Socrates is an influential character in The Republic. He is probably most influential in this one than any other. He says interesting things that make even the most scholarly people think. He believes in things that are controversial to what everyone believed in his time, and what a lot of people believe now. What he says makes sense and makes he or she rethink about what they believe. This is one of the main reasons he gets a death sentence because he asked scholars questions that they couldn’t answer and they were frustrated. They believed, and were well known, for being the smartest people, but Socrates proved them wrong by asking them questions they couldn’t answer. Many of the questions Socrates wanted to know, but no one could answer …show more content…
This quote shows that he was a philosopher and smarter than the other scholars because he knew what he didn’t know. He was aware of the things that he hadn’t figured out yet. This is what made him a philosopher. Also, Socrates had an interesting view on human nature. He believed that people were more apt to be the person that picks the money off the floor after watching someone drop it, then to be the person who picks the money off the floor and gives it back to the person that dropped it. He believes that justice plays a part in this. Socrates says that being a just person is what people do because they know that there are going to be consequences. It is easier to be unjust and deceive people, but if the person thinks there is a chance they will be caught, then they will do the right thing. Socrates is an intriguing character in The Republic because of his interesting views on human nature, justice, and …show more content…
Human nature is an interesting thing. It is something that we can not control. Many of the decisions that we made in our lives weren’t actually freely chosen they were because of influences that were put on us. There are two spectrums when it comes to human nature, the one side is that it is human nature for us to be bad and evil towards people, the other side is that we are good and just human beings. Which side of this is true. Socrates says that it is the left side or the side where we are evil towards one another and the side where we make bad decisions because we are selfish. A researcher named Max Maxwell wrote an essay about what Socrates believed human nature was. He said that Socrates believed that humans didn’t intentionally do wrong, they did wrong unknowingly because, “Humans have a powerful instinct for benefiting themselves” (Maxwell). This quote shows that Socrates believes that humans do wrong because they believe that it will benefit themselves. He believes that humans are born selfish and they can’t help it, no matter their environment, it is the way it is. Socrates says that when people are selfish they have bad friends. In his words, “Many a man who is ignorant of human nature has friends who are bad friends, and in that case he ought to do harm to them.” He says this because he believes that if a man has not a perspective on good human nature then they can’t
Socrates should have escaped because he was falsely accused of something he did. He says that the community misunderstood him. All Socrates wanted to do was be the greatest value to his community. Is “bad” reputation, of his questioning, was spread throughout the community by writers. Many people thought Socrates was corrupting young minds and forcing them to test the truth. His devotion to the philosophical life made others think of him differently. Socrates is a man who loves to argue and try to prove that something is wrong. He believes he is doing nothing wrong. He believes that if he questions one enough then he will confuse
Socrates was a great thinker and debater dedicated to truth. He spent his golden years walking the streets of Athens in pursuit of wisdom. Socrates lived the destiny that was revealed to him in the Oracle. He created and perfected his own cross-examination technique; we today know it as the Socratic Method. He was thorough and unrelenting. His subjects were often humiliated. Socrates would methodically disprove anyone he thought was wrong. In his eyes, most of the people he interviewed were blind. It did not matter if one was wealthy and influential or if they were young and impressionable. Socrates could question anyone and turn him or her inside out. Unfortunately, he did so without regard to the
He taught that human beings need only to reflect upon their inner feelings to find the truth of all things. We can make judgment and knowledge about his trial and his conviction through wisdom and knowledge. Socrates has a positive knowledge. If people were in Socrates position, they wouldn't have a positive, truthful knowledge like him. If most people where in Socrates shoes during the trial they would be scared to disobey the people or even go against them. Socrates stays truthful and speaks what he knows is true. This shows Socrates has knowledge. Socrates wisdom is shown in Crito when Socrates introduces the Laws of Athens, which speaks to him and explain why it would be unjust for him to leave his cell. Since the Laws exist as one entity, to break one would be to break them all, and in doing so, Socrates would cause them great
The additional position in which Socrates resides, is that of the good man. As he elaborates himself, a good man is one who acts justly and keeps the good interest of others, as well as himself, always in mind (Plato). So a good man acts according to this mindset, acting justly in his treatment towards others, but also in his treatment of himself. Though he may not see the just treatment of himself as the end towards which his action is intended, such potentially altruistic consideration of the
This is because he is taking a philosophical approach which is not grounded in reality. Instead, it is based upon an untested theory. This is very similar to Communism, where everyone will specialize and perform to the best of their abilities. However, the reality is that this practice creates one class of people who will consolidate power and abuse the rest of society. As a result, Socrates is advocating idea that favours genetic selection over equality and self-determination. This is will lead to a totalitarian society that subjugates certain groups at the expense of
Assignment directions- Unit I Compare and contrast Socrates' attitude about philosophy (Apology and Allegory of the Cave Readings) with the Good Brahmin's (Voltaire) attitude, conclude the essay by comparing both Socrates’ and the Good Brahmin’s attitudes to your own view on philosophy. Socrates was a pioneer who believed in his philosophy and defended it until the last minute. When we look a bit further in his life we can say that certainly, this man was really different according to his lifestyle. Socrates lived almost like a beggar and tried to make people think deeper about questions they were taking simple such as life, love etc. In fact, his theory tends to push humanity to look beyond what their eyes could see and more…
Socrates has a unique position in the history of philosophy. On one hand he is the most influential on another he is the least known. In his later life he is seen to stalk the streets barefoot, to spite shoemakers. He went about arguing and questioning people and revealing inconsistencies in their beliefs. He began teaching students but never accepted payments for doing so. This was possible because of the inheritance left by his father. Socrates wrote nothing of himself so we are dependent upon the works of both his students and associates who present a view as close to
Our present day world is shaped by the countless people, places, and events in the past. It is important to understand that one small decision can change the entire course of history. Often, when an event occurs, or a decision is made, it triggers a domino effect, which triggers more events. Some of the domino effects caused by events in the past still carry on to modern times. More importantly, there are specific individuals who have made a lasting impact to civilization.
Socrates is a great philosopher. Since the beginning of the trial he starts asking philosophical questions to defend himself from the Athenians. When the accuser called him “clever” he hit them with the question of what does it mean to be actually clever? Also, he aroused the concern that the ones that accused him now are aware that the audience might believed their accusations because they are more in risk of their own beliefs, but if they were younger they will simply lack proves. This is just a simple comparison to Beardsleys point of view that people grow up to have beliefs that are passed down by family members or society. Socrates went on his own ways to practice philosophical investigation by going house to house and talking to young
Socrates ideas more to achive the great well-being of society. He supported more on the establish of ethical system that fond on human reason than theological doctrine. He stated that happiness is the one that motivated the human choice. The person with greater ability to reason will have true happiness than the person with less ability. For Socrates, being ruled by individuals with great ability, knowledge and possessed, the government worked best and fully understanding themselves. Socrates valued knowledge more than money and prestige. He was the one that shaped the cultural and intellectual development history. Socrates cared about how people should behave, also developed the critical thinking in life. His best distribution is Socratic
Socrates elaborates on his view of human wisdom, defining his opinion on corruption and violence, which is strengthens his argument. In The Trial and Death of Socrates, Socrates says, “…human wisdom is worth little to nothing” (Plato, The Apology, §23a). He says that with human wisdom we do not have certainty of our virtues as certainty is derived from reason. Socrates speaks on how being virtuous is more essential than a bad reputation, “…are you not ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation, and honors as possible, while you do not care for nor give thought to wisdom and truth, or the best possible state of your soul?” (Plato, The Apology, §29e). Socrates further emphasizes how we only have human wisdom that is flawed, inadequate and criticizes how one prioritizes immoral actions over being virtuous. Socrates fails to meet the definition of corruption because he does not misuse his power for his own benefit. He is less corrupting than Machiavelli because Machiavelli thinks that seeming is better than being.
Socrates taught his students by asking them questions to find truth. He developed the “Socratic Method” by asking all questions and people thought he was annoying. He thought that Athenian democracy was full of selfish people “who gained power and wealth by using speech-making tricks and flattery to gain the support of citizens.” Some Athenians saw Socrates as a threat. He went to trial that lasted one hour and was found guilty by the jury. He was sentenced to death by poison and he refused to escape because he believed that all citizens had to obey the state.
Socrates believes in going out in the world and asking questions to uncover the truth. According to him the oracle said that he was the wisest man in the world.
Socrates had a large basis of enemies. Socrates’ blaten denial of the wisdom of many people created lots of enemies for him (Socrates. Arts and Humanities Through the Eras 253). He agreed with the statement, “Wisest is he who knows he does not know.” This meant that acknowledging your own ignorance was the wisest a man could be. Socrates saw that the so called “wise men” in the world lacked this quality. Many people saw his teachings as tearing down other people’s beliefs. He would tell people that they really didn’t understand what they claimed to know. He tested their beliefs. Socrates believed that true knowledge and widom came from knowing yourself and realizing that we cannot know everything. This angered many people for that reason. Socrates was viewed as an enemy by many different people. As his number of enemies grew, he was eventually out on trial for corrupting the youth. Even after being charges he questioned them and said if they had really given adequate thought to the teachers they would have been able to teach better and protect their own youth (Socrates. Encyclopedia of World Biography 321). Socrates was sentenced to death for his beliefs and the enemies he had created. He even had a rough relationship with his wife as well, involving abuse and fights. They did have true feelings though, shown when she left his jail cell crying before he was executed (Socrates. Arts and Humanities
From this, he deduced that “those who had the highest reputation were nearly the most deficient, while those who were thought to be inferior were more knowledgeable" (Plato 25). Now, to achieve this society in which being wrong is accepted would require man to graciously accept the bespoken of one’s wrongs by another. This should occur naturally, because as Socrates recognizes, someone pointing out somebody’s wrong is the equivalent to that person saving him or her. On the contrary, a wrong may not be wrong merely due to someone saying that such is the case. Often, something will be viewed as wrong for being different from what is standard. Aside from all of this, Socrates believed in highlighting justness rather than ever focusing on being right or being wrong. Knowing that wisdom and being right are worthless is the somewhat paradoxical product of wisdom. Being right should not be glorifying.