The Life and Opinions of Socrates : Excerpts from Diogenes Laertes
About this book
This book contains excerpts from Diogenes Laertius’ The Lives and Opinions ofEminent Philosophers, which provide information about Socrates and his circle.Roberston has selected for inclusion the chapters on Socrates himself and his three most important followers: Antisthenes, Xenophon, and Plato. To these I’ve added the chapter on Aristippus, the founder of the Cyrenaic School, although he came toespouse a hedonistic philosophy that departed from Socrates, his teacher, thisaccount contains many interesting references to Socrates’ teachings. The chapteron Antisthenes provides many sayings and anecdotes, which may reflect aphilosophy similar to that of Socrates himself. The chapter on Xenophon isshorter and contains mainly biographical information. I’ve chosen to end withthe long chapter on Plato because it arguably takes us further away from theoriginal Socratic Circle and further into the more systematic and theoreticalapproach to philosophy taught by Plato at the Academy.