🦚 From Socrates to Aquinas
Perennial Lives is a new series on In Search of Wisdom exploring The Art of Living: From Socrates to Aquinas. Each episode examines one perennial figure's life (and wisdom) in an attempt to learn how to live.
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The Life (and Wisdom) of Socrates
Socrates, the first man to be renowned as a philosopher, was born in Athens around 469 B.C. Although he grew up in a golden age in a great city, ancient sources agree that nothing glittered about his pedigree or upbringing. He was the son of a stonemason and a midwife. The externals of his life were nondescript—his family, they say, was neither rich nor poor.
Socrates prided himself on living plainly. He believed he was nearest to the Gods when he had the fewest wants.
Sometime after assuming the duties of adult citizenship, Socrates began to ignore customs; he refused to follow in his father’s footsteps as a stonemason.
Instead of learning how to earn a living carving stone, Socrates became preoccupied with learning how to live a good life.
He expressed astonishment that “the sculptors of marble statues should take pains to make the block of marble into a perfect likeness of man and should take no pains about themselves lest they turn out mere blocks, not men.”
