It is difficult to construct a biographic sketch of Socrates in a
chronological and systematic order. He was born in the year 469 B. C. His
father was Sophroniscus, a sculptor, and his mother Phaenarete, a midwife.
He followed his father's vocation and it is believed that he showed poor
skill in the profession. We know nothing of his early intellectual and moral
development. Since he was bred in Athens, he most probably received the
usual education peculiar to that age. He was a soldier and took part in
military campaigns and wars. It is maintained that in military life he
displayed considerable bravery, endurance and fortitude. The exact date of
his appearance in public arena is difficult to ascertain, however, "in the
traditions of his followers he is almost uniformly represented as an old, or
as a gray-headed man."[5.]
There are distinctive traits in the personality of Socrates that are worthy
of emphasis because of their dynamic import.
He was described as eccentric in his general mode of conduct. He "strutted
proudly barefoot along the streets of Athens; he was careless and shabby in
his dress; in his manner he was affected and haughty and was subject to
ecstatic trances and visions. During these trances he would maintain a
standing posture for hours, buried in his thoughts, and was quite oblivious
to the external world. There was a celebrated occasion in the camp at
Poteidaice, when Socrates was not quite forty; on that occasion he stood
motionless from early morning on one day till sunrise on the next, right
through a night when there was a very hard frost. When the sun rose he said
his prayer and went about his business." [6.] It is also claimed that he
would give vent to bursts of anger and fiery passion.
Ever since early boyhood Socrates is supposed to have heard an inner voice,
which he called a divine sign. It came to him quite often both on important
and on insignificant occasions. According to Xenophon, this voice gave him
both negative and positive warnings; however, Plato holds that this voice
only exercised its influence in opposing the execution of certain things.
"And not only was he generally convinced" says Zeller, "that he stood and
acted in the service of God, but he also held that supernatural suggestions
were communicated to him, not only through the medium of public oracles, but
also in dreams, and more particularly by a peculiar kind of higher
inspiration which goes by the name of the Socratic daimoviov."[7.]
Even by his contemporaries he was regarded as singular and eccentric and his
general behavior was ever foreign to his compatriots. Indeed Lelut [(8)]
boldly asserts that Socrates was "un fou." Nevertheless "attempts were not
wanting to excuse him," so writes Zeller, "either on the ground of the
universal superstition of his age and nation, or else of his having a
physical tendency to fanaticism."[9.]
Another interesting feature in the life of Socrates is that he married late
and that his matrimonial life was far from being happy, and in the words of
Schwegler, "He nowhere shows much regard for his wife and children; the
notorious, though altogether too much exaggerated ill-nature of Xantippe,
leads us to suspect, however, that his domestic relations were not the most
happy."[10.] It is also important to note that there was a turning point in
the history of his life when he took up the preaching of philosophy. It must
be borne in mind that he took no money for his teaching and at the same time
he left his wife and children destitute. In regard to this Draper remarks,
"There is surely something wrong in a man's life when the mother of his
children is protesting against his conduct, and her complaints are
countenanced by the community."[11.]
It is also significant that Socrates displayed a certain degree of
masochism; our historians tell us that Socrates would deny himself bodily
comforts and insist on enduring hardship. Xenophon in Memorabilia says:
"But they knew that Socrates lived with the utmost contentment on very small
means, that he was most abstinent from every kind of pleasure, and that he
swayed those with whom he conversed just as he pleased by his
arguments."[12.] Again, "Is it not the duty of every man to consider that
temperance is the foundation of every virtue, and to establish the
observance of it in his mind before all things? For who, without it, can
either learn anything good or sufficiently practice it? Who, that is a
slave to pleasure is not in an ill condition both as to his body and his
mind? It appears to me, by Juno, that a free man ought to pray that he may
never meet with a slave of such a character, and that he who is a slave to
pleasure should pray to the gods that he may find well-disposed masters; for
by such means only can a man of that sort be saved."[13.] And, "He appeared
also to me, by such discourses as the following, to exhort his hearers to
practice temperance in their desires for food, drink, sensual gratification,
and sleep, and endurance of cold, heat and labor."[14.]
Although he condemned poederastia, yet he was always fond of the male sex,
particularly of the young. This, however, may be explained on the ground
that his object was to appeal to the young. Nevertheless, dynamic psychology
demands a deeper meaning for such a motive. In this connection it would be
interesting to quote Xenophon: "As to love, his counsel was to abstain
rigidly from familiarity with beautiful persons; for he observed that it was
not easy to be in communication with such persons, and observe continence.
Hearing, on one occasion, that Critobulus, the son of Criton, had kissed the
son of Alcibiades, a handsome youth, he asked Xenophon, in the presence of
Critobulus, saying, "Tell me, Xenophon, did you not think that Critobulus
was one of the modest rather than the forward, one of the thoughtful rather
than of the thoughtless and inconsiderate?" Certainly," replied Xenophon.
"You must now, then, think him extremely headstrong and daring; one who
would even spring upon drawn swords, and leap into the fire." "And what,"
said Xenophon, "have you seen him doing, that you form this opinion of him?"
"Why, has he not dared," rejoined Socrates, "to kiss the son of Alcibiades,
a youth extremely handsome, and in the flower of his age?" "If such a deed,"
returned Xenophon, "is one of daring and peril, I think that even I could
undergo such peril." "Unhappy man!" exclaimed Socrates, "and what do you
think that you incur by kissing a handsome person? Do you not expect to
become at once a slave instead of a freeman? To spend much money upon
hurtful pleasures? To have too much occupation to attend to anything
honourable and profitable? And to be compelled to pursue what not even a mad
man would pursue?" "By Hercules," said Xenophon, "what extraordinary power
you represent to be in a kiss!" "Do you wonder at this?" rejoined Socrates;
"are you not aware that the Tarantula, an insect not as large as half an
obolus, by just touching a part of the body with its mouth, wears men down
with pain, and deprives them of their senses?" "Yes, indeed," said
Xenophon, "but the Tarantula infuses something when it bites." "And do you
not think, foolish man," rejoined Socrates, "that beautiful persons infuses
something when they kiss, something which you do not see? Do you not know
that the animal, which they call a handsome and beautiful object, is so much
more formidable than the Tarantula, as those insects instil something when
they touch, but this creature, without even touching, but if a person only
looks at it, though from a very great distance, instils something of such
potency, as to drive people mad? Perhaps indeed Cupids are called archers
for no other reason but because the beautiful wound from a distance. But I
advise you, Xenophon, whenever you see any handsome person, to flee without
looking behind you; and I recommend to you, Critobulus, to absent yourself
from hence for a year, for perhaps you may in that time, though hardly
indeed, be cured of your wound." Thus he thought that those should act with
regard to objects of love who were not secure against the attractions of
such objects; objects of such a nature, that if the body did not at all
desire them, the mind would not contemplate them, and which, if the body did
desire them, should cause us no trouble. For himself, he was evidently so
disciplined with respect to such matters, that he could more easily keep
aloof from the fairest and most blooming objects than others from the most
deformed and unattractive. Such was the state of his feelings in regard to
eating, drinking, and amorous gratification; and he believed that he
himself, with self-restraint, would have no less pleasure from them, than
those who took great trouble to pursue such gratifications, and that he
would suffer far less anxiety."[15.]
There is another interesting anecdote which is worthy of mention: "The
Syrian soothsayer and physiognomist, Zopyrus, saw in the countenance of
Socrates the imprint of strong sensuality. Loud protests were raised by the
assembled disciples, but Socrates silenced them with the remark: 'Zopyrus is
not mistaken; however, I have conquered those desires.' "[16.]
It is also evident that Socrates' mother must have played some role in his
mental life. It should be recalled that at first he followed his father's
profession, which seemingly made no impression upon him, and later he took
up his new vocation, preaching philosophy, which he loved to identify with
that of his mother, and indeed by reason of this the positive side of the
Socratic method is known as "the art of intellectual midwifery." "Socrates
compared himself," writes Schwegler, "with his mother, Phaenarete, a
midwife, because his office was rather to help others bring forth thoughts
than to produce them himself, and because he took upon himself to
distinguish the birth of an empty thought from one rich in content."[17.]
Further evidence of the deep reverence for his mother is seen in Memorabilia
where his eldest son, Lamprocles, finds fault with his mother, and Socrates,
though apparently entertaining very little love for his wife, yet takes up a
defensive attitude towards her and offers the following argument to his son:
"Yet you are displeased at your mother, although you well know that whatever
she says, she not only says nothing with intent to do you harm, but that she
wishes you more good than any other human being. Or do you suppose that your
mother meditates evil towards you?" "No indeed," said Lamprocles, "that I do
not imagine." "Do you then say that this mother," rejoined Socrates, "who is
so benevolent to you; who, when you are ill, takes care of you to the utmost
of her power that you may recover your health, and that you may want nothing
that is necessary for you, and who, besides, entreats the gods for many
blessings on your head, and pays vows for you, is a harsh mother? For my
part, I think that if you cannot endure such a mother, you cannot endure
anything that is good." [18.]
And in Crito, Socrates relates a dream shortly before his death, in which
his mother appeared, and to quote Plato: "Crito says, 'And what can this
dream have been?' Socrates replied, 'I thought a woman came to me, tall and
fair, and clothed in white, and she called me and said 'Socrates, Socrates,
in three days' time you will come to the fertile land, Phthia.' "[19.]
To sum up briefly, the personality of Socrates showed some psychopathic
traits. It must also be borne in mind that in that critical period, middle
age, a sudden change occurred in his mental life when he suddenly commenced
to exhibit profound interest in preaching philosophy. Moreover, it must be
emphasized that he apparently reacted to hallucinations of an auto psychic
nature. The self-asceticism, and most probably the mother-complex cannot be
passed without mention. Although he presented these negative qualities,
nevertheless he left a great school of philosophy, which beyond doubt is
still felt in the intellectual and moral world. Despite this, Athens
committed an unpardonable crime in putting Socrates to death. He, like
other martyrs, shared the same fate of the mob. Lowell's verse very justly
applies to Socrates:
"Truth forever on the scaffold; Wrong forever on the throne."[20.]
With this characterization of Socrates, we are now in a position to discuss
that part of his philosophy which has a definite bearing on modern
psychopathology. Three important phases of his philosophy come under
consideration: