While invaluable to the development of Western civilization, the Greek philosopher Socrates
 is believed by some scholars not to exist.  According to this theory, he is not a living person, but a pedagogical device
used to teach philosophical ideas to newcomers.
Others point to extant evidence that Socrates was indeed real, and had his own inner circle of students.
 
  This piece is a reflection on the verisimilitude of Socrates’s existence. It is a struggle with the
question of whether so influential a figure can truly be imaginary and ultimately an arrival
at the decision that his realness is not as important as his influence.

Viola-Michael Fernandez
Piano-Adam Alan Bowles

The Socratic Problem

Orchestral and collaborative violist, teacher, father, and husband

Emotional, gentle, and occasionally disturbed. Matthew's music endeavors to make the inexplicable understood, or at least accepted. Classically trained, and academically educated, Matthew uses music to attempt to link the conceptual, intellectual, and abstract with the emotional, inspirational, and spiritual. Check back here for dates of live performances, recordings, hints, the meaning of life, and other things happening in the world of MsP's music.

The Socratic Problem

Matthew Scott Phillips