Author: Pastora Colmenarez de Boyer

Date: 05/31/2021
Yaracuy- Venezuela
Peace in the Philosophy of Socrates

Socrates (470-399 BC), with his famous phrase “I only know that I know nothing”, is
undoubtedly one of the exceptional characters in history who has left the greatest mark on
thought and the conception of human morality in the world. Greek philosophy, for its great
humility. And although he did not leave any writings, his knowledge spread to the entire
world through his disciple and great philosopher Plato (2003), who reflects in his dialogues
Socratic thought and his way of understanding the world.
This character symbolized peace in the conscience of the entire Athenian people, and
denounced despotisms and injustices against humans; He defended the helpless and was
attacked for “introducing new Gods” and “guiding youth on wrong paths.” This, and
carrying his doctrines to the end, cost him his life, since critical thinking was opposed to the
wise men of that time. This made Socrates make several enemies. and he was punished by
the people of Athens until he died of poisoning in 399 BC.
His defense before the court and the way in which it occurred is undoubtedly an
allegation about freedom of thought and the right of human beings to express their
opinions, no matter how critical they may be. One of the most important contributions of
Socrates is that, for him, philosophy should be a practical contribution to the lives of men.
For him, then, philosophy should teach how to live. Therefore, this knowledge implies
understanding about good and evil so that the individual can approach knowledge. Through
reason he tried to find out what was right and what was wrong. And not only was he
content with that but he publicly denounced the immoral behaviors of his time. For the
Athenian people, Socrates' fortitude and moral rectitude were very uncomfortable.
According to Socrates, knowledge of what is right (autognosis) was enough to act correctly.
Socratic thought can be based on several essential points:
l. True wisdom is in virtue. “The wise man is the virtuous man.”
2. He was the first moralist in history. “Whoever knows what is good will also do
good.”
3. He explained the immortality of the soul. “Our souls existed before this time, before
appearing in this human form; and while they were like that, without a body, they already
knew, they already had knowledge.” (Phaedo).
4. “True knowledge is what comes from within each person.”
In his moral conscience he was driven to denounce the abuses and death sentences in the
people of Athens. Socrates said that a “divine voice” within him constantly forced him to
denounce both good and bad events and that we should advocate for our own happiness. He
also glimpsed that the ultimate goal of the human being is one's own happiness, starting
with oneself, becoming better every day, being good with oneself and with others, doing
"good." Everything is for good and nothing is for bad. We need to be at peace with
ourselves before making peace with others, because negativity comes out of us. Happiness
is a goal that everyone wants to achieve, but we don't realize that we have already achieved
it.
According to Socrates, malevolence and the search for survival in human beings is
ignorance, ignoring reality and acting on impulse with a mind programmed by fear is what
makes people unhappy and therefore they go in search of happiness with desire. and
attachment, trying to achieve power, trying to fill the empty space of unhappiness caused
by ignorance. The writings through which Socrates' thoughts were known were the
dialogues. These were questions and answers between the philosopher and his students.
These questions and answers were known as maieutics and are used to this day and are
considered a contribution from Socrates to humanity. It consists of a technique or method
of constructing concepts. This method was disseminated and created to help to create ideas,
to carry out the work of conceiving ideas with the enlightenment of knowledge, whose goal
is truth based on reason.
In Plato's myth of the cave, Socrates is represented as the human being who dares to
come out of the shadows of the cave (material world of the senses) to the outside reality
(the world of light, that of spirituality or of “ideas”). Here Plato shows us the great spiritual
meaning of his ideas and of Socrates, explaining that the real world is that of spirits; that
the human body is a prison for the soul and that what we see is nothing more than a pale
reflection of the authentic reality of being: “the spiritual reality.” Before drinking the
hemlock, Socrates recommended to his disciples that when he died they should not say:
“We bury Socrates” but “We bury the body of Socrates.”
 This theory is an important contribution to this research because it deals with the value
of peace that Socrates gave to his disciples through his dialogues, and that he fought for a
just cause, which is also a priority in human beings and the teaching imaginary, because
educating with this value will make the culture of peace understood from a more objective
point of view in educational institutions.