The Search for True Moral Authority Essay

With so many people starting to follow and listen to the message that Socrates delivered so frequently, there would be twice as many people who thought that he was trying to corrupt the youth. This would not be the case for those who listened to and accepted what Socrates had to say and this started to create a cultural clash. The older generations of Athens that included the likes of leaders, politicians, and parents, would begin to criticize Socrates for implementing this new way of thinking into their children and fellow citizens. “Either I do not corrupt the youth or, if I do, it is unwillingly,” (The Apology, 86). Socrates didn’t willingly try to corrupt the youth, he just hoped to broaden the mind and vision of the people of Athens. Socrates also put a lot of energy and focus on the idea of wisdom, and how being wise should be a person’s number one priority. "Let us reflect in this way, too, that there is good hope that death is a blessing, for it is one of two things: either the dead are nothing and have no perception of anything, or it is, as we are told, a change and a relocation for the soul from here to another place." (The Apology, 88). Socrates was most concerned with his soul, and he felt that this is will live on with him forever. Wisdom should trump the honors that you can receive from war, and the lust for materialistic

Socrates was a Western Ancient Athenian Greek philosopher who lived from 469 BCE until his death in 399 BCE. He was a student to another philosopher, Sophists, Socrates was different from most Greek philosophers he wanted to get at the truth and find out how one can truly be ‘good’ and moral in life. “To Socrates the soul is identified with the mind; it is the seat of reason and capable of finding the ethical truths, which will restore meaning and value of life” (ADD IN-TEXT CITATION SEMINAR). We continue to use many of Socrates teachings today, such as, ‘The Socratic method’, which is known as asking a question and within these questions you lead it to the answer you wanted to hear, many uses this as a teaching technique and is shown to be highly effective. A great number of Athenians looked up to Socrates and considered him the wise man of Athens, he had many followers whom would ask questions and seek answers. As popularity and following of Socrates grew so did accusations. The charges laid on Socrates by the Athenians were unjust and therefore his death was highly wrong in the eyes of true democracy that Athens was apparently known for. In this paper, I will discuss how Socrates was wrongfully convicted for the corruption of the youth despite having many young followers, introducing new Gods while still being considered an Atheist, and the main reason he was seen as a threat to Athens was that he brought change to the city.

In his on Education, Pericles is directly criticizing Spartans and their way of life, comparing it to Athens more well rounded, yet equally worthy of honor, system of education. To begin with, it is important to consider the context in which Pericles is delivering this funeral oration. Honoring the fallen Athenian heroes in the Peloponnesian War, Pericles refers to “our rivals” as Sparta, which, along with its allies, retaliated against Athens in this military confrontation. In the excerpt, Pericles is directly criticizing Spartans and the military education they perpetrated, comparing it to the Athenians, who lived exactly as they pleased, yet were just as capable of confronting the challenges and altercations of the war. As referenced in the text, Pericles states, “While in

According to the definition of the Moral Compass text, moral compass is the reflective, international adoption of values and behaviors as a framework for realizing the good in oneself, in others, and in the social and material environment. My own moral compass is constructed mainly by my parents and the eastern social values and principles of relationships, which are largely influenced by the thoughts and ideas of Buddhism, Taoism and the Confucianism. Among them, Confucianism affects my country’s social values and furthermore my parents and my moral compass the most. In the contrast of Western culture, Confucianism puts a huge emphasis on the relationships between individuals in family, school,

Every day, day after day, you will get better and better” (Prot. 318b). Socrates has two objections: the first being that when the people of Athens meet at the Assembly to discuss certain issues, like building a new ship, or architecture, they will ask an expert in this, but do not enact the opinions of anyone besides these experts. However, in a situation where the discussion is in regard to the politics of the city (i.e., a new law) they will consider the opinions of all citizens, despite not all individuals learned about the subject discussed (Prot. 319b). The second objection raised by Socrates is that he doesn’t believe excellence can be taught because of the numerous examples of good men who have bad kids (Prot. 320a). The main formal argument begins with Protagoras’ great speech. Before his great speech, Protagoras commits himself to the notion that virtue can be taught (Prot. 319a), and Socrates, instead of refuting the point as he normally would, gives Protagoras the chance to further make his argument through a great speech. The great speech is divided into two parts: the myth (320d-324d) and the main argument (324d-328d). He maintains through both parts of the speech that virtue is something that can be taught, and that

Our world today puts huge amounts of emphasis on education, specifically in order to get a better job, make more money or take enjoyment in what we do. We see a similar importance placed on education in Socrates’ make believe city, as described in Plato’s Republic. However, Socrates has made it clear that this education is not for personal betterment or gain, but rather for the common good. Socrates has created his Republic with education of its citizens at the core. This education is put in place to serve many functions, such as development of preferred character traits for the warrior class, creation of equality between the sexes and as a means of indication as to what jobs would suit which

Socrates is also one of the great character in history who does not agree with things that he does not belief or important to him. He disagreed with the Athens god, because they worship the body, also known as the Greek Idea of the body (what the male or female should look like: beautiful fat, muscle, etc.). Society of Peacock in which people walk around with self- appraiser of their body image. Socrates always disagree with the people of Athens and there democracy system and religious belief. “Socratic dialogue” is conversation of question and answer, almost close to debate. Socrates education principle is still important to the educational system. He believed, that “the educated person cannot be educated until you realize what you

Socrates says if he had attempted to participate in politics he would’ve “died long ago and benefited neither” they city of Athens “nor himself” (31e). If one is to fight for justice, argues Socrates and “survive”, “he must lead a private, not a public life”. (32.a) This philosophy goes against Athens most prized conception of democracy- active participation from all citizens. Socrates calls himself a stranger to the assembly and the court of law because he does not speak in the same manner as the population does (17d). He chooses to speak how he is accustomed to speaking in the courtyard during his examination of his fellow citizens (17d). By rejecting the political rhetoric of the people of Athens and the way they speak in the assembly and in the trials, he is essentially rejecting the entire

In the philosophical dialogue “The Apology” by Plato, we are introduced to a highly intelligent Greek philosopher named Socrates, we learn that he is a teacher and that is on a trial because of two main accusations. One, not recognizing the gods that are recognized by the republic, and two, the corruption of the youth. ¨He says that I am a doer of evil, who corrupt the youth; but I say, O men of Athens, that Meletus is a doer of evil, and the evil is that he makes a joke of a serious matter, and is too ready at bringing other men to trial from a pretended zeal and interest about matters in which he really never had the smallest interest. And the truth of this I will endeavor to prove.¨ Socrates defends himself of this accusation by presenting proving the government has no real interest in the improvement of the youth, they are just afraid of what he is teaching them and that is to think for themselves and

Morality: it is a term that is questioned at every corner of every day. The moral idea ranges from something small such as helping an old women cross the street, to the extreme such as the recent actions taken by politicians to limit public union rights in Wisconsin. Dictating the difference between right and wrong has been an issue that dates to the times before Christ, where the idea of moral perfection was used to determine one’s right of passage into heaven. It was not until Benjamin Franklin, who published a guide within of his autobiography, describing thirteen steps to achieving moral perfection. Franklin used these morality milestones to thrive in living a successful life and eventually become one of the founding fathers of the

Socrates, an Athenian philosopher, is on trial for three separate charges of corrupting the youth, undermining the democracy, and disrespecting the gods. By acting in this manner, he is ruining Athens and one may conclude that he hates the very idea of Athens. Socrates has put logic and reason over belief, rejected the traditional democratic government, set bad examples for the youth, and much more, and is therefore guilty of all three charges. The first charge that Socrates is guilty of is corrupting the youth because he is a shameful influence to those who follow him.

Socrates may have moral standards, but perhaps his followers would not. This leads into the charge that he corrupts the youth, for if Socrates can question the gods, they can too. Athenians acted out of fear of heavenly retribution, not morals (Whidden). Those youth found it acceptable to do whatever they wanted because of the apparent lack of gods and thunderbolts coming down from the heavens to smite those who deserve justice. Clouds’ Socrates argues, “If in fact he

Plato's Republic is a blueprint for his ideal society. In his republic education is something only attainable to the philosopher-kings. It is beneficial for the philosopher-kings to be very well educated so they will make good decisions while they are ruling the republic. The reason that no one else should receive such an elaborate education (in Plato's opinion) is because the rest of the people in the city only need to do what they are specialized in. This seems to be divergent from what Socrates previously said, ."..the power to learn is present in everyone's

“But when Socrates was busying himself with ethical questions to the complete neglect of nature as a whole, and was seeking in them for the universal and directing the mind for the first time to definitions, Plato, accepting his teaching, came to the conclusion that it applied to something other than the sensible world: the common definition, he reasoned, could not apply to any of the sensible, since they were always changing,” (Guthrie). Socrates was constantly wrapped up in thought about how the mind works, and of course, how and why the mind changes. These ideas strengthened many of the arguments that Socrates makes in Republic books one through seven. Some of these arguments can be modeled in the question: what is justice? In this question, Socrates plays many mind games with those around him and gets them to all change their mind about what their view of justice is and what it truly means. Later on in the books, Socrates describes the perfect city, and exactly how that relates to the ever-changing mind. This is interesting because it is nothing like the current society most live in, a democracy. Rather, it is based off of a republic form of government using education of those holding power to signify why they have power. In this world, education is everything. Finally, another idea in which Socrates, or rather Plato, discusses in Republic is the idea of pedagogy or, more simply said, education is modern society. Pedagogy is essentially the roots to all other

Morals, values and ethics define who we are and what we believe. Culture, religion, and many other things affect our beliefs. One uses various types off ethics when surrounded by different groups. Knowing between right and wrong is a good foundation to practicing good ethics and morals. These things make morals, ethics, and values important in society.