There have been many great philosophers throughout time. Socrates, Thomas Aquinas and Rene Descartes all lived during different times. This gave each of them different insights, which helped to create their philosophies and principles of their philosophies. Each philosopher also had a different means as to how they delivered their ideas and teachings. With so many differences the three had one thing in common: A love for wisdom, and the need to share it with others.
Socrates was a great philosopher from Ancient Greece. He was the teacher of Plato and Aristotle. While Socrates did not write down what he taught those who studied with him and underneath him made sure his works and legacy would live on. When the class was first introduced to Socrates in this course, he was on trial. Socrates was a proud man who did not take the accusations against him lying down. He acknowledged his accusers from the past and present. He made no apologies for who or how he was. When faced with charges of corruption of the minds of children (Plato 23). He admits he accepted no money for what he has done, therefore he cannot be considered a teacher. His argument is a defense for his way of life. He only lives his life for the pursuit of wisdom. With each question he asks of his accusers Socrates builds a foundation for the basis of his answer or response. Even after he has been found guilty Socrates, still has a sense of humor about the situation. He offers the suggestion that he should be paid for his service he has given to the people of Athens. His payment would come in the form of food. “So if I must make a just assessment of what I deserve, I asses it as this: free meals in the Prytaneum” (Plato 40). When that suggestion fails h...
... middle of paper ...
...to this day.
Throughout the centuries Philosophy had had many great philosophers. Each has had their own unique contributions to offer. While some paved the way, some worked off of others works, and others revolutionized the ideas behind philosophy; each philosopher was important to the advancement of the pursuit of wisdom within Man. Socrates, Aquinas, and Descartes are three greats that have each impacted the community of philosophy in a different way. The lessons learned from each helps to create a more intelligent individual. Each was concerned with the “rational soul”.
Works Cited
Aquinas, Thomas. Selected Writings. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1998. Print.
Descartes, Rene. Discourse on Method. Lexington: BN Publishing, 2007. Print.
Kaiser, Lawernce. 01 2014. Lecture.
Plato. Five Dialouges. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company,Inc., 2002. Print.
Many people have gone through their lives conforming their beliefs and practices for the sake of fitting in or for the happiness of others, but Socrates was not one of these people. In “The Apology” Plato shows Socrates unwillingness to conform through a speech given by Socrates while on trial for supposedly corrupting the youth of Athens and believing in false gods. Although the title of the dialogue was labeled “The Apology,” Socrates’ speech was anything but that, it was a defense of himself and his content along his philosophical journey. At no time during the trial was Socrates willing to change his ways in order to avoid punishment, two reasons being his loyalty to his God and his philosophical way of life.
Socrates was wise men, who question everything, he was found to be the wise man in Athens by the oracle. Although he was consider of being the wises man alive in those days, Socrates never consider himself wise, therefore he question everything in order to learned more. Socrates lived a poor life, he used to go to the markets and preach in Athens he never harm anyone, or disobey any of the laws in Athens, yet he was found guilty of all charges and sentence to die.
In fact, it’s I who can call what I think is a sufficient witness that I’m telling the truth, my poverty.” (Plato 661) Socrates also states “if I really do corrupt the young or have corrupted them in the past, surely if any of them had recognized when they became older that I’d given them bad advice at some point in their youth, they’d now have come forward themselves to accuse me and seek redress. Or else, if they weren’t willing to come themselves, some of their family members…would remember it now and seek redress.” (Plato 663) There was no one in the audience who stepped forward to speak on behalf of his accusers. Socrates consistently proved by words, how the accusations against him were false. In the end, he was accused of all of these things and put to death. This goes to show how much they truly hated Socrates and that no matter what they were told, it wouldn’t have mattered, they would have found a way to punish him in the
Socrates lived such a private life that it lead to the most important revelation of his entire life. He would go about his life doing nothing but self-examination. In examining his life so strenuously others would come to him to be taught, or to have their children be taught by Socrates. They would offer him money and he would refuse. They would do whatever they could to learn anything Socrates had to teach. What they did not know is that Socrates was not teaching anyone he was simply going about his usual life and people just happened to learn from it. This was also why Socrates was put on trial. He was brought up on two charges, one of impiety and the other of corrupting the youth. These two charges set the course for the last month of his life.
For every teacher one may have, there is always a wiser teacher. Socrates is the wisest teacher in the city-state of Athens. A man who has been teaching his wise ways of questioning to students for over 25 years in the Agora is Socrates. Having been known as an adept to questioning, many adolescents and adults sought direction by Socrates. However, people have created accusations against Socrates such as not believing in the gods. Why put Socrates on trial now? At Socrates's trial, both the defense and prosecution have provided strong evidence, but the prosecution was not as strong as the defense. From the defense side, you'd hear from Plato, who is Socrates's most notable student, Crito, who is a lifelong friend of Socrates, and finally Aristophanes,
The character of Socrates in Plato’s Republic is a curious one. Socrates is rarely satisfied with widely or casually accepted statements, and is fearless in taking on enormous topics for debate. One such topic that Socrates tackles early and often in the Republic is that of justice and the just life. It takes little time for Socrates to begin an attempt at demonstrating to two of his friends, Glaucon and Adeimantus, that in fact it pays to be just. After much debate and even the creation of a fictional city, a resolution of some kind is reached. Socrates does succeed in convincing his opposition that it pays to be just, however he does not demonstrate said fact. The difference is subtle, but profound.
Although philosophy rarely alters its direction and mood with sudden swings, there are times when its new concerns and emphases clearly separate it from its immediate past. Such was the case with seventeenth-century Continental rationalism, whose founder was Rene Descartes and whose new program initiated what is called modern philosophy. In a sense, much of what the Continental rationalists set out to do had already been attempted by the medieval philosophers and by Bacon and Hobbes. But Descartes and Leibniz fashioned a new ideal for philosophy. Influenced by the progress and success of science and mathematics, their new program was an attempt to provide philosophy with the exactness of mathematics. They set out to formulate clear and rational principles that could be organized into a system of truths from which accurate information about the world could be deduced. Their emphasis was upon the rational ability of the human mind, which they now considered the source of truth both about man and about the world. Even though they did not reject the claims of religion, they did consider philosophical reasoning something different than supernatural revelation. They saw little value in feeling and enthusiasm as means for discovering truth, but they did believe that the mind of an individual is structured in such a way that simply by operating according to the appropriate method it can discover the nature of the universe. The rationalists assumed that what they could think clearly with their minds did in fact exist in the world outside their minds. Descartes and Leibniz even argued that certain ideas are innate in the human mind, that, given the proper occasion, experience would cause...
He applies this logic to mean that he must go around Athens and show others that they are not actually wise, so that they can become intelligent like him. As a result, he feels he is helping the society of Athens as a whole. By a small number, Socrates is found guilty and the jury comes to a decision to put Socrates to death. To further his display of haughty behavior Socrates’ response is to say in a mostly joking manner that the city should be giving him a medal of honor. He continues on to reject exile and prison time, suggesting that he pay a fine. Socrates’ reaction is unlike what is to be expected. He believes that it is ridiculous to fear the after-life because it does not make sense to fear things he does not know (29c). When given a chance to defend himself Socrates doesn’t cry, beg, or bring family matters into the courtroom, thinking it better to die after an honorable defense than live on against his own
Throughout the readings of The Apology of Socrates and Crito I have found that Socrates was not a normal philosopher. It is the philosopher's intention to question everything, but Socrates' approach was different then most other philosophers. From one side of the road, Socrates can be seen as an insensitive, arrogant man. He did indeed undermine the laws so they fit his ideals, leave his family, and disregard the people's values. On the other side he can be seen as an ingenious man who questioned what many thought was the unquestionable. As he can be criticized for disregarding the many's ideals he can also be applauded for rising above the daily ways of popular thought. He questioned the laws that he thought were wrong and, to his death, never backed down in what he believed in. People may see that as stupidity or as heroism, the beauty of it is that either way people saw it, Socrates wouldn't care.
Philosophers like Socrates had a huge impact on philosophers during that time as well as the philosophers today. During the Periclean Age, he was in Athens teaching philosophy of life to the people on the streets who cared enough to listen. The philosophy of Socrates mainly was the responsibility of people's moral attitudes. The teachings of Socrates were found to be understanding of life, recognizing the truth and speaking of the components that were used to a successful life. The teachings of his philosophy weren't appreciated much by the public in which he was sent to the trial with charges against him for his teachings towards the youth. It is very shocking to learn that the charges against him were the interference with the youth and unbelieving
Philosophy can best be described as an abstract, scholarly discourse. According to the Greek, philosophia refers to ‘love of knowledge’. This is an aspect that has involved a great number of clever minds in the world’s history. They have sought to deal with issues surrounding the character of veracity and significantly exploring the endeavors to respond to these issues. This paper seeks to compare and contrast the philosophy of Aristotle with that of Confucius. This is with a clear concentration on the absolute functions of these philosophies and how they take care of the particular responsibility of a person and the broader society and the resultant effects on societies (Barnes, 1995).
Socrates, according to Plato challenged the norms of society by questioning life and having others question it as well. He was labeled of “corrupting the youth” and for not believing in the Athenians gods. “Socrates is guilty of corrupting the young, and of not acknowledging the gods the city acknowledges, but new daimonic activities instead.” (The Apology, pp 654) Although, he was cast by being “corrupt”, Socrates had many followers that saw him as a wise man. Socrates trial was made up of thirty jurors, who were later known as “The Thirty.” The “Thirty” really wanted was to silence Socrates, rather than taking his life. However, Socrates did not want to disobey the laws, he did not want to be violated of his right to freedom of speech, nor did he did he want to be undermine his moral position. (The Apology, pp. 647) He stood against injustice acts several times while he was in counsel. “I was the sort...
Within the duration of this document, I will be discussing the charges laid against Socrates and how he attempted to refute the charges. One of the reasons why Socrates was arrested was because he was being accused of corrupting the minds of the students he taught. I personally feel that it is almost impossible for one person to corrupt the thoughts and feelings of a whole group of people. Improvement comes from the minority and corruption comes from the majority. Socrates is one man (minority).
Socrates was a philosopher who set out to prove, to the gods, that he wasn't the wisest man. Since he could not afford a "good" Sophist teacher, surely a student of one had to be smarter than he. He decides to converse with the youth of Athens, but concludes that he actually is wiser than everyone he speaks with. He then realizes that their lack of intelligence is the fault of their teachers. Socrates understands that the practice of "sophism" leads to a lack of self-knowledge and moral values. Socrates was later accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and put on trial. In The Apology of Socrates he sta...
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...