"The Platonic Socrates was a pattern to subsequent philosophers for many ages... His merits are obvious. He is indifferent to worldly success, so devoid of fear that he remains calm and urbane and humorous to the last moment, caring more for what he believes to be the truth than for anything else whatever. He has, however, some very grave defects. He is dishonest and sophistical in argument, and in his private thinking he uses intellect to prove conclusions that are to him agreeable, rather than in a disinterested search for knowledge. There is something smug and unctuous about him, which reminds one of a bad type of cleric. His courage in the face of death would have been more remarkable if he had not believed that he was going to enjoy eternal bliss in the company of the gods. Unlike some of his predecessors, he was not scientific in his thinking, but was determined to prove the universe agreeable to his ethical standards. This is treachery to truth, and the worst of philosophic sins. As a man, we may believe him admitted to the communion of saints; but as a philosopher he needs a long residence in a scientific purgatory."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (1945), Book One, Part II, Chapter XVI: Plato's Theory of Immortality, p. 142-43
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Socrates
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Socrates
169 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Socrates →
Related Quotes
"To give either to any public matter of interest or to any concern of my own, but I am in utter poverty by reason of m…"
"Where there is reverence there is fear, but there is not reverence everywhere that there is fear, because fear presum…"
"Wind puffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools."
"Hungern är bästa kryddan."
"Oh dear Pan and all the other gods of this place, grant that I may be beautiful inside. Let all my external possessio…"
"One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him."
"I only wish that wisdom were the kind of thing that flowed ... from the vessel that was full to the one that was empty."
"Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder."
"In every one of us there are two ruling and directing principles, whose guidance we follow wherever they may lead; th…"
"μηδὲν πρὸ τοῦ δικαίου"