Socrates on what the most important pursuit in life is
Recently, I went to a mall because my sister wanted to buy something from Pandora. While I was walking through the mall back from the store to the car (after having bought nothing because it’s all just gold plated, hence overpriced, and they only had push-back earrings which are apparently uncomfortable) I noticed all the SALE signs and bright lights and decor which makes every t-shirt look like a must have. They promoted the “new style” or the shoe’s “better support” or the phone’s “Bigger screen”.
I just thought, “Wow, everyone’s just trying to sell us stuff we don’t need!” My 3 year old shirt looks just as nice as when I bought it and my iPhone 6s works perfectly well, but In our capitalistic society, people are encouraged to indulge. Go on vacations, buy fancy cars, get the latest phone. Brands promise you the world if you buy their product.
But it’s interesting how most ancient societies value the complete opposite. They value temperance and control over oneself and one’s desires.
One of the most famous historical figures who advocated for such character traits is the ancient greek philosopher Socrates. He believed that virtue is what leads to happiness. Virtue is defined be moral excellence. It includes things like courage, temperance, patient, and justice.
But first, some background on the ugly man who changed the world
Socrates was born in Athens, Greece. His father was a sculptor and stone mason. Socrates did the same for the earlier part of his life, and later served as a foot soldier. Then he decided to dedicate himself to what he is most famous for, philosophy.
Socrates is an odd person, because he didn’t write anything down. All that we know of him is through second hand accounts, the most reliable comes from one of Socrates’ students, another famous philosopher, Plato.
Socrates was considered ugly by almost everyone. His eyes bulged out of their sockets, his hair and beard were long, and it didn’t help that he didn’t bathe often and walked around barefoot. He spent his days going about Athens’ marketplaces where literally everyone gathered. A stroll down the street and you would bump into prominent politicians, important generals, famous artists, and a smelly mid-aged male. Socrates spent his time questioning everyone about happiness, life, and purpose, which drove most people mad. At the end of his life he was charged for corrupting the youth of Athens, and sentenced to death. But his teaching live on!!
Virtue
Socrates strongly believed (unlike modern society) that the cultivation of virtue is the most important pursuit in life. He believed that virtue leads to a good and fulfilling life. The virtuous person is one who does well for society, and is in control of themselves and their desires.
Socrates says that one gains virtue through acquiring knowledge. This didn’t make sense to me at first, I thought things like courage or empathy were skills which are developed overtime, but here’s how one of the greatest thinkers of all time thought about it.
Socrates argues that humans always take actions which improve their wellbeing, so if they had the knowledge that the cultivation of virtue will lead to the most good, then that’s exactly what they would do.
But wait, people do things that harm themselves all the time right? Like eating junk food or taking drugs or procrastinating.
Well yes, but they do those things because they think they will benefit in the short term, but are ignorant of the long term effects. If they had enough knowledge and truly understood the consequences of their actions, then they would never do those things.
Socrates sums it up nicely:
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”
To gain knowledge, and hence virtue, Socrates went around the Agora, Athens’ ancient marketplace where everyone gathered. He would talk to important military generals, politicians, poets, musicians. He would ask them questions about how to gain certain virtues, how to live a good life, why they were doing the things they were doing.
To his surprise he realized that the people considered the wisest in society weren’t actually that wise! Military generals didn’t know why they fought battles a certain way, the rich didn’t know why they were rich and others weren’t. Everyone followed them because other people followed them.
Don’t follow the crowd
Humans, like other animals have a strong instinct to follow our peers. We automatically assume that if someone is powerful or rich or important, then they must be wise and knowledgeable, but this isn’t always the case. Socrates challenged people to search for truth rather than simply following the crowd.
This simple philosophy is so important in the modern day. Imagine if the bankers in 2007 actually thought about whether or not certain mortgages were actually worth an “A” rating, rather than just listening to other people. What if Walgreens did some research to figure out whether Theranos’ technology was feasible, and did their own trials to test it’s accuracy, rather than believing the hype. There are so many examples where following the crowd has lead to billions of dollars in losses and a loss of reputation.
Socrates actually had a method to identify these inconsistencies. He would look at things which were considered common sense by most people. Things like “wealth leads to happiness” or “democracy is the best system of government”. Then he would try to find exceptions to those claims. He knew a claim was correct if he couldn’t disprove it. This method is actually the inspiration for the scientific process.
Once Socrates identified a commonly held belief as false, he didn’t force his own opinions and conclusions on others. He knew that would just make people more adamant in their beliefs. Instead, he simply questioned, and let other people identify the inconsistencies themselves.
“I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think”
I think it’s so interesting how have had found the answers to most of the meaning of life questions thousands of years ago. People are rediscovering the benefits of meditation, stoicism, and buddha’s philosophy of simplicity.
We’ve already figured out a lot of stuff, it’s just about remembering it.
