Sheneka Anders Dr. Williams Humanities 1301 8 December 2017 Socrates Socrates was a great philosopher who had an incredible impact on philosopher of his time and even philosopher today. He lived in Athena from 469 B.C.E to 399 B.C.E. He taught his ism of life on the street to anyone who cared to listen. Socrates’ philosophy mainly was that everyone is responsible for his or her own moral attitudes. He was a critic of democracy. He asked simple questions that had difficult result to people who were considered wise at the time. His precept were based on discovering the Truth , understanding life, and talk about the elements that make up a good life. Socrates was brought to trial with many explosive charge for his teachings and philosophy. Who would know that Socrates trial would have such an impact on philosophy today? Socrates is reflected as the top philosopher of all time. He had great influences on many people throughout history. Socrates worked hard throughout his life to try to make people think deeper beyond the everyday thought and that of moral ethics. Socrates wanted to define what was morally right from wrong. This is what derived the Socratic Method. (Bishop) It was what Socrates considered to be the way a person should live their life. The thing that set Socrates apart from others, though, was that he stuck to this Socratic Method so persistently that is finally led to his death. At a time when many people would have thrown it out the window to save their
Socrates was a Greek philosopher, who is one of the founders of western philosophy. Socrates never wrote down his ideas or thoughts; his student, Plato, wrote down his ideas and thoughts. Socrates was accused of expressing there were different Gods and he was brought to trial in 399.B.C.E. Socrates character, in the different passages I read, Euthyphro, Apology and Citro are a little contradictory. Also if the act of persuading the state is the only alternative to blind obedience, why did Socrates' in both of specifically in his defense and generally in his career make so little effort to persuade the people when they were acting unjustly? In this essay I hope to demonstrate how Socrates character contradicts in these different passages and
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.
Socrates is believed to be one of the greatest philosophers of all time and he is credited as being the founder of western philosophy. This paper will explain some of his views to the most fundamental questions of today’s age. These questions will include topics about morality, the human condition, solution, and death. After Socrates’ views on these topics are explained, a critique will be done on his answers. I will start out by explaining exactly who Socrates is, and the time that he lived in. To start out, we will first examine Socrates’ view on morality.
3. Another crucial piece of dialogue is Socrates's discussion of what would happen if they were to acquit him of the charges and allow him to live if he would stop discussing his philosophy. To this line of reasoning Socrates avows that he would not be willing or even able to cease his discussions and his practice of philosophy because he believes it is a task put on him by the gods, 29d paraphrased. This statement displays Socrates's deep need to live a life of integrity. Further he proclaims that were he to live he will continue to “go around doing nothing but persuading both young and old among you not to care for your body or wealth in preference to or as strongly as for the best possible state of your soul” 30a-b. Socrates's main concern is the welfare of the souls of all
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
Socrates was a Greek philosopher, who is one of the founders of western philosophy. Socrates never wrote down his ideas or thoughts, his students or compressors, Plato, wrote down his ideas and thoughts. Socrates was accused of expressing there were different Gods and he was brought to trial in 399.B.C.E. Socrates character, in the different passages I read, Euthyphro, Apology and Citro are a little contradictory. And if the act of persuading the state is the only alternative to blind obedience, why did Socrates' in both of specifically in his defense and generally in his career make so little effort to persuade the people when they were acting unjustly? In this essay I hope to demonstrate how Socrates character contradicts in these different passages and why didn't he persuade the people when the people were acting so unjustly.
Socrates values his arguments and beliefs over his life, as he states in Crito, “… for I am still what I always have been – a man who will accept no argument but that which on reflection I find the truest. I cannot cast aside my former arguments because this misfortune has come to me” (Church, 55). Socrates is wiser than I, but I possess the basic human instinct to survive at almost any
Socrates; the founder of Western Philosophy, the first user of the Socratic method and Socratic irony, contributor to the field of ethics, and martyr for teaching what he thought was right. Indeed, Socrates is a household name, yet the picture many hold of Socrates may not be true to who Socrates actually was. Socrates considered himself a teacher and a thinker, not a writer, thus he wrote none of his teachings or thoughts down. As a consequence, the only surviving accounts of Socrates come second hand from his pupils, Plato and Xenophon, and from the playwright Aristophanes. However, it is difficult to tell how much of the Socrates depicted in the works of those men is embellishment or outright fabrication, and how much is truth. This problem, the Socratic Problem, has been troubling historians and philosophers for centuries, and will go on doing so. While the real Socrates may never be known, Socrates the character may be studied extensively through the works of his pupils. Plato’s Symposium depicts Socrates in an informal setting, getting drunk with friends, and offers an opportunity to see Socrates’ character and personality more clearly. While Symposium is set at a party, Socrates is still shown to be a larger-than-life, idealized character, who may have been too brilliant and perfect to be true.
SOCRATES Socrates was a Greek philosopher who lived between 470-399 B.C. He turned Greek attention toward questions of ethics and virtue and away from those of the heavenly bodies. Socrates spent much time in the Agora (marketplace) where he held conversations with townspeople. Socrates believed that real truth could be found out through thought and collaboration with others. He was known for exposing ignorance, hypocrisy, and conceit. Despite having many followers, Socrates was disliked by most Athenians. At the age of 70, he was convicted of atheism, treason and corruption of the young. He was originally ordered to leave Athens, but chose to drink poison instead. This great man valued the law over his life, and so he chose to drank
Socrates was the most radical thinker of his time. “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question.” (Mills) His radical l ideas were what eventually caused his death, but they are also the reason that we still remember him today. Socrates was put on trial because the people of his time thought that he was poisoning the minds of their youth. The young men of that time would go to Socrates to learn things, and when they shared the knowledge that they learned with their parents they were angry and for this reason he was put on trial. His trial is
According to Dr. Dave Yount, many Athenians still regret their decision to put Socrates to death to this day. Is this feeling of regret acceptable? This paper will explore the details surrounding the trial of Socrates and whether or not he was treated fairly throughout the sentencing process. In The Apology of Socrates, Plato describes the charges against Socrates as not believing in the gods recognized by the state, introducing supernatural beings, and corrupting the youth (246. 9-12). By considering Socrates’ impiety, internal betrayal of the city, and arrogance and hypocritical words, it should be understood that the Athenians were just in their verdict and punishment of Socrates.
Socrates advocated for himself that he just did everything he thought good, right to men of Athens. He tried to demonstrate that he was not wisest man in Athens; that people thought they know something when they do not know. Today, instead of that, people try to get another way to get what they want; don’t care about conscience. Socrates also thought he had an ethical obligation to live with philosophy life and exhorting people to care for the perfection of soul. He did his mission over and over time; because he believed that his obligation; that he owed a duty to the truth.
Socrates is known for his moving of Greek philosophical thought from the consideration of the way of the universe, which involved the rationalists before him, to the examination of human life and its issues. He was the first to study morals as a science—that may be, to study profound quality in a deliberate, steady way. Researchers have noted that the effect of Socrates on the advancement of Western society and reasoning can't be exaggerated, and some have recommended that his teachings affected the improvement of Christianity. Yet the investigation of Socrates' theory is tormented by the "issue of Socrates": he doesn't wrot anything. After his demise, and maybe before it, his adherents started to record points of interest of his life and thought, yet these are seemingly more interpretive in
Socrates was a great philosopher of the Greek world. He was quite an atypical and distinctive person. Being different from all the other philosophers of the land, Socrates was teaching his students ideas totally out of the ordinary from what the society believed was right. As a result, he displeased many people so much that they decided to get rid of him. Socrates was put to trial, accused of spoiling the youth of Athens, tried and sentenced to death. His personal defense is described in works two of his students: Xenophon and Plato. Both of them wrote papers called Apology, which is the Greek word for “defense”. In this essay I used Apology by Plato as the main resource, since it contents a more full account of the trial of Socrates and
“Socrates’ positive influence touches us even today” (May 6) and we can learn a great deal about him from one of his students, Plato. It is in Plato’s report of Socrates’ trial a work entitled, Apology, and a friend’s visit to his jail cell while he is awaiting his death in Crito, that we discover a man like no other. Socrates was a man following a path he felt that the gods had wanted him to follow and made no excuses for his life and they way he lived it.