Column: Honor, Self-Development According to Socrates

04/15/09 - What better philosopher to honor in our initial article than the man argued to be the origin of Western philosophy: Socrates. Despite his often being celebrated as the greatest of the ancient Greek philosophers, little is known of Socrates himself, and partially because he left no personal records.

What is known is that he was born in 469 B.C. in Athens. Other than being the son of a sculptor, and a foot-soldier, few facts remain of his life before philosophy.

In the middle portion of his life, Socrates devoted himself completely to the philosophical practice he is best known for, which for him did not involve opening up a school - but open, philosophical conversation and inquiry.

Not known for being a handsome or particularly hygienic man, he would stroll through Athens, speaking with absolutely everyone about absolutely everything.

His quest was as much to learn as to teach, and though he frequently brought people to realize the ignorance in their assumptions, he was not one to claim the answers to the infinite and important questions of life.

In the year 400 B.C., he was convicted of corrupting the minds of the youth with his antics, and was sentenced to death by hemlock poison.

As a testament to his own virtues, Socrates drank the poison without fear, consoling his friends before his own eminent death. As the teacher of Plato, an educator of his entire community, and an inspiration for great thinkers to this day, his impact was certainly not cut off as quickly as his life.

Socrates is revered for his wisdom and his dedication to philosophy as a mode of examining our lives. Many of his recorded quotes deal with admirably living our daily lives.

I found this one to be particularly interesting:

"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be."

The statement that the wise Greek puts forth here has to do with our will, our ideals and our intent.

Socrates seems to point out that we often convey what we believe to be our best self, the noblest form of ourselves.

It's not uncommon, for example, for a glory-seeking individual to describe himself as a true altruist, or for an impulsive spender to consider his or her shopping to be frugal.

Often, the descriptions that we ascribe to ourselves not only serve the purpose of conveying our idea of positive traits to others, but also to convince ourselves or our own virtues - which if we would look closely, we might realize are not actually there.

To follow Socrates' advice would require a degree of introspection - understanding in terms of what we value and what we are conveying to others and what we would like to convey to ourselves ABOUT ourselves.

In this way we can gain an understanding of our own ideals, or the traits, characteristics and practices that we hold to be valuable. What follows is action we take and the will we use to steer ourselves in the direction of the virtues we deem best.

For instance, an impulsive spender might notice his habit, and also notice that he holds other behaviors to be more valuable, and possibly more beneficial as general practices for life. From here it is that individual's own responsibility to mold himself to become his own ideal of virtue.

The essence of this quote might lie in aligning our conveyed intention and character - which is often given in the impression of what we actually believe to be best or highest - to our ACTUAL intention and character.

This involves self-awareness and diligence, but Socrates likely believed that it was integral in the process of living honorably. Knowing that he lived a life in congruence with his own highest values may have been what allowed Socrates himself to face his cup of hemlock boldly - without tears of fear or of remorse.