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This book answered a question I've had since reading The Republic in the 1990s. Is Socrates really speaking or is Plato speaking through Socrates. According to Johnson it varies from dialogue to dialogue. In The Republic it's Socrates voice in the first book and then Plato plays ventriloquist from there on. We know this because Socrates wasn't a prescriptive philosopher. Philosophy was a practical way to discover virtue. He liked talking with people and he desired to teach them to think about conventional wisdom and decide things for themselves. The utopia that Plato creates in The Republic would have been comical to Socrates. He didn't think men were wise enough to create what Plato envisioned.

I'm guessing many people who read this book already know this about Socrates and Plato. I'm sure the information exists in many places. It turns out the question wasn't nagging enough for me to look it up any other way. I wouldn't have known except I like Paul Johnson. He is such an interesting writer. Pick up Modern Times at any spot and try not to read it for an hour. I love how he put this book together giving me just what I needed to know about Socrates. It makes sense now that he would be considered dangerous by some in Athens. It also makes sense that he would choose to be a martyr rather than an exile, although I would have chosen differently.

Here are a few other thoughts that I learned from Johnson in this book.

-Socrates first identified what we consider the soul. He was monotheistic in a culture of pluralism.
-He had an optimistic view of human soul. He thought most people want to do good, but they don't know what good is.
-He was a moral absolutist. If you know a thing is wrong never do it. Retaliation is bad.
-His reputation was hurt by Aristophanes play, Clouds, but instead of being angry he befriended the playwright.
-Socrates trial was not all that rare in Athens. Any citizen could bring a prosecution and that's what happened to him. Had there been an Attorney General the case would have been thrown out.
-The essence of Socrates is seeking virtue. How to be a good man.