History Creator / Socrates

* He's one of the [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Historical-Domain Characters]] that Film/BillAndTed meet on their TimeTravel journeys.

* In the ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' comic "The Chains of Olympus", he [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath convinces a psychic construct that thinks it's Zeus that it isn't the Greek God]].

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS3E19RequiemForMethuselah Requiem for Methuselah]]", the immortal Flint mentions that Socrates was one of the many historical figures he's encountered.

* OffingTheMouth: Socrates called himself a [[TheGadfly "Social Gadfly"]] for precisely this reason. He'd say outrageous or taboo things simply to bring them into conversation, while knowing full well he was putting himself in danger by saying them and, like a gadfly, could be "swatted" at any time. Indeed, he ''was'' eventually executed on charges of corrupting the youth for with his words.

Take everything you read about Socrates with a grain of salt: Plato was very fond of putting his own words in his teacher's mouth, and it's hard to tell how much of Socrates's dialogue in Plato's works are Socrates's words and how much are Plato's. (This is described academically as the "Socratic problem".) The ''Literature/ApologyOfSocrates'' is usually considered the most faithful work, and it covers Socrates's trial and conviction on charges of corrupting the youth and introducing new gods. If one reads between the lines in ''Literature/TheRepublic'' and ''Literature/{{Symposium}}'', it's quite possible that Socrates was guilty on both counts, though he vigorously denied the charges in court. Creator/{{Aristophanes}} lambasted him without mercy in ''Theatre/TheClouds''.

->''"To express oneself badly is not only faulty as far as the language goes, but does some harm to the soul."''\\
--'''Socrates (attributed)'''

->''"To express oneself badly is not only faulty as far as the language goes, but does some harm to the soul."''
-->--'''Socrates (attributed)'''

* HonorBeforeReason: Why he stayed in jail and was executed instead of escaping when he was given the chance.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: His specialty.

Take everything you read about Socrates with a grain of salt: Plato was very fond of putting his own words in his teacher's mouth, and it's hard to tell how much of Socrates's dialogue in Plato's works are Socrates's words and how much are Plato's. (This is described academically as the "Socratic problem".) The ''Literature/ApologyOfSocrates'' is usually considered the most faithful work, and it covers Socrates's trial and conviction on charges of corrupting the youth and introducing new gods. If one reads between the lines in ''Literature/{{Republic}}'' and ''Literature/{{Symposium}}'', it's quite possible that Socrates was guilty on both counts, though he vigorously denied the charges in court. Creator/{{Aristophanes}} lambasted him without mercy in ''Theatre/TheClouds''.

* OffingTheMouth: Socrates called himself a [[TheGadfly "Social Gadfly"]] for precisely this reason. He's say outrageous or taboo things simply to bring them into conversation, while knowing full well he was putting himself in danger by saying them and, like a gadfly, could be "swatted" at any time. Indeed, he ''was'' eventually executed on charges of corrupting the youth for with his words.

Socrates, commonly considered the father of philosophy (though not the first one by any stretch), was an Athenian philosopher who lived from 469-399 BCE, when he was executed in the wake of the PeloponnesianWar (of which, interestingly, he was a veteran, having served with distinction at Delium in an earlier phase of the war). The earlier philosophers are, in fact, known as the "pre-Socratic philosophers".

* GeniusBruiser: Although not as much as his student Creator/{{Plato}} (who was a [[BloodSport pankration]] champion), Socrates did serve with distinction in the PeloponnesianWar, which took no small amount of physical strength.

* NewMediaAreEvil: Socrates did not approve of reading. He thought it destroyed the memory.
** Well, on a person-by-person basis, he was right. It's just that having decentralized physical memory such as books allows for a greater possible total sum of human knowledge.
*** A benefit he probably never considered. The enormous benefits of writing were probably hard for the ancients to conceive, especially Socrates, who came to the conclusion that [[HumansAreMorons no one really knew anything anyways]].

!!{{Socrates}} is associated with the following tropes:

{{Socrates}}, commonly considered the father of philosophy (though not the first one by any stretch), was an Athenian philosopher who lived from 469-399 BCE, when he was executed in the wake of the PeloponnesianWar (of which, interestingly, he was a veteran, having served with distinction at Delium in an earlier phase of the war). The earlier philosophers are, in fact, known as the "pre-Socratic philosophers".

He disapproved of writing, and so is known chiefly through the writings of his student {{Plato}}. (His student Creator/{{Xenophon}} also wrote about him, but his works are less known.) Socrates taught and inspired many prominent young Athenians, from the aforementioned Plato to [[{{MagnificentBastard}} Alcibiades]]. (Plato even devoted a good chunk of his ''Literature/{{Symposium}}'' to defending against the common charge that Socrates had an affair with Alcibiades).

Take everything you read about Socrates with a grain of salt: Plato was very fond of putting his own words in his teacher's mouth, and it's hard to tell how much of Socrates's dialogue in Plato's works are Socrates's words and how much are Plato's. (This is described academically as the "Socratic problem".) ''The Apology'' is usually considered the most faithful work, and it covers Socrates's trial and conviction on charges of corrupting the youth and introducing new gods. If one reads between the lines in ''Literature/{{Republic}}'' and ''Literature/{{Symposium}}'', it's quite possible that Socrates was guilty on both counts, though he vigorously denied the charges in court. Creator/{{Aristophanes}} lambasted him without mercy in ''Theatre/TheClouds''.

* GeniusBruiser: Although not as much as his student {{Plato}} (who was a [[BloodSport pankration]] champion), Socrates did serve with distinction in the PeloponnesianWar, which took no small amount of physical strength.