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Since the dawn of civilisation,
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the forces of nature and the whims of gods
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held sway over humanity.
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But 2,500 years ago,
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humankind experienced a profound transformation.
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Suddenly, there were new possibilities.
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This is a time when rationality overrode superstition and belief.
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This is an ethic which does not rely on the gods.
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The world is now explained in terms of natural forces.
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We're now responsible for our own destiny.
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Upheavals across the globe
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sparked an ambitious vision of what humans could achieve,
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spearheaded by three trailblazers.
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Socrates, Confucius and the Buddha -
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great thinkers from the ancient world
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whose ideas still shape our own lives.
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Is wealth a good thing?
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How do you create a just society?
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How do I live a good life?
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By daring to think the unthinkable,
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they laid the foundations of our modern world.
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I've always been intrigued by the fact that these men,
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who lived many thousands of miles apart,
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seemed spontaneously
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and within 100 years of one another,
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to come up with such radical ideas.
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So, what was going on?
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I want to investigate their revolutionary ideas -
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to understand what set them in motion.
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This time, Socrates.
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It's so thrilling,
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imagining those big new ideas could possibly have been enacted there!
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He was the soldier whose bravery in battle
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was matched by the inflammatory courage of his ideas.
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Socrates encouraged his fellow citizens
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to rationally examine every aspect of their lives.
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Does the person who possess knowledge in the big way know everything?
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- You don't know?
- I don't know. I give up! I give up!
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I'm going to inhabit his world,
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to examine how his subversive philosophy
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challenged superstitious belief that had reigned for millennia...
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..and to discover how his search for truth
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led to his downfall.
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In 469 BC,
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Socrates was born, the son of a midwife and a stonemason,
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into a city in the midst of a tumultuous transformation.
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He grew up in the suburbs of Athens,
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at eye level with the sacred Acropolis rock.
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But young Socrates wouldn't have looked out
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over the elegant lines of the Parthenon Temple,
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that exquisite symbol of Western civilisation
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that still stands proud today.
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Instead, he'd have woken every morning to a horror -
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the blackened and burnt-out remains of buildings brutalised by war.
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His city bore the scars of a ferocious conflict
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with the region's superpower, Persia.
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But, against the odds, Athens had triumphed,
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just ten years before Socrates was born.
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Now, it revelled in what some call "the Greek miracle" -
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a golden age.
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Burgeoning trade flooded the region with new wealth
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and crucially, with new ideas.
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But the key ideology that would shape young Socrates' life
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belonged to Athens alone -
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because here, around 508 BC,
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democracy, the power of the people, was born.
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Virtually overnight,
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all adult male citizens found they didn't just serve the state -
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they were the state.
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You cannot over-emphasise
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how electrically exciting this must have been.
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Ordinary men were selected randomly at lot
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to hold the very highest of offices -
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the equivalent of being Head of the Foreign Office,
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or Home Secretary for one day.
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Socrates wouldn't only witness a city being rebuilt,
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but the ethical hazards of a new social experiment.
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As he was growing up, democracy too was finding its feet.
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Ordinary Athenians now had the potential
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to determine their own future,
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but their fate was still very firmly in the hands of the gods.
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Gods, demigods and spirits were believed to be everywhere,
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influencing people's everyday lives.
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If I'd been looking out over Athens during Socrates' lifetime,
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then this scene would have been thick with smoke
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and the smell of sacrifice would be heavy in the air,
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as Athenians frantically rushed around,
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trying to keep their gods on side -
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all 2,000 of them!
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This "pantheon of gods"
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gave people a sense of their place in the universe.
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But in these exciting times,
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a few were daring to question religious convention.
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As a teenager, Socrates sought them out
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in one of Athens' most edgy and marginal districts -
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Keramiekos.
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For 600 years, this had been Athens' main burial ground.
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Come Socrates' day,
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and it had evolved into a kind of cosmopolitan suburb of sin.
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Travelling salesman plied their wares here,
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along with prostitutes,
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who offered what were euphemistically known as
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"middle of the day marriages".
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Many young Athenians didn't need to work.
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There was one slave to every two free citizens.
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So, Socrates had the free time to come here
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and listen in on theories carried in on the trade routes.
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He encountered thinkers from the Eastern Mediterranean,
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whose ideas had, for over a century,
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confronted traditional explanations of the cosmos.
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What people saw as mysterious and unfathomable,
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they viewed as rationally ordered -
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and to some degree, rationally explicable.
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We refer to them now as one group, the pre-Socratics,
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but in reality, they were brilliant, independent thinkers.
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They asked hugely ambitious scientific questions.
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What is the cosmos made of?
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What is matter, and how do we perceive it?
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Their answers, in some cases,
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undermined the role of the gods as rulers of the cosmos.
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Their abstract theories -
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obviously conceived without the help of scientific instruments -
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that the universe was made of atoms and empty space,
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that water was the fundamental element of the world,
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and that the sun was one giant red-hot rock,
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were wildly provocative.
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The scale and audacity of their thinking was breathtaking.
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The pre-Socratics not only struck at the core of traditional belief,
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but their use of reason opened up a new way
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to look at the entirety of human experience -
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an approach eagerly taken up by the young Socrates.
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Suddenly, it's not just tradition or myth or religious hierarchies
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that are telling you how to make sense of your world,
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but rational debate, systematic thought.
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Just like those other groundbreaking philosophers of the age -
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Confucius in China and the Buddha in what's now India -
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Socrates and his contemporaries
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are daring to harness the power of the mind
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to explain the world around them.
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This is a quantum shift.
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Confident, brave-new-world Athens
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didn't seek to suppress this new spirit of inquiry.
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The city became a magnet for innovation -
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thanks, in large part, to the man who would dominate Athenian politics
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for almost half of Socrates' life -
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the visionary politician, Pericles.
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He gathered thinkers and artists to advise him
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and set about making democracy
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the dominant ideology in the Greek world.
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He glorified the streets with sumptuous statues
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and fetishized democratic principles.
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Athens built warships called "Freedom" and "Freedom of Speech".
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Yet, Socrates would understand all this success had its flipside.
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Democracy's high ideals would need to be interrogated.
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A later source tells us that Socrates declared,
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"Beautiful statues, high city walls and warships are all very well,
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"but what's the point, if those within them aren't happy?"
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So, we have to imagine a young Socrates
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walking around this fabulous, febrile city,
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beginning to ask those big questions
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that are still utterly relevant today.
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Is wealth a good thing?
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Can a democracy itself create a just society?
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What is it makes us truly happy?
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Democracy had opened a Pandora's box of new dilemmas and contradictions.
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As he reached adulthood,
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Socrates would become the one to point them out -
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a constant irritant, known as "the gadfly of Athens".
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An infamous celebrity of his day.
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But Socrates is also an enigma, because as far as we know,
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he didn't write anything down - not a single line.
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He thought that writing was dangerous,
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because it imprisoned knowledge.
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It's only thanks to contemporaries -
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such as Plato, who may have coined the term "philosopher",
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perhaps with Socrates in mind -
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that his thoughts and life story have been preserved.
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And what a man he seems to have been.
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Ironic, courageous, brilliant,
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wildly charismatic
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and utterly infuriating.
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Plato's compelling accounts of his life, his ideas
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and his dramatic death are a jewel in the canon of Western thought.
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When we think of the ancient Greek philosophers,
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we often visualise them as they've been portrayed
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in Renaissance works of art -
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lofty grey beards, draped in elegant robes,
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hanging around classical columns.
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We don't perhaps imagine them
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involved in the dirty and bloody business of war.
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Athens' appetite for territorial expansion seems to been sharpened
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by the collective will of democratic voters.
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Socrates, like all male Athenian citizens, was expected to fight.
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He was in his late 30s when he was sent here, to Potidaea,
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to help take control of this strategic city in Northern Greece.
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It's from this time of war
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we get sharper textual details of Socrates' life.
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The man himself starts to come into focus.
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His vision, his physical courage, his eccentricities -
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and a man with something momentous on his mind.
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The fighting was fierce -
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and for three years, the town was besieged.
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In desperation, locals turned to cannibalism.
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Yet, in amongst all these horrors and the pity of war,
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somehow Socrates found stillness.
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We're told he became absorbed by complex, private thoughts.
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In the depths of winter,
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wearing just a threadbare cloak and with bare feet,
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he stood - for 24 hours at a stretch.
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Stock-still,
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lost in his own mind.
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Unlike the pre-Socratic thinkers,
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Socrates came to believe that understanding the cosmos
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was an esoteric diversion from something far more important.
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Studying the secrets of the stars was all very well,
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but human affairs had far greater urgency.
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So, Socrates did something truly ground-breaking.
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He turned rational thought inward,
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to solve the mortal dilemmas we all face.
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He threw all his energies
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into resolving the fundamental questions of human existence.
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What kind of a life should we lead?
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What sort of people do we want to be?
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He's the first individual in the West
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to put ethics at the very heart of his philosophy.
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Socrates' starting point was simple.
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Everyone yearns for a full and flourishing life,
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but it wasn't to be found in the transitory pleasures
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and distractions of the material world.
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Socrates believed we can only realise our human potential
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when we nurture the most precious,
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the most permanent part of our beings - our souls.
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When we do right, we protect our soul.
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When we do wrong, we harm it.
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Knowing right from wrong was fundamental to every aspect of life.
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And in fifth century Athens, the issue was acute.
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As many as 4,000 legal cases were heard each year.
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Democracy had revolutionised the law courts.
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Now, any male citizen,
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from aristocrats right down to fishmongers,
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could be a judge for the day.
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We're told Socrates found such amateur governance troubling.
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If those sitting in judgment weren't qualified to understand
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the difference between right and wrong,
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then they could convict an innocent person.
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They'd be punishing someone who didn't deserve to be hurt.
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But in Socrates' view, the innocent person would only suffer physically.
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It's the jurors who would be harming themselves much more.
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By unknowingly doing wrong,
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they would inflict terrible, lasting damage to their own souls.
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In order to protect Athenians, Socrates needed to teach them.
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"The only evil is ignorance", he said.
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But Socrates faced a problem.
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The Greeks did have an ethical framework of sorts,
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but it wasn't either clear or consistent.
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The destiny of all Greeks was in the hands of the gods.
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They were venerated,
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even though their personal lives were pretty short on moral guidance.
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Capricious and vengeful,
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they fought with each other, they slept with one another's wives,
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they abducted mortals.
262
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And appropriately,
263
00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:03,840
the gods didn't seem that interested in human morality, either.
264
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Living a good life didn't guarantee favour with the gods.
265
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Respecting their power
266
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and offering the most expensive and bloodiest sacrifice
267
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was a much safer bet.
268
00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,280
Greeks did, however, believe there were five virtues -
269
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justice, temperance, courage, piety and wisdom.
270
00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:32,120
But in practice, these virtues were slippery, shifting ideals.
271
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What was considered just or pious for an aristocratic man
272
00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:38,920
wasn't necessarily the same for a slave woman.
273
00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:43,240
In Socrates' experience, traditional moral thinking -
274
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:47,040
the kind taught by elders and priests and epic poets -
275
00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:49,720
just didn't stand up to scrutiny.
276
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His philosophy became a search for more robust, universal definitions.
277
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Socrates thought that all the virtues were interlinked.
278
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They couldn't be separated.
279
00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:06,040
He thought of them as one thing -
280
00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:09,880
something he called "knowledge of the human good".
281
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For him, virtue is knowledge - knowledge of the human good.
282
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,640
He says that this knowledge of the human good
283
00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:24,480
is going to, in some sense, save your life.
284
00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:26,840
This is really strong language.
285
00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:28,640
But is that an abstract idea,
286
00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:32,040
or is there something that can play out in people's day to day lives?
287
00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:34,560
Oh, no, absolutely. Knowledge of the human good
288
00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:38,560
is what enables us to make the right practical decisions
289
00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:40,320
in our daily lives.
290
00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:44,360
But it's going to look different in different contexts.
291
00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,560
For instance, if you're on a battlefield,
292
00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:48,560
it will manifest itself as courage.
293
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:52,840
If you're sacrificing in a temple, it will look like piety,
294
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:55,360
And it's through those decisions and actions
295
00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:58,400
that we are enabled to take care of our souls -
296
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:00,840
our most precious possession,
297
00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:03,880
on which all our happiness depends.
298
00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,400
But that means that people have real agency,
299
00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,200
because it seems to me that he's saying
300
00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:10,600
it's not down to the Gods to make the world a better place,
301
00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:12,520
- it's down to us.
- Absolutely.
302
00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:15,840
Socrates is saying, you don't have to depend on the whims
303
00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:17,640
and the caprices of the gods.
304
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:22,160
It's really about individual empowerment and responsibility.
305
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:25,200
And furthermore, whereas he inherited a tradition which said
306
00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:27,960
there was one kind of virtue for a man, another for a woman,
307
00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:32,400
one for, you know, a well-born person, another for a slave,
308
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,800
he's saying, no - it's about knowledge of the human good,
309
00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:40,200
in a universal sense. It's available to everybody.
310
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:41,920
Cicero later says of him,
311
00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:46,320
he brings philosophy down from the heavens and into people's homes
312
00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:48,600
and into people's individual homes.
313
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:53,200
This really is a very radical moment in Western thought.
314
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,400
Exciting and empowering, but also dangerous.
315
00:19:56,400 --> 00:20:00,560
Indeed, because even though Socrates himself
316
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:04,640
was personally very religious, as far as we know, very pious,
317
00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,080
this is socially threatening.
318
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:10,200
It's threatening traditional religion and of course,
319
00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:13,560
these messages are disturbing to a lot of people.
320
00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:22,200
Socrates didn't deny the existence of the gods, but his emphasis
321
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,360
on the capacity of humans to shape their own destiny
322
00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:28,520
could be seen as challenging their traditional roles.
323
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,120
Fortunately, the sacrificial fires to the Gods,
324
00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:36,760
which had burnt for centuries,
325
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,840
were now lit in a city that also prized freedom of expression.
326
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:46,080
Initially, Socrates' unorthodox ideas were tolerated.
327
00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,840
But then, in 431 BC,
328
00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:51,960
the good times looked set to end.
329
00:20:56,640 --> 00:21:00,360
The violence of Potidaea escalated into all-out conflict.
330
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,720
The pitiless Peloponnesian war between Athens and its nemesis -
331
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:07,720
the city-state of Sparta.
332
00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:11,760
Here at the National Archaeological Museum,
333
00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,680
funerary urns depict the heartbreaking suffering and loss
334
00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:17,480
experienced by the Athenians.
335
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,880
With Spartan hordes ravaging the countryside around Athens,
336
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,280
Pericles ordered every citizen from the surrounding area
337
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:31,160
to come inside the city walls.
338
00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:35,000
It was a fatal strategy.
339
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:38,400
A new kind of terror was unleashed from within.
340
00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,200
Athens became one giant refugee camp.
341
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,440
With the population hemmed in together,
342
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,960
a deadly disease spread like wildfire.
343
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,480
The symptoms were ghastly -
344
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,720
sweats, fevers, a suppurating rash
345
00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,400
and a racking cough.
346
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:01,440
At a conservative estimate,
347
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:05,960
at least one third of the population was wiped out.
348
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:13,600
Angry and frustrated Athenians turned on their poster boy
349
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:15,720
and removed Pericles from office.
350
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:21,280
Eventually he died, it's believed, of the plague himself.
351
00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:24,720
A thriving Athens had been robust enough
352
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,000
to deal with the searching questions of Socrates.
353
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,280
Now, with confidence ebbing away,
354
00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:31,960
tolerance was threatened.
355
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:37,120
Yet, energised by the same sense of crisis and danger
356
00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:41,040
which motivated the philosophies of Confucius and the Buddha,
357
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,240
Socrates seems to have flourished.
358
00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:47,960
By now in his 40s
359
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,760
and surrounded by war, death and disease,
360
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,040
his search took on a new intensity.
361
00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:58,040
How do we decide what is good?
362
00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:03,080
Is wealth a good thing?
363
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,240
What makes us truly happy?
364
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,960
In Athens, Socrates wasn't the only one discussing big ideas
365
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:16,760
with its embattled citizens.
366
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:22,520
The sophists were cock-sure, showy educators -
367
00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,160
masters in the art of persuasive argument.
368
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,880
They acted as speechmakers in legal trials,
369
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,920
entertaining huge crowds in stadiums.
370
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:35,840
Socrates was sceptical, to say the least.
371
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,120
Like the sophists, he challenged orthodox thought,
372
00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:40,960
but he also passionately believed
373
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,560
that philosophy should have a higher purpose.
374
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:47,920
Clever ideas and persuasive arguments just weren't enough.
375
00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:55,360
To the sophists, smart words were currency.
376
00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:59,000
They sold their services to the highest bidder.
377
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,240
But Socrates refused to be paid,
378
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,360
preferring handouts from friends.
379
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,080
That's not to say he didn't enjoy worldly pleasures.
380
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,800
He drank and made love,
381
00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:14,640
but barefoot and unwashed,
382
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,440
he stood out in materially minded Athens.
383
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:23,280
We're told that he marched past shop stalls in his shabby robes, saying,
384
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:25,320
"How many things I don't need!"
385
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,360
He saw wealth as impermanent -
386
00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:33,200
a distraction from the search for absolute values.
387
00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,480
Socrates believed you couldn't buy knowledge -
388
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:40,080
and wisdom didn't come from listening to long speeches.
389
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:42,640
It could only come through something else -
390
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:44,560
dialogue.
391
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:49,560
- So, Bethany, I understand you're here to do a documentary about Socrates.
- Yes.
392
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,560
Why are you making this documentary?
393
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,920
'His Socratic method worked something like this -
394
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,400
'Socrates would engage someone in the street...'
395
00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:59,680
I can learn something more about Socrates
396
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,920
and I can share that knowledge with the people who are watching it.
397
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,240
These are big words - "knowledge" and "truth".
398
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:07,480
Shall we take one of them? What would it mean...?
399
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,480
'He'd ask them an ethical question.'
400
00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:13,200
So what is this thing - knowledge - that you want to impart?
401
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:14,560
In my book,
402
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:19,320
knowledge is love of what it is to be human.
403
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,760
'The person would attempt to define the concept,
404
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:26,000
'but Socrates would find inconsistencies in their answers.'
405
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,280
- So, knowledge is love?
- Yeah.
- OK.
406
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:33,800
So, if you wanted to have an operation for an appendicitis,
407
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:37,120
would you go to a woman who was full of love,
408
00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:39,840
- but knew nothing about surgery?
- No!
409
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,960
OK, So I would say that the definition of "knowledge as love"
410
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:45,720
is not good enough.
411
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,560
'They would be forced to withdraw their definition
412
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,200
'and to reformulate and refine their ideas.'
413
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,160
So, let's try it again.
414
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,720
Is there one kind of knowledge, or many kinds of knowledge?
415
00:25:57,920 --> 00:25:59,840
Knowledge is one thing...
416
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,760
Take your time. I don't know the answers to this.
417
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:05,320
Maybe knowledge is one thing,
418
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,680
but knowing is many things.
419
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:09,360
'This process would spiral
420
00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:12,560
'into a dizzying round of question and answer.'
421
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:14,760
..To know how the stars move
422
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:18,200
and to know how the liver operates is the same thing?
423
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:21,880
No, they're not the same thing.
424
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,360
Does the person who possesses knowledge in the big way know everything?
425
00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:28,680
Between those two, who is probably the best stone maker?
426
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:32,480
Er... The one who...
427
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:36,400
I don't know! I give up, I give up!
428
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,240
'Socrates likens his role to that of a midwife,
429
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,760
'who helps to nurture and deliver the thoughts of others.
430
00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,280
'But it was never an easy birth.'
431
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:47,440
I have to say that the one thing you've proved to me
432
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:48,880
is that I know nothing.
433
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,320
Ah, no, no. That's me! LAUGHTER
434
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,280
I am the expert at making other people know things, but I'm no good -
435
00:26:55,280 --> 00:27:00,360
I know nothing and that is the only knowledge I claim for myself.
436
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,640
That Socratic method is fascinating and stimulating,
437
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,720
but it is also infuriating.
438
00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:11,800
Yes, because it's in an oral context, the way we do it,
439
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,040
and Socrates famously believed
440
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,000
in the supremacy of the oral over the written
441
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,000
and that also stirs up the emotions.
442
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:23,840
First of all, in his pretence of being the fool.
443
00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:25,960
- The ignorant man.
- Of knowing nothing, yeah.
444
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,280
Yes, and because that is his tool,
445
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,640
that he turns, in fact, against his friends -
446
00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,280
or opponents, as you may take it -
447
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:38,520
and makes them admit to things that they don't want to admit to,
448
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:41,520
by playing essentially the fool, saying,
449
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:43,120
"I know nothing, I know nothing.
450
00:27:43,120 --> 00:27:45,960
"I can only ask you to tell me, because I know nothing."
451
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,640
So, he laid an emphasis on the definitions,
452
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,880
then on what he called "dieresis" - division -
453
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,800
of breaking down a problem into little parts,
454
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,400
analysing parts, analysing it.
455
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,000
And then, attacking each one separately
456
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,200
and then trying, inductively, to group them back together
457
00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:06,200
into a more general concept.
458
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:10,400
So, Socrates uses that to make people become aware
459
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:14,480
that things they consider simple and elementary and basic
460
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,760
and that they know - they in fact don't know.
461
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:19,560
And what about the modern world?
462
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:23,000
Do you think we could have the modern world
463
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,360
without Socratic debate,
464
00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:27,960
without questioning what it is to be human
465
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,840
and what it is to be human in the world around us?
466
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:35,080
Well, I think that the best way to accept,
467
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:37,920
to find Socrates' place in it
468
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:42,440
is to see that the opposite of the Socratic method, essentially,
469
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,840
is fanaticism and dogmatism.
470
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:49,600
And in that sense, the modern world very much needs
471
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,560
an antidote to those things, at every level.
472
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,040
The Socratic method was cathartic.
473
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,440
It got difficult issues out into the open
474
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,400
and defined concepts with much greater precision.
475
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,760
Socrates' tough questioning, with his trademark irony,
476
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:13,720
was conducted in public,
477
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,440
causing a stir wherever he went.
478
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:22,680
He was inviting everyone to seek knowledge of the human good,
479
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,680
to identify fundamental truths.
480
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:28,360
But people could only do this for themselves
481
00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:30,920
by constantly interrogating their actions
482
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,200
and most deeply held beliefs.
483
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:37,520
"The unexamined life," Socrates said, "is not worth living."
484
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,120
But there was a problem.
485
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:49,360
Socrates' teaching found particular favour with the young.
486
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:52,080
With no end in sight to war with Sparta,
487
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:56,480
these human resources were vital to Athens' future.
488
00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:00,200
Laws attempted to protect the youth from malign influence.
489
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:05,280
Encouraging them to think for themselves was fraught with danger.
490
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:08,760
Yet Socrates sought them out,
491
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,640
close to the most public place in the city -
492
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:13,000
the Agora.
493
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,040
Across the ancient world,
494
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:18,960
commerce was increasingly a driver for change -
495
00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:22,400
and that was felt particularly keenly here in Athens.
496
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,200
The Agora was a buzzing market,
497
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,560
a place where people came to exchange goods and gossip.
498
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:35,640
Socrates loved sharing his ideas here.
499
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:39,080
It's from Agora we get the word "Agoraphobia" -
500
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:40,680
a fear of open spaces.
501
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:46,480
There was anxiety back then, too, as under-18s were barred.
502
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,760
Now, archaeology helps to point to how Socrates met young Athenians
503
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:56,040
just outside the Agora's boundary, in a private dwelling.
504
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,520
So, we're right on the edge of the Agora space,
505
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:02,360
and we're in-between the public space and the private space behind us here.
506
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:04,760
And this wall behind us right here
507
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:06,840
is one of those private establishments.
508
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:09,000
And we have a later source that mentions
509
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,040
Socrates visiting the house of a friend of his
510
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:14,560
and we have this figure, Simon the Cobbler
511
00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:16,840
and he's hosting young men.
512
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:18,600
So, we have the literary source,
513
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:22,080
but what's nice is that during the excavations right here,
514
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:24,600
they found hobnails, they found bone eyelets
515
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:26,360
and then, they also found a cup
516
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:29,360
and this is the amazing bit of evidence really,
517
00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:32,760
because this cup has the name "Simon" scratched on it.
518
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,480
And this is a replica right here of the cup
519
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:39,520
and you can see that it does have "Simonos" scratched on it.
520
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:41,520
Yeah, I just... It's so thrilling being here,
521
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,520
imagining those big, new ideas
522
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,720
could possibly have been enacted there 2,500 years ago.
523
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,320
We can say that Socrates was walking around this space
524
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:51,920
and he was probably hanging out right here,
525
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,480
in order to discuss things, things that might otherwise be...
526
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:57,560
Something that might get him in trouble,
527
00:31:57,560 --> 00:31:59,920
I mean, it's a dangerous situation that, potentially.
528
00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:02,000
So, you've got this magnetic personality,
529
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,640
having these rumbustious conversations with young men
530
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:07,720
- and encouraging them to think for themselves.
- That's exactly right.
531
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,480
This is the place where we're supposed to have freedom of thought
532
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:15,160
and freedom of expression and so on, in this democratic idea,
533
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:18,760
but this is a place where you have to respect the gods
534
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:20,680
and you have to respect your elders
535
00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:22,880
and you have to respect the laws of the city.
536
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:25,640
He's questioning the gods, he's questioning the laws,
537
00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:28,320
so he's really putting it to the test
538
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:32,240
and forcing these young guys to see things in a different way
539
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:34,360
and the city didn't really like that.
540
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,040
Socrates was storing up trouble,
541
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:43,480
especially as some of his devotees were confident young aristocrats -
542
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:45,120
the city's future leaders.
543
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:53,240
Most notable was Alcibiades.
544
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:58,400
Well born, wealthy and an Olympic champion,
545
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,360
this sexually promiscuous hell raiser
546
00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:05,120
entranced and scandalised Athens for decades.
547
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:10,280
Yet this playboy was friends with Socrates,
548
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:13,120
who was 20 years his senior.
549
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,600
Socrates had actually saved Alcibiades' life
550
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:17,400
during the battle of Potidaea.
551
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,040
Plato's Symposium describes an infamous exchange
552
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:23,680
that took place between them
553
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:26,560
during a heady, aristocratic drinking party.
554
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:32,440
A drunken Alcibiades, we're told, crashes the discussion,
555
00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,880
which turns to the question of beauty.
556
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,920
In Greek culture, Alcibiades' body beautiful
557
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:43,120
would typically have been regarded as a sign of his moral beauty, too.
558
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,920
But it appears Alcibiades bought into
559
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:50,680
Socrates' alternative concept of real beauty.
560
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:56,080
Socrates, he says, might be ugly on the outside,
561
00:33:56,080 --> 00:34:00,960
but he has an inner beauty that by far outshines any physical beauty -
562
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,680
and that he, Alcibiades, loves Socrates
563
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,560
because he is the wisest man
564
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,000
and therefore, the most beautiful.
565
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:18,520
However, when it came to achieving inner beauty for himself,
566
00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:22,320
Alcibiades was woefully out of step.
567
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,200
He thought his good looks could help him,
568
00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:29,520
but his cocky plan to seduce Socrates was rebuffed.
569
00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:31,560
"You're plotting to get real beauty
570
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,480
"in exchange for its appearance", Socrates said.
571
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:36,760
"That would be gold for bronze".
572
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:46,640
For Socrates, the talents of young aristocrats were worthless
573
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,120
without the wisdom to use them properly.
574
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,800
By debating with them, he was pushing the patience of Athens.
575
00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:58,680
Yet Socrates didn't compromise his principles...
576
00:34:59,960 --> 00:35:04,640
..as demonstrated in the story of the Oracle of Delphi.
577
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,400
We're told that a friend of Socrates, called Chaerephon,
578
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:15,560
a rather impetuous individual from all accounts,
579
00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:18,560
came on pilgrimage here, to this sacred site.
580
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:25,880
Delphi had been a place of religious devotion for 2,000 years.
581
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,920
Chaerephon, in time-honoured fashion,
582
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:35,720
climbed the sacred way to ask a question of the god Apollo,
583
00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:37,480
who spoke through a priestess.
584
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,120
When he finally reached the Oracle,
585
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:49,320
he asked, "Is there any man wiser than Socrates?"
586
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:51,360
And the answer came back -
587
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:52,560
"No".
588
00:35:57,240 --> 00:35:59,960
Chaerephon took the message to Socrates,
589
00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:03,560
who in typical manner, questioned the Oracle's words.
590
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:08,880
Even the words of Apollo - a god, for heaven's sake -
591
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:11,280
was subject to Socrates' scrutiny.
592
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:15,880
He set about cross-examining people who had a reputation for wisdom,
593
00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:18,440
or a particular kind of specialist knowledge.
594
00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:24,520
After questioning public officials, poets and craftsmen,
595
00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:28,680
he discovered that they all lacked the wisdom they claimed.
596
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:36,160
Eventually, Socrates concluded that the Oracle was indeed right.
597
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:40,960
He was the wisest of men, but only, because as he put it,
598
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:44,160
"I don't pretend to know what I don't know."
599
00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:57,400
Socrates was wiser
600
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,800
because he acknowledged the limits of his own understanding.
601
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:04,320
By publicly exposing the false pretensions
602
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:07,360
and ignorance of those who did claim to know the truth,
603
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,920
he was bound to make enemies.
604
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:12,120
But there was something else about Socrates
605
00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:13,880
that was even more unsettling.
606
00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:18,400
He claimed to have his own daimonion, or guiding spirit.
607
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:22,320
A kind of hotline of communication to the supernatural world.
608
00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:36,520
This daimonion spoke to him during trance-like episodes.
609
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:38,920
It warned him from making wrong decisions.
610
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:43,760
On one occasion, it advised against entering public politics.
611
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:47,760
Socrates' followers would have been in awe of this
612
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:50,720
uniquely personal divine calling,
613
00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:52,360
but the average Athenian
614
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:56,240
would have been confused and deeply disturbed by it.
615
00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:58,720
Don't forget, this is a time and place
616
00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:03,000
where ritual, devotion and belief all take place out in public,
617
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,400
as part of a shared experience.
618
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:10,160
Not only that, but Greek folk culture imagined the world
619
00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:12,440
to be infused with spirits -
620
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:13,960
not all of them good.
621
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:24,040
Socrates' unorthodox, private spirituality
622
00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:25,760
could easily be confused with
623
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:28,160
a darker, more troubling kind of magic.
624
00:38:29,240 --> 00:38:31,760
Some muttered that he was a sorcerer.
625
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:36,840
In this super-religious culture,
626
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:39,800
the philosopher was laying himself open to scandal.
627
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:47,000
False rumours and innuendo would culminate on a very public stage,
628
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,560
fostering the kind of misinformation
629
00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:53,200
that would ultimately spell disaster for Socrates.
630
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:07,320
Picture Socrates, bustling up here to the theatre of Dionysus
631
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:10,280
in spring, 423 BC.
632
00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:13,080
He finds some snacks to munch during the show -
633
00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:15,400
chickpeas, figs, nuts -
634
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,320
settling down to watch the drama.
635
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:22,680
He's here to watch a new comedy, called Clouds,
636
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:26,440
by the young buck of Athenian theatre, Aristophanes -
637
00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,840
only 22 and eager to make his mark.
638
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:36,160
By now a big character in the city, Socrates is considered fair game -
639
00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:39,160
and he's parodied pretty mercilessly.
640
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:41,920
He's portrayed as a ludicrous figure,
641
00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:45,520
the head of a ridiculous school called "the think shop".
642
00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:04,280
LAUGHTER
643
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:07,680
Socrates' character was merged with other intellectuals
644
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:10,520
who were arousing popular suspicion -
645
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:14,280
the devious sophists, who undermined society by making
646
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:17,400
"the weak argument defeat the stronger".
647
00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,040
And the pre-Socratics, who in some cases,
648
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:24,320
displaced the pre-eminence of the gods with their science.
649
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,760
We're told that Socrates actually came to the theatre
650
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:28,560
to watch Aristophanes' Clouds.
651
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:32,400
What could it have felt like, to see himself portrayed in that way?
652
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:36,360
I think he must have been amused. There is this anecdote of Socrates
653
00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:40,360
actually standing up in the seats of the theatre,
654
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:43,520
so that those who didn't know him knew who he was
655
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:45,080
and what he looked like,
656
00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:48,160
as his character was being ridiculed on stage.
657
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:53,800
So I think Socrates was detached from all these standard norms of society
658
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:58,360
and I think it's possible that he might have enjoyed that.
659
00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:01,080
On the face of it, this is all very amusing,
660
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:03,360
but do you think that Socrates should be worried by
661
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,160
the way that Aristophanes is choosing to portray him?
662
00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:08,960
In hindsight, I think he should have been worried.
663
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:10,600
The core of democracy,
664
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:14,080
the principle democracy is that the citizens be educated.
665
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:17,320
If you don't have educated citizens, democracy does not work.
666
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:22,280
The theatre was a major tool for educating the Athenian citizens
667
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:25,040
and the memory of that portrayal
668
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:27,400
would have remained for decades to come,
669
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:30,360
as a whole generation of Athenians would have been exposed to it.
670
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:32,600
It's the ancient equivalent of trial by media?
671
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,040
It is, in fifth-century Athens, yeah.
672
00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,360
But the cracks appearing in Socrates' reputation
673
00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:02,920
were nothing compared to what was happening to Athens itself.
674
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,480
As the war with Sparta dragged on,
675
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:14,080
people questioned the success of the democratic experiment.
676
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:19,960
At the heart of the uncertainty was Socrates' close friend, Alcibiades.
677
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,040
He'd been chosen to lead an expedition
678
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:24,440
against Sicily in 415 BC -
679
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:27,200
the largest in Athens' military history.
680
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,440
But one night, before they set sail,
681
00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:35,160
someone stalked through Athens' streets,
682
00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:39,200
mutilating statues of the protector god, Hermes.
683
00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:43,000
The rumour spread that Alcibiades and his aristocratic friends
684
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:47,080
were the vandals, part of a plot to bring down democracy.
685
00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:51,960
Back in Athens, rumour escalated to outrage
686
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:57,040
and Alcibiades was ordered home to face trial on charges of sacrilege.
687
00:42:57,040 --> 00:42:59,440
But then, en route, he vanished.
688
00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:03,160
And where he reappeared shocked everyone.
689
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:05,320
He turned up, a traitor,
690
00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:08,400
in the bosom of Athens' greatest enemy,
691
00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:09,600
Sparta.
692
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:18,880
Alcibiades' damaging defection
693
00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:22,920
exacerbated the anxieties of a god-fearing public.
694
00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:25,000
They needed a scapegoat -
695
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:28,120
and Socrates was tainted by association.
696
00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:32,800
But he seems unconcerned,
697
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:36,720
doggedly pursuing the knowledge of right from wrong above all else.
698
00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:45,400
So when the philosopher unexpectedly entered public life in his 60s,
699
00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:48,080
he was on a collision course with Athens.
700
00:43:55,480 --> 00:43:59,320
He became presiding officer in an emotionally charged case,
701
00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:03,480
whose drama was played out here on the hill of the Pynx.
702
00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:06,120
Six disgraced Athenian generals
703
00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:09,280
were accused of failing to collect the bodies of dead soldiers,
704
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:10,560
lost at sea.
705
00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:17,400
The public called for the generals to be tried together,
706
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:19,040
in breach of Athenian law.
707
00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:22,960
But Socrates refused to be swept along
708
00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:25,040
by the vengeful mood of the crowd.
709
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:30,160
Even though threatened with indictment for treason,
710
00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:32,520
Socrates refused to budge.
711
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:35,920
He wanted no part in this kangaroo court.
712
00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:38,600
As the sun set, there was stalemate.
713
00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:42,320
And then, the next morning, Socrates was off the case.
714
00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:43,720
Later that day,
715
00:44:43,720 --> 00:44:47,680
the generals were all tried here together at the Pnyx -
716
00:44:47,680 --> 00:44:50,440
condemned and then executed.
717
00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:00,240
To me, this case embodies one of the most important ideas
718
00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:03,320
that Socrates has been developing all his adult life,
719
00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:06,880
which is that one should never take revenge.
720
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:10,280
And in this, he's completely turning on its head
721
00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:15,640
one of the foundational tenets of traditional Greek morality,
722
00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:19,440
which said that you should help your friends and harm your enemies.
723
00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:21,000
And Socrates says, no -
724
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,840
because all you can do to another person is,
725
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:27,080
you can take away their possessions, you can damage their body,
726
00:45:27,080 --> 00:45:30,640
you can kill them, but you can't harm their soul.
727
00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:35,360
But by doing wrong to somebody else, you are damaging your own soul
728
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:39,600
and thereby, taking away your chance of a virtuous
729
00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:42,680
and hence also, a happy and flourishing life.
730
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,520
This was a city-state that believed in justice,
731
00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:47,880
that wanted to see justice enacted,
732
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:51,640
so in Socrates' book, what form should punishment take?
733
00:45:51,640 --> 00:45:53,440
It's a good point.
734
00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:56,200
He does believe that sometimes, punishment is appropriate,
735
00:45:56,200 --> 00:46:01,840
but you punish somebody solely in terms of trying to cure their soul
736
00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:06,520
of the damage that they have brought upon themselves by doing wrong.
737
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:12,320
So, punishment is there to cure and purify a damaged soul.
738
00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:15,560
Even today, those still feel like quite progressive ideas.
739
00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:19,080
Absolutely, I mean we're barely catching up with these ideas.
740
00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:23,640
Even now, we still have debates. What is the purpose of punishment?
741
00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:26,960
Is it to...is it a kind of retribution,
742
00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:29,960
or is it some kind of reform?
743
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:32,480
Now, Socrates is absolutely clear -
744
00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:35,440
the purpose of punishment is to reform.
745
00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:37,720
They are fascinating ideas,
746
00:46:37,720 --> 00:46:40,880
but they must have been very, very troubling to the Athenians,
747
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:43,880
because it must have felt as if he was kind of unpicking
748
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:46,480
the foundations that that kept communities together.
749
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:49,280
Yeah. It would have looked weak to them.
750
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:51,840
It would have looked like, "Oh, no, you're not a real man,
751
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:55,480
"you're not standing up for yourself, what are you doing?"
752
00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:58,160
In a way, he's almost anticipating
753
00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:00,560
the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.
754
00:47:00,560 --> 00:47:03,120
You know, turn the other cheek, in a sense.
755
00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:05,960
- But he's 500 years before all that.
- Oh, yes.
756
00:47:05,960 --> 00:47:10,960
How does he dare to march so out of step from the rest of society?
757
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:14,440
Because I think he absolutely believes
758
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:17,200
that nobody else can harm his soul,
759
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:20,040
but if he takes part in the illegal actions
760
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:22,760
that he was invited to take part in,
761
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:27,080
then he will be absolutely damaging his own soul
762
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:31,080
and taking away his chance of a happy and flourishing life.
763
00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:35,720
In the name of wisdom and truth,
764
00:47:35,720 --> 00:47:38,120
Socrates was prepared to stick his head
765
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:41,040
dangerously high above the parapet.
766
00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:43,160
Interestingly, it's a quality that he shares
767
00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:46,000
with both Confucius and the Buddha.
768
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:47,840
For all three philosophers,
769
00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:50,240
personal comfort and personal security
770
00:47:50,240 --> 00:47:53,160
came a poor second to principle.
771
00:47:53,160 --> 00:47:57,320
And in the case of Socrates, having the courage of his convictions
772
00:47:57,320 --> 00:47:59,920
would prove to be a matter of life or death.
773
00:48:09,320 --> 00:48:11,480
As Athens' enemies closed in,
774
00:48:11,480 --> 00:48:13,800
society turned in on itself.
775
00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:18,760
Freedom was a luxury it could no longer afford.
776
00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:28,240
Finally, the Spartans brought Athens to her knees.
777
00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:29,960
They tore down her city walls
778
00:48:29,960 --> 00:48:33,480
and installed a junta of 30 hand-picked oligarchs.
779
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:39,520
Death squads roamed the streets
780
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:43,240
and thousands of democrats were "disappeared" -
781
00:48:43,240 --> 00:48:46,080
forced into exile or executed.
782
00:48:49,200 --> 00:48:51,680
Even though a counter-revolution restored democracy
783
00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:53,640
just eight months later,
784
00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:56,880
it was a deeply compromised democracy,
785
00:48:56,880 --> 00:48:59,640
riven with suspicion and recrimination.
786
00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:03,560
In this poisonous atmosphere,
787
00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:07,880
Athens finally decided to deal with its troublesome gadfly.
788
00:49:21,280 --> 00:49:24,960
In 399 BC, at the age of 70,
789
00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:27,440
Socrates was back in court.
790
00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:30,480
This time, HE was on trial.
791
00:49:30,480 --> 00:49:33,920
The accusations against him were read out here, in the Agora,
792
00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:36,440
close to this oath stone.
793
00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:38,360
The first charge was impiety -
794
00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:41,240
denying the gods and introducing new ones.
795
00:49:41,240 --> 00:49:44,360
The second, that he'd corrupted the young.
796
00:49:44,360 --> 00:49:47,840
Both could carry the heaviest penalty -
797
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:49,040
execution.
798
00:49:54,680 --> 00:49:59,920
The trial took place in a religious court, using the latest technology.
799
00:49:59,920 --> 00:50:03,080
A water clock measured the three hours allowed
800
00:50:03,080 --> 00:50:04,680
to the prosecution's case.
801
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:08,520
Were his accusers politically motivated?
802
00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:10,080
Was he being scapegoated
803
00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:15,080
for his association with prominent anti-democrats, like Alcibiades?
804
00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:16,920
Perhaps.
805
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:20,480
But then, he'd set about to open the minds of the young
806
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:22,640
and with his goading questions,
807
00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:24,680
to challenge the status quo.
808
00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:31,040
Eventually, the water clock was refilled
809
00:50:31,040 --> 00:50:33,320
for the philosopher to defend himself.
810
00:50:34,440 --> 00:50:38,360
Plato recounts how Socrates feels he's fighting a lost cause,
811
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:42,160
thanks to Aristophanes' searing, damaging caricature of him.
812
00:50:50,240 --> 00:50:52,840
"It is not my crimes that will convict me", he said,
813
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:54,640
"but rumour and gossip.
814
00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:56,880
"I can't possibly defend myself -
815
00:50:56,880 --> 00:50:59,680
"it's like boxing with shadows.
816
00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:02,600
"You will persuade yourselves that I am guilty."
817
00:51:05,160 --> 00:51:06,800
Yet, in typical style,
818
00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:10,000
Socrates uses his defence to sting his fellow Athenians
819
00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:12,520
from their moral slumber.
820
00:51:12,520 --> 00:51:15,640
It is a brilliant, audacious speech,
821
00:51:15,640 --> 00:51:18,160
but it's also provocative and arrogant,
822
00:51:18,160 --> 00:51:21,360
and the jurors don't like it one bit.
823
00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:25,200
The city that once fetishized freedom and freedom of speech
824
00:51:25,200 --> 00:51:27,920
could not tolerate freedom to offend.
825
00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:39,840
Socrates was judged by at least 500 men, chosen at random
826
00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:43,560
and recruited from all over the traumatised city-state.
827
00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:48,280
The jurors would have used these ballots in a secret vote.
828
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:50,600
A solid stem for acquittal.
829
00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:52,480
A hollow for condemnation.
830
00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:06,160
Found guilty, a second vote is held to determine his punishment.
831
00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:09,520
Socrates has the chance to avoid execution
832
00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:11,920
by proposing a lesser alternative -
833
00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:13,920
typically a fine, or exile.
834
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:19,400
Instead, by speaking freely, democratically,
835
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:21,200
he seems to invite martyrdom.
836
00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:26,040
He declares that he's lived his life for the benefit of the city.
837
00:52:26,040 --> 00:52:29,320
He deserves reward, not retribution.
838
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:33,600
He suggests dinner, in perpetuity, at the citizens' expense.
839
00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:40,360
Socrates' irony loses him more support in the second vote.
840
00:52:42,280 --> 00:52:45,560
It seems he takes the news philosophically.
841
00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:48,960
The jury couldn't harm his soul,
842
00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:51,560
but they had harmed their own.
843
00:52:51,560 --> 00:52:54,360
"Now I go to die and you to live.
844
00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:56,680
"God only knows which is the better journey."
845
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:05,240
Socrates didn't fear what he didn't know,
846
00:53:05,240 --> 00:53:06,600
including death.
847
00:53:07,720 --> 00:53:10,920
The man the Oracle proclaimed to be the wisest
848
00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:15,240
was now on death row for putting his own philosophy into practice.
849
00:53:18,080 --> 00:53:21,400
One of the things I find so compelling about Socrates
850
00:53:21,400 --> 00:53:24,760
is that even though he lived 25 centuries ago,
851
00:53:24,760 --> 00:53:28,080
in many ways, he saw us coming.
852
00:53:28,080 --> 00:53:30,640
He denounces an obsession with looks,
853
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:32,560
with material goods,
854
00:53:32,560 --> 00:53:35,360
with spin and with fame.
855
00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:38,400
He wasn't just exploring the meaning of life,
856
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:41,120
but the meaning of our own lives.
857
00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:42,440
Just listen to this.
858
00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:46,400
"Oh, my friend, why do you,
859
00:53:46,400 --> 00:53:49,840
"who are a citizen of the great and wise city of Athens,
860
00:53:49,840 --> 00:53:54,440
"care so much about laying up wealth and honour and reputation?
861
00:53:54,440 --> 00:53:59,680
"And so little about wisdom and truth and improvement of the soul?
862
00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:02,800
"Are you not ashamed?"
863
00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:11,280
Socrates would have to wait a month for his execution -
864
00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:14,120
a sentence intended to silence him.
865
00:54:15,120 --> 00:54:18,080
But Socrates' death at the hands of the people
866
00:54:18,080 --> 00:54:20,160
provided the perfect ingredients
867
00:54:20,160 --> 00:54:23,800
for his resurrection as an ideological martyr -
868
00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:26,680
a kind of blueprint philosopher.
869
00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:29,560
And ironically, what secured his legacy
870
00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:33,680
was the very thing that he'd disregarded throughout his life -
871
00:54:33,680 --> 00:54:35,320
the written word.
872
00:54:36,640 --> 00:54:40,640
His supporters wrote detailed accounts of his extraordinary life,
873
00:54:40,640 --> 00:54:43,960
immortalising his ideas and his spirit.
874
00:54:43,960 --> 00:54:45,480
Through their words,
875
00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:50,400
his game-changing, history-making voice endures .
876
00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:53,320
Still asking those probing, universal questions
877
00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:56,880
which, even today, are at the heart of our value systems.
878
00:54:56,880 --> 00:54:58,600
What makes us good?
879
00:54:58,600 --> 00:55:00,480
What is justice?
880
00:55:00,480 --> 00:55:01,840
How can we be happy?
881
00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:08,400
Socrates was the inspiration for Plato and Aristotle -
882
00:55:08,400 --> 00:55:10,520
two giants of philosophy,
883
00:55:10,520 --> 00:55:15,240
whose ideas would shape Western and Eastern civilisation up until today.
884
00:55:17,240 --> 00:55:18,920
Following Socrates' death,
885
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:23,200
Plato abandoned his political ambitions in disgust
886
00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:26,880
and set up his Academy, which would continue as a centre of learning
887
00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:29,760
for close on 1,000 years.
888
00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:32,040
This building is Athens' modern Academy
889
00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:34,360
and it's just a couple of miles from the original.
890
00:55:34,360 --> 00:55:37,920
And it's part of a network of academic institutions,
891
00:55:37,920 --> 00:55:42,200
right across the globe, inspired by that Athenian example.
892
00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:01,600
On the day of Socrates' execution,
893
00:56:01,600 --> 00:56:05,320
his distraught friends and family came here to the Agora.
894
00:56:05,320 --> 00:56:09,840
The place where Socrates had once walked freely was now his cage.
895
00:56:13,320 --> 00:56:14,640
But he is serene.
896
00:56:16,280 --> 00:56:20,720
Calmly, he lifts the lethal little cup of hemlock poison...
897
00:56:20,720 --> 00:56:21,960
and drinks.
898
00:56:28,560 --> 00:56:30,760
We're told that Socrates' last words
899
00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:32,920
as the lethal hemlock took effect were,
900
00:56:32,920 --> 00:56:36,440
"Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius."
901
00:56:37,480 --> 00:56:39,440
With this cryptic message,
902
00:56:39,440 --> 00:56:41,640
even on the brink of death,
903
00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:44,800
he kept his followers and future scholars guessing.
904
00:56:48,200 --> 00:56:52,320
Was he proving himself pious by invoking one of the city's deities?
905
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:57,400
Or was he ironically giving thanks to the god of healing
906
00:56:57,400 --> 00:57:00,520
for relieving him of the sickness of existence?
907
00:57:02,040 --> 00:57:05,200
Socrates might have been infuriating,
908
00:57:05,200 --> 00:57:09,240
but his tenacious questioning of what it means to be human
909
00:57:09,240 --> 00:57:12,840
still has absolute resonance.
910
00:57:12,840 --> 00:57:15,960
By stating that the ultimate evil is ignorance
911
00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:19,200
and that a good life is within our reach,
912
00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:23,960
he challenges us all never to be thoughtless.
913
00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:31,720
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
914
00:57:35,120 --> 00:57:36,800
With his head covered,
915
00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:41,720
no-one saw the final moment, when Socrates' precious soul
916
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:47,440
slipped from that ugly, satirical, unforgettable face.
917
00:57:58,000 --> 00:57:59,920
If the mind of Socrates has made you think,
918
00:57:59,920 --> 00:58:02,680
then explore further with The Open University
919
00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:06,440
to discover how great minds have influenced our thinking today.
920
00:58:06,440 --> 00:58:07,880
Follow the address on the screen
921
00:58:07,880 --> 00:58:10,360
and then the links to The Open University.
922
00:58:14,120 --> 00:58:18,240
Next time, I investigate the gentleman philosopher, Confucius.
923
00:58:19,920 --> 00:58:23,640
His attempts to influence the rulers of his day ended in failure...
924
00:58:25,560 --> 00:58:28,760
..yet his vision of a harmonious society,
925
00:58:28,760 --> 00:58:32,000
inspired by the sage kings of the past
926
00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:36,760
would eventually shape one of the world's greatest civilisations.
73491
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