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Available
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Publication
Doubleday Anchor Books (1989), Paperback, 304 pages
Description
The Athens of Socrates's time has gone down in history as the very place where democracy and freedom of speech were born. Yet this city put Socrates, its most famous philosopher, to death. Presumably this was because it citizens did not like what he was teaching. Yet he had been teaching there all his life, unmolested. Why did they wait until he was 70, and had only a few years to live, before executing him? In unraveling the long-hidden issues of the most famous free speech case of all time, noted author I.F. Stone ranges far and wide over both Roman and Greek history to present an engaging and rewarding introduction to classical antiquity and its relevance to society today.
User reviews
LibraryThing member aulsmith
If you've read some Plato, found Socrates vaguely annoying but you're not sure why, Stone can help you out. He juxtaposes Socratic idealism with the messy business of living in the real world, and shows that Socrates' philosophy doesn't offer much practical advice. Not to mention that Socrates was
He also discusses Athenian democracy, and how messy any democracy is because it tries to deal with real life situations which don't have black-and-white answers. Socrates was (and is) less than helpful in this endeavor.
He goes on to explain how Socrates ended up pissing the Athenians off so much that they decided to get rid of him.
Stone's writing is lucid and fun, though he tends to make his point very thoroughly, which if you're more interested in the point than the details can be a bit tiresome.
One reviewer questions Stone's understanding of the Greek historical sources. Quite, frankly I'm not sure it matters. He's really talking to modern idealists who don't want to participate in modern democracies because they're messy. Stone is saying it's better to get your hands dirty rather than wait for the ideal solution to come out of the sky.
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an elitist and really thinks that average people have nothing to offer the world.He also discusses Athenian democracy, and how messy any democracy is because it tries to deal with real life situations which don't have black-and-white answers. Socrates was (and is) less than helpful in this endeavor.
He goes on to explain how Socrates ended up pissing the Athenians off so much that they decided to get rid of him.
Stone's writing is lucid and fun, though he tends to make his point very thoroughly, which if you're more interested in the point than the details can be a bit tiresome.
One reviewer questions Stone's understanding of the Greek historical sources. Quite, frankly I'm not sure it matters. He's really talking to modern idealists who don't want to participate in modern democracies because they're messy. Stone is saying it's better to get your hands dirty rather than wait for the ideal solution to come out of the sky.
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LibraryThing member jamclash
Stone can write! This book engaged by neurons like few others in college and an even better re-read. This is THE way to venture into Western philosophy.
LibraryThing member Smiley
Stone makes an interesting point: Socrates committed a type of ritual suicide. He would have been let off, but he purposely insulted the jury. He could of escaped imprisionment and went into an honorable exile. He chose not to. Remember almost all we know of Socrates is filtered through Plato who
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had his own motives for Socrates' memory. Compelling read. Show Less
LibraryThing member AngelaB86
After reading this book, I've decided if Socrates were alive today, we'd execute him, too. Not for his anti-democratic views, but because of the nonsense "philosophy" he taught. He was obnoxious.
Socrates is one of those people I've heard referred to many times, but never actually knew what his
Stone is an excellent writer, he kept me interested every step of the way.
Socrates is one of those people I've heard referred to many times, but never actually knew what his
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beliefs were or what he taught. I had no idea he was an ardent supporter of dictatorships.Stone is an excellent writer, he kept me interested every step of the way.
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LibraryThing member caju
Interesting book which shows the real reason why Socrates was executed, because of his political beliefs against democracy. The key point of the book is the chapter that describes Socrates interview with the dictators. He could have chosen to say an offense to the dictators, but he did not. On the
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other hand he decided to offend the democratic jury forcing the democracy to kill him, proving that democracies are not much different from dictatorships (which we can see nowadays in Guantánamo) and becoming a martyr. Show Less
LibraryThing member Fledgist
Freedom of speech and philosophy, a potent combination.
LibraryThing member viscount
Athens put its most prominent philosopher, Socrates, to death by hemlock in 399 BCE, when he was 70 years old and had been practicing philosophy all over Athens for many decades. Why? And what does the fact of the trial and its resulting death sentence mean?
Here’s the accepted narrative over the
I.F. Stone does a great job digging through all the layers of this story to seek out the underlying facts, to the extent they can be known over 2400 years later. As usual, the truth is much more nuanced - and interesting - than the simple story.
Start with the political backdrop, to which Stone, with his background as a political journalist, is especially attuned. We are used to seeing freethinkers (and speakers and writers) being silenced by authoritarian regimes. But in this case it was the democratic government that did the silencing. And Socrates, although politics was never his focus, had been critical of democracy, a relatively new invention, through the decades.
Furthermore, Athens had suffered through two recent bouts of authoritarian rule by groups of so-called oligarchs. The most recent was just four years before the trial, at the end of the Peloponnesian War, when The Thirty took over, backed by Sparta, and purged their enemies, executing many of their political adversaries and even just wealthy citizens to seize their assets. The strongman leading the regime was Critias. And Critias, it turns out, had been a student of Socrates.
So this is the political counter narrative that Stone promotes: Socrates was a long-standing opponent of democracy in Athens and supporter of authoritarian governments in places like Sparta and Crete. One of his students takes action and overthrows the democratic government, becoming a murderous dictator. When the democratic forces eventually return to power, Socrates is under suspicion and even held to blame for the political disaster. He is put on trial a few years later.
A modern analogy would be democratic Germany putting Hitler’s teacher and mentor on trial in 1949.
Of course, it’s not that simple; it never is. For example, some of the texts cited by Stone in evidence of Socrates’ pro-authoritarian views come from Republic and other Platonic dialogs where Socrates was basically a literary character mouthing positions that Plato held decades after the death of Socrates. Stone then has to speculate the extent to which Plato’s views were “inspired” by the historic Socrates.
And as Stone does acknowledge, the conviction and execution of Socrates did in fact make him the greatest martyr for free speech and free thought in the 2500 year history of Western civilization. So the accepted story has some core of truth after all. And did Socrates actively seek that martyrdom? That’s another of the many interlocking issues that Stone investigates.
Overall I found Stone to be an honest investigator, acknowledging weaknesses and gaps in sources, and counterarguments to his thesis. It is obvious that he has spent a great deal of time investigating both the primary and secondary sources, and his comments about various reference works, commentators, and translations are evidence of the great amount of time and energy he has put in to this work.
Especially notable is Stone’s careful use of ancient Greek to parse the subtle shades of meaning of key words in Plato, Xenophon, Thucydides, and other contemporary writers. He is very eloquent on the beauty of reading Aeschylus’ Oresteia in the original Greek - and the amount of time and effort needed for him to work through the entire trilogy in the original.
Although I don’t accept Stone’s full thesis, he is convincing on key parts, and the depth of the political and social backdrop to the trial make every chapter of this book richly rewarding.
Here’s the accepted narrative over the
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centuries: Socrates was a martyr to the cause of philosophy, free speech, and truth-seeking. He was so devoted to questioning everything to find the underlying truth that he came into inevitable conflict with the authorities, and eventually the state, even open-minded democratic Athens, had to silence him by execution.I.F. Stone does a great job digging through all the layers of this story to seek out the underlying facts, to the extent they can be known over 2400 years later. As usual, the truth is much more nuanced - and interesting - than the simple story.
Start with the political backdrop, to which Stone, with his background as a political journalist, is especially attuned. We are used to seeing freethinkers (and speakers and writers) being silenced by authoritarian regimes. But in this case it was the democratic government that did the silencing. And Socrates, although politics was never his focus, had been critical of democracy, a relatively new invention, through the decades.
Furthermore, Athens had suffered through two recent bouts of authoritarian rule by groups of so-called oligarchs. The most recent was just four years before the trial, at the end of the Peloponnesian War, when The Thirty took over, backed by Sparta, and purged their enemies, executing many of their political adversaries and even just wealthy citizens to seize their assets. The strongman leading the regime was Critias. And Critias, it turns out, had been a student of Socrates.
So this is the political counter narrative that Stone promotes: Socrates was a long-standing opponent of democracy in Athens and supporter of authoritarian governments in places like Sparta and Crete. One of his students takes action and overthrows the democratic government, becoming a murderous dictator. When the democratic forces eventually return to power, Socrates is under suspicion and even held to blame for the political disaster. He is put on trial a few years later.
A modern analogy would be democratic Germany putting Hitler’s teacher and mentor on trial in 1949.
Of course, it’s not that simple; it never is. For example, some of the texts cited by Stone in evidence of Socrates’ pro-authoritarian views come from Republic and other Platonic dialogs where Socrates was basically a literary character mouthing positions that Plato held decades after the death of Socrates. Stone then has to speculate the extent to which Plato’s views were “inspired” by the historic Socrates.
And as Stone does acknowledge, the conviction and execution of Socrates did in fact make him the greatest martyr for free speech and free thought in the 2500 year history of Western civilization. So the accepted story has some core of truth after all. And did Socrates actively seek that martyrdom? That’s another of the many interlocking issues that Stone investigates.
Overall I found Stone to be an honest investigator, acknowledging weaknesses and gaps in sources, and counterarguments to his thesis. It is obvious that he has spent a great deal of time investigating both the primary and secondary sources, and his comments about various reference works, commentators, and translations are evidence of the great amount of time and energy he has put in to this work.
Especially notable is Stone’s careful use of ancient Greek to parse the subtle shades of meaning of key words in Plato, Xenophon, Thucydides, and other contemporary writers. He is very eloquent on the beauty of reading Aeschylus’ Oresteia in the original Greek - and the amount of time and effort needed for him to work through the entire trilogy in the original.
Although I don’t accept Stone’s full thesis, he is convincing on key parts, and the depth of the political and social backdrop to the trial make every chapter of this book richly rewarding.
Show Less
Awards
501 Must-Read Books (Emma Beare, 2006) (History)
Language
Original publication date
1988
Physical description
304 p.; 8.02 inches
ISBN
0385260326 / 9780385260329