Socrates
A question can change a life.
He left no books. In the streets of Athens, he questioned people who thought they knew what courage, justice or a good life meant. We encounter his practice of dialogue through the sometimes divergent portraits of his contemporaries and followers.
What do we really know about what we think we know?
Biography
Socrates was an Athenian citizen, a soldier on several campaigns and a tireless conversationalist. His life spanned the power and subsequent crises of Athenian democracy. He wrote nothing: we meet him mainly through Plato, Xenophon and Aristophanes. These authors pursued different purposes; none of their portraits is a neutral transcript of his thought.
02 /Philosophy
In Apology, Socrates’ wisdom consists partly in refusing to think himself knowledgeable when he is not. This insight does not claim that all knowledge is impossible. It opens an inquiry by preventing confidence, reputation or habit from standing in for evidence.
03 /Reading guides
Original introductions to enter the works, discover their central questions and take the reflection further.
04 /Bibliography
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
A first reading.
What does it mean to examine a life?
Enter Apology through Socrates’ mission, his encounters and the difference between knowing and appearing to know. A guide to Plato’s text, without assuming that it reproduces every word of the trial.
Plato — Apology of SocratesMust we always obey the law?
Follow Crito’s argument without turning it into a slogan of absolute obedience. The dialogue brings together injustice suffered, commitments made and the responsibility of the person who acts.
Plato — CritoMeeting more than one Socrates
Discover Xenophon’s Socrates and learn to compare testimonies. A way to read the sources without inventing a body of writings authored by Socrates.
Xenophon — Memorabilia