The fifth-century Athenian philosopher Socrates (470-399 BC) is widely acknowledged as the founder of the tradition of philosophy as a way of life (PWL).【T1】Unlike the pre-Socratic philosophers, on most occasions, he focused exclusively on ethics rather than natural philosophy. Socrates’s ethical philosophy marked a significant cultural and intellectual shift away from pre-Platonic natural philosophy, which was widely conceived as “irrelevant to the good life”. For Socrates, philosophy’s most important topic was the conduct of human life.【T2】Socrates, in Cicero’s words, “was the first who called philosophy down from heaven, and placed it in cities, and introduced it even in homes, and drove it to inquire about life and customs and things good and evil.”

That is to say, Socrates made the central philosophical question: “how can we live a good human life?” Plato, whose written dialogues immortalized Socrates, depicted him engaged in discussions focused exclusively on this question.【T3】As Plato’s Socrates asserts, “There can be no finer subject for discussion than the question of what a man should be like and what occupation he should engage in and how far he should pursue it”. Socrates claimed that only the philosophical way of life can deliver happiness.【T4】In addressing the question of the good life, Socrates suggested that people must choose between two incompatible alternatives: namely the philosophical or the political way of life, the practice of citizenship or the care of the soul. Plato’s Socrates spells out these alternatives in his dialogue with the fictional character Callicles.

The central issue at stake in Socrates’s philosophy is the choice between the life of the philosopher and that of other non-philosophical citizens, including rhetoricians, sophists and even natural philosophers. Socrates maintains that to lead the philosophical way of life necessarily requires criticizing the norms and practices of Athenian citizenship.【T5】Of course, we know from the trial and execution of Socrates (399 BCE) that his criticism of the moral failings and limits of Athenian citizenship and political practices incurred the contempt and displeasure of many fellow citizens who praised the virtues of civic participation. Socrates’s fellow Athenians valued ’external’ goods like fame, honour, reputation, and wealth above all else, and they identified active, combative citizenship as the principal means of acquiring these goods. From this perspective, Socrates’s philosophical way of life seemed to corrupt rather than educate citizens.

【T2】