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Originally Posted by Godiva Girl
I am so happy that we have a Philosophy section now. I have just started learning about Philosophy and find it quite interesting. Since I am new to learning this subject I will probably use wrong words at first and may make some mistakes, please be patient with me. I just finished reading an article about the Greek Philosopher Socrates. Since I had heard his name so many times I was surprised to read that he did not write much of anything. That he was quite the antagonist and mostly tore other peoples opinion down. To those of you out there that know alot about philosophy, what is your opinion of Socrates?
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although i studied primarily philosophy in college (before dropping out!) i'm not terribly well read in the ancient classics. however, i can address the notion that he was an antagonist and mostly 'tore other people's opinion down'.
what you're referring to is appropriately named 'the socratic method'. it has less to do with tearing down opinions as it does getting people to question the definitions upon which their opinions are based. it's a means of understanding what we know by questioning what we know. socrates challenged people's presumptions and assumptions, and strived to get to a deeper understanding of what people took for granted. in that sense it was antagonistic, because it was based upon skepticism. but unlike the 'entrenched' skepticism of the sophists, his was based upon a genuine desire to find the root, the core of our understanding of existence.
a 'google' on 'socratic method' brings up some excellent explanations of it.