Book Review: "How to Think Like Socrates" by Donald Robertson
And how war may have shaped Socrates' philosophy
I first dug into Socrates when I returned from combat. Society had not changed while I was at war, but I had. I was left with many significant questions, and it was due to Socrates that I realized many of the absurdities of war had their origins in peace.
My hunch is that Socrates’ experience in war formed the core of his philosophy. It is possible that he learned less from words and books than he did from his sword and spear. Don Robertson writes that Socrates “…focused on fundamental questions about the nature of wisdom and the goal of life. It seems to me that these are the ideas that most non-philosophers avoid thinking about, until they either have a brush with death or lose someone close to them.”
I can only assume war left Socrates with a similar impression to the one it left me: ignorance is deadly.
It staggers the mind that the lessons of a man who lived 2,400 years ago are still relevant. But why not? In How to Think Like Socrates, Donald Robertson unites the ancient lessons of Socrates with the modern principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The book is an easy-to-read dance between historical events, Socratic Dialogues, and modern CBT. Don brings a clinical rather than academic perspective to his version of Socrates, and for good reason – CBT has a lineage that stretches back to Socrates himself.
One of the most significant aspects of Don’s book is that he captures a crucial truth: Socrates was not focused on theory, but on action. To enter the world of Socrates, we need to leave the classroom behind and step out into the world.
How might combat have helped shape his philosophy? Let us look at some examples with a few of the lessons learned in How to Think Like Socrates.
Battle of Potidaea: We learn that “cognitive distancing” requires us to view our own thoughts as separate from ourselves, and that so many of us “Do not look at” our thoughts, but instead look “through them.” It is possible that Socrates learned this truth in a clash with the enemy. Socrates witnessed a young cavalryman named Alcibiades in shimmering armor charge into the enemy ranks. Alcibiades’ horse was wounded and fell, pinning the young man to the ground. The enemy closed in for the kill. I imagine Socrates faced a choice: either watch through his fear as this young nobleman gets speared to death, or look at this fear, realize its uselessness, and sprint out to save the cavalryman. Socrates chose the latter and saved the life of Alcibiades.
Battle of Delium: We learn that “Socrates developed a method to help distinguish between appearance and reality.” Don writes that in this battle, Socrates would witness what happens when a rash, inexperienced leader takes command in combat. “The death at Delium came about because experienced men, with sound knowledge of Athens military strengths and weaknesses, had been drowned out by the persuasive voice of a firebrand demagogue.” As the men clashed in a cloud of dirt, spit, screams, and blood, the Boeotian ranks obliterated the Athenian lines. A rout ensued. After calmly walking through the slaughter, refusing to scurry about or cower in terror while retreating, Socrates may have been left with a few questions: What is the use of appearing as though we know the truth when in fact we do not? Why pretend we are experienced when so much carnage may result? How can I work to ensure this does not happen again?
Battle of Amphipolis: We learn that the Socratic Method focus on questions and not answers. In the Battle of Amphipolis, the Athenians set out to wage war against purple-cloaked Spartans. They found them armored, their exposed skin glistening with olive oil, their long war-hair shoulder length and black and gleaming beneath horsehair-crested helmets. As the Spartans began marching to war to the hair-raising eeriness of flutes, the Athenian commander decided not want to fight until reinforcements arrived. Panicked, the Athenians broke ranks and ran. The Athenians lost 600 men. The Spartans lost 7. On the long row home, my sense is that Socrates may have asked a few questions that could have prevented this: Are we here for the right reasons? Do we have the right leadership? What is leadership and how do we know?
The lessons of Socrates are written in blood. Don Robertson views the Socratic Dialogues as a “philosophical assault course.” With a few well-framed questions, an entire lifetime of convictions, opinions, and certainties can crumble.
What other lessons do we learn?
Socrates did not want to be a guru or religious figure. He did not teach memorized bits of wisdom, but a method of reason; a way of thinking that cannot be sold in the agora or put in a pocket. The significant point is that it cannot be taken away by a tyrant. Socrates was laying the groundwork for the Stoic maxim that some things are within our control and others are not. As Don writes, “Rules work until they don’t; advice is good until it’s not.”
Another relates to death. Don recommends looking at our lives from the end; to imagine being sentenced to death and placing a goblet of hemlock to our lips. We can then ask, “What did you spend most of your time doing?” Not only do we learn to invest our time wisely, but, as Don points out, Socrates viewed a fear of death as mere conceit: “We believe that we know something that we do not, in fact, know – that death is awful.” Don offers us a blend of ancient wisdom and modern clinical practice to reframe death, focusing less on what death is and more on how we can live.
The book contains many more techniques besides: how to handle double standards; how to use the practice of “negative definition”; how to use a cost-benefit analysis; how modern influencers are little more than ancient Sophists who suffer from “cognitive distortions” and how we might combat them; as well as how we can handle one of the greatest mind-distorters of all – anger.
So why does my hunch that he gained so much wisdom in war matter?
My sense is that Socrates has been academicized in the eyes of the general population. He has become bookish and abstract, as if the babbling-professor in Aristophanes was the real Socrates and the warrior-philosopher in Plato and Xenophon was a farce. His military experience has been forgotten or, at the very least, relegated as an irrelevant aspect of his life. I believe we can develop a deeper appreciation of the ideas Don Robertson has laid out in his excellent book when we realize these lessons were born in the pressure cooker of hardship – and of war – and have stood the test of thousands of years. They are useful, not merely theoretical.
And why is another book on Socrates necessary? We are ancient minds living in a modern world. Why wouldn’t ancient philosophy be the cure, and why wouldn’t we merge the ancient thought of the man who died for truth with a modern clinical practice that has streamlined the application of his ideas?
In the end, Socrates may not have been executed because he was rude to a jury, for his theory of virtue, or for denying the city’s gods. He may have been executed because he had the courage to live an examined life in pursuit of the truth and would not rest until ignorance – the same ignorance has caused and will continue to cause so much hardship – has been replaced with reason.
May the wisdom of Socrates never die, and may we all possess such courage.
If you enjoyed this, please hit the like button, share it, and share your thoughts.
This is how more readers are able to find my work.
See you for the next essay on Tuesday.
Riveting book and excellent review from a warrior-philosopher perspective.
I didn’t realize Socrates was a combat veteran. I will check this book out. I loved How to Think Like a Roman Emperor.