Finding A Man Willing to Die for His Convictions is Getting More Difficult

Socrates. The sad truth is that many young people know this name because they watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and found the abduction of Socrates (in the film, referred to as So-Crates) as amusing as the rest of the film. I am fairly certain that this film did not prompt any viewers to run out and learn all they could about Socrates and how it is that his philosophy and teachings made him a good fit for a movie about youth going astray. (Ah, you faithful philosophers were wondering when I would get to a segue into Socrates rather than pop culture...)

Basic information
While this book has been translated by one Benjamin Jowett, the author is Plato. Yes, Plato. The setting is Athens, the time frame is approximately 399 B.C. Its contents, though not complete in terms of Socrates teachings, include Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo.

Beyong the basics...
In a very elementary nutshell, Socrates was condemned to death for leading the youth of his time astray. While in our 2002 world his teachings would hardly seem rebellious (and, unfortunately, the majority of our youth would be uninterested in such teachings), his arguments toward the immortality of the soul were hardly what the ancient Greeks held fast to.

Yet within the confines of these few pages, the reader will encounter an individual who both revolutionized a thought-process and was willing to die for his moral conviction. The contents is not as deep as some may assume in that the discourse is quite readable to the point that reading other versions of this translation may be warranted. The beauty here being that there is a chronological order to these writings leading us to the eventual trial and death of Socrates as recorded by Plato. So while, yes, filled with philosophical thought and thought process, it retains the readability of a biography of sorts and certainly of a history text. In fact, those searching for such a book for philosophical reasons may find this one a bit too much like a play book, written for your local high school's next production.

While others have come along...
and found fault with the logic of Socrates, lessons learned and resulting implications for both educational systems and philosophical debate remain to this day. His inherent skepticism became the cornerstone for the ancient Greek educational process, and while his arguments were not purported to be Christian in nature, some interesting parallels can be found in his concept of an immortal soul.

Ah, but this is epinions and it's all about consumers and whether a product is worth your time and money. While your immortal soul may not be helped or hindered by reading this little entry on the final days of Socrates, the recent going price is a mere $1-$1.50 US. That's a very minimal investment and a small price to pay for a good introduction on the man and his death. Death a poor way to being a study of an individual? Not always. If philosophy is not your cup of tea and you are looking for a way to be slightly more informed without embarking on a philosophy course this would be an economical way of going about it.

Searching, however, for a good book to further enhance an on-going interest of both philosophy and Socrates? Move on to something a bit more complete and certainly something a bit more substantial in terms of construction itself. A small paperback will not lend itself to the copious notes and highlights I always found necessary in my philosophy texts.

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I said I would not recommend this one to a friend...however, I would use the criteria discussed above to truly determine whether this one is the book for an individual on the subject of Socrates.