what is the nature of the philosopher according to Socrates?

Answer 1

Plato outlines this at length at the end of book five of "The Republic". Socrates is the speaker at that point in the book, so for the sake of argument we will have to assume that these were actually Socrates' views (many would dispute that point).

What is essentially a defining characteristic to begin with is that a philosopher (like someone who is a connoisseur of any particular thing) doesn't just want knowledge... he wants ALL knowledge. Only a person who "is curious to learn and is never satisfied" meets this first hurdle.

Another part of the distinction and reason for this curiousity on the part of the philosopher has to do with Socrates view of the nature of knowledge. True knowledge, he argues, is completely and objectively true... something that makes it distinct from things which are just a matter of opinion. And to Socrates, the ultimate truth of things lie only in the perfect world of ideas that can be associated with the divine itself.

This is important because a person who can percieve this inner truth in things will see it in all things (as mentioned above). Thus, someone who just likes music and has an unlimited interest in just that is no philosopher - if he saw the inner nature of music, Socrates think he would find other things just as beautiful.

Likewise, a person who sees this inner truth has the virtue of not being swayed much by opinion. Because opinion is not knowledge, this can only get in the way of a philosopher's interests. And since using knowledge and truth are superior to using ignorance and lies, the decisions of a philosopher are presumably far better than those of anyone else.

Another interesting quirk of this comes a bit later in the book. Because philosophers are interested in primarily knowledge, and not power, wealth, glory, and other such stuff they have no inherent interest in ruling, even though Socrates thinks they would make ideal rulers. In fact, to make his own ideal philosopher-led state to work, he essentially has to force them to rule through tradition and law.