Aquila Children's Magazine magnificentMegaMag-92pages | Page 65

Socrates is one of the most important philosophers in all of history. But philosophy wasn’t just born in Greece. It was born in lots of places – in Greece, in India, in China. Amazingly, it was born in all these places at almost exactly the same time. It is as if around two-and-a-half thousand years ago, suddenly people everywhere were thinking differently about what it meant to be human, and were asking new and difficult questions about life. Why was philosophy born when it was? Not big and not clever Socrates was puzzled. He certainly didn’t feel very wise. So Socrates decided to prove the Oracle wrong by talking to all the wise people in Athens. Unfortunately, when he started asking these wise people difficult questions like ‘What is goodness?’ the answers he got disappointed him. He realised that these so-called wise people were not so wise after all. In fact, Socrates eventually came to the conclusion that he probably was the wisest person in Athens. Nobody knew anything much at all. But most people thought they knew stuff. Only Socrates knew what he didn’t know. This made him wiser than all the others. A lot of people in Athens found Socrates quite irritating. They liked feeling wise, and they certainly didn’t like feeling stupid. In his willingness to question authority, Socrates had made himself unpopular. In the end, the powerful people in Athens had had enough. They put Socrates on trial and sentenced him to death. Philosophy can be a dangerous business! The one in which philosophy is like crisps, (apparently) Whatever the reasons for the birth of philosophy, once human beings started philosophising, they just couldn’t stop. Just like Thales, scientists of today debate the principles behind the universe. And although many of us still disagree about things like what’s right and wrong, hopefully two-and-a-half thousand years of philosophy have given us better ways of disagreeing, of debating, of questioning and of thinking. Do you think so? Why not write to us at the usual address and let us know. The word ‘philosophy’, or philosophia in Greek, means ‘the love of wisdom’. Socrates was crazy about wisdom. He wanted to be properly wise – wise XXL. So he decided to find some wise people to talk to. Because it is hard to know who is wise and who is not, Socrates went to consult the Delphic Oracle. The Oracle was a kind of one-stop advice shop. There you could put questions to the god Apollo. You’d turn up, ask your question, the priestess would go into a trance and then she would tell you what Apollo thought. Socrates paid a visit and asked the Oracle who was the wisest person in Athens. The answer surprised him. ‘There is no one wiser than Socrates,’ the Oracle said. One reason is that around the time of Thales and Socrates, people were starting to live in bigger cities. They were travelling more for trade. They were rubbing shoulders with strangers who had very different ideas and beliefs from their own. This made them question their own beliefs, and think differently about the big questions of life.