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Philosophy of socrates
Socrates ideas and arguments
Socrates ideas and arguments
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Recommended: Philosophy of socrates
Socrates and his Philosophy
Socrates makes a profound impact in our minds through his wisdom, power of critical
thinking, moral strength and intelligence. It is Plato who immortalizes Socrates in the popular
imagination as a man of profound knowledge. Socrates’ effectiveness as a philosopher depended
as much on the strength and interest of his personality as on the power of his mind. Socrates’
philosophy was based on discovering the truth, understanding moral life and talking about the
elements that make up a good life. According to my judgment, one of the most important things
about Socrates' quest was, indeed, the unceasing habit and practice of being critical and
thoughtful- of not being truly blind to one's own groundless convictions and presuppositions.
Contemplation and critical self-awareness as a way of worthy life is what Socrates stands for. So,
therefore, he adopted questioning people about their knowledge as the foremost maxim for his
life, and that is why he ultimately believed that "the unexamined life is not worth living."
Real life, according to Socrates, is not something that is just to be lived- lived by
adapting blindly and headlong primal instincts, popular convictions, or time-honored customs.
The good life is a life that questions and thinks about things; it is a life of observation,
contemplation, self-examination, and open-minded wondering. The good life is a kind of life
that should be devoid of all types of injustice and corruption. Socrates ultimately believes that,
there is no meaning to live an unexamined dull life. Therefore, according to Socrates, the good
life is an internal life—the life of an investigating and ever expanding mind.
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... complementary to each other. Our life is only functional when both body and soul work together.
Body without the soul is unfit for life and soul’s existence is impossible to prove without the
body.
In many ways, Socrates was a man truly dedicated to his country and people, despite his
unpopular ideas. He spent his whole life for searching the truth and trying to instill the power of
critical thinking in people’s mind to examine their own lives. If Socrates was guilty of anything,
it was being an annoying intellectual and bullying moralist with an abrasive personality,
eccentric mannerisms, and radical ideas. However, through the use of intellectual reasoning,
unwavering commitment to truth and lifelong quest for the good life, Socrates proved himself a
true philosopher totally dedicated to improving people’s rational thinking power.
Socrates put one’s quest for wisdom and the instruction of others above everything else in life. A simple man both in the way he talked and the wealth he owned, he believed that simplicity in whatever one did was the best way of acquiring knowledge and passing it unto others. He is famous for saying that “the unexplained life is not worth living.” He endeavored therefore to break down the arguments of those who talked with a flowery language and boasted of being experts in given subjects (Rhees 30). His aim was to show that the person making a claim on wisdom and knowledge was in fact a confused one whose clarity about a given subject was far from what they claimed. Socrates, in all his simplicity never advanced any theories of his own but rather aimed at bringing out the worst in his interlocutors.
I believe that by Socrates complying with he sentence order by Athenians, he got his point across and he stood up for what he believe in and he never back down.
“Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realms of creative analysis and objective appraisal.” (King, 1963).
He went about doing that by questioning people. Socrates realized that he truly knew nothing, of importance. So he tried to seek the truth. To be able to do this he had an open mind, and told his followers they should also have open minds. This is why Socrates was falsely accused of a culture that was both strict and hypocritical.
Socrates was not born from one of Athens’ finest families. His ideals were different. “Wisdom was, he thought, the most important goal we could pursue (Lawhead, 2014, p. 22). He was unable to be bought or bullied into begging for his life since he valued wisdom over all other things.
Another philosophical ideology reflected by Socrates was the importance of the universal truth which helps one be closer to their souls, many principles of ethics and philosophical ideologies that are still used today originate from this concept. He believed the closer to the truth a person gets, the healthier their soul is, the kinder they are and the happier they would be in life. In the words of Socrates, “The soul holds the key to happiness and a good life”. He believed that perfecting the soul would decrease the urge to commit crimes, since they would already have all they need. Socrates called this ‘The care of the soul.’ Most of his philosophies are driven by this belief. For example during Socrates
questions the positive uses for the mind and the great minds in history. Socrates shows him that
Although Socrates returns regularly to the concept of justice in his statements on the perfect city-state, much of it seems off topic. One of his main points, however, is that goodness is doing what is best for the greater good, rather than for individual happiness. There is a real sense in which his ideals turn on the concepts of virtue, and his belief that ultimately virtue is its own reward.
Socrates: A Gift To The Athenians As Socrates said in Apology by Plato, “...the envy and detraction of the world, which has been the death of many good men, and will probably be the death of many more…”(Philosophical Texts, 34) Throughout history, many leaders have been put to death for their knowledge. In Apology, Socrates- soon to be put to death- says he was placed in Athens by a god to render a service to the city and its citizens. Yet he will not venture out to come forward and advise the state and says this abstention is a condition on his usefulness to the city.
Socrates attempts to make other people reason well and therefore be virtuous by performing their human function; I believe that this action inwardly reflects Socrates’s own virtue. For example, if a professor can effectively teach mathematics to his students, then he most likely holds knowledge of the subject within himself. In a similar way, Socrates instills virtue in other people, which shows that he himself is a virtuous being. Although some people criticize him, evidence of his positive impact is reinforced by the approval and support of his friends in the Apology. While promoting virtue when alive, Socrates wishes to continue to encourage virtue even after death. For example, at the onset of his death, Socrates asks the jurors to ensure that his sons are given grief if they care for anything else more than virtue (Plato and Grube 44). While Socrates could have been thinking about himself or other things at that moment, he is thinking of how to guide people towards living virtuously. Both his actions while living and his intentions after death reveal that Socrates wished to aid people in living virtuous lives, which highlight his own state of
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...
Socrates says that God determines what is right and wrong. “I owe a greater obedience to God then to you and so long as I draw breath and have my faculties, I shall never stop practicing philosophy and exhorting you and indicating truth to everyone I meet” (Apology, 29d). God’s rules and commandments are what you need to follow in order to assure a good life after death. God and his commandments come first over everything else. Socrates believes in the divine command theory and how you must listen to Gods commandments. God decides what is moral and obedience to God is how you live justly. Socrates also says he will never stop practicing philosophy because in his eyes philosophy is the way to live life. He has said that living without examining life is a life not worth living. Questioning and indicating truth to others by pointing out their ignorance is what he saw as an essential part of being moral. Morality ties in to the question of solution by asking questions and seeking wisdom you are doing what is just and fixing the condition of humanity. Morality also relates to condition because the soul must be more important than material objects in order to be moral. He says you must follow cities laws and obedience to Gods laws as well in order to be just. On top of that you should be self-examining yourself so that you can better the soul as much as
The journey to achieve the good life on a personal level has defined human life across all cultures and time periods. Although we human beings have this similar goal in life, what we consider to be the “good life” differs from person to person. The Hindu people, for example, believe that one reaches the good life or enlightenment when he/she finds and truly understands Atman, the inner self or soul. In my opinion the good life involves following one’s internal ideals and values. These values should allow him/her to enjoy the good life in spite of time progression and outside influences such as material wealth. However, this concept of the good life comes with costs that prevent those without a strong will to stray from their values. On the journey to find the good life people often come across social and political barriers much like the civil rights supporters of the 20th century. Still more people struggle with making the sacrifices needed to sustain and ensure the longevity their good life, which is illustrated by Aldo Leopold’s land ethic. The costs may seem overwhelming at first but they are only temporary and the long lasting, internal benefits eventually become dominant.
In my opinion, Socrates’ analysis of human nature is very true as it ultimately brings us
Socrates felt that if he was unable to examine life, he would not be really living. To Socrates, living meant being able to question the world around him. Examining life gives one freedom. Once one examines himself and understands who he is, he can take control of his life. Socrates believed that the ability to ask, to examine, and to understand would make a life whole. He believed that the purpose of life was to grow, both physically and spiritually. Being able to explore and understand would lead to a deeper understanding of the world around us as well as a deeper understanding of ourselves. (Plato 46)