Micheal Joseph Duchesne, Stanford University
Socrates has been championed as an advocate of social justice (Vlastos, 1991), but this has neglected crucial aspects of his philosophy. Martin Luther King Jr positively reflected on Socrates’ acts of disobedience (Letter from Birmingham Jail) and Mahatma Gandhi argued that we should live and die as Socrates did (The Soldier of Truth). However, Socrates set an inhuman standard to follow. It does not track two of the most crucial aspects of social justice: it must be social and perform a communal good done by a community. My argument is that we need to pay closer attention to the entirety of Socrates’ thoughts on a virtuous life. What are the costs of this choice on those that love you? Socrates wife, Xanthippe, and their three sons pay a large price for Socrates’ pursuit of philosophy.
Socrates is an elusive figure because he never wrote anything himself. He mostly appears in the philosophical works of Plato. This elusiveness has only allowed a partial critique (Stone, 1988; Vlastos, 1994; Wilson, 2007). Following Vlastos’ model (1994), I will approach the Socrates portrayed in Plato’s Early Dialogues as the true Socrates; this is the version of Socrates that figures like Martin Luther King Jr and Mahatma Gandhi championed. My approach showcases Socrates’ dismissal of the family as merely a concern of “the many” (Crito 48C).
Although Socrates’ treatment of Xanthippe would regrettably not have troubled his male peers, the inhuman standard represented by that treatment becomes clear through a modern critique. By contrast, I will show how the neglect of his children would have greatly troubled his contemporary audience. My analysis here is informed by George Orwell’s reflections on Gandhi. Orwell argued that Gandhi maintained a powerful message but inhuman personal standards (Reflections on Gandhi, 467). I will draw a similar conclusion. When we champion Socrates without any asterisks, we accept his philosophical lifestyle wholesale. To champion a philosophy means understanding the entire process, not just the outcome. We must question whether this is what we consider justice.
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