Plato 's Views On Morality And Virtue

Continuing with his defense Socrates addresses one of his accusers Meletus in accordance to the accusation that he is a corrupter of youth.. He asks a series of questions to Meletus which he answers yes to all. But it Socrates’ last question that shows his true motive for all the questions, “Then every Athenian improves and elevates them; all with the exception of myself; and I alone am their corrupter? Is that what you affirm?”(Plato) Meletus replies “That is what I stoutly affirm.”(Plato) Socrates’ response to this just add another mark for his cleverness “I am very unfortunate if that is true. … Happy indeed would be the condition of youth if they had one corrupter only, and all the rest of the world were their improvers.”(Plato) By asking these questions to Meletus, Socrates exposes Meletus’ answers as counterintuitive: For if they were true then the society of Athens would be a much better place with little to no corruption. Socrates reveals it is those who are accusing the innocent of being corrupt that are themselves corrupt.

Socrates declares that there is no one to teach people about wisdom and virtues. His conversation with Callias explains that no one can teach wisdom and virtue as there is no one that has mastered wisdom and virtue. Human beings are fallible creatures, morality, ethics and virtues are not always primarily considered in the multitude of decisions and actions that are performed every day. Humans are imperfect individuals, bound by no definitive moral code that is enforceable under any circumstance. Humans are creatures of free will and with free will comes evil and righteousness simultaneously. No one can teach a human being to always be righteous, kind, caring and generous. Socrates declares that there is no one capable of teaching all of these virtues because humans are all imperfect individuals but through inner evaluation humans can constantly strive to get closer to perfection.

Socrates show that the reason he is there is only because Hippocrates wants to gain knowledge and whether Protagoras will help him to achieve his goal or no. After that Socrates doubts that virtue cannot be taught, so he asks him how virtue can be taught? Then, Protagoras start explaining to them. In this paper, I will provide an analytic summary of Protagoras' great speech.

"Socrates, can virtue be taught?"1 The dialogue begins with Meno asking Socrates whether virtue can be taught. At the end of the Meno (86d-100b), Socrates attempts to answer the question. This question is prior to the division between opinion and knowledge and provides to unsettle both. Anytus participated in Socrates and Meno conversation about virtue. Socrates claims that if virtue is a kind of knowledge, then it can be learned. If it is something besides a kind of knowledge, it perceptibly cannot be taught.

Morality is likely the most debated topic of all time, especially in regards to our moral responsibility for each other. Throughout history many writers and philosophers have taken different angles the concept of morality and have applied it in many ways. This includes: Niccolò Machiavelli with The Prince (we will be looking at The Qualities of the Prince) and Plato with The Republic (we will be looking at the section The Allegory of the Cave. The Prince (1513) essentially lays out a how-to guide of how to obtain power and how to keep it; The Qualities of the Prince contains a list of qualities that one should appear to have while in power; this work will be used to represent the case against moral responsibility for others. The Republic

The central theme of one of Plato’s Five Dialogues, Meno, is to find an answer to the question, “can virtue be taught?” Before answering this question for Meno, Socrates first wants to define virtue because he does not know how one can decide if something can be taught, when one does not technically know what that thing is. Throughout their discussion, they decide on various definitions of virtue, but never decide on one that actually makes sense. The dialogue concludes with Socrates revealing that he believes that virtue cannot be taught because it is not knowledge. Therefore, it is a gift from the gods.

I contend that Plato 's theories on morality are persuaded by concerns he had about moral theory. Specifically, Plato rejects rationality as the boost of subjectively evaluated self-interest because, had he received such an account, his hypothesis of justice would be liable to reactions which he holds are lethal to the contractarian theory of justice. While detailing a hypothesis to stay inside ethical constraints in some cases disregards the groups of scientific theorizing, Plato maintains to avoid this mistake.

What arguments do Socrates and his interlocutors provide in these dialogues and what does their discussion suggest about the way in which virtue is in fact acquired? Socrates initiates the inquiries into this problem in each dialogue the same way, that is, to admit no knowledge of the subject at hand. He further admits that he could not possibly teach virtue without knowing what virtue is, “if I do not know what a thing is, how could I know what to teach?” (ho de me oida ti estin,

In the “Apology” Socrates states that he is not a teacher because he does not charge a fee, such as Gorgias or Leontini do (pg. 24, 19 d-e). Socrates does not consider himself a teacher because he does not charge a fee, and he also does not preach what he does not know. According to Socrates, those who have obtained great knowledge in certain subjects such as politics or poetry often come to the conclusion that they have knowledge about everything and therefore can teach about anything the choose (pg. 27, 23b). However, Socrates believes he is wiser than most because he does not preach what he does not know. Rather, he looks for those who do know the answers and then questions them to understand their thoughts about the topic. Thus, Socrates gains his education from questioning rather than pretending just as Meno points this out in the “Meno.”

Therefore, if these things are not exchanged with the help of wisdom then Socrates believes that the aspect of virtue is “…a mere illusion.” (Phaedo 69b). In conclusion, Socrates view on morality is based upon justice, examining how to live, and expanding one’s wisdom.

In the Republic of Plato, the philosopher Socrates lays out his notion of the good, and draws the conclusion that virtue must be attained before one can be good. For Socrates there are two kinds of virtue; collective and individual. Collective virtue is virtue as whole, or the virtues of the city. Individual virtue pertains to the individual himself, and concerns the acts that the individual does, and concerns the individual’s soul. For Socrates, the relationship between individual and collective virtue is that they are the same, as the virtues of the collective parallel those of the Individual. This conclusion can be reached as both the city and the soul deal with the four main virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice.

In lines 31b Socrates stated, “That I am the kind of person to be a gift of the god to the city” as a defense towards the accusations that he was corrupting the youth of Athens. The people of Athens believed that Socrates’ methods of teaching were malicious and even thought he was

Socrates claims to be a selfless benefactor of the polis in that he had exhausted his private resources in the pursuit of the public good (23b-c, 30a, 31a-c). Because he does what is good for his fellow citizens for whom he feels regard despite the danger to which this exposes him, Socrates claims to be a benefactor of the Athenians. He refers with pride to his record of military service and underlines that it was service to the democracy: “When the commanders that you elected to command me stationed me at Potidaea and Amphipolis and Delion, I remained there like anyone else, and ran the risk of death” (28e). He is an honorable citizen who disregards death and preaches that “The difficulty, my friends, is not to avoid death, but to avoid unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.” He has demonstrated that he is, by his own right, a patriotic citizen who cares deeply about the good of his polis and one who consistently acts in what he sees as his city’s best interests; but he has also shown also that, in light of his own definition of patriotism, Socrates must be regarded as a uniquely patriotic Athenian.

workers, so that they do not desire to be in the ruler's position. It is seen

In Plato’s Protagoras, the sophist Protagoras defends his philosophy of teaching excellence from Socrates. Initially, Socrates states that the Athenians are wise, therefore they’re wise enough to run a government. With his trust in the Athenians, he proposes that virtue cannot be taught. Protagoras however, argues that the five parts of excellence can be taught. I will argue that Socrates does not believe in all the premises he puts forth, and that this reflects his opinion on the sophists, particularly Protagoras. I will also argue that he specifically targeted Protagoras because if he himself can take down the expert in virtue, anyone who follows his line of reasoning would also be uncertain.