Was Socrates Pursue An Ideal Society?

“A good, and successful, student always asks questions.” Socrates was a firm believer in this saying as well as many teachers today. In the dialogue of Plato’s Republic, Socrates favored student, Glaucon, opens book 5 with a series of questions, these questions are later referred to as the three waves of book 5. In wave one the issue of men and women becoming equal in an ideal state is mentioned, and questioned. Wave two talks about the importance of family, and how it works.

The Republic by Plato examines many aspects of the human condition. In this piece of writing Plato reveals the sentiments of Socrates as they define how humans function and interact with one another. He even more closely Socrates looks at morality and the values individuals hold most important. One value looked at by Socrates and his colleagues is the principle of justice. Multiple definitions of justice are given and Socrates analyzes the merit of each. As the group defines justice they show how self-interest shapes the progression of their arguments and contributes to the definition of justice.

Plato is remembered as one of the worlds best known philosophers who along with his writings are widely studied. Plato was a student of the great Greek philosopher Socrates and later went on to be the teacher of Aristotle. Plato’s writings such as “The Republic”, “Apology” and “Symposium” reveal a great amount of insight on what was central to his worldview. He was a true philosopher as he was constantly searching for wisdom and believed questioning every aspect of life would lead him to the knowledge he sought. He was disgusted with the common occurrence of Greeks not thinking for themselves but simply accepting the popular opinion also known as doxa. Plato believed that we ought to search for and meditate on the ideal versions of beauty, justice, wisdom, and other concepts which he referred to as the forms. His hostility towards doxa, theory of the forms, and perspective on reality were the central ideas that shaped Plato’s worldview and led him to be the great philosopher who is still revered today.

Answer: Socrates believed that women should be given the same education, music and gymnasium, as their male counterparts. However, he says that though the two sexes share identical pursuits, comparatively, males quantitatively

In The Republic by Plato, Plato constructed an ideal city where Philosophers would rule. Governed by an aristocratic form of government, it took away some of the most basic rights a normal citizen should deserve, freedom of choice, worship, and assembly were distressed. Though the idea of philosopher kings is good on paper, fundamental flaws of the human kind even described by Plato himself prevent it from being truly successful. The idea of an ideal democratic government like what our founding fathers had envisioned is the most successful and best political form which will ensure individual freedom and keep power struggle to a minimum.

In this excerpt of Plato’s Apology, Socrates question method, the Socratic Method, is shown. Socrates presents Meletus with a thesis which Meletus agrees with, and then Socrates proves it wrong. By using the case of horses, Socrates proves to Meletus that like all other citizens of Athens, Socrates is a good influence on the youth. Socrates, yet again possessing the truth in this situation, demonstrates his wisdom through his skillful speech that “others fear.”

In The Republic, Plato builds around the idea of Philosopher Rulers. Even though it is not his primary point, it certainly is at the core of his discussion of the ideal state. The question that arises is, 'Why do you need ideal states which will have philosophers as rulers?' There are many layers to the

Throughout the ancient world women possessed few rights and privileges. A woman’s freedom varied depending on where she was born, in this case Athens and Sparta. But it can be said that most women were second-class citizens during this time period. Most women had limited social roles, little education, and no involvement in politics. Power and freedom was something that only existed in a man’s world, while women were expected to be submissive, docile, bear children, and take care of the household. Surviving records from ancient Greece show that women’s roles did not differ much from city-state to city-state but there were exceptions that include noble women and most notably, Spartan women. Some civilizations treated women with respect

Another major theme of the story is discrimination; as previously mentioned, Socrates being an African-American, struggles to find work in society due to his background, and this is evident in the passage when Socrates asked the assistant manager Anton Crier for a job application. Anton tried to belittle Socrates by knitting his brow, saying “An application for what?” (Mosley 1372) “Anton Crier’s brow knitted” (Mosley 1372), Anton is surprised by the fact that a low class, black man, like Socrates is coming up to the store to ask for a job application. Anton continued to belittle Socrates by asking “Uh. How old are you, sir?” (Mosley 1372) Socrates responded back saying, “Askin’ me my age is against the law, you can’t discriminate against color or sex or religion or infirmity against age (Mosely 1372). Anton followed with, “Uh well, yes, of course, it is, it’s just that we don’t have openings at this time” (Mosely 1372). At this point, Socrates was feeling very disrespected, and started to wonder “if any of those young black women would stand up for him” (Mosley 1373). “You looked at my clothes and at my bald head, first, yo’ eyes said that this is some kinda old hobo and what do he want here when it ain’t bottle redemption time.” (Mosely 1378). Socrates believed everyone should have an equal

He gets Meletus to agree with a series of claims, the first of which is that it would be better to live amongst good citizens rather than bad citizens. He then claims that good citizens do their neighbors good and bad citizens do their neighbors evil. Meletus agrees with both. Next Socrates questions Meletus if there is anybody who would prefer to be hurt by those who live with them rather than benefit from them. Meletus answers no because nobody likes to be injured.

In The Republic of Plato, Plato, in addition to sharing his views on justice, shares his views on democracy using a fictionalized Socrates to outline the most pressing issues. Plato’s views on democracy are negative; he believes democracy to be bred from a response to inequality of wealth and to heighten all of humanities worst traits. Plato believes democracy leads to unequipped leaders who hold offices and power without the necessary traits and preparation.

Plato was an Ancient Greek philosopher who lived between 428-432 B.C. He wrote mainly in dialogues, to stay true to how Socrates communicated philosophy. Plato displayed what is considered Socrates’ philosophy throughout the dialogue The Apology. In The Republic, Socrates is mainly used as a mouthpiece to communicate Plato’s philosophy. Socrates follows a philosophy best explained as “I do not know”, whereas Plato tries to find the ultimate solution to philosophical problems. In this essay, I will argue how Socrates has the best philosophical approach compared to that of Plato.

Plato, in addition to being a philosopher, wrestled at the Olympic level, is one of the classical Greek authors, mathematicians and the founder of The Academy, the first higher learning institute in the west. In short, Plato is one of the great thinkers in history and his contributions to philosophy, ethics and politics are many and varied. One of Plato’s main philosophical ideas is based on the idea that the world

Book V of the Republic discusses Women’s equality in regard to military capability – however, the book mentions a key point about how women are treated in today’s society and cultures. Plato writes about a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, who is known as Plato’s older brother. As described in the text, Glaucon is feverishly denouncing woman’s equality, as he believes their rightful place is in the home away from mischief and trouble (Glaucon, p62). However, Socrates creates a compelling argument in which he attempts to persuade Glaucon’s opinion. In this essay, I will be arguing that woman deserve the same education as men and point out

In the Republic, Plato says a great deal of his beliefs and the reasons behind them. For example, in the Republic Book 2, lines 377a-378d talks about how children must learn about music first. Plato wants children well educated so when they’re older, society stays the same and everyone will be smart. In the Republic Book 3 lines 401a-402b, Plato mentions that they need to watch what the State is teaching everyone and that they need to suppress the bad. He believes that young men will benefit from only being shown and hearing about highly educated things. Plato and Socrates want everyone to be taught