The Trial of Socrates

The trial and execution of Socrates produced the first martyr for free speech in the world, writes Ramesh Chandra Misra

- Ramesh Chandra Misra

SOCRATES who is widely regarded as the father of western philosophy wrote nothing on philosophy, he only practiced it.

His most famous student Plato brought his teacher's philosophy before the world in his work, Dialogues. The Socratic style of enquiry was the dialectic method which is called Elenchus. In this method the principal moral issues are broken down to a series of individual questions, the answers to which would lead to the discovery of truth. It is a process of hypothesis elimination comparable to the Neti Neti, not this not this, in the Vedas. "I only know that I know nothing", Socrates said. He had driven his point hard by saying, "A life unexamined is not worth living". Socrates was born in Athens in 469 BC. He was an enigmatic figure, he practically did nothing for a living. He wore the same cloak throughout the year. He was physically unattractive. It was as if nature had given him an ugly appearance as a contrast to his beautiful mind. He was married and at the time of his death, had three sons. Xanthippe, his wife, was a woman of foul temper. Socrates spent most of his time in the public places of Athens conversing with his friends.