Is it true that the words of Socrates have come to us from Plato?

Question

How do we know that these weren't just Plato's own theories being placed in the mouth of Socrates?

Answer 1

Yes all the philosophical ideas that are attributed to Socrates come to us through the writings of Plato his student This was still in the early days of high culture so there was not a great deal of writing done. Socrates was the type of guy who did this philosophical work in person not in writing. hence the famous Socratic method of questions and answers. it was left to Plato and a few others to collect what was remembered from those conversations and write them down. Later Socrates appears as a character in some dialogues which are written by Plato but the ideas he speaks are Plato's not of the original Socrates.
The way we know more of Socrates than just what Plato wrote is from the other classical writer, Xenophon who was a fan of Socrates but not a philosopher, he admired him as a great man of Athens. Socrates was famous during and after his life and Plato could not have produced a totally fictitious account of his life and ideas without contradiction from other scholars and Greeks

Answer 2

Does it matter?
Even if Socrates wrote them all down himself, Isn't he still subject to characterization? or lack of authority. A man's intentions are still suspect no matter how removed from the written document.

Do you have any right in saying Socrates
without saying "Plato's Socrates"?

Again supposing Socrates had wildly different views and Plato used his martyrdom to advance his own interpretation (which isn't only possible but probable)... Can we ever get back to the "origin"?

I think the answers above me are correct. There are contemporaries of Socrates that wrote about him. And even Aristophanes espoused his 'positive theories' in his comedy -- farcically but also Recognizing and affirming what Plato wrote down.

We can be charitable and have reasons to interpret Plato as quite charitable. Again, if not we still are dealing with the positive ideas written by Plato. The allegory of the cave, metempsychosis, the Daimon. Most everything else is sophistry against sophistry a blaze of straw men and fallacy. Which even an acolyte and idiot can do independent of whether it was verbatim or not.

Answer 3

It is true that words of Socrates have come from Plato. But be sure to note that not all of the words of Socrates come from Plato. Xenophon, Aristotle, and Aristophanes are a few who have contributed to his words. There is no known record of Socrates ever righting anything which is what has created the Socratic Problem. This describes the problem philosophers have encountered for ages and continue to encounter. Trying to dissect other philosophers writings to discover what the true Socrates really was. An excellent source for information regarding Socrates and the Socratic Problem is found at wikipedial.org.

Answer 4

Yes it is true that most of our accounts and quotes of Socrates' come from Plato. There are a small few that are available but not from Plato, but the vast majority are from Plato's writings. Seeing as how Socrates never wrote anything there is no way of knowing if everything we "know" about Socrates was true or just Plato's impression.

Answer 5

If I recall, Socrates was accused of NOT believing in the gods. He was also accused of "corruptiing the minds" of youth. Gotta love that one. In Plato's dialogs, Socrates seems to be a witty curmudgeon who loved to challenge authority (one reason I love the man!). Remember that Socrates arrives in the Greek/Hellenic world at least 400 years after the "birth" of Greek intellectual culture. Others, like Thales, had already used rational thinking to explore the world around them (instead of relying on supernatural explanations). Socrates emerges within that milieu, and introduces ethics (moral principles) to the notion of what is good to study. A very great philosopher, he was! My guess is that Socrates was at least an agnostic, and possibly an atheist.

Answer 6

Plato was a student of Socrates. Why would he not take credit for Socrates' ideas if they were really his own. Plus, they are quite different perspectives. It is clear that they belong to two different people from different generations.

Answer 7

There are some other philsophers who verify Socrates' ideas. Democritus was a contemporary of his. But Plate worshipped his mentor-that is beyond a doubt. But we'll never know from the man himself coz like all the greatest figures of the Axial Period like Jesus or Buddha-Socrates never wrote down a single word of his wisdom, he rellied completely on inspiration through speech.

Answer 8

Yep it's true. And I'm pretty sure there is separate verifyable evidence of this. don't quote me though.

Answer 9

not at all. it's not true.