preview

Socrates 's Effect On The Heart Of The Soul

Decent Essays

Q1 (i). In different cases such as situations of pleasure, pain, desire, and fear, Laches claims that endurance of the soul is a case that occurs in all of these matters (191e4-192b2). To prove that Laches new answer cannot be right, Socrates starts by making a confirmation: “I think that you don’t regard every kind of endurance as courage. The reason I think so is this: I am fairly sure, Laches, that you regard courage as a very fine thing” (192c3-c5). Socrates goes on to explain that courage can coexist with wisdom and would become a fine thing, but courage can also coexist with folly and the combination of courage with harm and injurious could not be a fine thing (192d1-d6). Laches agrees that if endurance is accompanied by harmful and …show more content…

Therefore, they cannot conclude that this foolish endurance is courageous because foolishness is harmful and harmful and injurious matters are not noble nor are they very fine things.
Q2 (i). In regard to Nicias’ answer, Laches believes wisdom and courage are two different things. Trying to prove Nicias wrong, Laches provides an example, “Take an immediate example: in cases of illness, aren’t the doctors the ones who know what is to be feared? Or do you think the courageous are the people who know? Perhaps you call the doctors the courageous?” (195b2-b6). Nicias does not agree with what Laches is saying, although his example does agree with Nicias’ statement that “courage is the knowledge of that which inspires fear” (195a1-a2). This example weakens Nicias’ position because Laches provides an example of a doctor who knows what is to be feared in illnesses, therefore should be courageous, but Nicias’ is claiming that he does not think a doctor is both courageous knowledgeable to inspire fear and hope. Laches then presents Nicias with a farming example. Laches explains that Nicias would not consider farmers as courageous even though they are the ones who know what is to be feared in farming (195b6-b9). Nicias does not understand what Laches is trying to say, but is still claiming that it is not true (195c3). Nicias was hoping to explain that courage is a kind of wisdom and not associate it with all knowledge and wisdom. Nicias’ counter-argument claims that

Get Access