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| Death of Socrates |
Enough has been said on Socrates, but this painting is almost the summary of his life.
Socrates believed in knowledge based on the continuous search for Truth. At the same time of Socrates' life, there was a school of thought called the Sophists. They taught the Art of persuasion. According to Plato, Sophism was based in the Art of deceit.
This is ultimately the reason why Socrates is condemned to Death. His eternal quest for knowledge leads him to doubt the main foundations of his society and to vividly criticize important statesmen of his time. He makes enemy of the Sophists. Socrates didn't have an agenda to push through. He was doing his duty as the main philosopher of his time. On the other hand, the Sophists are a school based on the persuasion. Sophists believed Truth is what you can prove. Socrates was proven guilty. This is probably one of the most ancient and most basic human struggles.
His method - the Socratic method - is the constant questioning of arguments. I saw a philosopher once (can't recall his name) doubting the US court system based on questioning, and judge Scalia upheld the Socratic method in its defense. Judge Scalia answered categorically: "That is the method we have in the Western world. I don't know of a better way. The opposite would be to sit someone on the stand, and asked them to tell you everything. And what is to say what was true or not or even relevant." (more or less).
It was like the philosopher who was supposed to understand Socrates, read about him without really understand or lived his teachings in practice. Philosophy was the first branch of study; then it got specialized into a million different ones. Now, philosophy lives in careers, degrees, methods, and Scalia's mind. It is his bread and butter. Meanwhile Philosophy by itself has become Sophism.
But there is a thin line between argumentation and Truth. The Sophists and Socrates both believed in argumentation. But the difference is like the difference between the Moon and the Sun. Argumentation to convince someone is completely different from arguments to find the Truth.
His last wish was to die next to his disciples. David shows the gesture of the raising of the poison as one last salute. In his last moment, Socrates who always said he knows nothing, tells his followers: now it is I who will know. In this painting, David captures the transcendental of the teacher who becomes immortal just by his gesture in the face of darkness while every other human soul weeps.
