Socrates is well known as a classical Greek philosopher. He is credited as one of the unique founders of the Western philosophy. He is remembered as an enigmatic figure, known chiefly by the accounts of all classical writers. This is well manifested through the writings of his two students, Xenophon and Plato, together with the plays associated with his contemporary Aristophanes. On the other hand, the Socratic problem is the impossible or difficult nature of establishing what information from an antiquity clearly reflects the attributes and views of historical Socrates. Socrates, a main character in the dialogues of Plato, was a common historical figure. It was well understood that in the dialogues that came after, Plato made the use of Socratic character to give sound voice to views that were meant for him but not the Socrates.
The Socratic problem
The main Socratic problem is giving a clear difference between views and facts of the Socrates from those of other artists and authors who make an effort to describe him together with his teachings. This problem arises because there are no specific writings or articles from the Socrates himself. We have to rely on other writers and their extant literature. The only source of information present on the Socrates is other people’s writings on him. This problem has been there even in the classical period. In the last two centuries, this issue has brought a lot of debates among modern scholars in numerous papers and books. In spite of reasoned argument and intensive careful scholarship, most of information concerning the Socrates still miss consensus and are seen to be controversial. These methodological complexes in the different sources of finding information about the Socrates are the major Socratic problem.
Sources of information about Socrates
There are four major sources of the Socrates. These are the Xenophon, Plato, Aristophanes and Aristotle. All these sources have had their own champion. The influence of the Platonist and the Academy in the classical world gave a lot of prominence to the compositions of Plato. Plato is known to have founded the Academy, which has the history of lasting from the fourth century before Christ (BC). This happened until the classical culture was submerged in the sixth century. Xenophon was known to be the most aggressive and authentic to the Socrates after the rediscovery of the classical literature in the period of Renaissance. Later in the early nineteenth century, Xenophon was pointed out as not enough and competent of a philosopher to comprehend the level of Socrates. This was suggested by Schleiermacher. He argued that Xenophon was not in a position to understand Socrates, a man who had great influence on intellectuals of that time. His argument was that parts of Plato that did not contradict with Xenophon were supposed to be accepted.
Generally Socrates was a man of composure and great complexity. He discussed and taught many issues over hours on a daily basis. This happened for at least twenty five to forty years. He claimed no doctrine of his own, but he tried to obtain truth from other parties through questioning them. By doing this, he obtained a lot of knowledge from different people on a variety of subjects. This therefore clearly explains why different authors present different versions of stories on Socrates. This therefore shows that Socrates was an individual who was extremely complex and broad in his views.
Works cited
Guthrie, W. K. C Socrates. London: Cambridge University Press, 1971. Print.
Taylor, C. C. W Socrates. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print.
