SOCRATES

Join Dr. Jason Rheins, a scholar of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, for a salon on who Socrates (469-399 BCE) was, and what he can mean for us today.

Socrates. The Oracle at Delphi proclaimed him the wisest of the Greeks, yet he supposedly claimed to know nothing but his own ignorance. He was poor and famously ugly, but a generation of Athens’ richest and most beautiful sons were irresistibly captivated by his charms. He was executed for atheism and corrupting the youth, but to his followers he was a shining paragon of justice and piety.

So, who was Socrates, really? An uncompromising moralist martyred in the name of self-knowledge? A disruptive provocateur pulling at the threads of the social fabric? A confusing (and possibly confused) ironist and paradox-monger?

We will consider the infamous “Socratic Problem”, the challenge of sifting out the historical man from his numerous and conflicting depictions: Trickster or tragic hero? Sophist or sage? Dogmatic skeptic? Skeptical dogmatist? None of these things, or all of them and more?

Moreover, we’ll discuss who Socrates can and should be for us, and explore why, after more than 2400 years, he remains a perennial symbol of philosophy and a continuing font of reflection, refutation, and reverence for truth.

Dr. Jason Rheins is a scholar of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, with additional research interests in philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, Kant, and Objectivism. You can find him on the platform formerly known as Twitter (for now).

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Recommended readings:

• An excellent overview of Socrates and the Socratic Problem
• Plato’s Apology of Socrates
• Xenophon’s very different Apology of Socrates
• Aristophanes’ Clouds, especially from lines 260 [210] on

This event will be recorded.