Around 500 BC, a major political shift occurred in Greece. After the defeat of the Persians, the Greek general Pericles (495-429 BC) led Athens into a golden age. It was this time that Greek democracy was introduced and flourished, if only for a short time. In 404 BC, at the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta effectively kicked Athens in the teeth, took over control of the Aegean Sea, and put an end to the great democratic experiment of Athens. In its place, Sparta imposed an authoritarian oligarchy known as the Thirty Tyrants. 80 years later, with the death of Alexander the Great, the period of Classical Greece came to an end.
One of the benefits of Greek democracy is that it allowed the freedom of independent thought in the realms of politics, the arts, and philosophy. After all, democracy entails different people giving their opinions about things concerning the nation, and then working together to come to some sort of compromise and solution. In order for democracy to work, there has to be increased freedoms, so that the populace can voice their views.
That being said, Athenian democracy was not the same kind of democracy we have in America today. In Athenian society, the only people allowed to participate in the actual democratic process were males above 30 years old. Women and non-citizens had no voice in the democracy. Furthermore, because democracy involves more people than just a dictator to decide how the nation is run, it was necessary that many of those male citizens over 30 had to spend most of their time debating politics—and therefore there was in increase in slave labor to do the work the citizens didn’t have time for. All in all, only about 20% of the Greek population were actually citizens who were able to have a say in the government.
Nevertheless, a little bit of freedom and democracy is better than none at all, and it was because of that freedom that there was an explosion in the arts and philosophical thought. It was during this time of classical Greece that the great Greek playwrights Sophocles and Euripides wrote their plays; and it was during this time (albeit during the time of the Thirty Tyrants) that the great Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle made their mark.
Socrates (469-399 BC)
Socrates lived his entire life during the time of Athenian democracy…well, almost. Given his habit of questioning authority, it should come as no surprise that it was a mere five years after the end of Athenian democracy and the imposition of the Thirty Tyrants that Socrates was arrested and put on trial. The charge? Refusing to acknowledge the gods of Athens, and leading the Greek youth to question authority.
Probably the real reason why Socrates was put on trial, though, had something to do with his argument regarding justice. Socrates taught that “justice” could not simply be whatever those in power said it was, so that the so-called “justice-system” would be nothing more than a manipulative tool to serve the interests of the powerful. Instead, he argued that there must be a real standard of “justice” that could be used to evaluate the actions of all men, the poor and powerful alike.
Such teaching probably didn’t sit too well with the newly established Thirty Tyrants who sought to impose their will by force. If there’s one thing a tyrant cannot stand, it is the claim that he is accountable to a very real standard of justice and morality. Not surprisingly, Socrates was found guilty, and his punishment was death. He was forced to drink hemlock, and subsequently died in 399 BC.
Belief that some sort of moral standard for justice exists, and the determination to use one’s intellect and reasoning powers to question things in order to come to a better understanding of the truth of reality—that is what got Socrates killed. Moral standards that hold everyone accountable and a rational desire for the truth are not things that are valued by corrupt and authoritarian tyrants. Nevertheless, even when faced with the threat of death at the hands of such tyrants, Socrates still held to his conviction that, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Whether it was through questioning and dialoguing with others (something called “dialectic”), or taking a cold, hard look within, and daring to “know yourself” (i.e. introspection), the quest for understanding the truth regarding the nature of reality is something deeply rooted within the very nature of human beings. There is something within us that simply is wired to search for the truth. Unfortunately, at the same time, we see a different dynamic at work as well: those who have abandoned the search for truth are often those who lust only for power—and they will do everything within their power to deny others the opportunity to discover the truth.
