Donald Robertson

Well, the most famous thing is that we have Plato's dialogues. There are like 36 or 37 of Plato's dialogues, most of which feature Socrates prominently. And it's generally assumed by scholars that Plato changed his approach throughout his career. Early in his career, he wrote a more literal description of Socrates, probably embellished a bit.

As time went on, he starts to use Socrates more and more as a mouthpiece, probably for his own views. Like Plato's famous metaphysical theory, the theory of forms, probably wasn't something that Socrates ever actually said. Socrates' way of doing philosophy seems to be more kind of homely, down to earth, more focused on applied ethics in daily life, basically. So we have those.

As time went on, he starts to use Socrates more and more as a mouthpiece, probably for his own views. Like Plato's famous metaphysical theory, the theory of forms, probably wasn't something that Socrates ever actually said. Socrates' way of doing philosophy seems to be more kind of homely, down to earth, more focused on applied ethics in daily life, basically. So we have those.

As time went on, he starts to use Socrates more and more as a mouthpiece, probably for his own views. Like Plato's famous metaphysical theory, the theory of forms, probably wasn't something that Socrates ever actually said. Socrates' way of doing philosophy seems to be more kind of homely, down to earth, more focused on applied ethics in daily life, basically. So we have those.

And, you know, dude, Plato's dialogues are just incredible. You know, Plato was also a genius. And so we have the writings of a genius about another genius, basically. You know, some of these texts are the most profound and moving pieces of literature in the Western canon. And, you know, I seldom recommend books to people, funnily enough, unless I know them very well.

And, you know, dude, Plato's dialogues are just incredible. You know, Plato was also a genius. And so we have the writings of a genius about another genius, basically. You know, some of these texts are the most profound and moving pieces of literature in the Western canon. And, you know, I seldom recommend books to people, funnily enough, unless I know them very well.

And, you know, dude, Plato's dialogues are just incredible. You know, Plato was also a genius. And so we have the writings of a genius about another genius, basically. You know, some of these texts are the most profound and moving pieces of literature in the Western canon. And, you know, I seldom recommend books to people, funnily enough, unless I know them very well.

but my one exception to that is that i think everybody should read plato's apology because i think it's a masterpiece and it only takes a couple of hours to read as an aside so we've got all that stuff and then we have xenophon another student of socrates and his dialogues are less well known but we have a bunch of like 30 or 40 dialogues shorter ones more down to earth from xenophon as well um

but my one exception to that is that i think everybody should read plato's apology because i think it's a masterpiece and it only takes a couple of hours to read as an aside so we've got all that stuff and then we have xenophon another student of socrates and his dialogues are less well known but we have a bunch of like 30 or 40 dialogues shorter ones more down to earth from xenophon as well um

but my one exception to that is that i think everybody should read plato's apology because i think it's a masterpiece and it only takes a couple of hours to read as an aside so we've got all that stuff and then we have xenophon another student of socrates and his dialogues are less well known but we have a bunch of like 30 or 40 dialogues shorter ones more down to earth from xenophon as well um

Then we have this really weird thing, which is a play by Aristophanes, which is a satire ridiculing Socrates that was written and performed during his lifetime. And we learn almost nothing from that, or it's hard to tell anything from it because it's a caricature, but it tells us that he must have been pretty famous.

Then we have this really weird thing, which is a play by Aristophanes, which is a satire ridiculing Socrates that was written and performed during his lifetime. And we learn almost nothing from that, or it's hard to tell anything from it because it's a caricature, but it tells us that he must have been pretty famous.

Then we have this really weird thing, which is a play by Aristophanes, which is a satire ridiculing Socrates that was written and performed during his lifetime. And we learn almost nothing from that, or it's hard to tell anything from it because it's a caricature, but it tells us that he must have been pretty famous.

during his lifetime for people to have, you know, ridiculed him, caricatured him like that. And then we have what's called the anecdotal tradition, which is like basically a bunch of little anecdotes and quips about Socrates said this, Socrates did that, that we tend to find in later authors.

during his lifetime for people to have, you know, ridiculed him, caricatured him like that. And then we have what's called the anecdotal tradition, which is like basically a bunch of little anecdotes and quips about Socrates said this, Socrates did that, that we tend to find in later authors.

during his lifetime for people to have, you know, ridiculed him, caricatured him like that. And then we have what's called the anecdotal tradition, which is like basically a bunch of little anecdotes and quips about Socrates said this, Socrates did that, that we tend to find in later authors.

So they're a more dubious reliability, but altogether, all this stuff tells us something about what we could frame as the literary character of Socrates. So Marcus Aurelius and other subsequent thinkers that followed the subsequent Socrates would have known of him mainly through these writings.

So they're a more dubious reliability, but altogether, all this stuff tells us something about what we could frame as the literary character of Socrates. So Marcus Aurelius and other subsequent thinkers that followed the subsequent Socrates would have known of him mainly through these writings.

So they're a more dubious reliability, but altogether, all this stuff tells us something about what we could frame as the literary character of Socrates. So Marcus Aurelius and other subsequent thinkers that followed the subsequent Socrates would have known of him mainly through these writings.

So we could say what's influencing them is the character of Socrates that was passed down by other writers. And there's a big question mark about how closely does that correlate to the real guy? We'll never know.