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What is the good life according to socrates
Importance of emotions in leadership
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According to Socrates, Guardians are to be the leaders, lawmakers and the rulers. They are to be the courageous, temperate, holy and free individuals who rule over the producers and auxiliaries. However, Socrates’ proposes that they are sheltered from the injustice, unpleasant or just deemed “bad” actions of the world. He feels that the youth who will grow up to be guardians are overly impressible and censorship will help them only absorb the good and righteous stories. However, censorship of actions from our leaders doesn’t make them good leaders at all. A leader needs to see both sides of the story, to have emotion and composure all in one. If we shield our future leaders from pain, sorrow, anger, lust or pleasure in their youth, how will …show more content…
We cannot rid the world of bad people so those destined to be guardians never come in contact with them. People are imperfect and will always do something that may not be justified or pleasant. Preventing the guardians from never meeting or seeing someone with sorrow, pain or anger, is impractical because the world works in mysterious ways and someone is always hurting. Another impractical aspect is that idea that good and bad are related. It is hard to distinguish goodness from bad if you do not know both. If the guardians only know and understand things taught to them as good or pleasant, they cannot understand the lamentations or frustration of the people the rule …show more content…
Here, Socrates puts a barrier on the expression of the people; one of many. He wants the storytellers to only spit out positive things and that good people are the happiest, so the Guardians only know goodness. He also limits their imitation narration, to just a monotone one presentation, so as to not imitation another’s distained profession or actions. This will teach the Guardians to only have one trade that they are good at. Furthermore on the topic of art, Socrates simplified harmonies and rhythms into two, the Dorian and the Phrygian, which do not express sorrow, lamentation or drinking tones. Then they strike down the instruments only to the harp and lyre, with pipes in the country. After art works are only to include the image of good in their works, and those opposed with be casted out of the State. This simplifies much of the people’s rights and expression. They are now only to listen to type of show, tune or see one type of art. It takes away individualism from the people and subjects them to the strict rules. The Guardians are to be beacon of freedom for the people and to be leaders. These leaders who do not know expression would be forcing their people into a strict mold, thus confining them to a perfect structure. People are not perfect and censoring people will not help the
I disagree with his views on censorship, having assigned positions in society, his views on democracy, and that art cannot be a respectable occupation. In books II and III Socrates argues that much of epic poetry that contains false statements about the gods and other immoral subjects should be removed from their city. If the education of the citizens were to be censored in this way, they would not properly be able to learn the divisions between the moral and immoral (just and unjust). In this sense the people may wish to explore what is being censored more than if it were not, and subsequently lead to injustice.
In the book one of Republic Socrates was concerned about what is justice. He forms a complex analysis of justice by discussing it with Polemarchus, Cephalus, and Thrasymachus. He refutes each proposition said by them, presenting implicit contradictions coming out of these man's arguments. All of this is to reach to, the Sophist, Thrasymachus. According to what's discussed in book one; Socrates sees that the Cephalus's and Polemarchus's common thinking for justice is insufficient. By entering into the dialogue in an aggressive way, Thrasymachus says that he can better explain the issue of justice. The right thing to do here is disregard justice. He blames Socrates for saying nonsense and for just questioning individuals' answers. Thrasymachus
One could see the final walk-away as a complete failure to a then seemingly meaningless story. Yet, I do not see it this way. Although Euthyphro walked away without a resolution, there was still much to be learned. The seemingly arrogant man that we were introduced to in the beginning, was not the same man in the final pages of the book. We may not have received a complete answer, but we did find something better; the knowledge that we cannot believe that our insights are always correct. And this is what Socrates strove to do: to evoke thought. When put on trial, we see this questioning is not an isolated occurrence as he states, “I believe the god has placed me in the city. I never cease to rouse each and every one of you, to persuade and reproach you all day long and everywhere I find myself in your company” (Apology, 30e). Socrates believed it was his duty to live a life of service in order to make people open their minds. In order for people to grow in wisdom, they needed to realize their ignorance. We need to be challenged in order to grow and it is through experiences, like Euthyphro’s, in which we become more
He is convinced that if an individual who is a cobbler or a farmer “goes to the bad and pretends to be what he is not” (The Republic of Plato X:III-420) the entire well-being of the state is not in jeopardy. But such is most certainly not the case if the person is a Guardian or Auxiliary. There is no point, Socrates says, in producing a happiness like that of a “party of peasants feasting at a fair.” Such a person who would aspire to such a community “has something in mind other than a civic community” (The Republic of Plato X:III-421). Of course, Glaucon agrees.
What would happen if the Socrates of old came back to life to debate the issue of abortion in the modern world? Peter Kreeft tries to give us an idea in his book The Unaborted Socrates. In this book Socrates debates three different aspects of the abortion issue with three different people, an abortion doctor, a philosopher and a psychologist. With the Doctor, Socrates debates when human life begins. With the Philosopher it is debated whether we should legislate morality. With the psychologist he debates whether abortion is a woman's right. Unfortunately, they do not come up with reasonable answers to any of these questions. Without the answer to the question, "is the fetus a human being?" it is impossible to find the answer to the other two questions. In the end, all questions lead back to the first. In answer to whether or not the fetus is a human being, it is concluded as the doctor said, "We simply do not know when the fetus becomes a human person. Anyone who claims to know is a fool because he claims to know what he does not." Nevertheless, even if the debate provides no final answers, it does serve to show the logical reasons for why abortion is horrible. It does present thought provoking questions in the minds of both those who are for and those who are against abortion.
Socrates political, moral and social obligations are linked to a theory called the Social Contract Theory. The overall intent of the social contract is meant to enhance the society we live in and promotes a sound, balanced, law abiding society. Socrates illustrates to Crito, that he must accept his punishment administered to him by Athens law. Furthermore, he exemplifies that the laws he has obeyed his entire life, allowed him to thrive within Athens (Friend). He indicates that he made a conscious decision, when he reached the age of maturity, he would reside in Athens. He was fully aware of the laws and how the Athenian government handled justice. Although, the social contract is not signed legal binding contract, Socrates feels fully obligated
Socrates’ philosophical beliefs and life isn’t accurately represented in the modern world. Since there aren’t any writings from Socrates himself, his life, beliefs, and philosophy has to be depicted through the writings of Plato, Aristophanes, Aristotle and Xenophon, with Plato being the most informational and dependable source. These writers that do mention Socrates in their writings aren’t always accurate and are sometimes very contradicting and inconsistent. In Plato’s writing, it is difficult to distinguish the ideas and beliefs of Socrates from Plato’s. Some historians believe that the beliefs of Plato were based upon Socrates. Some believe that the beliefs of Socrates were interpreted by Plato in his writings. Others believe Socrates didn’t have any ideas of his own. This unclear representation of Socrates is known as the Socratic Problem. Due to the S...
In Aristophanes’ Clouds, the character Socrates is clearly intended to be a subversive member of Athenian society. He runs the school, the Thinkery, which takes in young Athenians and teaches them what Aristophanes portrays as bizarre concepts and ideas, “whether the hum of a gnat is generated via its mouth o...
The Republic is Plato’s notion of an ideal state. Within the state, there is a hierarchal class system, which provides stability among the classes. Stability is achieved when each class performs their own duties and jobs, and does not interfere with the business of others. There are three hierarchal classes, the guardians and philosopher-kings, the auxiliaries, and the working class. With an increase in the power of the auxiliary class, a system was needed that would control the morals of the guardian class. The guardians are trained up through a strict curriculum which consists of music and gymnastics. Music is used to educate the soul, and gymnastics is used to train the body. They act on behalf of the good of the whole state, because through their education and their pursuit of knowledge, they have the moral capacity to seek “the good”.(505a)
It seems to be solely based on opinion, there is not one true answer as to if the painting is beautiful or not. It can be voted beautiful by the majority of a country, and looked at as the epitome of beauty throughout that country, and then seen as the complete opposite on the other side of the world. Unlike the other Athenians, Socrates admits to not knowing anything that is truly beautiful or good, as he understands that it is arbitrary. To the other Athenians, this seems ludicrous, to have no knowledge on what is truly good or beautiful, as it seems obvious, to notice the beauty and goodness of things. Everyone thinks that what they know to be beautiful and good must be true, but no one seems to notice that of course not everyone can be right about what they think, as they are merely opinions, and differ amongst one another. Socrates is the one to step back and notice this, and understand that no one knows anything truly beautiful and good, (29) which gives him an advantage over the city. Socrates can benefit the people of Athens by showing them this, as he teaches them to step back and look at the bigger picture. How can we know anything truly good and beautiful, if only God holds the knowledge of truth? Socrates would not only
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates claimed that stories affect the souls of those who hear them. Given this, he went on to argue that censorship was not only necessary but also beneficial to society. Socrates wanted to censor portions of poetry, the arts, and sciences that were not productive or beneficial to society. He believed that poetry was neither philosophical nor pragmatic and did not lead to true knowledge. Rather, he found it to be unethical, leading to desires and passions. He thus declared it inferior to the practical arts and lacking in educational value.
In The Clouds, Strepsiades greets his son after being taught the weaker speech by Socrates by saying, “Now you have, first, a negating a contradicting look, and the local color is simply blooming on you: the ‘what do you mean?’ and the reputation for suffering injustice when (I know!) you are doing injustice and working evil” (Aristophanes, 1170-1175). Aristophanes sees the unjust things that philosophers do. They challenge the conventional beliefs of society, not always to a greater end. Reason can support immoral action just as well as it can moral action, and that inconsistency is demonstrated by Aristophanes in the scene where Pheidippides is beating his father and threatens to beat his mother (Aristophanes, 1320-1451). Aristophanes is showing us that the discord and immorality associated with philosophy does nothing but cause problems for the citizens. Therefore, philosophers should be considered dangerous people to a society that values stability such as
In The Republic, a truly just state contains four cardinal virtues, which can also be found in a just individual. Justice is the fourth cardinal virtue, but can only be reached once three other virtues are achieved. The first cardinal virtue necessary for justice is wisdom. In an individual, wisdom stems from the prevalence of reason in one’s rational mind, which in turn leads to knowledge and a good sense of judgment. When extended to the just state, the members of Socrates’ utopian society who embody wisdom are the ruling class of philosopher kings (Plato, Republic, 428e). In fact, wisdom is so important to Socrates that he believes in a extremely rigid and structured education for these members of society, so as to develop the rational part of their brain (Plato, Republic, 428e). Courage is another virtue necessary for justice, and occurs when an individual’s wisdom is “backed up” by his or her spirit, unflinching in the face of “fears and desires”(Plato, Republic, 429d). Without courage, wisdom and reason will not be the dominant forces is one’s mind. This reasoning certainly applies to the importance of auxiliaries in a perfect society, where the values and beliefs integral to its well being are constantly imparted on public servants through education and training (Plato, Republic,
Everyone in the society is naturally suited to one particular occupation; cobbler, auxiliary, and guardian. Individuals are destined to perform the functions set by their natures, and they do not deserve to perform other functions. Socrates talks about the ‘myth of the metals’ to better explain his idea that the role everyone will play in the society is pre-determined; whether it’s gold,
Aristotle and Plato differ in their ideas of how society should be run. In Plato’s ideal society, he believes that a strong city is one run by philosophers. The only ones of this society who think, who have reason and wisdom according to the Allegory of the Metals. In a just city according to Plato, people have a place like certain kids destined for the guardianship so they are born and bred for it all their life. Aristotle saw politics as the study of association and constitution. He believed in moderation and a key to a happy life and a happy society is balance. Plato as a political philosopher tries to create what he thinks is a perfect society for philosophers and philosophers only. Aristotle as a political scientist sees it more on the