0:00:05 > 0:00:07Since the dawn of civilisation,
0:00:07 > 0:00:11the forces of nature and the whims of gods
0:00:11 > 0:00:13held sway over humanity.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17But 2,500 years ago,
0:00:17 > 0:00:21humankind experienced a profound transformation.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28Suddenly, there were new possibilities.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32This is a time when rationality overrode superstition and belief.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36This is an ethic which does not rely on the gods.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39The world is now explained in terms of natural forces.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42We're now responsible for our own destiny.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Upheavals across the globe
0:00:48 > 0:00:52sparked an ambitious vision of what humans could achieve,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55spearheaded by three trailblazers.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Socrates, Confucius and the Buddha -
0:01:00 > 0:01:02great thinkers from the ancient world
0:01:02 > 0:01:05whose ideas still shape our own lives.
0:01:07 > 0:01:08Is wealth a good thing?
0:01:09 > 0:01:12How do you create a just society?
0:01:13 > 0:01:15How do I live a good life?
0:01:17 > 0:01:20By daring to think the unthinkable,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23they laid the foundations of our modern world.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27I've always been intrigued by the fact that these men,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30who lived many thousands of miles apart,
0:01:30 > 0:01:32seemed spontaneously
0:01:32 > 0:01:34and within 100 years of one another,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37to come up with such radical ideas.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44So, what was going on?
0:01:44 > 0:01:47I want to investigate their revolutionary ideas -
0:01:47 > 0:01:49to understand what set them in motion.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51This time, Socrates.
0:01:51 > 0:01:52It's so thrilling,
0:01:52 > 0:01:57imagining those big new ideas could possibly have been enacted there!
0:01:57 > 0:01:59He was the soldier whose bravery in battle
0:01:59 > 0:02:03was matched by the inflammatory courage of his ideas.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Socrates encouraged his fellow citizens
0:02:05 > 0:02:09to rationally examine every aspect of their lives.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13Does the person who possess knowledge in the big way know everything?
0:02:13 > 0:02:16- You don't know?- I don't know. I give up! I give up!
0:02:16 > 0:02:18I'm going to inhabit his world,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21to examine how his subversive philosophy
0:02:21 > 0:02:25challenged superstitious belief that had reigned for millennia...
0:02:26 > 0:02:30..and to discover how his search for truth
0:02:30 > 0:02:32led to his downfall.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54In 469 BC,
0:02:54 > 0:02:59Socrates was born, the son of a midwife and a stonemason,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03into a city in the midst of a tumultuous transformation.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07He grew up in the suburbs of Athens,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09at eye level with the sacred Acropolis rock.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15But young Socrates wouldn't have looked out
0:03:15 > 0:03:18over the elegant lines of the Parthenon Temple,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20that exquisite symbol of Western civilisation
0:03:20 > 0:03:23that still stands proud today.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27Instead, he'd have woken every morning to a horror -
0:03:27 > 0:03:33the blackened and burnt-out remains of buildings brutalised by war.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43His city bore the scars of a ferocious conflict
0:03:43 > 0:03:47with the region's superpower, Persia.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50But, against the odds, Athens had triumphed,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53just ten years before Socrates was born.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Now, it revelled in what some call "the Greek miracle" -
0:03:58 > 0:04:01a golden age.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Burgeoning trade flooded the region with new wealth
0:04:03 > 0:04:06and crucially, with new ideas.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14But the key ideology that would shape young Socrates' life
0:04:14 > 0:04:16belonged to Athens alone -
0:04:16 > 0:04:20because here, around 508 BC,
0:04:20 > 0:04:25democracy, the power of the people, was born.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27Virtually overnight,
0:04:27 > 0:04:31all adult male citizens found they didn't just serve the state -
0:04:31 > 0:04:33they were the state.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35You cannot over-emphasise
0:04:35 > 0:04:38how electrically exciting this must have been.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40Ordinary men were selected randomly at lot
0:04:40 > 0:04:42to hold the very highest of offices -
0:04:42 > 0:04:45the equivalent of being Head of the Foreign Office,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47or Home Secretary for one day.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Socrates wouldn't only witness a city being rebuilt,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59but the ethical hazards of a new social experiment.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05As he was growing up, democracy too was finding its feet.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Ordinary Athenians now had the potential
0:05:10 > 0:05:13to determine their own future,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16but their fate was still very firmly in the hands of the gods.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Gods, demigods and spirits were believed to be everywhere,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23influencing people's everyday lives.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28If I'd been looking out over Athens during Socrates' lifetime,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31then this scene would have been thick with smoke
0:05:31 > 0:05:34and the smell of sacrifice would be heavy in the air,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37as Athenians frantically rushed around,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39trying to keep their gods on side -
0:05:39 > 0:05:41all 2,000 of them!
0:05:44 > 0:05:46This "pantheon of gods"
0:05:46 > 0:05:49gave people a sense of their place in the universe.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51But in these exciting times,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54a few were daring to question religious convention.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58As a teenager, Socrates sought them out
0:05:58 > 0:06:01in one of Athens' most edgy and marginal districts -
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Keramiekos.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10For 600 years, this had been Athens' main burial ground.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12Come Socrates' day,
0:06:12 > 0:06:17and it had evolved into a kind of cosmopolitan suburb of sin.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Travelling salesman plied their wares here,
0:06:19 > 0:06:20along with prostitutes,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23who offered what were euphemistically known as
0:06:23 > 0:06:25"middle of the day marriages".
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Many young Athenians didn't need to work.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36There was one slave to every two free citizens.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39So, Socrates had the free time to come here
0:06:39 > 0:06:42and listen in on theories carried in on the trade routes.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46He encountered thinkers from the Eastern Mediterranean,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49whose ideas had, for over a century,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53confronted traditional explanations of the cosmos.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06What people saw as mysterious and unfathomable,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09they viewed as rationally ordered -
0:07:09 > 0:07:13and to some degree, rationally explicable.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20We refer to them now as one group, the pre-Socratics,
0:07:20 > 0:07:25but in reality, they were brilliant, independent thinkers.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30They asked hugely ambitious scientific questions.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33What is the cosmos made of?
0:07:33 > 0:07:37What is matter, and how do we perceive it?
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Their answers, in some cases,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43undermined the role of the gods as rulers of the cosmos.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45Their abstract theories -
0:07:45 > 0:07:49obviously conceived without the help of scientific instruments -
0:07:49 > 0:07:52that the universe was made of atoms and empty space,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55that water was the fundamental element of the world,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59and that the sun was one giant red-hot rock,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02were wildly provocative.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07The scale and audacity of their thinking was breathtaking.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17The pre-Socratics not only struck at the core of traditional belief,
0:08:17 > 0:08:20but their use of reason opened up a new way
0:08:20 > 0:08:24to look at the entirety of human experience -
0:08:24 > 0:08:27an approach eagerly taken up by the young Socrates.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33Suddenly, it's not just tradition or myth or religious hierarchies
0:08:33 > 0:08:36that are telling you how to make sense of your world,
0:08:36 > 0:08:40but rational debate, systematic thought.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Just like those other groundbreaking philosophers of the age -
0:08:43 > 0:08:46Confucius in China and the Buddha in what's now India -
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Socrates and his contemporaries
0:08:48 > 0:08:51are daring to harness the power of the mind
0:08:51 > 0:08:53to explain the world around them.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57This is a quantum shift.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Confident, brave-new-world Athens
0:09:02 > 0:09:06didn't seek to suppress this new spirit of inquiry.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09The city became a magnet for innovation -
0:09:09 > 0:09:13thanks, in large part, to the man who would dominate Athenian politics
0:09:13 > 0:09:16for almost half of Socrates' life -
0:09:16 > 0:09:19the visionary politician, Pericles.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22He gathered thinkers and artists to advise him
0:09:22 > 0:09:24and set about making democracy
0:09:24 > 0:09:26the dominant ideology in the Greek world.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31He glorified the streets with sumptuous statues
0:09:31 > 0:09:34and fetishized democratic principles.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39Athens built warships called "Freedom" and "Freedom of Speech".
0:09:40 > 0:09:44Yet, Socrates would understand all this success had its flipside.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Democracy's high ideals would need to be interrogated.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53A later source tells us that Socrates declared,
0:09:53 > 0:09:58"Beautiful statues, high city walls and warships are all very well,
0:09:58 > 0:10:02"but what's the point, if those within them aren't happy?"
0:10:02 > 0:10:05So, we have to imagine a young Socrates
0:10:05 > 0:10:08walking around this fabulous, febrile city,
0:10:08 > 0:10:10beginning to ask those big questions
0:10:10 > 0:10:13that are still utterly relevant today.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15Is wealth a good thing?
0:10:15 > 0:10:20Can a democracy itself create a just society?
0:10:20 > 0:10:23What is it makes us truly happy?
0:10:32 > 0:10:37Democracy had opened a Pandora's box of new dilemmas and contradictions.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39As he reached adulthood,
0:10:39 > 0:10:41Socrates would become the one to point them out -
0:10:41 > 0:10:46a constant irritant, known as "the gadfly of Athens".
0:10:47 > 0:10:49An infamous celebrity of his day.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57But Socrates is also an enigma, because as far as we know,
0:10:57 > 0:11:01he didn't write anything down - not a single line.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03He thought that writing was dangerous,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05because it imprisoned knowledge.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08It's only thanks to contemporaries -
0:11:08 > 0:11:12such as Plato, who may have coined the term "philosopher",
0:11:12 > 0:11:14perhaps with Socrates in mind -
0:11:14 > 0:11:17that his thoughts and life story have been preserved.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21And what a man he seems to have been.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Ironic, courageous, brilliant,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26wildly charismatic
0:11:26 > 0:11:28and utterly infuriating.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Plato's compelling accounts of his life, his ideas
0:11:31 > 0:11:35and his dramatic death are a jewel in the canon of Western thought.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51When we think of the ancient Greek philosophers,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53we often visualise them as they've been portrayed
0:11:53 > 0:11:55in Renaissance works of art -
0:11:55 > 0:11:58lofty grey beards, draped in elegant robes,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01hanging around classical columns.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03We don't perhaps imagine them
0:12:03 > 0:12:06involved in the dirty and bloody business of war.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Athens' appetite for territorial expansion seems to been sharpened
0:12:16 > 0:12:19by the collective will of democratic voters.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26Socrates, like all male Athenian citizens, was expected to fight.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31He was in his late 30s when he was sent here, to Potidaea,
0:12:31 > 0:12:35to help take control of this strategic city in Northern Greece.
0:12:37 > 0:12:38It's from this time of war
0:12:38 > 0:12:42we get sharper textual details of Socrates' life.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45The man himself starts to come into focus.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50His vision, his physical courage, his eccentricities -
0:12:50 > 0:12:53and a man with something momentous on his mind.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59The fighting was fierce -
0:12:59 > 0:13:02and for three years, the town was besieged.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06In desperation, locals turned to cannibalism.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Yet, in amongst all these horrors and the pity of war,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14somehow Socrates found stillness.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26We're told he became absorbed by complex, private thoughts.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29In the depths of winter,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33wearing just a threadbare cloak and with bare feet,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37he stood - for 24 hours at a stretch.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39Stock-still,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42lost in his own mind.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Unlike the pre-Socratic thinkers,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Socrates came to believe that understanding the cosmos
0:13:50 > 0:13:54was an esoteric diversion from something far more important.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58Studying the secrets of the stars was all very well,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02but human affairs had far greater urgency.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10So, Socrates did something truly ground-breaking.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14He turned rational thought inward,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17to solve the mortal dilemmas we all face.
0:14:21 > 0:14:22He threw all his energies
0:14:22 > 0:14:26into resolving the fundamental questions of human existence.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28What kind of a life should we lead?
0:14:28 > 0:14:30What sort of people do we want to be?
0:14:31 > 0:14:34He's the first individual in the West
0:14:34 > 0:14:37to put ethics at the very heart of his philosophy.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Socrates' starting point was simple.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Everyone yearns for a full and flourishing life,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56but it wasn't to be found in the transitory pleasures
0:14:56 > 0:14:58and distractions of the material world.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Socrates believed we can only realise our human potential
0:15:04 > 0:15:06when we nurture the most precious,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10the most permanent part of our beings - our souls.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13When we do right, we protect our soul.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16When we do wrong, we harm it.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23Knowing right from wrong was fundamental to every aspect of life.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26And in fifth century Athens, the issue was acute.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32As many as 4,000 legal cases were heard each year.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Democracy had revolutionised the law courts.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Now, any male citizen,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41from aristocrats right down to fishmongers,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43could be a judge for the day.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49We're told Socrates found such amateur governance troubling.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52If those sitting in judgment weren't qualified to understand
0:15:52 > 0:15:54the difference between right and wrong,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57then they could convict an innocent person.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00They'd be punishing someone who didn't deserve to be hurt.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08But in Socrates' view, the innocent person would only suffer physically.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12It's the jurors who would be harming themselves much more.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14By unknowingly doing wrong,
0:16:14 > 0:16:20they would inflict terrible, lasting damage to their own souls.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25In order to protect Athenians, Socrates needed to teach them.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28"The only evil is ignorance", he said.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31But Socrates faced a problem.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34The Greeks did have an ethical framework of sorts,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37but it wasn't either clear or consistent.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45The destiny of all Greeks was in the hands of the gods.
0:16:45 > 0:16:46They were venerated,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50even though their personal lives were pretty short on moral guidance.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Capricious and vengeful,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56they fought with each other, they slept with one another's wives,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58they abducted mortals.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00And appropriately,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03the gods didn't seem that interested in human morality, either.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08Living a good life didn't guarantee favour with the gods.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Respecting their power
0:17:10 > 0:17:14and offering the most expensive and bloodiest sacrifice
0:17:14 > 0:17:15was a much safer bet.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Greeks did, however, believe there were five virtues -
0:17:22 > 0:17:27justice, temperance, courage, piety and wisdom.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32But in practice, these virtues were slippery, shifting ideals.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35What was considered just or pious for an aristocratic man
0:17:35 > 0:17:38wasn't necessarily the same for a slave woman.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43In Socrates' experience, traditional moral thinking -
0:17:43 > 0:17:47the kind taught by elders and priests and epic poets -
0:17:47 > 0:17:49just didn't stand up to scrutiny.
0:17:49 > 0:17:54His philosophy became a search for more robust, universal definitions.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Socrates thought that all the virtues were interlinked.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03They couldn't be separated.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06He thought of them as one thing -
0:18:06 > 0:18:09something he called "knowledge of the human good".
0:18:13 > 0:18:18For him, virtue is knowledge - knowledge of the human good.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21He says that this knowledge of the human good
0:18:21 > 0:18:24is going to, in some sense, save your life.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26This is really strong language.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28But is that an abstract idea,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32or is there something that can play out in people's day to day lives?
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Oh, no, absolutely. Knowledge of the human good
0:18:34 > 0:18:38is what enables us to make the right practical decisions
0:18:38 > 0:18:40in our daily lives.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44But it's going to look different in different contexts.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46For instance, if you're on a battlefield,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48it will manifest itself as courage.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52If you're sacrificing in a temple, it will look like piety,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55And it's through those decisions and actions
0:18:55 > 0:18:58that we are enabled to take care of our souls -
0:18:58 > 0:19:00our most precious possession,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03on which all our happiness depends.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06But that means that people have real agency,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08because it seems to me that he's saying
0:19:08 > 0:19:10it's not down to the Gods to make the world a better place,
0:19:10 > 0:19:12- it's down to us.- Absolutely.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Socrates is saying, you don't have to depend on the whims
0:19:15 > 0:19:17and the caprices of the gods.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22It's really about individual empowerment and responsibility.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25And furthermore, whereas he inherited a tradition which said
0:19:25 > 0:19:27there was one kind of virtue for a man, another for a woman,
0:19:27 > 0:19:32one for, you know, a well-born person, another for a slave,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35he's saying, no - it's about knowledge of the human good,
0:19:35 > 0:19:40in a universal sense. It's available to everybody.
0:19:40 > 0:19:41Cicero later says of him,
0:19:41 > 0:19:46he brings philosophy down from the heavens and into people's homes
0:19:46 > 0:19:48and into people's individual homes.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53This really is a very radical moment in Western thought.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Exciting and empowering, but also dangerous.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Indeed, because even though Socrates himself
0:20:00 > 0:20:04was personally very religious, as far as we know, very pious,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07this is socially threatening.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10It's threatening traditional religion and of course,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13these messages are disturbing to a lot of people.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22Socrates didn't deny the existence of the gods, but his emphasis
0:20:22 > 0:20:25on the capacity of humans to shape their own destiny
0:20:25 > 0:20:28could be seen as challenging their traditional roles.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Fortunately, the sacrificial fires to the Gods,
0:20:35 > 0:20:36which had burnt for centuries,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40were now lit in a city that also prized freedom of expression.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46Initially, Socrates' unorthodox ideas were tolerated.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49But then, in 431 BC,
0:20:49 > 0:20:51the good times looked set to end.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00The violence of Potidaea escalated into all-out conflict.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05The pitiless Peloponnesian war between Athens and its nemesis -
0:21:05 > 0:21:07the city-state of Sparta.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11Here at the National Archaeological Museum,
0:21:11 > 0:21:15funerary urns depict the heartbreaking suffering and loss
0:21:15 > 0:21:17experienced by the Athenians.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25With Spartan hordes ravaging the countryside around Athens,
0:21:25 > 0:21:29Pericles ordered every citizen from the surrounding area
0:21:29 > 0:21:31to come inside the city walls.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35It was a fatal strategy.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38A new kind of terror was unleashed from within.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45Athens became one giant refugee camp.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47With the population hemmed in together,
0:21:47 > 0:21:50a deadly disease spread like wildfire.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53The symptoms were ghastly -
0:21:53 > 0:21:56sweats, fevers, a suppurating rash
0:21:56 > 0:21:58and a racking cough.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01At a conservative estimate,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05at least one third of the population was wiped out.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13Angry and frustrated Athenians turned on their poster boy
0:22:13 > 0:22:15and removed Pericles from office.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21Eventually he died, it's believed, of the plague himself.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24A thriving Athens had been robust enough
0:22:24 > 0:22:28to deal with the searching questions of Socrates.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30Now, with confidence ebbing away,
0:22:30 > 0:22:31tolerance was threatened.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37Yet, energised by the same sense of crisis and danger
0:22:37 > 0:22:41which motivated the philosophies of Confucius and the Buddha,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Socrates seems to have flourished.
0:22:46 > 0:22:47By now in his 40s
0:22:47 > 0:22:51and surrounded by war, death and disease,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54his search took on a new intensity.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58How do we decide what is good?
0:23:01 > 0:23:03Is wealth a good thing?
0:23:05 > 0:23:08What makes us truly happy?
0:23:11 > 0:23:14In Athens, Socrates wasn't the only one discussing big ideas
0:23:14 > 0:23:16with its embattled citizens.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22The sophists were cock-sure, showy educators -
0:23:22 > 0:23:25masters in the art of persuasive argument.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28They acted as speechmakers in legal trials,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31entertaining huge crowds in stadiums.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Socrates was sceptical, to say the least.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39Like the sophists, he challenged orthodox thought,
0:23:39 > 0:23:40but he also passionately believed
0:23:40 > 0:23:43that philosophy should have a higher purpose.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47Clever ideas and persuasive arguments just weren't enough.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55To the sophists, smart words were currency.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59They sold their services to the highest bidder.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02But Socrates refused to be paid,
0:24:02 > 0:24:04preferring handouts from friends.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09That's not to say he didn't enjoy worldly pleasures.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12He drank and made love,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14but barefoot and unwashed,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17he stood out in materially minded Athens.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23We're told that he marched past shop stalls in his shabby robes, saying,
0:24:23 > 0:24:25"How many things I don't need!"
0:24:26 > 0:24:29He saw wealth as impermanent -
0:24:29 > 0:24:33a distraction from the search for absolute values.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Socrates believed you couldn't buy knowledge -
0:24:36 > 0:24:40and wisdom didn't come from listening to long speeches.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42It could only come through something else -
0:24:42 > 0:24:44dialogue.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49- So, Bethany, I understand you're here to do a documentary about Socrates. - Yes.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51Why are you making this documentary?
0:24:51 > 0:24:54'His Socratic method worked something like this -
0:24:54 > 0:24:57'Socrates would engage someone in the street...'
0:24:57 > 0:24:59I can learn something more about Socrates
0:24:59 > 0:25:02and I can share that knowledge with the people who are watching it.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05These are big words - "knowledge" and "truth".
0:25:05 > 0:25:07Shall we take one of them? What would it mean...?
0:25:07 > 0:25:09'He'd ask them an ethical question.'
0:25:09 > 0:25:13So what is this thing - knowledge - that you want to impart?
0:25:13 > 0:25:14In my book,
0:25:14 > 0:25:19knowledge is love of what it is to be human.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22'The person would attempt to define the concept,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26'but Socrates would find inconsistencies in their answers.'
0:25:26 > 0:25:28- So, knowledge is love?- Yeah.- OK.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33So, if you wanted to have an operation for an appendicitis,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37would you go to a woman who was full of love,
0:25:37 > 0:25:39- but knew nothing about surgery?- No!
0:25:39 > 0:25:43OK, So I would say that the definition of "knowledge as love"
0:25:43 > 0:25:45is not good enough.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48'They would be forced to withdraw their definition
0:25:48 > 0:25:51'and to reformulate and refine their ideas.'
0:25:51 > 0:25:53So, let's try it again.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Is there one kind of knowledge, or many kinds of knowledge?
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Knowledge is one thing...
0:25:59 > 0:26:02Take your time. I don't know the answers to this.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05Maybe knowledge is one thing,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07but knowing is many things.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09'This process would spiral
0:26:09 > 0:26:12'into a dizzying round of question and answer.'
0:26:12 > 0:26:14..To know how the stars move
0:26:14 > 0:26:18and to know how the liver operates is the same thing?
0:26:19 > 0:26:21No, they're not the same thing.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Does the person who possesses knowledge in the big way know everything?
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Between those two, who is probably the best stone maker?
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Er... The one who...
0:26:32 > 0:26:36I don't know! I give up, I give up!
0:26:36 > 0:26:39'Socrates likens his role to that of a midwife,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42'who helps to nurture and deliver the thoughts of others.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45'But it was never an easy birth.'
0:26:45 > 0:26:47I have to say that the one thing you've proved to me
0:26:47 > 0:26:48is that I know nothing.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Ah, no, no. That's me! LAUGHTER
0:26:51 > 0:26:55I am the expert at making other people know things, but I'm no good -
0:26:55 > 0:27:00I know nothing and that is the only knowledge I claim for myself.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05That Socratic method is fascinating and stimulating,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08but it is also infuriating.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11Yes, because it's in an oral context, the way we do it,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14and Socrates famously believed
0:27:14 > 0:27:17in the supremacy of the oral over the written
0:27:17 > 0:27:20and that also stirs up the emotions.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23First of all, in his pretence of being the fool.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25- The ignorant man. - Of knowing nothing, yeah.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Yes, and because that is his tool,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31that he turns, in fact, against his friends -
0:27:31 > 0:27:34or opponents, as you may take it -
0:27:34 > 0:27:38and makes them admit to things that they don't want to admit to,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41by playing essentially the fool, saying,
0:27:41 > 0:27:43"I know nothing, I know nothing.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45"I can only ask you to tell me, because I know nothing."
0:27:45 > 0:27:48So, he laid an emphasis on the definitions,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52then on what he called "dieresis" - division -
0:27:52 > 0:27:55of breaking down a problem into little parts,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58analysing parts, analysing it.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01And then, attacking each one separately
0:28:01 > 0:28:04and then trying, inductively, to group them back together
0:28:04 > 0:28:06into a more general concept.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10So, Socrates uses that to make people become aware
0:28:10 > 0:28:14that things they consider simple and elementary and basic
0:28:14 > 0:28:17and that they know - they in fact don't know.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19And what about the modern world?
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Do you think we could have the modern world
0:28:23 > 0:28:25without Socratic debate,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27without questioning what it is to be human
0:28:27 > 0:28:30and what it is to be human in the world around us?
0:28:30 > 0:28:35Well, I think that the best way to accept,
0:28:35 > 0:28:37to find Socrates' place in it
0:28:37 > 0:28:42is to see that the opposite of the Socratic method, essentially,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45is fanaticism and dogmatism.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49And in that sense, the modern world very much needs
0:28:49 > 0:28:52an antidote to those things, at every level.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00The Socratic method was cathartic.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02It got difficult issues out into the open
0:29:02 > 0:29:05and defined concepts with much greater precision.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11Socrates' tough questioning, with his trademark irony,
0:29:11 > 0:29:13was conducted in public,
0:29:13 > 0:29:16causing a stir wherever he went.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22He was inviting everyone to seek knowledge of the human good,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25to identify fundamental truths.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28But people could only do this for themselves
0:29:28 > 0:29:30by constantly interrogating their actions
0:29:30 > 0:29:33and most deeply held beliefs.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37"The unexamined life," Socrates said, "is not worth living."
0:29:42 > 0:29:45But there was a problem.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49Socrates' teaching found particular favour with the young.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52With no end in sight to war with Sparta,
0:29:52 > 0:29:56these human resources were vital to Athens' future.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00Laws attempted to protect the youth from malign influence.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05Encouraging them to think for themselves was fraught with danger.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08Yet Socrates sought them out,
0:30:08 > 0:30:11close to the most public place in the city -
0:30:11 > 0:30:13the Agora.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16Across the ancient world,
0:30:16 > 0:30:18commerce was increasingly a driver for change -
0:30:18 > 0:30:22and that was felt particularly keenly here in Athens.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25The Agora was a buzzing market,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28a place where people came to exchange goods and gossip.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Socrates loved sharing his ideas here.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39It's from Agora we get the word "Agoraphobia" -
0:30:39 > 0:30:40a fear of open spaces.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46There was anxiety back then, too, as under-18s were barred.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51Now, archaeology helps to point to how Socrates met young Athenians
0:30:51 > 0:30:56just outside the Agora's boundary, in a private dwelling.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58So, we're right on the edge of the Agora space,
0:30:58 > 0:31:02and we're in-between the public space and the private space behind us here.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04And this wall behind us right here
0:31:04 > 0:31:06is one of those private establishments.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09And we have a later source that mentions
0:31:09 > 0:31:12Socrates visiting the house of a friend of his
0:31:12 > 0:31:14and we have this figure, Simon the Cobbler
0:31:14 > 0:31:16and he's hosting young men.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18So, we have the literary source,
0:31:18 > 0:31:22but what's nice is that during the excavations right here,
0:31:22 > 0:31:24they found hobnails, they found bone eyelets
0:31:24 > 0:31:26and then, they also found a cup
0:31:26 > 0:31:29and this is the amazing bit of evidence really,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32because this cup has the name "Simon" scratched on it.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35And this is a replica right here of the cup
0:31:35 > 0:31:39and you can see that it does have "Simonos" scratched on it.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41Yeah, I just... It's so thrilling being here,
0:31:41 > 0:31:43imagining those big, new ideas
0:31:43 > 0:31:46could possibly have been enacted there 2,500 years ago.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49We can say that Socrates was walking around this space
0:31:49 > 0:31:51and he was probably hanging out right here,
0:31:51 > 0:31:55in order to discuss things, things that might otherwise be...
0:31:55 > 0:31:57Something that might get him in trouble,
0:31:57 > 0:31:59I mean, it's a dangerous situation that, potentially.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02So, you've got this magnetic personality,
0:32:02 > 0:32:04having these rumbustious conversations with young men
0:32:04 > 0:32:07- and encouraging them to think for themselves.- That's exactly right.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10This is the place where we're supposed to have freedom of thought
0:32:10 > 0:32:15and freedom of expression and so on, in this democratic idea,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18but this is a place where you have to respect the gods
0:32:18 > 0:32:20and you have to respect your elders
0:32:20 > 0:32:22and you have to respect the laws of the city.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25He's questioning the gods, he's questioning the laws,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28so he's really putting it to the test
0:32:28 > 0:32:32and forcing these young guys to see things in a different way
0:32:32 > 0:32:34and the city didn't really like that.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39Socrates was storing up trouble,
0:32:39 > 0:32:43especially as some of his devotees were confident young aristocrats -
0:32:43 > 0:32:45the city's future leaders.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Most notable was Alcibiades.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58Well born, wealthy and an Olympic champion,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01this sexually promiscuous hell raiser
0:33:01 > 0:33:05entranced and scandalised Athens for decades.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10Yet this playboy was friends with Socrates,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13who was 20 years his senior.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15Socrates had actually saved Alcibiades' life
0:33:15 > 0:33:17during the battle of Potidaea.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22Plato's Symposium describes an infamous exchange
0:33:22 > 0:33:23that took place between them
0:33:23 > 0:33:26during a heady, aristocratic drinking party.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32A drunken Alcibiades, we're told, crashes the discussion,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35which turns to the question of beauty.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38In Greek culture, Alcibiades' body beautiful
0:33:38 > 0:33:43would typically have been regarded as a sign of his moral beauty, too.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46But it appears Alcibiades bought into
0:33:46 > 0:33:50Socrates' alternative concept of real beauty.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56Socrates, he says, might be ugly on the outside,
0:33:56 > 0:34:00but he has an inner beauty that by far outshines any physical beauty -
0:34:00 > 0:34:03and that he, Alcibiades, loves Socrates
0:34:03 > 0:34:05because he is the wisest man
0:34:05 > 0:34:08and therefore, the most beautiful.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18However, when it came to achieving inner beauty for himself,
0:34:18 > 0:34:22Alcibiades was woefully out of step.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25He thought his good looks could help him,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29but his cocky plan to seduce Socrates was rebuffed.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31"You're plotting to get real beauty
0:34:31 > 0:34:34"in exchange for its appearance", Socrates said.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36"That would be gold for bronze".
0:34:42 > 0:34:46For Socrates, the talents of young aristocrats were worthless
0:34:46 > 0:34:49without the wisdom to use them properly.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53By debating with them, he was pushing the patience of Athens.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58Yet Socrates didn't compromise his principles...
0:34:59 > 0:35:04..as demonstrated in the story of the Oracle of Delphi.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12We're told that a friend of Socrates, called Chaerephon,
0:35:12 > 0:35:15a rather impetuous individual from all accounts,
0:35:15 > 0:35:18came on pilgrimage here, to this sacred site.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25Delphi had been a place of religious devotion for 2,000 years.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Chaerephon, in time-honoured fashion,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35climbed the sacred way to ask a question of the god Apollo,
0:35:35 > 0:35:37who spoke through a priestess.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44When he finally reached the Oracle,
0:35:44 > 0:35:49he asked, "Is there any man wiser than Socrates?"
0:35:49 > 0:35:51And the answer came back -
0:35:51 > 0:35:52"No".
0:35:57 > 0:35:59Chaerephon took the message to Socrates,
0:35:59 > 0:36:03who in typical manner, questioned the Oracle's words.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Even the words of Apollo - a god, for heaven's sake -
0:36:08 > 0:36:11was subject to Socrates' scrutiny.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15He set about cross-examining people who had a reputation for wisdom,
0:36:15 > 0:36:18or a particular kind of specialist knowledge.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24After questioning public officials, poets and craftsmen,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28he discovered that they all lacked the wisdom they claimed.
0:36:31 > 0:36:36Eventually, Socrates concluded that the Oracle was indeed right.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40He was the wisest of men, but only, because as he put it,
0:36:40 > 0:36:44"I don't pretend to know what I don't know."
0:36:55 > 0:36:57Socrates was wiser
0:36:57 > 0:37:00because he acknowledged the limits of his own understanding.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04By publicly exposing the false pretensions
0:37:04 > 0:37:07and ignorance of those who did claim to know the truth,
0:37:07 > 0:37:09he was bound to make enemies.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12But there was something else about Socrates
0:37:12 > 0:37:13that was even more unsettling.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18He claimed to have his own daimonion, or guiding spirit.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22A kind of hotline of communication to the supernatural world.
0:37:31 > 0:37:36This daimonion spoke to him during trance-like episodes.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38It warned him from making wrong decisions.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43On one occasion, it advised against entering public politics.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Socrates' followers would have been in awe of this
0:37:47 > 0:37:50uniquely personal divine calling,
0:37:50 > 0:37:52but the average Athenian
0:37:52 > 0:37:56would have been confused and deeply disturbed by it.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58Don't forget, this is a time and place
0:37:58 > 0:38:03where ritual, devotion and belief all take place out in public,
0:38:03 > 0:38:05as part of a shared experience.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10Not only that, but Greek folk culture imagined the world
0:38:10 > 0:38:12to be infused with spirits -
0:38:12 > 0:38:13not all of them good.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Socrates' unorthodox, private spirituality
0:38:24 > 0:38:25could easily be confused with
0:38:25 > 0:38:28a darker, more troubling kind of magic.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31Some muttered that he was a sorcerer.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36In this super-religious culture,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39the philosopher was laying himself open to scandal.
0:38:41 > 0:38:47False rumours and innuendo would culminate on a very public stage,
0:38:47 > 0:38:49fostering the kind of misinformation
0:38:49 > 0:38:53that would ultimately spell disaster for Socrates.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07Picture Socrates, bustling up here to the theatre of Dionysus
0:39:07 > 0:39:10in spring, 423 BC.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13He finds some snacks to munch during the show -
0:39:13 > 0:39:15chickpeas, figs, nuts -
0:39:15 > 0:39:17settling down to watch the drama.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22He's here to watch a new comedy, called Clouds,
0:39:22 > 0:39:26by the young buck of Athenian theatre, Aristophanes -
0:39:26 > 0:39:29only 22 and eager to make his mark.
0:39:31 > 0:39:36By now a big character in the city, Socrates is considered fair game -
0:39:36 > 0:39:39and he's parodied pretty mercilessly.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41He's portrayed as a ludicrous figure,
0:39:41 > 0:39:45the head of a ridiculous school called "the think shop".
0:40:01 > 0:40:04LAUGHTER
0:40:04 > 0:40:07Socrates' character was merged with other intellectuals
0:40:07 > 0:40:10who were arousing popular suspicion -
0:40:10 > 0:40:14the devious sophists, who undermined society by making
0:40:14 > 0:40:17"the weak argument defeat the stronger".
0:40:17 > 0:40:20And the pre-Socratics, who in some cases,
0:40:20 > 0:40:24displaced the pre-eminence of the gods with their science.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26We're told that Socrates actually came to the theatre
0:40:26 > 0:40:28to watch Aristophanes' Clouds.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32What could it have felt like, to see himself portrayed in that way?
0:40:32 > 0:40:36I think he must have been amused. There is this anecdote of Socrates
0:40:36 > 0:40:40actually standing up in the seats of the theatre,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43so that those who didn't know him knew who he was
0:40:43 > 0:40:45and what he looked like,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48as his character was being ridiculed on stage.
0:40:48 > 0:40:53So I think Socrates was detached from all these standard norms of society
0:40:53 > 0:40:58and I think it's possible that he might have enjoyed that.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01On the face of it, this is all very amusing,
0:41:01 > 0:41:03but do you think that Socrates should be worried by
0:41:03 > 0:41:06the way that Aristophanes is choosing to portray him?
0:41:06 > 0:41:08In hindsight, I think he should have been worried.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10The core of democracy,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14the principle democracy is that the citizens be educated.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17If you don't have educated citizens, democracy does not work.
0:41:17 > 0:41:22The theatre was a major tool for educating the Athenian citizens
0:41:22 > 0:41:25and the memory of that portrayal
0:41:25 > 0:41:27would have remained for decades to come,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30as a whole generation of Athenians would have been exposed to it.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32It's the ancient equivalent of trial by media?
0:41:32 > 0:41:35It is, in fifth-century Athens, yeah.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59But the cracks appearing in Socrates' reputation
0:41:59 > 0:42:02were nothing compared to what was happening to Athens itself.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10As the war with Sparta dragged on,
0:42:10 > 0:42:14people questioned the success of the democratic experiment.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19At the heart of the uncertainty was Socrates' close friend, Alcibiades.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22He'd been chosen to lead an expedition
0:42:22 > 0:42:24against Sicily in 415 BC -
0:42:24 > 0:42:27the largest in Athens' military history.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32But one night, before they set sail,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35someone stalked through Athens' streets,
0:42:35 > 0:42:39mutilating statues of the protector god, Hermes.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43The rumour spread that Alcibiades and his aristocratic friends
0:42:43 > 0:42:47were the vandals, part of a plot to bring down democracy.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51Back in Athens, rumour escalated to outrage
0:42:51 > 0:42:57and Alcibiades was ordered home to face trial on charges of sacrilege.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59But then, en route, he vanished.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03And where he reappeared shocked everyone.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05He turned up, a traitor,
0:43:05 > 0:43:08in the bosom of Athens' greatest enemy,
0:43:08 > 0:43:09Sparta.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18Alcibiades' damaging defection
0:43:18 > 0:43:22exacerbated the anxieties of a god-fearing public.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25They needed a scapegoat -
0:43:25 > 0:43:28and Socrates was tainted by association.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32But he seems unconcerned,
0:43:32 > 0:43:36doggedly pursuing the knowledge of right from wrong above all else.
0:43:40 > 0:43:45So when the philosopher unexpectedly entered public life in his 60s,
0:43:45 > 0:43:48he was on a collision course with Athens.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59He became presiding officer in an emotionally charged case,
0:43:59 > 0:44:03whose drama was played out here on the hill of the Pynx.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06Six disgraced Athenian generals
0:44:06 > 0:44:09were accused of failing to collect the bodies of dead soldiers,
0:44:09 > 0:44:10lost at sea.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17The public called for the generals to be tried together,
0:44:17 > 0:44:19in breach of Athenian law.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22But Socrates refused to be swept along
0:44:22 > 0:44:25by the vengeful mood of the crowd.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30Even though threatened with indictment for treason,
0:44:30 > 0:44:32Socrates refused to budge.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35He wanted no part in this kangaroo court.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38As the sun set, there was stalemate.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42And then, the next morning, Socrates was off the case.
0:44:42 > 0:44:43Later that day,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47the generals were all tried here together at the Pnyx -
0:44:47 > 0:44:50condemned and then executed.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00To me, this case embodies one of the most important ideas
0:45:00 > 0:45:03that Socrates has been developing all his adult life,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06which is that one should never take revenge.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10And in this, he's completely turning on its head
0:45:10 > 0:45:15one of the foundational tenets of traditional Greek morality,
0:45:15 > 0:45:19which said that you should help your friends and harm your enemies.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21And Socrates says, no -
0:45:21 > 0:45:23because all you can do to another person is,
0:45:23 > 0:45:27you can take away their possessions, you can damage their body,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30you can kill them, but you can't harm their soul.
0:45:30 > 0:45:35But by doing wrong to somebody else, you are damaging your own soul
0:45:35 > 0:45:39and thereby, taking away your chance of a virtuous
0:45:39 > 0:45:42and hence also, a happy and flourishing life.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45This was a city-state that believed in justice,
0:45:45 > 0:45:47that wanted to see justice enacted,
0:45:47 > 0:45:51so in Socrates' book, what form should punishment take?
0:45:51 > 0:45:53It's a good point.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56He does believe that sometimes, punishment is appropriate,
0:45:56 > 0:46:01but you punish somebody solely in terms of trying to cure their soul
0:46:01 > 0:46:06of the damage that they have brought upon themselves by doing wrong.
0:46:06 > 0:46:12So, punishment is there to cure and purify a damaged soul.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15Even today, those still feel like quite progressive ideas.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19Absolutely, I mean we're barely catching up with these ideas.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23Even now, we still have debates. What is the purpose of punishment?
0:46:23 > 0:46:26Is it to...is it a kind of retribution,
0:46:26 > 0:46:29or is it some kind of reform?
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Now, Socrates is absolutely clear -
0:46:32 > 0:46:35the purpose of punishment is to reform.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37They are fascinating ideas,
0:46:37 > 0:46:40but they must have been very, very troubling to the Athenians,
0:46:40 > 0:46:43because it must have felt as if he was kind of unpicking
0:46:43 > 0:46:46the foundations that that kept communities together.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49Yeah. It would have looked weak to them.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51It would have looked like, "Oh, no, you're not a real man,
0:46:51 > 0:46:55"you're not standing up for yourself, what are you doing?"
0:46:55 > 0:46:58In a way, he's almost anticipating
0:46:58 > 0:47:00the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03You know, turn the other cheek, in a sense.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05- But he's 500 years before all that. - Oh, yes.
0:47:05 > 0:47:10How does he dare to march so out of step from the rest of society?
0:47:10 > 0:47:14Because I think he absolutely believes
0:47:14 > 0:47:17that nobody else can harm his soul,
0:47:17 > 0:47:20but if he takes part in the illegal actions
0:47:20 > 0:47:22that he was invited to take part in,
0:47:22 > 0:47:27then he will be absolutely damaging his own soul
0:47:27 > 0:47:31and taking away his chance of a happy and flourishing life.
0:47:34 > 0:47:35In the name of wisdom and truth,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38Socrates was prepared to stick his head
0:47:38 > 0:47:41dangerously high above the parapet.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43Interestingly, it's a quality that he shares
0:47:43 > 0:47:46with both Confucius and the Buddha.
0:47:46 > 0:47:47For all three philosophers,
0:47:47 > 0:47:50personal comfort and personal security
0:47:50 > 0:47:53came a poor second to principle.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57And in the case of Socrates, having the courage of his convictions
0:47:57 > 0:47:59would prove to be a matter of life or death.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11As Athens' enemies closed in,
0:48:11 > 0:48:13society turned in on itself.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18Freedom was a luxury it could no longer afford.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28Finally, the Spartans brought Athens to her knees.
0:48:28 > 0:48:29They tore down her city walls
0:48:29 > 0:48:33and installed a junta of 30 hand-picked oligarchs.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39Death squads roamed the streets
0:48:39 > 0:48:43and thousands of democrats were "disappeared" -
0:48:43 > 0:48:46forced into exile or executed.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51Even though a counter-revolution restored democracy
0:48:51 > 0:48:53just eight months later,
0:48:53 > 0:48:56it was a deeply compromised democracy,
0:48:56 > 0:48:59riven with suspicion and recrimination.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03In this poisonous atmosphere,
0:49:03 > 0:49:07Athens finally decided to deal with its troublesome gadfly.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24In 399 BC, at the age of 70,
0:49:24 > 0:49:27Socrates was back in court.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30This time, HE was on trial.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33The accusations against him were read out here, in the Agora,
0:49:33 > 0:49:36close to this oath stone.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38The first charge was impiety -
0:49:38 > 0:49:41denying the gods and introducing new ones.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44The second, that he'd corrupted the young.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Both could carry the heaviest penalty -
0:49:47 > 0:49:49execution.
0:49:54 > 0:49:59The trial took place in a religious court, using the latest technology.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03A water clock measured the three hours allowed
0:50:03 > 0:50:04to the prosecution's case.
0:50:06 > 0:50:08Were his accusers politically motivated?
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Was he being scapegoated
0:50:10 > 0:50:15for his association with prominent anti-democrats, like Alcibiades?
0:50:15 > 0:50:16Perhaps.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20But then, he'd set about to open the minds of the young
0:50:20 > 0:50:22and with his goading questions,
0:50:22 > 0:50:24to challenge the status quo.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Eventually, the water clock was refilled
0:50:31 > 0:50:33for the philosopher to defend himself.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38Plato recounts how Socrates feels he's fighting a lost cause,
0:50:38 > 0:50:42thanks to Aristophanes' searing, damaging caricature of him.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52"It is not my crimes that will convict me", he said,
0:50:52 > 0:50:54"but rumour and gossip.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56"I can't possibly defend myself -
0:50:56 > 0:50:59"it's like boxing with shadows.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02"You will persuade yourselves that I am guilty."
0:51:05 > 0:51:06Yet, in typical style,
0:51:06 > 0:51:10Socrates uses his defence to sting his fellow Athenians
0:51:10 > 0:51:12from their moral slumber.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15It is a brilliant, audacious speech,
0:51:15 > 0:51:18but it's also provocative and arrogant,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21and the jurors don't like it one bit.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25The city that once fetishized freedom and freedom of speech
0:51:25 > 0:51:27could not tolerate freedom to offend.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39Socrates was judged by at least 500 men, chosen at random
0:51:39 > 0:51:43and recruited from all over the traumatised city-state.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48The jurors would have used these ballots in a secret vote.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50A solid stem for acquittal.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52A hollow for condemnation.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06Found guilty, a second vote is held to determine his punishment.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09Socrates has the chance to avoid execution
0:52:09 > 0:52:11by proposing a lesser alternative -
0:52:11 > 0:52:13typically a fine, or exile.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19Instead, by speaking freely, democratically,
0:52:19 > 0:52:21he seems to invite martyrdom.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26He declares that he's lived his life for the benefit of the city.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29He deserves reward, not retribution.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33He suggests dinner, in perpetuity, at the citizens' expense.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40Socrates' irony loses him more support in the second vote.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45It seems he takes the news philosophically.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48The jury couldn't harm his soul,
0:52:48 > 0:52:51but they had harmed their own.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54"Now I go to die and you to live.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56"God only knows which is the better journey."
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Socrates didn't fear what he didn't know,
0:53:05 > 0:53:06including death.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10The man the Oracle proclaimed to be the wisest
0:53:10 > 0:53:15was now on death row for putting his own philosophy into practice.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21One of the things I find so compelling about Socrates
0:53:21 > 0:53:24is that even though he lived 25 centuries ago,
0:53:24 > 0:53:28in many ways, he saw us coming.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30He denounces an obsession with looks,
0:53:30 > 0:53:32with material goods,
0:53:32 > 0:53:35with spin and with fame.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38He wasn't just exploring the meaning of life,
0:53:38 > 0:53:41but the meaning of our own lives.
0:53:41 > 0:53:42Just listen to this.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46"Oh, my friend, why do you,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49"who are a citizen of the great and wise city of Athens,
0:53:49 > 0:53:54"care so much about laying up wealth and honour and reputation?
0:53:54 > 0:53:59"And so little about wisdom and truth and improvement of the soul?
0:54:00 > 0:54:02"Are you not ashamed?"
0:54:07 > 0:54:11Socrates would have to wait a month for his execution -
0:54:11 > 0:54:14a sentence intended to silence him.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18But Socrates' death at the hands of the people
0:54:18 > 0:54:20provided the perfect ingredients
0:54:20 > 0:54:23for his resurrection as an ideological martyr -
0:54:23 > 0:54:26a kind of blueprint philosopher.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29And ironically, what secured his legacy
0:54:29 > 0:54:33was the very thing that he'd disregarded throughout his life -
0:54:33 > 0:54:35the written word.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40His supporters wrote detailed accounts of his extraordinary life,
0:54:40 > 0:54:43immortalising his ideas and his spirit.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45Through their words,
0:54:45 > 0:54:50his game-changing, history-making voice endures .
0:54:50 > 0:54:53Still asking those probing, universal questions
0:54:53 > 0:54:56which, even today, are at the heart of our value systems.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58What makes us good?
0:54:58 > 0:55:00What is justice?
0:55:00 > 0:55:01How can we be happy?
0:55:03 > 0:55:08Socrates was the inspiration for Plato and Aristotle -
0:55:08 > 0:55:10two giants of philosophy,
0:55:10 > 0:55:15whose ideas would shape Western and Eastern civilisation up until today.
0:55:17 > 0:55:18Following Socrates' death,
0:55:18 > 0:55:23Plato abandoned his political ambitions in disgust
0:55:23 > 0:55:26and set up his Academy, which would continue as a centre of learning
0:55:26 > 0:55:29for close on 1,000 years.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32This building is Athens' modern Academy
0:55:32 > 0:55:34and it's just a couple of miles from the original.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37And it's part of a network of academic institutions,
0:55:37 > 0:55:42right across the globe, inspired by that Athenian example.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01On the day of Socrates' execution,
0:56:01 > 0:56:05his distraught friends and family came here to the Agora.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09The place where Socrates had once walked freely was now his cage.
0:56:13 > 0:56:14But he is serene.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20Calmly, he lifts the lethal little cup of hemlock poison...
0:56:20 > 0:56:21and drinks.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30We're told that Socrates' last words
0:56:30 > 0:56:32as the lethal hemlock took effect were,
0:56:32 > 0:56:36"Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius."
0:56:37 > 0:56:39With this cryptic message,
0:56:39 > 0:56:41even on the brink of death,
0:56:41 > 0:56:44he kept his followers and future scholars guessing.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52Was he proving himself pious by invoking one of the city's deities?
0:56:53 > 0:56:57Or was he ironically giving thanks to the god of healing
0:56:57 > 0:57:00for relieving him of the sickness of existence?
0:57:02 > 0:57:05Socrates might have been infuriating,
0:57:05 > 0:57:09but his tenacious questioning of what it means to be human
0:57:09 > 0:57:12still has absolute resonance.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15By stating that the ultimate evil is ignorance
0:57:15 > 0:57:19and that a good life is within our reach,
0:57:19 > 0:57:23he challenges us all never to be thoughtless.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31"The unexamined life is not worth living."
0:57:35 > 0:57:36With his head covered,
0:57:36 > 0:57:41no-one saw the final moment, when Socrates' precious soul
0:57:41 > 0:57:47slipped from that ugly, satirical, unforgettable face.
0:57:58 > 0:57:59If the mind of Socrates has made you think,
0:57:59 > 0:58:02then explore further with The Open University
0:58:02 > 0:58:06to discover how great minds have influenced our thinking today.
0:58:06 > 0:58:07Follow the address on the screen
0:58:07 > 0:58:10and then the links to The Open University.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18Next time, I investigate the gentleman philosopher, Confucius.
0:58:19 > 0:58:23His attempts to influence the rulers of his day ended in failure...
0:58:25 > 0:58:28..yet his vision of a harmonious society,
0:58:28 > 0:58:32inspired by the sage kings of the past
0:58:32 > 0:58:36would eventually shape one of the world's greatest civilisations.