Socrates and the Spiritual Things
Socrates certainly believed in spiritual things and in God. He professes in the Apology that he only did what he did (teach the youth) so as to be in union with the will of God. Socrates also believed that true virtue could only be obtained through union with God. And as we know from his dialogue with Euthyphro God cannot be in contradiction with Himselfyet all the gods and goddesses endlessly fighting presuppose contradiction. It is clear that Socrates believed in God as the source of all truth, all goodness, and all virtueand since the Greek gods were gods of contradiction it stands to reason that Socrates believed in a God only vaguely reflected in the stories of the Greek gods and goddesses. He was, therefore, guilty of not believing in the Greek godsfor he had pierced the veil of Heaven to some extent through the sheer light of reason and discovered certain truths about God that could not be denied. Thus, the accusation of not believing in the Greek gods but instead in some other spiritual things is to some extent accurate.
Based on Apology, Euthyphro and Meno it is clear that Socrates is his own man when it comes to thinking about spiritual thingsi.e., he is not just going to accept whatever someone else tells him about the spiritual life. He is going to think about it, consider it deeply, analyze it from multiple sides, and try to make a decision about it after discussing it with others, as he does with Euthyphro and Meno. In Euthyphro, Socrates wants to know what it means to be pious and pleasing to the gods, and he acts as though Euthyphro must know what this means since Euthyphro is willing to prosecute his own father without fear of offending the gods. Yet Euthyphro cannot answer the question to Socrates satisfaction, and the dialogue...
…be said, therefore, to be an atheist simply because he did not believe that the stories of the gods could necessarily be used to teach men knowledge or virtue. He believed in God in the sense that all wisdom and grace must have a sourcea springa fountain, since it is from this place only that any man acquires the gift of virtue, as it is defined in Meno. What Socrates believes is that wisdom is not something man obtains through his own skill or learning or knowledge. It is not a trade like carpentry that can be taught. A carpenter can teach another to be a carpenter. That is obvious. But can a man teach another wisdom? Socrates argues that wisdom comes from God alonea gift from the gods as it is said in Meno.Therefore, while Socrates might defy the stories of the warring gods in Euthyphro he does not discount the idea of God or spiritual thingsfor he knows that wisdom cannot have any…
Works Cited
Plato. “Euthyphro.” Five Dialogues. Hackett, 2002.
Plato. “Apology.” Five Dialogues. Hackett, 2002.
Plato. “Meno.” Five Dialogues. Hackett, 2002.
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