Socrates lived between 469 and 399 B.C.E.,
and he is one of the most famous philosophers in the entire history of humankind.

He is sometimes considered as the founder
of Western philosophy, and his work reflects the philosophy of Skepticism, which has as
its main base that knowledge can be obtained through systematic doubt and continual testing.

Although Socrates hadn't written anything,
he has forever changed philosophy itself. Most of the things we know today about his
philosophy came from Plato, Aristophanes, and Xenophon, whose writings are in the form of
dialogues between Socrates and other Athenians.

These writings gave birth to a new literary
genre called the Socratic dialogue.

Unfortunately, he is also famous for his tragic
life. In 399 BCE, he was accused of corrupting the
youth of Athens and of failing to acknowledge the city's official gods.

After a trial that lasted just a single day,
he was sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing
to escape.

The way his life ended can be considered as
the founding myth of philosophy as a discipline. For one to really practice philosophy, they
have to go against societal norms, to question everything, even at the risk of their own peril.

Everything about Socrates was impressive:
his appearance, personality, and behavior, as well as in his views and methods.

And this made many of the people around him
to write about him, including Plato.

It is unfortunate that Socrates did not write
at all, and all we have is indirect evidence. Also, it is said that each age produces a
Socrates of its own; however, there are some core fundamental teachings of the original
Socrates that transcend the centuries.

And to help you better understand his teachings
and how to implement them into your own life, in this video, we bring you nine life lessons
we can learn from the philosophy of Socrates: 1.

Open yourself to the truth.
Socrates said: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

” This quote is one of the most famous quotes
of all time. It is also called the Socratic paradox.

It was called a paradox because such a statement
of Socrates seems contrary to common sense. This quote is a reply of Socrates to the Oracle
of Delphi, which stated that “Socrates is the wisest,” and Socrates replied to this
statement by saying that he is wise because he knows nothing.

He simply considered that he didn’t know
what the truth was.

Truth is that which is in accordance with
fact or reality, and Socrates was very famous for developing a mental model for seeking
truth, calling it elenchus, also known as the Socratic method, consisting in analyzing
all the elements of an argument, to understand the hypotheses on which the argument is constructed,
to see if these hypotheses are based on facts and if they are valid.

Thus, according to Socrates, we can pursue
the truth by constantly asking questions to others and digging deeper into problems and
thought experiments.

His teachings are extremely valuable even
today when we need so much to develop our critical thinking in how we analyze our life
or society in general.

If we just eat, sleep, work, and procreate,
we are no better than any other animal. In Socrates’s view, such a life would not
be worth living.

It is important to never stop learning new
things, asking questions, and developing ourselves and to never assume that once you know something,
it is enough.

You need to always question what you know
as a fact, seek evidence, and refresh your knowledge constantly. For example, imagine that you are working
in an engineering department and you are informed that you have to follow a certain design methodology,
but you don’t understand the reasons why.

Instead of just working by following orders,
you should better apply the Socratic method: ask your boss as many questions as possible
to fully understand why this method is as it is, who proved that it is really the best
and what methods that person used.

If you find the explanation unsatisfactory, you might even propose a new designing method, and you can increase the quality of the design overall.

Don’t just follow orders and pretend that you know what you are doing. Only through acknowledging that you do not know something, are you in a position to ask others questions to find out more, thereby developing your knowledge and skills, and by extension, improve your career.

Be courageous. According to Socrates: “He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy.” Socrates was a contrarian and a polarizing figure, not only through his looks and behavior, but also through his way of interrogating people around him, and because he did not acknowledge the official gods.

Due to this, in 399 BCE he was arrested for corrupting the youth and brought to trial which lasted just a single day.

In the end, he was sentenced to death. In spite of being offered the possibility to escape, he decided to remain in prison before his tragic death.

He died by drinking poison hemlock. Certainly, Socrates was a man of great courage until the day he died.

During his life, he was never afraid to go against the current of Athenian opinion. He was seeking the real truths behind the common beliefs, he refused to believe in the gods, he refused to be part of the political arena.

No matter the cost, we need to stand up for our moral principles.

For example, when your boss at work asks you to betray one of your colleagues, you should refuse it even at the risk of getting fired. When you are at a family reunion and you catch an old relative saying something racist or bigoted, you have to speak up and start a tough conversation with the people involved.

Remaining silent when you have to speak up and obeying unjust orders means partnering with the abuser or with the criminal and causing harm to innocent people.

Courage is not only a desirable trait we need to have, but it is the mark of any moral human being.

3. Be Authentic
To quote Socrates: “The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” Socrates never shied away from proclaiming his views, no matter the danger.

He did not take sides in politics; he was far more interested in seeking the truth than in political and social status.

Ultimately, his stubbornness to be who he really was led him to trial and premature death.

But due to the fact that he had the courage to be authentic, to question everything publicly, he lived honorably and his fame has lasted to this day.

Socrates was also bold enough to proclaim his ignorance towards many subjects. He did not hesitate to ask others questions in order to find the truth.

Even in regards to physical appearance, he did not polish himself to look more than he was. Most of us do not have the courage that Socrates had, but we can learn from him to be more straightforward, more honest, to better align our ideal of ourselves with who we truly are.

This means to stop seeking the approval of other people, to stop dressing and behaving to impress others in order to be seen as we would like them to see us.

It is much better instead to work more in shaping our character than in lying and deceiving others in regard to who we truly are.

If you are not happy about how you look, work on building muscles or losing weight instead of buying clothes to try and fake it.

Stop pretending to be who you are not and use that energy to start the real work on addressing the main sources of the problems, and only then you can be the authentic version of yourself.

4. Be humble. Socrates tells us: “Pride divides men, humility joins them.

” It is said that Socrates had an unpleasant appearance: he was short, with a big belly, with rough facial features, bulging eyes, and a snub nose.

He was extremely mocked due to his looks, but he didn’t seem to care that much.

He continued to use the same cloak every day, living a poor life, not caring either for his hygiene or for eating and drinking well.

However, also because of his humble appearance, he was able to speak with people from all walks of life, whomever he was finding in the marketplace or other public areas, male or female, young or old, slave or free, rich or poor.

His humility gave him a special freedom and many possibilities to interact with different types of people.

Although only a few of us would want to look like Socrates and adopt such an austere lifestyle, we can still adopt some aspects of his humility in order to be more free and to be able to experience life more fully.

Humility means first of all freedom from pride and arrogance. The bigger your status in society, the more you need to practice humility.

If, for example, you are a manager in a factory, you need an amount of humility to talk to employees working under you and listen to their suggestions on how to improve teamwork.

If you adopt an arrogant and demanding attitude, you will deprive yourself of valuable input from your subordinates. If you want your staff to respect you, you have to respect them equally.

They are the creators, the ones actually performing the primary functions of the business, giving them unique, valuable insight you can’t see from a management or executive-level perspective.

If your staff feel like they are truly valued and respected, they will generally want to return that respect with delivering to their best abilities.

Only when you have created such a connection will they open up to you and give valuable feedback which you can use to improve the working methods in your factory.

The more humble we are, the more approachable we are, and thus, the better our connection with others, leading to more, better opportunities.

5. Beware the busyness of life. In the words of Socrates: “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” In the late fifth century B.

C.E., when Socrates lived, most of the Athenian men preferred fame, wealth, honors, and political power to a life of labor.

They always seemed to have a busy life, but not a happy one. By contrast, Socrates neither labored to earn a living, nor participated voluntarily in affairs of state.

Rather, in spite of his popularity, he chose to remain in poverty. He was not even interested in being considered a teacher.

He believed it was more important to teach people to think by themselves than to fill their memories with new things that they may not even use.

Doing things just for money or for fame was not one of his interests, as he understood that living a life without a real purpose is an empty life.

Following Socrates’ example, we should all be careful not to have a busy and empty life, but rather a meaningful life.

Nowadays, there are so many activities we can engage in, so many things to choose from. If we don’t know how to limit our desires for more money, more things, more fame, we risk the possibility that we completely fill our time with activities, leaving no time to stop and process, to digest everything going on in our life, to find the meaning and make better, considered decisions going forward.

Running after money and fame won't give us real meaning in our lives.

All it does is cost time and energy, both of which can be better spent doing things that actually fulfill you, things you really enjoy.

You don't have to try to do everything you are capable of doing in life. Just start by figuring out what is really meaningful to you and prioritize your activities accordingly.

Life can only become meaningful when you do meaningful activities. 6. Be a citizen of the world. Socrates stated: "I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world." We should not be defined by artificial borders like the geographical border of our country.

People should not be just citizens of their state, they should be citizens of the world. Now more than ever, there are many more things that unite us than separate us.

Unfortunately, we humans typically think of ourselves in small groups: our block or street, our town, our county or state, our country...

If the internet has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that we might have more in common with someone thousands of miles away than you do your own neighbor.

We are all human beings, no more, no less. And making judgments about a fellow human based on differences like nationality, skin color, gender, or in fact anything other than their behavior and actions is utterly nonsensical.

Socrates understood this very well, even though at that time, this idea was truly revolutionary.

Greece was divided into many smaller states like Athens and Sparta, and there were many wars between them. But Socrates was not a fan of politics; he refused to take sides with one party or another, he was more interested in finding an objective truth than in a subjective one, or in aligning himself with a certain group of people.

In the same way, we should be interested more
in the common moral principles which connect us than in the apparent differences between
us.

If you meet someone from another country,
from another culture, do not focus on how differently they dress from you, or how they
behave and think, but rather focus on the physical and psychological needs you have
in common: to have enough food to eat, a shelter over your head, to feel you are part of a
community, to feel secure, to take care of your family, and so on.

All humans on this planet have the same basic
needs, and this is the common ground from which we should engage with one another.

We are all citizens of this world. 7. Be happy with less.
Socrates posits that: “The secret of happiness you see, is not found in seeking more, but
in developing the capacity to enjoy less.

” Happiness is by definition an end goal of
our desires.

Happiness is not a given; it requires a certain
effort. And the fewer desires we have, the easier
it is to achieve happiness.

Socrates believed that the real secret to
happiness is to have a moral life, to be just. By being so, you can be more peaceful, more
content with your current affairs, and desire fewer possessions.

Thus, happiness is not a result of having
more; it is more a result of a mindset, of the ability to enjoy the small things in life.

We need to work more on our inner state of
mind, rather than trying to possess as many things as possible, like money, property,
cars, and so on.

An easy way to introduce more happiness into
our life is through making small changes every day.

You can start by practicing meditation, taking
a short walk after lunch to the nearest park, taking part in sport, writing a diary, connecting
with your friends and relatives, even something as simple as watching your favorite comedy and so on.

Over time, you can introduce more new habits, which cumulatively can increase your level of happiness.

Do not expect a new apartment, a new car, or even winning the lottery to make you happy. Real happiness requires less effort than you might expect – it usually consists of developing small habits you can follow and build on every day.

By being a moral person and focusing on practicing healthy habits every day, you can be happy with surprisingly little effort.

8. Don’t seek vengeance. As we learn from Socrates: “One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him.” For Socrates, vengeance is by definition unjust and there is never a good motivation to justify it.

This philosophy on vengeance is expressed in one of the dialogues of Plato, where Socrates debates Polemarchus, who believes that if it is just to give each man what is owed, so too it is just to do good for a good friend and to do harm to an enemy.

Socrates made Polemarchus realize that when harmed, human beings tend to become less virtuous, not more.

So while it may be cathartic to ‘balance the scales’ by acting on the ancient expression ‘an eye for an eye’, the net result is that you drive your enemies towards further immorality.

Harming someone makes neither you nor them a better person. Thus, vengeance is never justified. No matter how bad someone hurts you, you need to calmly reply and walk away.

It can be your best friend who betrayed you, it can be someone who spread false rumors about you in public, your partner who cheated on you, or your boss who unfairly criticized you.

No matter what, you need to calmly evaluate the situation: If appropriate, express your hurt feelings in a polite way, demand a correction or apology and, if this is not possible, pack your bags and walk away.

Do not do the same thing to the other person, do not sink down to their level.

Instead, maintain your humanity, defend yourself,
claim an apology, or walk away. 9. Have a sense of humor.
In our final quote from Socrates for this video, he says, “By all means marry; if
you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.

” Socrates was well known for his sense of humor.

9 Life Lessons From Socrates (Socratic Skepticism)

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9 Life Lessons From Socrates (Socratic Skepticism)

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