It is ironic how a reading can affect a person’s way of thinking and followed actions. Personally, this is why I enjoy a good read. However, I become rather curious when discussions turn into debates as a result of the political and religious concepts within a book.
Paul Johnson's Socrates aims to get rid of the mystery, as he was thought to be “clever” . He lays it all and introduces his audience to the truth about “Happiness, Optimism, and Justice”. An effective comparison is presented between Socrates's ethics and the constructed, and even unusual and startling demands of Jesus. Here Socrates admits within the Crito that only a few can consider that it is always wrong, after you have been hurt, to try and do hurt in return. Johnson gets the Socrates he deserves: a wan psychological feature speaker, a believer in ethical slogans, and an apostle of convention. Socrates contains a series of weird parts; pot-shots at Russell for refusing military service, a surmise that the book was influenced by Greek tragedy, a song of praise of Churchill , and a far-fetched comparison between Socrates death scene and Gladstone’s resignation.
Johnson's book is firm in its efforts to show Socrates into a twenty-first-century compassionate conservative, and to the current finish it often courts breezy anachronism. The subject of women tends to square measure; Socrates suggests, "Liked to think about them leading accountable and consummated lives, however he had no objection to their confining themselves to taking care of their husbands and kids, if that's what they needed." Socrates conjointly couldn't see a lot of distinction between men and girls, except their relative physical strength. Only two females seem within the lifetime of Socrates...
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...crates' dedication to Athenian ideals helped seal his fate as Athens spiralled in to political and military decline and he was tried and guilty of "Corrupting the young" of the city-state. Philosopher saw Socrates, correctly, as the truest lover , not as a result of e possessed the fullness of truth already, however as a result of he longed for that fullness of truth, as he longed for the sunshine.
Although the content was at times contradictory or unclear, the book was mostly a very good read. The diction used, the pictures portrayed, and the storyline itself was exciting enough for the writer. I think I would similarly enjoy it had Johnson not gone out of his way to separate Socrates and Plato. I additionally appreciated Johnson’s illustration of Socrates acknowledgement that clarity was essential in human discourse.
Works Cited
"Socrates" by Paul Johnson, 2011
In this paper I will be discussing the four charges brought against Socrates in Plato’s essay The Apology and why exactly each of these charges is completely fictitious. The four charges brought against Socrates were that he argued the physical over the metaphysical, he argued the weaker claim over the stronger claim, he went against the gods, and he was corrupting the youth. Each of these four charges is false for varying reasons and I will be addressing each explanation on why each charge is a complete sham, after discussing each charge.
Nails, Debra. “Socrates”. Stanford University. Jan 29, 2014. Web. Feb 16, 2014. Retrieved from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates/#SocStr
For these two articles that we read in Crito and Apology by Plato, we could know Socrates is an enduring person with imagination, because he presents us with a mass of contradictions: Most eloquent men, yet he never wrote a word; ugliest yet most profoundly attractive; ignorant yet wise; wrongfully convicted, yet unwilling to avoid his unjust execution. Behind these conundrums is a contradiction less often explored: Socrates is at once the most Athenian, most local, citizenly, and patriotic of philosophers; and yet the most self-regarding of Athenians. Exploring that contradiction, between Socrates the loyal Athenian citizen and Socrates the philosophical critic of Athenian society, will help to position Plato's Socrates in an Athenian legal and historical context; it allows us to reunite Socrates the literary character and Athens the democratic city that tried and executed him. Moreover, those help us to understand Plato¡¦s presentation of the strange legal and ethical drama.
Plato’s "Apology" gives the substance of the defense made by Socrates to the Athenians at his trial. Meletus, Anytus and Lyncon brought Socrates to court on charges of corrupting the morals of the youth, leading the youth away from the principals of democracy, neglecting the Gods of the State and introducing new divinities.
The people in Athens are still respect him, that is why they will treat him seriously and put him in jail. Drifting away the idea of justice, Socrates’s idea challenges the society. Each society has its limit to tolerate, the behavior of Socrates provoke the authority of Athens openly. In this case, Socrates die for the insistence of his own
It isn’t the fact Socrates gave women a role in the ideal society, but rather the fact that he proposed such a controversial idea. The notion of women and their equivalencies to men has been something that has been brought up time and time again throughout history and will always remain a great debate. In The Republic Book 5, Socrates says that even though women are not as physically strong as men, women still have the same abilities and aptitudes as men. Therefore, women should be treated equally with men. Because women have the same mental abilities as men, it is possible for them to become leaders as well. “In this Socratic perspective, basic qualities of the human body and mind such as strength, justice, virtue, temperance, courage, wisdom, etc. exist in both sexes enough to make their inclusion, or the inclusion of anything dependent upon them, in a gender identity distinction into a serious misconception of men and women. This means that the most important and valued attributes of the human heart and mind should never be included in the construction of gender difference. All that is courageous, tender, temperate, virtuous, compassionate, just and wise, all that stands at the heart of our attempts to live well, all that is the very lifeblood of the human spirit’s striving for excellence is never masculine or feminine. It is human” (Maxwell). Maxwell perfectly
During this essay, the trail of Socrates found in the Apology of Plato will be reviewed. What will be looked at during this review is how well Socrates rebuts the charges made against him. We will also talk about if Socrates made the right decision to not escape prison with Crito. Socrates was a very intelligent man; this is why this review is so critical. In Plato’s Apology, it seems that overall Socrates did an effective job using the 3 acts of the mind.
In 399 BC, Socrates, the great philosopher in ancient Greece, was put to death under the hands of his Athenian fellow-citizens to whom he had a strong attachment, after a final vote with over two-thirds of jurymen against him. We cannot experience the situation where Socrates gave his final argument in the court of law. From Plato’s Apology, we admire Socrates’ brilliant rhetoric and rigorous logic, while at the same time feel pity for him and indignant with those ruthless jurymen. However, the question of what exactly caused his death and why was Socrates, such a remarkable thinker sentenced to death in the very society that valued democracy the most is not easy and straightforward to answer. There are multiple elements involved that finally caused this tragedy in which “a person of high moral principle is confronted step by step with a situation from which there is no escape” (38). First of all, the moral principle and belief in divinity held by Socrates are inconsistent with those of the Athenian society, implying the very crimes charged upon Socrates were not completely groundless. Secondly, the imperfect juridical system of Athens played a role in causing this tragedy. What’s more, Socrates himself, could have offered better defense in the court, also had a hand in his own death by his stubbornness regarding to his own interpretation of wisdom and piety. His rebuttal, though brilliant and insightful, was not persuasive enough to move the fellow-citizens for his wrong approach and sophistry in his cross-examination on Meletus.
The Republic by Plato examines many aspects of the human condition. In this piece of writing Plato reveals the sentiments of Socrates as they define how humans function and interact with one another. He even more closely Socrates looks at morality and the values individuals hold most important. One value looked at by Socrates and his colleagues is the principle of justice. Multiple definitions of justice are given and Socrates analyzes the merit of each. As the group defines justice they show how self-interest shapes the progression of their arguments and contributes to the definition of justice.
In Greek literature, women are commonly assigned traditional gender roles. They are forced, confined, and demoted under the relentless and debilitating categorization of submissive, melodramatic, and obedient. When their position in society is juxtaposed with the role of men, the overwhelming discrepancy in the ability to pursue happiness and rights between men and women are especially apparent. While women are often overlooked and considered weak by societal terms, men are regarded upon in the highest esteem and provided with power and authority correlated with their gender, which automatically qualifies them with the role of the dominant figure in society. For the longest of time, society has constructed the role of women in a restrictive way to
Socrates reaches a conclusion that defies a common-sense understanding of justice. Nothing about his death sentence “seems” just, but after further consideration, we find that his escape would be as fruitless as his death, and that in some sense, Socrates owes his obedience to whatever orders Athens gives him since he has benefited from his citizenship.
Imagine the time just after the death of Socrates. The people of Athens were filled with questions about the final judgment of this well-known, long-time citizen of Athens. Socrates was accused at the end of his life of impiety and corruption of youth. Rumors, prejudices, and questions flew about the town. Plato experienced this situation when Socrates, his teacher and friend, accepted the ruling of death from an Athenian court. In The Last Days of Socrates, Plato uses Socrates’ own voice to explain the reasons that Socrates, though innocent in Plato’s view, was convicted and why Socrates did not escape his punishment as offered by the court. The writings, “Euthyphro,” “The Apology,” “Crito,” and “Pheado” not only helped the general population of Athens and the friends and followers of Socrates understand his death, but also showed Socrates in the best possible light. They are connected by their common theme of a memoriam to Socrates and the discussion of virtues. By studying these texts, researchers can see into the culture of Athens, but most important are the discussions about relationships in the book. The relationships between the religion and state and individual and society have impacted the past and are still concerns that are with us today.
Imagine being born into a world where your social status is dependent on your gender, where women are considered inferior to men. This idea is exposed in two Ancient Greece plays “Antigone” by Sophocles and “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes. In both plays most women are considered inferior and do not go against rules established by men. However, there are some women who do not let men restrain them from expressing their feelings. Therefore, the women in Ancient Greece were considered inferior to men, however, they were gallant.
Nails, Debra, N. (2005, September 16). Socrates. Stanford University. Retrieved November 11, 2013, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates/
When Socrates was brought to trial for the corruption of the city’s youth he knew he had done nothing wrong. He had lived his life as it should be lead, and did what he ne...