‘Is he serious or is he joking?’, asks Callicles, having heard Socrates philosophise. Socrates says he is serious. But for Callicles it’s all too absurd to take seriously. To prefer to live miserably under a tyrant than happily as a tyrant? To prefer to suffer wrong than to do it? To prioritise wisdom and ethical excellence over pleasure, money, reputation, popularity, and power? No one in their right mind would choose this, says Callicles, and he’s heard enough. It’s time someone told Socrates some home truths.
What follows (in the Gorgias) is a damning tirade against the philosophical life. Callicles puts it bluntly: anyone who talks such nonsense has ruined themselves by over-education. You have thought too much and done too little, and your preoccupation with philosophy has left you incapable of doing anything useful. Studying philosophy might have its merits and it’s a fine thing for a younger person to do, when we are setting out into the world and trying to understand our place in it, but at some point you need to leave these childish things behind and get on with life.
Philosophy will not help you with that. Philosophy encourages you to investigate yourself and put your thoughts to the test, for the purpose of cultivating wisdom. But as a result of this activity it neglects the cultivation of anything else, such as wealth, status, reputation, and power, and the skills required to achieve these things. This neglect will leave the philosopher poor and lowly and unwanted and forever at the mercy of people more powerful than themselves. They are worthless good-for-nothings; an embarrassment to themselves and their family.
Callicles asks whether Socrates isn’t ashamed of himself for being in such a pathetic situation? Callicles warns Socrates that he is wasting his talents: he could apply his intelligence to something meritable but instead he hides away in philosophy and does nothing to win any reward. Callicles calls on Socrates and his would-be followers to abandon argument and learn the accomplishments of an active life, before it’s too late: look to emulate those who earn a good living, those who are admired by society, and follow them in what they do. Don’t follow philosophers: they will only lead you to poverty and disgrace.
I think it’s too late for me; I have followed Socrates into a philosophical life. As it says in this website’s introduction and elsewhere: I have been making an attempt to be what I would claim to be, in reality and not only in appearance. There’s no point me strutting about calling myself a philosopher, teaching its lessons, but doing the opposite of what they teach. You cannot teach logic and allow such an inconsistency in yourself. Such a person is ridiculous. And so I investigate myself and put my life and thoughts to the test. In taking these questions seriously, and finding myself largely in agreement with Socrates, I neglect any skills of marketable value; I avoid any position or status; I don’t chase money. Consequently, I have no position or status, little money, and nothing that would constitute a picture of success in ordinary society. I am left a worthless good-for-nothing by those measures. And to cap it all, I think I am better off for this because I think those measures are worthless (and quite damaging).
But there’s a version of this story where I’ve simply misunderstood what matters. I fear what Callicles says is true, and I am surrounded by people who believe to be true what I fear to be true. I hear the call of Callicles in all their judgements. And further: I consider myself a rational person who understands that theory should be held accountable to observation, and observation is always confirming my fears. If you look around, you will see powerful ignorance rewarded more than decent knowledge. People praise people who earn good money from worthless work: ‘They’ve done well for themselves.’ People pity people who have to work hard at worthwhile work for little reward. This is how success and failure are judged in this world.
Callicles says that he cannot accept Socrates’ philosophy because it would turn the world upside down. I say that the world is already upside down and that Socrates’ philosophy serves to correct its orientation.
In the UK, a currency trader would be rewarded with at least five-times the salary of a nurse, and as much again in bonuses, and often many times more than that. Callicles, like most people, would praise the trader for applying their talents to the activity that will win the most reward. He would say that anyone in their right mind would choose this, if they could. With that kind of money you can get whatever you want and then splash it all over instagram; it’s the picture of success in this world. ‘They’ve done well for themselves.’
I think Socrates would disagree. They haven’t done well, but badly. This isn’t a picture of success but a picture of ignorance, which advertises its ignorance with every ostentatious display. No one in their right mind would agree that playing with money (in what in most cases is a zero-sum game that benefits only the already-rich) is very many times more valuable than caring for the sick and dying. Or so I think. But what do I know? I’m just an ignorant philosopher who thinks too much, so ruined by over-education that I would rather suffer the wrong of having no money than remain in the error of thinking that outrageous reward for worthless work is properly called ‘doing well for myself’. I’m stupid enough to admire nurses and other such occupations, like teachers and farmers and caregivers, who dedicate themselves to life and land and their local community and ask very little in return.
People value the wrong things because they are ignorant about what matters: they choose what they choose because they don’t know any better. Perhaps I am no different: how would I know? How would any of us know? We must investigate the matter and put ourselves to the test. Most people would follow Callicles and abandon any serious investigation, if they ever started, and especially when it gets difficult, in order to pursue lives of status and wealth and pleasure. But if you follow Socrates’ line of reasoning you too will realise that nothing is more important than living a decent life, that wisdom is necessary for that, and that philosophy, in being the pursuit of wisdom, is one of the most important activities a human being can do. That is what it really means to ‘do well for yourself’.
I keep returning to these same conclusions. But who am I trying to convince here: you or me?
Read more: Think Well, Live Well: A Free Introduction to Philosophy
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