Le parcours intellectuel de Socrate

According to Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates was very fond of physics in his young days, but later on, disappointed, he “ turned towards words” and eventually became converted to pythagorizing beliefs. This is confirmed by Xenophon, and, in some way, by Aristophanes. What Socrates is teaching in the Clouds is indeed very close to the physical, rhetorical and musical theories of his masters Archelaos, Prodicos and Damon, and can therefore be considered as reflecting what he actually taught in 423 BC. But he is also shown as the “ guru” of a pythagorizing cenacle, which seems to indicate that he was still involved in physics at that time, while already professing a kind of pythagoreanism. This intellectual progress went hand in hand with a political one towards the ultraconservatism of his pupils Critias and Charmides, for which he was condemned in 399

Art · Epistemology · Literature · Musical · Political science · Politics · Rhetorical question · SOCRATES · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Law · Philosophy