What does Socrates mean?

Definitions for Socrates
ˈsɒk rəˌtizsocrates

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Socrates.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. Socratesnoun

    ancient Athenian philosopher; teacher of Plato and Xenophon (470-399 BC)

Wiktionary

  1. Socratesnoun

    A Classical Greek philosopher.

  2. Socratesnoun

    of mostly historical use.

  3. Etymology: From Σωκράτης.

Wikipedia

  1. Socrates

    Socrates (; Greek: Σωκράτης; c. 470–399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. These accounts are written as dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject in the style of question and answer; they gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre. Contradictory accounts of Socrates make a reconstruction of his philosophy nearly impossible, a situation known as the Socratic problem. Socrates was a polarizing figure in Athenian society. In 399 BC, he was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing offers to help him escape. Plato's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. They demonstrate the Socratic approach to areas of philosophy including rationalism and ethics. The Platonic Socrates lends his name to the concept of the Socratic method, and also to Socratic irony. The Socratic method of questioning, or elenchus, takes shape in dialogue using short questions and answers, epitomized by those Platonic texts in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine various aspects of an issue or an abstract meaning, usually relating to one of the virtues, and find themselves at an impasse, completely unable to define what they thought they understood. Socrates is known for proclaiming his total ignorance; he used to say that the only thing he was aware of was his ignorance, seeking to imply that the realization of our ignorance is the first step in philosophizing. Socrates exerted a strong influence on philosophers in later antiquity and has continued to do so in the modern era. He was studied by medieval and Islamic scholars and played an important role in the thought of the Italian Renaissance, particularly within the humanist movement. Interest in him continued unabated, as reflected in the works of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. Depictions of Socrates in art, literature, and popular culture have made him a widely known figure in the Western philosophical tradition.

ChatGPT

  1. socrates

    Socrates is a renowned classical Greek philosopher who made significant contributions to Western philosophy. Born in approximately 469 BCE in Athens, Greece, he is best known for his Socratic method of questioning, a dialectical method he utilized to stimulate critical thinking and to bring to light ideas about ethical concepts. Socrates did not leave any writings; most of what is known about him and his teachings has been derived from his students, particularly Plato. Socrates was executed in 399 BCE for charges including corrupting the youth and impiety. Despite his controversial end, he is hailed as one of the pivotal figures in the foundation of Western philosophy.

Wikidata

  1. Socrates

    Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes. Many would claim that Plato's dialogues are the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. Through his portrayal in Plato's dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus. The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions, and is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions are asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand. Plato's Socrates also made important and lasting contributions to the fields of epistemology and logic, and the influence of his ideas and approach remains a strong foundation for much western philosophy that followed.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

  1. Socrates

    Athenian philosopher, pronounced by the Delphic oracle the wisest of men; was the son of Sophroniscus, a statuary, and Phænarete, a midwife; was brought up to his father's profession, in which it would seem he gave promise of success; he lived all his days in Athens, and gathered about him as his pupils all the ingenuous youth of the city; he wrote no book, propounded no system, and founded no school, but was ever abroad in the thoroughfares in all weather talking to whoso would listen, and instilling into all and sundry a love of justice and truth; of quacks and pretenders he was the sworn foe, and he cared not what enmity he provoked if he could persuade one and another to think and do what was right; "he was so pious," says Xenophon in his "Memorabilia," "that he did nothing without the sanction of the gods; so just, that he never wronged any one, even in the least degree; so much master of himself, that he never preferred the agreeable to the good; so wise, that in deciding on the better and the worse he never faltered; in short, he was the best and happiest man that could possibly exist;" he failed not to incur enmity, and his enemies persecuted him to death; he was charged with not believing in the State religion, with introducing new gods, and corrupting the youth, convicted by a majority of his judges and condemned to die; thirty days elapsed between the passing of the sentence and its execution, during which period he held converse with his friends and talked of the immortality of the soul; to an offer of escape he turned a deaf ear, drank the hemlock potion prepared for him with perfect composure, and died; "the difference between Socrates and Jesus Christ," notes Carlyle in his "Journal," "the great Conscious, the immeasurably great Unconscious; the one cunningly manufactured, the other created, living and life-giving; the epitome this of a grand and fundamental diversity among men; but did any truly great man ever," he asks, "go through the world without offence, all rounded in, so that the current moral systems could find no fault in him? most likely never" (469-399 B.C.).

  2. Socrates

    Church historian of the 4th century, born at Byzantium; bred to the bar; his "Ecclesiastical History" embraces a period from 306 to 439, a work of no great merit.

Suggested Resources

  1. socrates

    Quotes by socrates -- Explore a large variety of famous quotes made by socrates on the Quotes.net website.

  2. socrates

    Song lyrics by socrates -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by socrates on the Lyrics.com website.

Who Was Who?

  1. Socrates

    He helped introduce brains into Greece. Committed suicide.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. SOCRATES

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Socrates is ranked #134712 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Socrates surname appeared 125 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Socrates.

    60.8% or 76 total occurrences were White.
    23.2% or 29 total occurrences were Asian.
    8% or 10 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    7.2% or 9 total occurrences were Black.

Matched Categories

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

Anagrams for Socrates »

  1. coarsest

  2. coasters

How to pronounce Socrates?

How to say Socrates in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Socrates in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Socrates in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of Socrates in a Sentence

  1. Michel de Montaigne:

    There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent.

  2. Marcus Aurelius:

    Do as Socrates did, never replying to the question of where he was from with, ‘I am Athenian,’ or ‘I am from Corinth,’ but always, ‘I am a citizen of the world.’

  3. Wieland:

    It is commonly a dangerous thing for a man to have more sense than his neighbours. Socrates paid for his superiority with his life; and if Aristotle saved his skin, accused as he was of heresy by the chief priest Eurymedon, it was because he took to his heels in time.

  4. William Kunstler:

    You can crucify a Jesus, you can poison a Socrates, you can hang John Brown or Nathan Hale, you can kill a Che Guevara, you can jail a Eugene Debs or a Bobby Seale. You can assassinate John Kennedy or a Martin Luther King, but the problems remain, the hangman's rope never solved a single problem except that of one man.

  5. Mark van Doren:

    An unexamined idea, to paraphrase Socrates, is not worth having and a society whose ideas are never explored for possible error may eventually find its foundations insecure.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for Socrates

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"Socrates." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Oct. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Socrates>.

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