Thread: Is there hope for the younger generation?

Originally Posted by Saitch

I am under the impression that Socrates never recorded any of his teachings, sayings or philosophy. Anything attributed to him, is based on the accounts of acquaintances. As far as I'm aware, he put nothing in writing.

Of which you are one?

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Of which you are one?

I'm not sure. He never replied to my correspondences!

Originally Posted by Saitch

I'm not sure. He never replied to my correspondences!

Probably couldn't read English.

....or Latin, apparently!

Originally Posted by Saitch

....or Latin, apparently!

Are you fluent in olde Italian?

Socrates, being Greek, and living in Athens, probably had never even heard of Latin, let alone spoke it. It is unclear whether he actually wrote down anything, but what he spent his career doing was teaching students - and most of what we know about him comes from the writings of two of his students, especially Plato, although it is unclear how much of Socrates' philosophy is actually Plato's.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Socrates, being Greek, and living in Athens, probably had never even heard of Latin, let alone spoke it. It is unclear whether he actually wrote down anything, but what he spent his career doing was teaching students - and most of what we know about him comes from the writings of two of his students, especially Plato, although it is unclear how much of Socrates' philosophy is actually Plato's.

Correct, JD. My "Latin" comment was obscurely tongue in cheek, related to the "English" reference. Xenophon, another of Socrates disciples, was a very erudite man and military strategist, in his own right.

Originally Posted by Saitch

Correct, JD. My "Latin" comment was obscurely tongue in cheek, related to the "English" reference. Xenephon, another of Socrates disciples, was a very erudite man and military strategist, in his own right.

And Xenephon was also an experienced and competent soldier - as was almost every male citizen of every Greek city state of the day. The incompetent ones did not stay around too long - when the city states were not fighting each other or the Persians, they usually managed a civil conflict by themselves. And worth noting that Xenephon's main claim to fame in his lifetime was as the leader of a troop of mercenaries fighting on the losing side of a minor civil war in the Persian Empire (having apparently been on the wrong side in a political and possibly physical conflict in Athens). He spent most of his life living outside of Athens, dying in Corinth.