The founding father of Philosophy was known as Socrates, he was born on 469 BCE and was later executed on 399 BCE while Athens was dealing with the Peloponnesian war against Sparta (Ancient). The decision to execute Socrates during the war may had been the fragile state that Athens was dealing with while in war. If there wasn’t a war the outcome of his death could had been a different.…
Socrates who was he? “Socrates was a Greek philosopher. Socrates was born c. 470/469 B.C., in Athens”. (Wiki) In Phaedo, I understand that Socrates he has arguments that demonstrate that the soul is immortal. “If we live on after bodily death, there is no reason to fear it.” (Phaedo) However, these ideas are attributed to Socrates in Phaedo. Of course we have no way of knowing if he feared death or not. He appeared not to fear death but who knows. You hear people say all the time, "I have no fear of death"--I've even thought that to myself-- but there's no way they or myself can know that until the last few minutes of life. I think that virtually everyone will fear death at…
Martin Luther King Junior and Socrates argue for a different meanings and reasoning’s behind the differences of a single person and the law by which we have to follow. They were written many years apart but they are still very similar to the ideas of justice. The way that the two argue are almost completely opposite depending on the way that they feel towards authority and inner direction or moral guidance to lead you by. In the Crito, Socrates provides a lot of different arguments to understand why he refuses to escape from jail and avoid certain death, even though he believes that his sentence is unjust in its own. In the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. is speaking to Birmingham’s clergymen who requested that he stop demonstrating…
This quote is significant because it exemplifies the way Socrates uses HIS method. Socrates uses metaphors in order to humbly enlighten his audience. At times Socrates structure of explanation is perceived to be complex and or difficult to interpret. To simplify what he is attempting to get across usually takes a thorough examination. Socrates is from ancient times and his methodology still suits fit to modern day. Analyzing the context of his circumstances before death alone goes to show the depth of understanding one needs to comprehend his ideology and beliefs. This quote also provides us with the notion of not being selfish and to avoid pretentious. When one thinks about death or the chance of dying when they’re in a predicament because…
There are numerous charges against Socrates in the reading of The Apology. The basic charges against him include impiety, corrupting the youth, and theorizing about unknown topics. He does not believe in the gods that the state does, and therefore seeks for natural explanations to processes that occur in the world around him. He did not recognize the gods and introduced other new divinities. Socrates was charged with corrupting the youth. Due to the constant asking of questions and inquiry, it lead him to try to discover new things about life. Since he looked for natural reason, he began to teach others about his understandings. His followers soon began to imitate his methods and expose other people as unwise which was a threat to the order…
“The most intriguing people you will encounter in this life are the people who had insights about you, that you didn't know about yourself” (Alder). This quote can be used to show why the great Greek philosopher, Socrates is deemed as being so intriguing. During his time, Socrates was seen as a great threat because he tended to break free from the normal way of thinking and inevitably, people became afraid of him. Socrates was eventually put to death on account of “corrupting the youth” and being an “atheist,” which were false claims against him to cover up the fact that his accusers simply didn’t like him or his ways. When reading Plato’s Republic, Socrates is shown as being very intriguing because of: his humble ways, his Socratic method,…
He must do this regardless of the opinion of the majority or possible consequences for himself; he must act only in accordance to the opinion of the few wise, knowledgeable men who understand what is justice, and the laws of the State. Unfortunately, in all of the dialogues the author of this essay has read5, Socrates never clearly explains what ‘the laws’ really are — they remain a sort of abstraction, a divine essence of justice. However, this does not invalidate our definition of a champion of…
Virtue, rather than being a teachable piece of knowledge, seems to be an innate understanding. Every person in the world, save perhaps psychopaths and sociopaths, naturally has a strong moral compass. An example that proves this idea is the innocence of children. I have never witnessed a child perform an action with solely malicious intent. Children always have some outside motivation for any hateful actions they perform, so they never do it only to hurt someone. At this point you might think that, yes, children do not do anything with only malicious purposes, but the fact remains that they continue to perform such actions. This is true, but honestly, how have children learned to do such hateful things? No child would consider cursing at anyone if they were angry, but since they observe others performing these actions, the children begin to develop the idea in their minds that doing so must relieve their suffering. It seems, then, that humans learn harmful…
Even though Socrates is proven guilty he has no regrets. He believes he did nothing wrong and is happy to share his knowledge with people. Socrates says, “is not to avoid death but to avoid unrighteousness.”(168-169) In this he is saying he is not upset about dying and he did the right in life. Again he shows this is true when he says, “I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner of life.”(163) He’s saying again he did the right thing and rather die than not have shared his knowledge and be a wise man. Socrates makes it clear he did the right thing in life, at least what he thinks the right thing is. He wants to help people in his life and succeeded in doing so, so he is not afraid of death. He is smart and wise and wants to keep teaching his knowledge. He states this when he says “ You will not easily find another like me, and therefore I advise you to spare me.”(110-111) Socrates makes it clear teaching his believes was obviously not a crime and has no regrets of doing so.…
What exacty is virtue and how does one describe it? In the dialog Meno, two men, Meno and Socrates, attempt to define virtue. The dialog begins with Meno asking Socrates if virtue can be taught. Personally, I do not imagine that virtue can be taught. Meno does not exactly know what virtue is but guesses that it is to possess power and to retain good things. Socrates argues that learning is impossible because a soul has already learned everything from passed lives and that learning is simply recollection from those past lives. The purpose of this paper is to discuss Meno’s paradox and to determine how Socrates resolves it.…
The question of Socrates’ criminality is not straightforward. The truth or falsity of the accusations is not certain. Also, the perspective from which the question is viewed changes its answer. The only certainty is that the philosopher, Socrates, was found guilty and sentenced to death by a jury of his peers for corrupting the youth and a disbelief in the Athenian’s Gods. If the Apology’s origins are to be believed, as in if Plato wrote a true description of events, then it can be said that Socrates does not believe himself to be guilty of these crimes.…
“The Death of Socrates” was painted by a French painter . His name was Jacques Louis David. The painting represents the scene of the death of Greek philosopher Socrates. He was condemned to die by drinking hemlock for the expression of his ideas against those of Athens' and corrupting the minds of the youth. The painting also depicts both Plato and Crito, with the former sitting at the edge of the bed and the latter clutching the knee of Socrates. Socrates had the choice to go into exile and , hence, give up his philosophic vocation or be sentenced to death by drinking hemlock. Socrates chose death. In this painting, someone hands a confident Socrates the goblet of hemlock. Socrates' hand pointing to the heavens indicating his defiance of the gods and fearless attitude to his death.…
This establishes that whether or not Socrates originally believes his punishment is right, by staying in Athens his entire life, he made a commitment to follow the law-being just-therefore, if he is accused of breaking the law and is convicted by the courts of Athens, which represent the law, then he must complete his sentence, or else he is only becoming more unjust. Socrates later decides that although he could escape, it is better to try and do the right thing, despite having done unjust things in the past, and ultimately decides to carry out his punishment. This passage also further examines the gray area within the idea of just and unjust by saying that following the laws is just; however, the people of the court who determine which acts are within the bounds the laws and which acts are not, are also biased according to their own personal perceptions, meaning no human truly knows the intransigent definitions of what is just and what is unjust.…
Even though this reading is old it still carries great value and importance because it shows that knowledge as Socrates argues is not ours but it belongs to God. Hence, Socrates’ work will continue even after his death “For the word which I will speak is not mine.” It reminds me of Jesus Christ, which story is similar to Socrates’. They both followed a divined forced rather than their own interests and hence both didn’t have a sign of this divine force until the very end. However, their end, death, might seem a negative end to others but the opposite was for both Socrates’ and Jesus’ point of view. Furthermore, their deaths didn’t stop the work they were doing and were accused of but it rather intensified it, making other to seek same path or belief.…
Plato’s “The Death of Socrates”, a piece detailing Socrates’ death and his followers’ reactions to his passing, has been reflected on throughout history and is still relevant in its emotions and messages about death. Throughout the piece itself, many of his followers are upset over Socrates’s impending death, and yet, Socrates is not upset, and is actually scolding the others about their feelings and reactions. Socrates understands that his followers are not taking his sentence to death well, shown when Socrates states, “Be of good cheer, then, my dear Crito, and say that you are burying my body only, and do with that as is usual, and as you think best”. Socrates is sensible about his death and knows it is inevitable, and as a result, feels no sorrow in comparison to his followers. This lack of sorrow in Socrates and the pain felt by his followers is shown in David’s painting, The Death of Socrates. In the painting, Socrates does not seem at all concerned about his fate, more so about the others around him, mainly Crito. On the stool by Socrates’ side is Plato, with a hand on Socrates’ leg, looking rather concerned and solemn. However, Socrates is quite the opposite, and appears to be scolding Crito and the others about their lack of control of their emotions. He obviously does not care about his impending death, shown when he reaches for the cup full of poison casually, not even looking at it. This cup holds his death, and his lack of emotion on this particular subject shows his true feelings. Socrates did earn this fate by supposedly corrupting the youth, and although this was unjust, Socrates is willing to die to uphold his cause and what he believes is right. He is sacrificing for the greater good of the community, even if it does not seem as such, since he is essentially taking his own life, and rather willingly. He is more willing to stay true to his belief in civil service than to stay alive, and this is the main reason why David painted this…