# Socrates — Beyond Good and Evil character guide

> Socrates in Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Socrates

**First appearance:** 0002-i-prejudices-of-philosophers

## Snapshot

The foundational Greek thinker the narrator treats as a problem rather than a hero, suspecting that his rationalism was itself a symptom.

## Who they are

Socrates hovers over the book as the origin point of the Western faith in reason, dialectic, and the worth of certainty over illusion. The narrator's suspicion is that this faith was not a discovery but an instinct — a physiological demand for a definite mode of life dressed up as wisdom. He matters because the book's early arguments about conscious thinking and instinctive valuations are aimed squarely at the Socratic inheritance.

## Relationships

### [The Learned Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters/the_learned_man)

_psychological_

Socrates is used as a archetype or counterpoint to analyze the mindset and limitations of the learned man.

### [Plato](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters/plato)

_professional_

Plato is the disciple who immortalizes and interprets Socrates, a relationship of teacher and student with complex fidelity.

## In the story

### [The Will to Truth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/1)

Implicitly referenced as part of 'all philosophers' who have spoken of truthfulness with respect, representing the tradition being questioned.

### [IV: Apophthegms and Interludes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/iv-apophthegms-and-interludes)

Referenced in aphorism 80 regarding the command 'Know thyself' and the shift towards objectivity.

### [Chapter 80](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/80)

Referenced as a figure embodying or promoting the imperative 'Know thyself,' which the narrator critically questions.

### [Chapter 190](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/190)

His teachings ('Socratism') are analyzed as a utilitarian, populace-based morality that equates evil with error and good with the useful and pleasant.

### [191](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/191)

Portrayed as the dialectician who first sided with reason, mocking the instinct-driven noble Athenians, but who secretly laughed at himself, recognizing the irrationality in moral judgment and attempting to justify instinct with reason.

### [Chapter 202](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/202)

Referenced as someone who did not know what modern Europeans claim to know about good and evil.

### [VI: We Scholars](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/vi-we-scholars)

Presented as an ironic physician of his age, cutting into the 'noble' Athenians of his time who had worn-out instincts.

### [The Geography of Will and the Skeptic's Sedative](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/208)

Referenced for the skeptical declaration 'I know that I know nothing.'

### [The Philosopher as Bad Conscience](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/212)

Presented as an example of a philosopher whose irony and plebeian assurance were necessary for greatness of soul in an age of worn-out Athenian instincts.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters/socrates
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters