. Then he began to walk with people of Athens, he met with asking these questions: " What is wisdom? " "What is piety?" And so on. Sometimes people just said they were busy, but sometimes they try to answer. Socrates would then try to teach them to think better, by asking several questions, which showed problems in their logic. Often it makes people angry. Sometimes they even tried to beat him.

Socrates was soon a group of young people who listened to him and taught him to think. Plato was one of these young people. Socrates did not pay them the money. But 399 BC, some became angry with the Athenians, Socrates, he taught the young. The accused in court with impiety (lack of respect for the gods) and corrupting the youth (teaching youth to evil). People thought it was against democracy, and probably was - he thought of the smartest people should make decisions for everyone. Athenians could not blame him is against democracy, as they had promised not to take revenge on someone after the Peloponnesian War. So they had to use these vague accusations rather than religious.

Socrates was a great trial before a jury of Athens. He was convicted of these charges and sentenced to death and died soon after, when the guards gave him a cup of hemlock (a poisonous plant) to drink.

Socrates did not write all his thoughts, when he was alive. But when he died, his student Plato, not to write something about what Socrates had said.

Source : http://www.historyforkids.org

No comments:

Post a Comment