Socrates and Pericles both share their ideas of what would qualify someone to work in the political arena. Both men had very different ideas and both men were extremely passionate about their views. To understand their stances on what qualifies a person to be politically active you have to understand their major differences as people. Socrates questions authority, He is always looking to challenge the status quo and is very weary of what is taught to the youth and what is accepted as the “norms” of society. During the funeral oration of the “History of the Peloponnesian War” Pericles crux of his argument is based upon his love for Athens and all that they have accomplished and what they will accomplish. This is a stark difference from how…show more content… To check to see if this assertion is true, Socrates does a series of surveys, if you will, to determine if the Oracle was correct. He went around town talking to people that were preceived to be wise and one of the people was a politician. The politician like in our society was held in high regard amongst the people. What Socrates found was that the politician was no more wise then anyone that he had met previously and that it was a façade. The politician had a fatal character flaw, he thought that he knew everything. Socrates believes that to be suitable for political life one must be a very open minded person, one that knows that they do not know everything. He also talks about how a politician should be one that fights for his beliefs and no matter how nasty the opposition that is faced. He also believes that a person suitable for political life is someone that has no problem taking on the establishment. Also mentioned is that Socrates does not feel that a politician needs to be versed in many fields to be wise but it is acceptable to be versed in one field but open to the idea of not knowing