Foreword

Abstract

In the Phaedo, it was reported to us that the last days of Socrates proved that it is always better to suffer wrong than to inflict it. No wonder the Roman Statesman Cicero regarded the philosopher Socrates as “the wisest and most upright of men” and why, many centuries later, the Indian philosopher and activist Mahatma Gandhi considered him a personal role model calling him “a Soldier for Truth”. It cannot be overemphasized that the heroic virtue displayed by Socrates is his method of leading his fellow citizens to a higher and more noble vision of themselves and their society by living and breathing it. Sad to say, this singular act of exercising the virtues of a philosopher cost him his life. Socrates was unjustly accused of crimes against the gods and society, was found guilty, and eventually sentenced to death.

It was at this point when Socrates’ disciple Plato took things a step further. For him, sentencing Socrates to death is more than just an unjust act of the government of Athens. It is an indubitable proof that human institutions and contraptions were flawed by their very nature. Even if their concerns deal with justice and democracy, these institutions can be corrupted since they are all founded on opinions and mere illusions. The fate of Socrates made Plato realize that true knowledge lay permanently beyond the reach of the masses. In the Myth of the Cave, Plato implied that the masses are instinctively violent and hostile against those who freed themselves from ignorance. For Plato, Truth is reserved for a tiny minority. Those individuals who are disposed and trained in the rigors of critical thinking and dialectics and who are at the same time prepared to execute the arduous climb out of the cave which Socrates did, will discover for themselves how to lead a virtuous life and show others how to do the same. To be able to achieve this, Plato established the Academy in Athens and there composed his famous Dialogues to serve as the basic texts of his students. In those works, his teacher Socrates comes alive transforming his insights into a systematic theory of politics (The Republic and Georgias), of ethics (Philebus), of love and friendship (the Symposium), and of language (the Phaedrus).