Horse Essay

Patrick Mullen
Professor Burton
Philosophy
5/11/2015
The passage starts off by Socrates going toward the new accusers. He reminds them of what they accused him of corrupting the young people and believing in supernatural phenomena. He then calls on Meletus and cross examines him. He then asks Meletus that if he is a bad influence, what a good one is. Meletus responds that laws make people good. Socrates then asks him to clarify which people have this good influence. Meletus first asserts that the jurymen are responsible for knowing the laws, and then accepts both the councilors and members of the assembly as equally good influences. Also, because the assembly is all males, Meletus claims that every Male in Athens has a positive influence on the youth besides Socrates. Socrates then uses his nowfamous analogy of horses.
Only horse trainers, very specialized people, have a positive influence on horses, when most other people would have a negative influence. Surely, as Socrates suggests, if it takes such expertise to improve a horse, it would be odd to think that pretty much anyone can improve a person. Socrates believes that this analogy must be correct in terms of all animals along with human beings because if it takes an expertise to improve a horse, than it would certainly be incorrect to think that everyone in the society can help make young people better.
Socrates believes that human excellence is achieved when one uses his or her potential to the fullest. He refers to this concept as being one’s telos. Telos is the idea that a human being has the ability to do a particular activity. When the activity is performed well and perfected by the person then the person is said to have achieved human excellence. Socrates uses the horse trainer as an example of telos. The horse trainer prepares the horse to perform for other people. The telos, or goal, of the trainer is to prepare the horse so it can perform well, even if he harms it while doing so. Socrates’ view of the telos of human nature is that each person has a purpose or goal in life. Socrates’ telos was to teach and to share his knowledge with people, but others thought he was only corrupting the youth. Even though he was thought to be doing wrong, Socrates knew he performing his telos and therefore obtaining human excellence. Socrates feels that in order to achieve human excellence one must go through a process he calls the “improvement of the soul.” He describes this as an inquiry of one’s self and of others to find mutual standards that govern right conduct. The main principles that are used to improve the soul are the ones that govern right conduct with reason and that are already known to be right and good by the people. The primary purpose of Socrates idea of the “improvement of the soul” is for the person to gain character, which will eventually lead to achieving human excellence. Another idea that Socrates believes in is that “no evil can happen to a good man.” The gods are the ones who decide what is to happen to a person. Since the gods are perfect and aren’t evil, the destiny they give to a person will never be evil, even if it seems to be cruel or unfair. In confronting Meletus, Socrates argues that like horses, men are treated well by a few good men and treated harshly by others which are common characteristics of life. He says if he corrupts the youth, it would be unintentionally. No one would corrupt his neighbor intentionally because it would hurt themselves in the long run.
This was said to argue for the functions of the arts. The horse trainer's art is to train horses. The philosopher's art to morally educate the youth. Meletus calls this education "corruption." Socrates makes Meletus prosecution look like poor art criticism. Another srguement to be made for this is training an animal of its own species.