Final answer:
Socrates' life may not have been considered "biography worthy" by Plutarch due to the lack of written records he left behind; we know about Socrates primarily through the works of his students. His style of oral transmission and the fact that information comes from second-hand sources make it challenging to gather hard facts about his life.
Step-by-step explanation:
Plutarch may have considered Socrates' life as not "biography worthy" by his standards because traditional biographies often focus on individuals who have left behind direct written records or concrete achievements, such as campaigns, political accomplishments, or literary works. Socrates, distinctively, never wrote anything himself; his philosophy and teachings were transmitted orally. The scarcity of hard facts about Socrates' life is due to the fact that most of what we know comes through the writings of his students, particularly Plato, as well as playwright Aristophanes and historian Xenophon, which can contain biases or dramatizations.
Plato's dialogues, while providing insights into Socrates' philosophical approach, were crafted with artistic license and shaped by Plato's own philosophical developments over time. These documents are typically grouped into early, middle, and late periods, with early works believed to be more reflective of the historical Socrates. Hence, discerning the historical Socrates from the literary character in these dialogues requires careful scholarly analysis.
Socrates' philosophical contributions, however, remain influential to this day. He laid the groundwork for Western philosophical thought with his focus on ethics and epistemology and his method of inquiry, famously known as the Socratic method. His life serves as a paradigm for the philosophical life, questioning and examining our understanding of truth, beauty, goodness, and virtue.