Socrates, one of the great philosophers of all time, held different views from those who preceded him like Thales and Anaximander of Miletos. The philosophers who came after Socrates like Plato and Aristotle also held contrasting opinions from Socrates. The purpose of the paper is to discuss the divergent philosophical perspectives of philosophers that came before and after Socrates and how their views differed with what Socrates believed in. To achieve the goal, the analysis begins by looking at the Socratic approach to philosophy then contrasts the opinions with those of pre and post-Socratic period.
Socratic Method to philosophy
Socrates took a moral approach to philosophy and used the ‘Socratic method of questioning’ to enlighten the society. The philosopher believed that people did not seek knowledge and merely believed information which was not necessarily factual. Socrates came up with the approach that morality was the only way for a man to find happiness and that knowledge was the route to finding the facts about social issues like politics, education and general living in the society. All though Socrates did not document any of his teachings, the information about his way of teaching was captured by his student, Plato. The philosopher believed that it was not enough to ask philosophical questions about the existence of the world like, “where did we all come from?” without seeking knowledge of how we should live right. In the book of “The Republic,” Plato documented a conversation between Socrates and Glaucon in which the philosopher used the allegory of the cave to teach about education and politics. In the imagery, Socrates used the sun as a symbol of truth which, according to him, could only be brought by persistence search for knowledge (Peterson, 2017). Besides, Socrates distinguished pleasure and reality and said that real pleasure came from the realization that one had gained extra knowledge and not on earthly things like sex. He stressed on the importance of attaining goodness as a virtue and living morally correct life.
Pre-Socratic philosophers and their contrasting views
According to McKirahan (2011), the Pre-Socratic philosophers are the thinkers who lived before the fourth century. These philosophers declined to follow the traditional mythological reasons for social problems and sought to give rational explanations. For example, Thales of Miletus believed that gods played no role in the formation of the world and that the world was made of water. Unlike Socrates who believed that the world’s happiness depends on the level of internal harmony which is brought by morality, Heraclitus of Ephesus, an ancient philosopher, held the opinion that life was a product of constant fighting between belligerent powers. Besides, the ancient philosophers like Democritus of Abdera believed that human knowledge was shaped by perception which is a contradiction of Socrates’ view on the source of knowledge. Socrates approach to philosophy also differs significantly with the Sophists' views. These thinkers rejected philosophy, science, and ethics and resorted to using their eloquence to convince the public (McKirahan, 2011). Socrates, while conversing with Glaucon, concluded that the Sophists promoted the culture of belief and not knowledge. According to Socrates, belief can either be true or false, but knowledge is backed by facts and therefore has to be true. The Sophists did not hold specific ideas but taught on education and politics. However, unlike Socrates, their teachings were not backed by facts.
Post-Socratic philosophers and their contrasting views
There have been many philosophers after Socrates. However, Plato and Aristotle are the most famous post-Socrates philosophers whose views can be contrasted with those of Socrates. Plato, Socrates student, took a different approach when dealing with pleasure and reality (Barker, 2012). Unlike Socrates who believed that real pleasure only came from the access to knowledge, Plato divided pleasure into three categories including sensual, esthetic and the mind pleasure. Plato believed that one would find fulfillment through the three ways and that it was not proper for Socrates to limit satisfaction only to the mind. Besides, being an idealist, Plato divided the concept of the idea into spiritual and phenomenal categories. Unlike Socrates, Plato stressed on the importance of spiritual background on one’s moral standing. Aristotle differed with Socratic Method of questioning which he believed focused more on the material cause of social problems. He instead suggested that philosophy had to ask material, efficient, formal and final causes of social issues in the society like education and politics.
Conclusion
Philosophers who came before Socrates like Thales, Anaximander, and Heraclitus, focused more on universal principles and rational arguments that could be used to explain the existence of the world. The Philosophers who came after Socrates improved on the ethical approach of philosophy and sought to improve the concept of knowledge seeking. The paper has discussed the Socrates’ approach to education, politics, knowledge and belief and pleasure and reality. Using these views, the discussion has demonstrated how different the views are from the ancient philosophers and those who succeeded Socrates.
References
Ahbel-Rappe, S., " Kamtekar, R. (Eds.). (2009). A companion to Socrates. John Wiley " Sons.
Barker, E. (2012). The political thought of Plato and Aristotle. Courier Corporation.
McKirahan, R. D. (2011). Philosophy Before Socrates: An Introduction with Texts and Commentary: An Introduction with Texts and Commentary. Hackett Publishing.
Peterson, V. V. (2017). Plato's Allegory of the Cave: literacy and "the good." Review of Communication, 17(4), 273-287.
