The discussion between Socrates and Meno revolves around a single question “What is virtue?” Socrates is interested in knowing what the intrinsic nature of a virtue is and what makes all instances of virtue‚ virtuous. In other words‚ the reason why something is a virtue. Although Meno produces a myriad of examples when he says “There is a virtue for every action and every age‚ for every task of ours and every one of us…” it still does not answer Socrates’ question. He provides virtuous examples‚
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Socrates spent most of his life in Athens. During his life he witnessed the rise and glory of Athens and the rapid decline of Athens during the Peloponnesian war. Socrates met and talked with a variety of people such as politicians‚ statesmen‚ sophists‚ poets‚ architects‚ and ordinary citizens. He taught philosophy to the youth of Athens‚ devoted friends‚ and pupils like Crito. Plato was one of Socrates’ students‚ and he is considered to be most brilliant student of Socrates. In fact‚ Plato is the
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Republic‚ Socrates outlines that this problem is not new and can be accurately shown in what he calls The Allegory of the Cave. The cave is a metaphorical situation whereby there are fictional prisoners in a fictional cave who only know the reality that is shown to them. According to Socrates‚ the prisoners are an example of people who do not live the life of philosopher and have never searched for universal truths. In other words‚ basically everybody. In order for them to escape the cave‚ Socrates says
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What exactly is the purpose of the unexamined life? Why is the unexamined life not worth living? Why does Socrates argue it effectively and how does it contribute to why it is a strong thesis and why he lacks reasoning and thought? Socrates states that the purpose of the unexamined life and why it’s worth living is because humans have the ability to find a purpose in life rather than just working on surviving. Finding a purpose makes people who they are because the journey in life makes people understand
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The paramount political principle that guided Socrates in Book 5 is the process of acquiring knowledge. This knowledge would be employed to study the concept of an ideal existence. This model existence consisted of a society within a city state which was supported and guarded by an elite group of guardians (451e). In this hierarchal space‚ Socrates equated the male and female guardians of this society with guard dogs (451e). Guard dogs by their nature and growth would embody certain qualities. Hence
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When Socrates meets Confucius Emotionales versus Rationales: A Comparison between Confucius and Socrates ABSTRACT Socrates regards rational knowledge as the decisive factor of human life and even ascribes all virtues and moral actions to it‚ thereby stressing the ‘rationales’ of ethics. In contrast‚ Confucius regards kinship love as the decisive factor of human life and even grounds all virtues and moral actions on it‚ thereby stressing the ‘emotionales’ of ethics. Therefore‚ we should not
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Trial and Death of Socrates The book The Trial and Death of Socrates is all about the famous philosopher Socrates‚ dealing with the challenges and disputes he encountered. Its told by another famous philosopher Platos’ perspective‚ who was a pupil of Socrates. The book focuses on 4 main dialogues Euthyphro‚ Apology‚ Crito‚ and Phaedo. While demonstrating themes of wisdom‚ existence‚ and death. First dialogue of this book is Euthyphro‚ which contains the characters Socrates‚ Euthyphro‚ and Meletus
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Socrates on Death Now the hour to part has come. I go to die‚ you go to live. Which of us goes to the better lot is known to no one‚ except the god. (42a) Fear of the unknown is a phobia inherent to the human psyche; we are often dually terrified and fascinated with that which we cannot explain or understand. Accordingly‚ death is the ultimate fear; a subject of which cannot be studied or observed first hand without lethal consequences‚ a topic on which no one can rightly claim to be an expert
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Do the gods love the something because it is pious‚ or is it only pious because the gods love it? Socrates introduced this question and it has since been heavily debated throughout history with the sides split fairly evenly. This inquiry that has been posed leads people to start actually thinking about their values brought to them their entire life. Although they are following the rules that are laid out by either a holy figure‚ a mentor‚ or a political leader the moral thing to do? Can one be
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Socrates’ Refusal of Crito’s Proposal Nicole Pardue Word Count 737 We ask ourselves why Socrates would refuse the proposal made by Crito to save his life. Socrates’ fate would be exultation‚ but he would be alive. Although he is no young jock he still has life left. We see that Socrates is a man who has self respect as well as respect for those around him. He did not accept his friends offer to get him out of prison and to save his life due to this respect. He says that is it not right to
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