Following in Socrates’ steps: from natural science to moral philosophy

Death of Socrates, by Jacques Louis David, 1787

Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a scientist. Early on, an astronomer. Family lore has it that such decision was reached when I was five years old, while watching the Apollo 11 Moon landing with my grandmother. (Interesting that I didn’t go for the more obvious thing: being an astronaut.) Carl Sagan influenced me when I was in middle school, and the 1976 landing of the Viking probes on Mars seemed to definitely settle my goals: I would become a planetologist!

But gradually, in high school, I became more and more enamored with biology, and eventually I pursued an academic career in evolutionary biology. Which worked out pretty well, resulting in four technical books and 88 technical papers over a span of over two decades.

Then, as I have recounted elsewhere, a mid-life crisis — both professional and personal — hit and I decided to shift focus. I went back to graduate school and got a PhD in philosophy, and ever since I’ve published in my new chosen field, both in philosophy of science and, more recently, in applied philosophy (chiefly, Stoicism). That also worked out pretty well, with three technical books and, so far, 75 technical papers. Plus an increasing number of books for the general public.

This unusual career trajectory has stunned and bemused a number of colleagues, but it is only recently that I discovered that, in a manner of speaking, I was simply following in the footsteps of Socrates — and yes, I’m full aware of how self-conceited that sounds, though it is most definitely not meant that way.

Here is what I’m talking about. The Phaedo is a Platonic dialogue dedicated to the subject of the immortality of the soul. Most importantly for my purposes here, it is the fourth and last dialogue of the tetralogy concerned with Socrates’ trial and execution (the others are Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito). The scene is set in the prison where Socrates awaits to drink the hemlock, and it is the last day of his life. Naturally, he is engaged in a deep philosophical conversation with a group of friends, including two visitors from Thebes: Cebes and Simmias.

Here is how Socrates explains his own evolution as a philosopher to Cebes (I do not have specific reference sections for the quotes, but you will…