Doctor Socrates

'Compelling from start to finish...Downie does full justice to an extraordinary life' Pete Davies, author of All Played Out. A stunning new biography of Socrates, the iconic captain of the greatest Brazil side never to win the World Cup. Socrates was always special. A hugely talented athlete who graduated in medicine yet drank and smoked to excess. The attacking midfielder stood out - and not just because of his 6'4" frame. Fans were enthralled by his inch-perfect passes, his coolness in front of goal and his back heel, the trademark move that singled him out as the most unique footballer of his generation. Off the pitch, he was just as original, with a dedication to politics and social causes that no player has ever emulated. His biggest impact came as leader of Corinthians Democracy - a movement that gave everyone from the kitman to the president an equal say in the running of the club. At a time when Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship, it was truly revolutionary. Passionate and principled, entertaining and erudite, Socrates was as contradictory as he was complex. He was a socialist who voted for a return of Brazil's monarchy, a fiercely independent individual who was the ultimate team player, and a romantic who married four times and fathered six children. Armed with Socrates' unpublished memoir and hours of newly discovered interviews, Andrew Downie has put together the most comprehensive and compelling account of this iconic figure. Based on conversations with family members, close friends and former team-mates, this is a brilliant biography of a man who always stood up for what he believed in, whatever the cost. 'Brilliantly written and researched. Amazing life.' Alex Bellos, author of Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life

Peter Kreeft's Socrates enters the debate on abortion, considering the arguments of psychology, medicine and philosophy.

Plato's conversations of Socrates are among the most accessible philosophical texts most of us have ever read, yet the more one pursues the art or intelligibility of this writing, the more mysterious and paradoxical the Platonic texts become. What does it mean to study Plato, not philosophically as a maker of arguments, not poetically as a maker of dialogues, but literally as a maker of texts? This is a question that Jacques Derrida has made his own, and in this book Farness creates a dialogue with Derrida on Plato's texts. Missing Socrates also provides a dialogue between Plato and Socrates on the question of speech versus writing and a study of the materiality of Plato's writing. Included among the various dialogues and themes developed here are rhetoric and courtroom practice in the Apology of Socrates; religion, skepticism, and the idea of transcendence in the Euthyphro; artistic practice and tradition in the Ion; education and political discipline in the Charmides; and rhetoric, writing, commemoration, and the motives of authorship in Phaedrus. In each of these discursive settings, Socrates unsuccessfully seeks a place or a mode for philosophy; Farness shows that the dialogues of Plato uncannily supply that lack.

This book challenges popular modern views of Socrates by examining the political significance of his activity in ancient Athens.

Peter Kreeft imagines what would happen if Socrates woke up today and enrolled in divinity school. Kreeft's new introduction for this edition highlights the inspirations for the book and the key questions of truth and faith it addresses.

This book is a rereading of Plato's early dialogues from the point of view of the characters with whom Socrates engages in debate. Socrates' interlocutors are generally acknowledged to play important dialectical and dramatic roles, but no previous book has focused mainly on them. Existing studies are thoroughly dismissive of the interlocutors and reduce them to the status of mere mouthpieces for views which are hopelessly confused or demonstrably false. This book takes interlocutors seriously and treats them as genuine intellectual opponents whose views are often more defensible than commentators have standardly thought. The author's purpose is not to summarise their positions or the arguments of the dialogues in which they appear, much less to produce a series of biographical sketches, but to investigate the phenomenology of philosophical disputation as it manifests itself in the early dialogues.

Socrates is one the most important thinkers in western philosophy, yet he remains enigmatic, having left behind no works of his own. Instead, his thought is understood primarily through the work of his followers, particularly Plato. Yet Plato's dialogues can offer conflicting portraits of Socrates. On the one hand, he is portrayed as “barren of wisdom”: he has questions but no answers. On the other, he appears to be “fertile”: he has important things to say about those questions. Can he be both? Although Plato’s works focus on Socrates' questions, not his answers, a careful reading can reveal many of Socrates’ likely views. In this accessible introduction, William Prior assesses Socrates the man, his famous trial, and the nature of his philosophy. He explores Socrates' intellectualism, conception of the good life, his religious views and his thoughts concerning justice. All the way through, Prior reflects on Socrates’ distinctive method of asking questions, and the enormous influence he has had on philosophy to this day.

Many of us believe in miracles, signs, and divine intervention. We are often both knowingly and unknowingly manifesting. Sometimes we get premonitions from our dreams which allows us to have deep connections with the universe. It's comforting for me to know that when I ask God for something in prayer along with a sign to assure me that my prayer will indeed be granted, God always sends me my sign. I also know that in my own life, all of the events that have happened and those still yet to come are being divinely orchestrated to lovingly guide me to where I am supposed to be and when I'm supposed to be there. If you look back at some of the events that have occurred in your life and connect them via "dots" from when the events started, you will see how each event allowed for the next event and how that event in turn allowed for the following event and so on. If you follow along in this manner, you will see why each dot was significantly important for the conclusion of the situation or event to take place as God and the universe intended. These concluding dots now allow for a new series of dots to begin so as God and the universe can once again lead you to the next conclusion. I call this concept "connecting the dots." Let me be clear about something: I believe that there are no coincidences in life, and everything happens to us for a reason. Although we all have free will to make the choices that we make every day, the destination we reach has already been lovingly predetermined by God. Whenever we do anything for the glory of God and which praises him, we will always achieve success, doors will be opened, and we will be blessed with everything good that God, our Father, wants and intends for us to have. God, our Father, wants all of his children to be happy, healthy, and enjoy an abundant life. These are the reasons that he made us in his image. We are all God's children, and he is our Father. Signs are all around us. They are not mere random occurrences that one could relate to any particular event. We only have to open our eyes, mind, heart, and soul to see that this is, in fact, the case. If we open ourselves in this way, it's easy to believe that these signs are real and meant for us. They are there to guide us along on our journey throughout our lives. It is sincerely my deepest desire that as you read the true to life stories of the many miracles granted to SoCrates and our family that you will be filled with hope and joy and be blessed with countless miracles just as we were. You only need to have faith in God and trust in him as I have learned to do. Ask and it shall be granted. Hope Isabella Lenkersdorf Smith