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The Socratic problem (or Socratic question ) refers to the difficult or impossible nature of determining what information from antiquity accurately reflects the views and attributes of the historical Socrates. Although Socrates—who was the main character in most of Plato's dialogues—was a genuine historical figure, it is widely understood that in later dialogues Plato used the character of Socrates to give voice to views that were his own. Besides Plato, three other important sources exist for the study of Socrates: Aristophanes, Aristotle and Xenophon. Since no extensive writings of Socrates himself survive to the modern era, his actual views must be discerned from the sometimes contradictory reports of these four sources.

Nature of the sources

Plato

A fragment of Plato' Republic (588B - 589B) was part of Codex VI, of the Nag Hammadi findings of 1945.

Sources

The two primary sources are the works of Plato', and Xenophon.

The logoi sokratikoi show apparent conversations involving Socrates.

Four sources extant in fragmentary states are; Aeschines, Antisthenes, Eucleides, Phaedo.

Two fragments by Timon of Phlius, who wrote in order to lampoon philosophy.

Ages of sources relative to Socrates

Aristophanes (approximate dates of life being c.450 to 386 B.C.) was alive during the time of the early years of the life of Socrates. One source shows Plato and Xenophon were about 45 years younger than Socrates, other sources show Plato as something in the range of 42 to 43 years younger, while Xenophon is thought to be 40 years younger.

Xenophon

The writings of Xenophon dealing with Socrates number four, they are, Apology of Socrates to the Jurors (which shows the details of the apparent defence given by Socrates within a courtroom setting ), Memorabilia (which is a defence of Socrates and so-called Socratic dialogues ), Oeconomicus (which is concerning Socrates encounter with Ischomachus and Critoboulos ) and Symposium.

Plato

Socrates—who is often credited with turning Western philosophy in a more ethical/political direction and who was put to death by the democracy of Athens in May 399 BC—was Plato's mentor. Plato—like some of his contemporaries—wrote dialogues about his teacher. Much of what we know about Socrates comes from the writings of Plato; however, it is widely believed that very few if any of Plato's dialogues can be verbatim accounts of conversations or unmediated representations of Socrates' thought. Many of the dialogues seem to use Socrates as a device for Plato's thought, and inconsistencies occasionally crop up between Plato and the other accounts of Socrates; for instance, Plato has Socrates denying that he would ever accept money for teaching, while Xenophon's Symposium clearly has Socrates stating that he is paid by students to teach wisdom and this is what he does for a living.

Stylometric analysis of the Plato' corpus has led to the formation of a consensually agreed chronology classifying dialogues as falling approximately into three groups, Early, Middle and Late. On the assumption that there is an evolution of philosophical thought in Plato's dialogues from his early years to his middle and later years, the most common modern view is that Plato's dialogues contain a development of thought from closer to that of Socrates' to a doctrine more distinctly Plato's own. However, the question of exactly what aspects of Plato's dialogues are representative of Socrates and what are not, is far from agreed upon. Although the view that Plato's dialogues are developmental in their doctrines (with regard to the historical Socrates or not) is standard, the view is not without objectors who propose a unitarian view or other alternative interpretations of the chronology of the corpus. One notable example is Charles Kahn who argued that Plato had created his works not in a gradual way, but as a unified philosophical vision, whereby he uses Socratic Dialogues, a non-historical genre, to flesh out his views. The time that Plato began to write his works and the date of composition of his last work are not known and what adds to the complexity is that even the ancient sources do not know the order of the works or the dialogues.

History of the problem

Efforts have been made by writers for centuries to address the problem. According to one scholar (Patzer) the number of works with any significance in this issue, prior to the nineteenth century, are few indeed. G.E. Lessing caused a flurry of interest in the problem in 1768. A methodology for analysis was posited, by study of Platonic sources, in 1820 with Socher. A break of scholarly impasse in respect to understanding, resulted from Campbell making a stylometric analysis in 1867.

An essay written in the year 1818 is considered the most significant and influential toward developing understanding of the problem. Schleiermacher was the author of this essay.

Early in the 21 century most of the scholars concerned have settled to an agreement instead of argument, about the nature of the significance of ancient textual sources which exist in relation to this problem.

Issues resulting from translation

Apart from the existing identified issue of conflictual elements present in accounts and writings, there is the additional inherent concern of the veracity of transfer of meaning by translation from Greek to modern language, whether that be English or any other.

Scholarly analysis

Karl Popper treats the Socratic problem in his first book of The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945) and Søren Kierkegaard tackles the problem in his dissertation On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates (1841).

The German classical scholar Friedrich Schleiermacher made an attempt to solve the "Socratic problem". Schleiermacher maintains that the two dialogues Apology and Crito are purely Socratic, which is to say, rather accurate historical portrayals of the real man, Socrates, and hence history—and not Platonic philosophy at all. All of the other dialogues that Schleiermacher accepted as genuine he considered to be integrally bound together and consistent in their Platonism. Their consistency is related to the three phases of Plato's development:

1. Foundation works, culminating in Parmenides;
2. Transitional works, culminating in two so-called families of dialogues, the first consisting of Sophist, Statesman and Symposium, and the second of Phaedo and Philebus; and finally
3. Constructive works: Republic, Timaeus and Laws.

Schleiermacher's views as to the chronology of Plato's work are rather controversial. In Schleiermacher's view, the character of Socrates evolves over time into the "Stranger" in Plato's work and fulfills a critical function in Plato's development as he appears in the first family above as the "Eleatic Stranger" in Sophist and Statesman, and the "Manitenean Stranger" in the Symposium. The "Athenian Stranger" is the main character of Plato's Laws. Further, the Sophist–Statesman–Philosopher family makes particularly good sense in this order, as Schleiermacher also maintains that the two dialogues, Symposium and Phaedo, show Socrates as the quintessential philosopher in life (guided by Diotima) and into death, the realm of otherness. Thus the triad announced both in the Sophist and in the Statesman is completed though the Philosopher, being divided dialectically into a "Stranger" portion and a "Socrates" portion, isn't called "The Philosopher"—this philosophical crux is left to the reader to determine. Schleiermacher thus takes the position that the real Socratic problem is understanding the dialectic between the figures of the "Stranger" and "Socrates".

References

1. A Rubel, M Vickers (Reader in Archaeology at the University of Oxford, Curator of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum, and a Fellow of Jesus College) - Fear and Loathing in Ancient Athens: Religion and Politics During the Peloponnesian War Routledge, 11 Sep 2014 ISBN 1317544803 (ed. 1st source)
2. ^ Louis-André Dorion, (S Ahbel-Rappe, R Kamtekar - Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona c.2009). A Companion to Socrates. John Wiley & Sons, 11 May 2009 ISBN 1405192607. Retrieved 2015-04-17.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
3. Prior, W. J., "The Socratic Problem" in Benson, H. H. (ed.), A Companion to Plato (Blackwell Publishing, 2006), pp. 25–35.
4. SJ. Patterson, Hans-Gebhard Bethge, JM. Robinson - The Fifth Gospel: The Gospel of Thomas Comes of Age (p.1) Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 15 Jun 2010 ISBN 0567178269 (primary source for Nag Hammadi was this)
5. GW. Bromiley - The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (p.474) Wm. B. Eerdmans 1986 Publishing ISBN 0802837859
6. May, H. (2000). On Socrates. Wadsworth/Thomson Learning,. p. 20.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
7. catalogue of Harvard University Press - Xenophon Volume IV
8. J Ambury (Ph.D SUNY-Stony Brook, and sometime faculty member of Fairfield University) - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
9. CH. Kahn - Plato and the Socratic Dialogue: The Philosophical Use of a Literary Form (p.1) Cambridge University Press, 4 Jun 1998 (reprint) ISBN 0521648300
10. Bett, R. A Companion to Socrates (p.299-30). John Wiley & Sons, 11 May 2009 ISBN 1405192607. Retrieved 2015-04-17. {{cite book}}: horizontal tab character in |publisher= at position 36 (help)(ed. a translation of one fragment reads - "But from them the sculptor, blatherer on the lawful, turned away. Spellbinder of the Greeks, who made them precise in language. Sneerer trained by rhetoroticians, sub-Attic ironist." c.f. source for a discussion of this quote.
11. Lieber, F. Encyclopedia Americana (p.266-7) Published 1832 (Original from Oxford University, Digitized 27 Jun 2007)
12. CS. Celenza, Dr.Phil. (2001), Classics, University of Hamburg and Ph.D. (1995), History, Duke University, is a professor of post-classical Latin in the Department of German and Romance Languages at Johns Hopkins University, (Angelus Politianus) - Angelo Poliziano's Lamia: Text, Translation, and Introductory Studies (Note 34.) BRILL, 2010 ISBN 9004185909
13. Nails, D "Socrates", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) - SECTION 2:1 (PARAGRAPH 2)
14. CC. Meinwald (one time Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Illinois, Chicago) - - Plato The Encyclopedia Brittanica
15. R Kraut (Charles and Emma Morrison Professor in the Humanities, Northwestern University) - - Socrates The Encyclopedia Brittanica
16. CJ. Tuplin (one time Professor of Ancient History, University of Liverpool, England) - - Xenophon The Encyclopedia Brittanica
17. V. Ehrenberg - From Solon to Socrates: Greek History and Civilization During the 6th and 5th Centuries BC (p.373) Routledge, 22 May 2014 ISBN 1136783946
18. ^ M Dillon, L Garland. Ancient Greece: Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Alexander. Routledge, 18 Jun 2010 ISBN 1136991379. Retrieved 2015-04-20. {{cite book}}: horizontal tab character in |publisher= at position 28 (help)(ed. connection to Oxyrynchus was found in here p.33)
19. ^ Xenophon (translated by A.Patch), Professor RC. Bartlett. The Shorter Socratic Writings: "Apology of Socrates to the Jury," "Oeconomicus," and "Symposium". Cornell University Press, 2006 Agora Editions ISBN 0801472989. Retrieved 2015-04-20. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); horizontal tab character in |publisher= at position 55 (help)
20. E Buzzetti (Principal and Associate Professor in the Liberal Arts College at Concordia University, Canada) - Xenophon the Socratic Prince: The Argument of the Anabasis of Cyrus (p.7) Palgrave Macmillan, 21 May 2014 ISBN 1137325925 (used for expansion of title < Apology > to < .... of Socrates to the Jurors >)
21. M Cormack - (Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Kansas). Plato's Stepping Stones: Degrees of Moral Virtue (p.8). A&C Black, 15 Oct 2006 ISBN 1847144411. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
22. Krämer (1990) ascribes this view to Eduard Zeller (Hans Joachim Krämer, Plato and the Foundations of Metaphysics, SUNY Press, 1990, pp. 93–4).
23. Penner, T. "Socrates and the early dialogues" in Kraut, R. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Plato (Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 121. See also Irwin, T. H., "The Platonic Corpus" in Fine, G. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato (Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 77–85.
24. Rowe, C. "Interpreting Plato" in Benson, H. H. (ed.), A Companion to Plato (Blackwell Publishing, 2006), pp. 13–24.
25. Smith, Nicholas; Brickhouse, Thomas (2002). The Trial and Execution of Socrates : Sources and Controversies. New York: Oxford University press. p. 24. ISBN 9780195119800.
26. Kahn, Charles H. (2000). Plato and the Socratic Dialogue : The Philosophical Use of a Literary Form. Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 0521648300.
27. Fine, Gail (2011). The Oxford handbook of Plato. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 76,77. ISBN 0199769192.
28. J Bussanich (some time Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Mexico, USA), ND Smith (some time Professor of Philosophy at Lewis and Clark College, USA)- The Bloomsbury Companion to Socrates (please see - Note 14 & 16) A&C Black, 3 Jan 2013 ISBN 1441112847
29. ^ D Nails. Agora, Academy, and the Conduct of Philosophy (p.23). Springer Science & Business Media, 31 Jul 1995 ISBN 0792335430. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
30. Louis-André Dorion. The Cambridge Companion to Socrates (p.xiv). Cambridge University Press, 2011 ISBN 0521833426. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
31. G Klosko (Henry L. and Grace Doherty Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia c.2012). History of Political Theory: An Introduction: Volume I: Ancient and Medieval (p.40). Oxford University Press, 4 Oct 2012 2011 ISBN 0199695423. Retrieved 2015-04-16. {{cite book}}: horizontal tab character in |publisher= at position 46 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
32. RC. Bartlett (Behrakis Professor of Hellenic Political Studies at Boston College) - The Shorter Socratic Writings: "Apology of Socrates to the Jury," "Oeconomicus," and "Symposium" (p.6-7) Agora Editions Cornell University Press, 2006 ISBN 0801472989

Further reading

• Irvine, Andrew David (2008). Socrates on Trial: A play based on Aristophanes' Clouds and Plato's Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, adapted for modern performance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9783-5 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-8020-9538-1 (paper)
• Popper, Karl (2002) The Open Society and Its Enemies. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-29063-0.
• Schleiermacher, Friedrich (1973) Introductions to the Dialogues of Plato. Ayer Co. Publishers. ISBN 978-0-405-04868-5.
• Schleiermacher, Friedrich (1996) Ueber die Philosophie Platons. Philos. Bibliotek. Band 486, Meiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7873-1462-1.

• Socrates
• Historical controversies