Socrates Claim That Nobody Does Wrong Knowingly?

Plato’s Apology features Socrates’ apology statement in his trial which features the philosophical ideas of Socrates. One of these is the claim that nobody does wrong knowingly. He claims that all wrong deeds are the result of ignorance rather than deliberate acts because immoral acts cause people harm. However, there is fault with this claim as people do wrong, whether it be to themselves, others, or something else, intentionally. The problems with Socrates argument is that includes conflictions with his other views such as virtue and the virtuous life, his thoughts on ignorance, and his ideas on wrong doing and harm.

A problem with Socrates’ claim that nobody does wrong knowingly is that it conflicts with his views on virtue. He mentions

He says that if we are aware of our own ignorance, then we are more susceptible to learning the truth that there are things we do not know . To be aware of our ignorance, we recognise there are things we know and do not know. An artist is unlikely to know all the details of a physics theorem as much as a physicist is not experienced in creating art. This does not apply well with immoral actions. While it is possible to do a wrong thinking that it is right, if one is aware of their ignorance, then they should recognise that when they perform an action, there is a chance that it could be a disgraceful one. Being aware that an action could be moral or immoral means that if the action was performed anyway and it was a wrong one, that person willingly did something that had the possibility of being immoral to them. As Socrates claims that everyone should all live a virtuous life, then doing something that could be immoral would be going against being virtuous as they should only seek to do things they know is right. This leads to the conclusion that if someone is aware of their ignorance, they are aware that they could do wrong, and means that they can perform acts that are wrong, knowing that there is a possibility that they are wrong. Thus, it does not follow that someone who is aware of their ignorance is able to do wrong unknowingly. If someone did do a wrong unknowingly, they would be claiming that they thought it was a right act and would not be recognising their own ignorance. From this, it can be concluded that being aware of your own ignorance and not being able to do wrong knowingly cannot work together, leading to the idea that Socrates claim on wrong doing is