Socrates the Younger

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Socrates the Younger ( Greek  Σωκράτης ὁ νεώτερος Sōkrátēs ho neōteros ; * around 425/420 BC; † probably after 360 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher . He lived in Athens and initially belonged to the circle of 399 BC. The famous philosopher Socrates ("the elder") was executed . He later worked in the Platonic Academy , of which he was apparently a well-known, respected member.

Life

The fact that Socrates the Younger was a historical person is sometimes doubted in research, but is considered probable according to the prevailing opinion. He was a contemporary of Plato and the mathematician Theaetetus . Theaetetus called him his "fellow practitioner" after Plato's account, with whom he used to endure hardships. The strenuous exercise together - Plato uses a term from gymnastics - probably means scientific activities.

In three ancient biographies of Aristotle one can find the claim that this philosopher, before joining Plato, was for some time - according to one version of this tradition, three years - a pupil of Socrates and stayed with him (approximately) until his death. A letter from Aristotle to King Philip II of Macedonia is named as the source . It is unclear whether this refers to a (chronologically impossible) relationship to the older Socrates, who died long before the birth of Aristotle, whether there was an error in the text transmission or whether the information refers to the younger Socrates. In the latter case, it is possible that the claim has at least some historical core. That would mean that Aristotle in the academy into which he had entered 367 was initially looked after by Socrates and only later, when he died, came into a closer relationship with Plato. If the indication of the three years of study for Socrates is correct, he should have died 364. However, this contradicts a communication in a letter attributed to Plato, which in any case - even if it is spurious - was written by a well-informed person. According to the letter, Socrates the Younger was around 360 BC. Still alive; at that time he is said to have suffered from a urological disease, stranguria , which prevented him from traveling.

Teaching

In his metaphysics, Aristotle criticizes what he believes is a misleading comparison of a Socrates. Even ancient Aristotle commentators identified this thinker with the younger Socrates, who is known from the works of Plato. This equation is considered plausible in research. Aristotle accuses Socrates of practicing an approach which has the consequence that living beings are treated like mathematical objects by defining them independently of their material components, just as a circle is made without reference to the matter in which it is represented, Are defined. On the other hand, Aristotle objects that the analogy postulated by Socrates between living beings and mathematical objects does not exist. There can be no abstract human being, as there are abstract geometrical figures, because every living being as such must, by definition, be able to move and thus have living parts that are capable of movement (for example, human hands); but this presupposes that a soul as form is connected to its body as the associated matter, and that is only the case in concrete, sensually perceptible people. Socrates had evidently held the view that the organically divided body was as insignificant for humans as the material from which an image is formed for a geometrical figure and therefore does not belong to the definition of humans.

According to a hypothesis presented by Hermann Schmitz , a circle of "friends of ideas" formed around Socrates the Younger in the academy. This group, which was shaped by Socrates' influence, represented a radical, dualistic variant of the Platonic doctrine of ideas and thus contradicted Plato's view. The “friends of ideas” had harshly emphasized the separation of becoming and being, denied a commonality and similarity between the ideas and the corresponding sensory objects and limited the connection between them to mere identical names.

In the surely bogus “Second Letter of Plato” there is talk of works that would be distributed under Plato's name, but in reality came from the “beautiful and young” Socrates. The unknown author of the letter probably meant Socrates the Younger.

Role in dialogues of Plato

The younger Socrates appears in three of Plato's literary dialogues : in the Politikos ("statesman"), in the Theaetetos and in the Sophistes . In Theaetetus and Sophistes he is among those present, but does not take the floor. In the Politikos he is one of the four interlocutors; the others are Socrates the Elder, the mathematician Theodoros of Cyrene and an unnamed "stranger" from Elea .

In the Politikos , whose fictional plot dates back to 399 BC. When it takes place in the 3rd century BC, the debaters set themselves the task of determining what constitutes the statesman and what the task of true statecraft consists of. Theodoros and the elder Socrates only take part in the conversation briefly at the beginning and then limit themselves to listening; the actual dialogue is a dialogue between the stranger and the younger Socrates. The philosophically far superior stranger takes over the control of the conversation. His young dialogue partner largely confines himself to expressing agreement and asking questions. He shows a good understanding of the topic and is able to follow the argument, but he makes methodological errors and contributes relatively little to the acquisition of knowledge. In places he reacts rashly and lacks caution.

Tuija Jatakari considers the younger Socrates to be a fictional person behind whom Plato hides himself.

Source collection

  • François Lasserre : De Léodamas de Thasos à Philippe d'Oponte. Témoignages and fragments . Bibliopolis, Napoli 1987, ISBN 88-7088-136-9 , pp. 67–73 (Greek texts), 281–286 (French translation), 503–510 (commentary) (comprehensive compilation of the relevant source texts)

literature

  • Debra Nails: The People of Plato. A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics . Hackett, Indianapolis 2002, ISBN 0-87220-564-9 , p. 269
  • Michel Narcy: Socrate le Jeune. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 6, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2016, ISBN 978-2-271-08989-2 , pp. 453–455
  • Hermann Schmitz: The theory of ideas of Aristotle , Volume 2: Plato and Aristotle . Bouvier, Bonn 1985, ISBN 3-416-01812-5 , pp. 137-156

Remarks

  1. ↑ Dietrich Kurz (ed.): Plato: Phaidros, Parmenides, Briefe (= Gunther Eigler (ed.): Plato: Works in eight volumes , vol. 5), Darmstadt 1983, p. 465, note 159; Tuija Jatakari: The younger Socrates . In: Arctos 24, 1990, pp. 29-45, here: 38-45.
  2. ↑ Debra Nails: The People of Plato , Indianapolis 2002, p. 269; Michael Erler : Platon (= Hellmut Flashar (Hrsg.): Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie . Die Philosophie der Antike , Volume 2/2), Basel 2007, p. 233. Cf. Maurizio Migliori: Arte politica e metretica assiologica , Milano 1996 , P. 35f.
  3. ↑ Plato, Sophistes 218b; see. Theaetetus 147c-d.
  4. ^ Hermann Schmitz: The theory of ideas of Aristoteles , Volume 2: Platon and Aristoteles , Bonn 1985, p. 143.
  5. ↑ This is how Ingemar Düring interprets the passage : Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition , Göteborg 1957, pp. 108, 117f.
  6. ↑ This is the opinion of Tuija Jatakari: The younger Socrates . In: Arctos 24, 1990, pp. 29-45, here: 36f.
  7. ^ Hermann Schmitz: The theory of ideas of Aristoteles , Volume 2: Platon and Aristoteles , Bonn 1985, pp. 144-148; Ernst Kapp : Socrates the Younger . In: Ernst Kapp: Selected writings , Berlin 1968, pp. 180–187, here: 180–182; François Lasserre: De Léodamas de Thasos à Philippe d'Oponte , Napoli 1987, p. 503f.
  8. ↑ (Pseudo-) Plato, Letter 11 358d – e. For the dating of the letter and the controversial question of its authenticity see Michael Erler: Platon (= Hellmut Flashar (Hrsg.): Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie. Die Philosophie der Antike , Volume 2/2), Basel 2007, pp. 320f .; Hermann Schmitz: Aristotle's theory of ideas , Volume 2: Platon and Aristoteles , Bonn 1985, p. 137f.
  9. ↑ Aristotle, Metaphysics 1036b24-1037a10.
  10. ↑ Pseudo- Alexander von Aphrodisias , In Aristotelis metaphysica commentaria , ed. Michael Hayduck , Berlin 1891, p. 514; Asklepios von Tralleis , In Aristotelis metaphysicorum libros A – Z commentaria , ed. Michael Hayduck, Berlin 1888, p. 420.
  11. ↑ See Ernst Kapp: Socrates the Younger . In: Ernst Kapp: Selected writings , Berlin 1968, pp. 180–187, here: 183–187.
  12. ^ Hermann Schmitz: The theory of ideas of Aristoteles , Volume 2: Platon and Aristoteles , Bonn 1985, pp. 139–156.
  13. ↑ François Lasserre: De Leodamas de Thasos à Philippe d'Oponte. Témoignages et fragments , Napoli 1987, pp. 508-510.
  14. ↑ Plato, Theaitetos 147c-d; Sophistes 218b.
  15. ↑ Mitchell Miller: The Philosopher in Plato's Statesman , 2nd Edition, Las Vegas 2004, pp. 7f .; Michael Erler: Anagnorisis in Tragedy and Philosophy . In: Würzburger Jahrbücher für die Altertumswwissenschaft New Series Vol. 18, 1992, pp. 147–170, here: p. 154 and note 26. Cf. Maurizio Migliori: Arte politica e metretica assiologica , Milano 1996, p. 213.
  16. ↑ Tuija Jatakari: The younger Socrates . In: Arctos 24, 1990, pp. 29-45, here: 38-45. This hypothesis is rejected by Debra Nails: The People of Plato , Indianapolis 2002, p. 269.
personal data
SURNAME Socrates the Younger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Greek philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH around 425-420 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 360 BC Chr.