Almost everything that concerns Socrates is surrounded by a certain mystery and subject to discussion. Indeed, he did not produce written texts and the testimonies about him are often contradictory.
Aristophanes, on the one hand, mocks him, on the other, Plato exalts his figure in dialogues, while Aristotle makes more discreet comments.
It is difficult to determine what was the doctrine of Socrates and which one of Plato attributed to his master. Contradictory, Jenephon does not attribute any doctrine to it, and Aristophanes attributes to it doctrines of sophists and some presocratic.
Socrates made his own the maxim written in the temple of Delphi: “Know thyself.”
It is possible that Socrates listened to Archelaus (disciple of Anaxagoras) in relation to the doctrine of the “spirit”. However, disappointed in some philosophical platforms, he chose to devote himself to reflecting on himself and on the life of man in the city. Ethical problems, at that time, seemed the most urgent.
Socrates understands philosophy as a collective search based on dialogue. He doesn't pretend to own the truth or be able to find it on his own. This means, that every man possesses within himself a part of the truth but can only discover it with the help of others. This explains the two parts of the socratic method.
The irony:
It is the art of asking questions such as to make others discover their own ignorance. In other words, understand that you do not know anything.
Mayeutics:
It consists of asking questions in such a way that the other will discover the truth for himself.
In this line, it could be said that Socrates has no doctrine but helps others and seeks with them. This attitude of humility in the face of knowledge contrasts markedly with the attitude of sophists.
According to Aristotle two things can be attributed to Socrates: inductive reasoning and the definition of the universal. Both achievements refer, of course, to the principle of science.
Indeed, the essential question that Socrates asks is: “What is it?” and he hoped that the other would answer with a definition. The Socratic method was tied to the construction of definitions, which must enclose the immutable essence of the reality investigated. In this way, Socrates opposes the conventionalism of the sophists and opens the path of the search for essences. The procedure for reaching the true definition (purpose of the majeutics) is inductive: examination of particular cases and testing of a generation that already gives us the definition sought.
Socrates' search focused on moral concepts and, interestingly, that search, as it appears in Plato's first dialogues, ended with no result: the Euptriphon dialogues on piety, Carmides on temperance and Lysis on friendship, conclude in an apparent failure.
The interest of Socrates has been particularly focused on ethical issues: the essence of virtue and the possibility of teaching it (a subject that sophists discussed very often at the time).
Knowledge and virtue coincide according to Socratic doctrine because he who knows the right will act in righteousness andonly out of ignorance is evil done . This doctrine, which will be criticized by Aristotle, can only be understood if one considers that Socrates also defended moral utilitarianism: the good (morally) is the useful.
Everyone seeks happiness and utility, and virtue is to discern what is most useful in each case. Thus, the knowledge of which Socrates speaks is not a theoretical knowledge but a practical knowledge about the best and most useful in each case. This virtuous knowledge can be taught and learned because natural skills are not enough to attain goodness and virtue.