Editing Socratic problem (section)

{{Short description|Problems in reconstructing a historical and philosophical image of Socrates}}{{Not to be confused with|Socratic questioning}}{{Socrates}}
In historical scholarship, the '''Socratic problem''' (also called '''Socratic question''')<ref>A Rubel, M Vickers, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SmJ_BAAAQBAJ ''Fear and Loathing in Ancient Athens: Religion and Politics During the Peloponnesian War''], Routledge, 2014, p. 147.</ref> concerns attempts at reconstructing a historical and philosophical image of [[Socrates]] based on the variable, and sometimes contradictory, nature of the existing sources on his life. Scholars rely upon extant sources, such as those of contemporaries like [[Aristophanes]] or disciples of Socrates like [[Plato]] and [[Xenophon]], for knowing anything about Socrates. However, these sources contain contradictory details of his life, words, and beliefs when taken together. This complicates the attempts at reconstructing the beliefs and philosophical views held by the historical Socrates. It has become apparent to scholarship that this problem is seemingly impossible to clarify and thus perhaps now classified as unsolvable.<ref>Prior, W. J., "The Socratic Problem" in Benson, H. H. (ed.), ''A Companion to Plato'' (Blackwell Publishing, 2006), pp. 25–35.</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://universitypublishingonline.org/cambridge/companions/chapter.jsf?bid=CBO9780511780257&cid=CBO9780511780257A004|author=Louis-André Dorion|title=The Cambridge Companion to Socrates|pages= 1–23 (The Cambridge Companion to Socrates)|publisher=Cambridge University Press |id=Online Publication Date: March 2011 , Print Publication Year: 2010 | access-date=2015-05-07|doi =   10.1017/CCOL9780521833424.001 |isbn=9780511780257|year=2010|chapter=The Rise and Fall of the Socratic Problem|hdl=10795/1977|url=http://repository.edulll.gr/1977 }}</ref> Early proposed solutions to the matter still pose significant problems today.<ref name="Nails, Debra" /> 

Socrates was the main character in most of [[Plato]]'s dialogues and was a genuine historical figure. It is widely understood that in later dialogues, Plato used the character Socrates to give voice to views that were his own. Besides Plato, three other important sources exist for the study of Socrates: [[Aristophanes]], [[Aristotle]], and [[Xenophon]]. Since no writings by Socrates himself survive to the modern era, his actual views must be discerned from the sometimes contradictory reports of these four sources. The main sources for the historical Socrates are the ''Sokratikoi logoi'', or [[Socratic dialogues]], which are reports of conversations apparently involving Socrates.<ref>J Ambury. [http://www.iep.utm.edu/socrates/#SH1b Socrates (469–399 B.C.E.)] ''[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]'' [Retrieved 2015-04-19]</ref> Most information is found in the works of [[Plato]] and [[Xenophon]].<ref>{{cite book | author = May, H.| title = On Socrates | url = https://archive.org/details/onsocrates00mayh| url-access = registration| publisher = Wadsworth/Thomson Learning | year = 2000 | page = [https://archive.org/details/onsocrates00mayh/page/20 20]}}</ref><ref>[http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674996953 catalogue of Harvard University Press&nbsp;– Xenophon Volume IV] [Retrieved 2015-3-26]</ref>

There are also four sources extant in fragmentary states: [[Aeschines of Sphettus]], [[Antisthenes]], [[Euclid of Megara]], and [[Phaedo of Elis]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100625043006/https://philosophy.sas.upenn.edu/faculty/kahn CH Kahn]&nbsp;– [https://books.google.com/books?id=vSXkTBniJZAC&q=logoi+sokratikoi Plato and the Socratic Dialogue: The Philosophical Use of a Literary Form (p. 1)] Cambridge University Press, 4 Jun 1998 (reprint) {{ISBN|0521648300}} [Retrieved 2015-04-19]</ref> In addition, there are two satirical commentaries on Socrates. One is [[Aristophanes]]'s play ''[[The Clouds]]'', which humorously attacks Socrates.<ref>Aristophanes, W.C. Green - [https://books.google.com/books?id=FLpewUrE6uQC&q=The+archaeological+finding+of+logoi+sokratikoi commentary on ''The Clouds'' (p.6)] ''Catena classicorum'' Rivingtons, 1868 [Retrieved 2015-04-20]</ref> The other is two  fragments from the ''[[Silloi]]'' by the [[Pyrrhonism|Pyrrhonist]] philosopher [[Timon of Phlius]],<ref name="R Bett (S Ahbel-Rappe - Associate Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan, R Kamtekar -  Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona)">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwpZVuylPgYC&q=Timon+of+Phlius+Socrates&pg=PA299|author=Bett, R.|title=A Companion to Socrates|pages= 299–30|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|date= 11 May 2009 |isbn=978-1405192606| access-date=2015-04-17}} (a translation of one fragment reads "But from them the sculptor, blatherer on the lawful, turned away. Spellbinder of the Greeks, who made them precise in language. Sneerer trained by rhetoricians, sub-Attic ironist." Cf. source for a discussion of this quote.</ref> satirizing [[dogma]]tic philosophers.