Socrates believes that he is an individual who had the potential to accomplish extraordinary feats due to his unique set of traits. He claims, “If they were of any use, Crito, the many would be able to do the greatest evils, and so they would also be able to do the greatest goods, and that would be fine. But as it is they can do neither, since they cannot make a man either wise or foolish” (Crito, 44d). Only certain people have the capacity to complete enormous feats, and those people are not average citizens of the state. Instead, they must have qualities that set them apart from the rest of the population. Furthermore, “it is reputed at least that Socrates is distinguished from the many human beings in some way” (The Apology, 34e). …show more content…
One area where Socrates is very open about what he doesn’t know is death. Since, “no one knows whether death does not even happen to be the greatest of all goods for the human being; but people fear it as though they knew well that it is the greatest of evils” (The Apology, 29a). Socrates is emphasizing that people make assumptions about specific aspects of death, but those people don’t actually know what death is like. The majority of people are content to fear death even though there is the possibility that death could be the greatest experience that humans have. Socrates openly claims that he doesn’t know what death is like, but the “wise” men say that death is to be feared. Socrates challenges the beliefs of the many again, “we must not pay much heed to what the many will say to us, but to what the one who knows about just and unjust things will say” (Crito, 48a), It is important to ignore what the majority of people say, and to listen to the person who has a better understanding of justice than oneself as that person possesses more knowledge about the topic than the majority of the people. Socrates belief about extraordinary individuals holds true for people in the more recent history. Adolf Hitler is an example of an extraordinary individual who used their outstanding qualities for evil purposes. Hitler rose to power legally and without seizing it himself. Instead he manipulated President Hindenburg into handing power over. Hitler was a very intelligent
For these two articles that we read in Crito and Apology by Plato, we could know Socrates is an enduring person with imagination, because he presents us with a mass of contradictions: Most eloquent men, yet he never wrote a word; ugliest yet most profoundly attractive; ignorant yet wise; wrongfully convicted, yet unwilling to avoid his unjust execution. Behind these conundrums is a contradiction less often explored: Socrates is at once the most Athenian, most local, citizenly, and patriotic of philosophers; and yet the most self-regarding of Athenians. Exploring that contradiction, between ¡§Socrates the loyal Athenian citizen¡¨ and ¡§Socrates the philosophical critic of Athenian society,¡¨ will help
The significance of this quote is a representation of how Socrates feels about death. He believes that no one can escape death therefor shouldn’t fear death at all. Fearing the unknown is not going to get us anywhere expect limit our potential. He also believes that it is not difficult to refrain from death but it is difficult to stay away from evil since it surrounds us all. I believe this quote demonstrates the high believe Socrates acquires about death and the idea of the after life to convince the jury because he was trying to demonstrate to the jury that he is not scared death because he is willingly accepting his fate.
Socrates put one’s quest for wisdom and the instruction of others above everything else in life. A simple man both in the way he talked and the wealth he owned, he believed that simplicity in whatever one did was the best way of acquiring knowledge and passing it unto others. He is famous for saying that “the unexplained life is not worth living.” He endeavored therefore to break down the arguments of those who talked with a flowery language and boasted of being experts in given subjects (Rhees 30). His aim was to show that the person making a claim on wisdom and knowledge was in fact a confused one whose clarity about a given subject was far from what they claimed. Socrates, in all his simplicity never advanced any theories of his own
Socrates was a revolutionary thinker. He brought new ideas and processes of thought to Athenian society and his work still has its place in the world today. However during his time, his ideas were not always thought of as a good thing. Many viewed him as a corrupting influence on other people and accused him of forcing his ideas upon others. Perhaps most frequently the center of controversy was his thoughts on theocracy and piety as seen in the Plato’s Euthyphro. Socrates also appears at the butt end of Aristophanes’ comedy Clouds, where he is satirically ridiculed and seemingly corrupting the youth of Athens in his school, the Thinkery. Although virtually completely seen as a positive influence now, in ancient times, Socrates may have
Socrates has many views on death. Socrates states “For the fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being a pretence of knowing the unknown; and no one knows whether death, which men in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.” He believes he has nothing to fear. He states death is either a long and dreamless sleep or a journey to another place where only good can be found. As a result, he can encounter more old heroes and demigods and as a result gain more wisdom.
Socrates, while brilliant, was still very affected by the time period and the location in which he lived. Athens, the community in which he lived was far more homogenous than most countries today, whom contain an array of citizens from varying economic and ethnic backgrounds. Such diversity can, however unfortunate, create conflict. Thus, in order to make a community suitable for such a wide range of different people, the individual needs need to come to the
Socrates is eventually found guilty and is to fight no longer for his innocence, but against a penalty of death. As Socrates speaks to the jury he begins to speak more of the meanings of life opposed to the need for life. He claims, “it is the greatest good for a man to discuss virtue every day and those other things about which you hear me conversing and testing myself and others, for the unexamined life is not worth living for men.. (Cahn pg. Apology39 38a1-4).” Although Socrates never explicitly states why he feels this way, but upon reading this statement and analyzing its context one can grasp a sense of this argument. Socrates is arguing that life is unlived if it is not questioned and our thoughts are not examined. He understands that his wisdom is far greater than that of the jury, and he feels that all other punishments would leave him unhappy and dissatisfied. He would rather suffer death than to go against the laws of the state, although he is being wrongly convicted. He feels he has lived a good life and a true life because he was able to examine himself and others true
“the hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways – I to die, and
The portrayal of Socrates, through the book “the trial and death of Socrates” is one that has created a fairly controversial character in Western history. In many ways, Socrates changed the idea of common philosophy in ancient Greece; he transformed their view on philosophy from a study of why the way things are, into a consideration man. Specifically, he analyzed the virtue and health of the human soul. Along side commending Socrates for his strong beliefs, and having the courage to stand by those convictions, Socrates can be commended for many other desirable characteristics. Some of those can include being the first martyr to die for his philosophical beliefs and having the courage to challenge indoctrinated cultural norms is part of
In his defense, Socrates claims over and again that he is innocent and is not at all wise, “…for I know that I have no wisdom, small or great.” Throughout the rest of his oration he seems to act the opposite as if he is better than every man, and later he even claims that, “At any rate, the world has decided that Socrates is in some way superior to other
"Defense of Socrates" consists of anecdotes, questions, and truth; all of which, emphasis Socrates' stance of being wrongly accused of impiety. Socrates' usage of anecdotes and testimonies was an excellent tactic to justify his character. His questions to the allegers brought about contradictions in his charges to support his stance of being wrongly accused. The emphatic truth behind every word he spoke gave the jury a revelation. These three components made this speech a piece of wisdom, not just to its readers but also to the court (who possibly heard this speech in person). The wisdom enveloped in this speech was to defend yourself in an assertive manner by exposing the truth, rather than speaking against your prosecutors. Whether or not
Within the events of Apology of Socrates, Socrates himself proceeds to give clarity to the matter of the accusation that he is voluntarily corrupting the youth he instructs. While the word structure can be somewhat confusing, he questions Meletus on issues in a very black and white matter. Do bad people do bad things and good people do good? Do people want to be injured? With each answer, Meletus states the obvious in regards to good/bad actions and not wishing self-harm. When Meletus claims that Socrates inflicts harm intentionally, Socrates brings up age in correlation to wisdom. This starts the climax. With Meletus being younger and claiming Socrates with intentional evil, Socrates says that it shows himself to be so inept as to not realize
First, Socrates addresses that “To fear death, gentlemen are no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all
He knows that when he is put to death, they will be the ones at a loss of his knowledge and true wisdom. He still believes he has gained no reasons to think that he can lose in death as his acts were not for material gain (28-29). Socrates has shown no fear for being hated by the majority of Athens, yet still finds himself being accused of serious crimes leading to his death.
The problem with Socrates concerns the problem with the role of value and reason. Nietzsche believes that the bulk of philosophers claim that life is a corrupt grievance for mankind. Nietzsche reasoned that these life deniers were decadents of Hellenism, as a symptom of some underlying melancholy. For someone to paint life in such a negative light they must have suffered a great deal through the course of their own life. Furthermore, these no-sayers agreed in various physiological ways and thus adopted the same pessimistic attitudes towards life. Socrates was ugly, alike decadent criminals and by ways of these similarities was decadent as well. Nietzsche also claims ugliness as a physiological symptom of life in its decline supported by studies in phenology.