Most Important To Socrates example essay topic

In The Republic, Socrates tests the proper order that exists between reason, spirit and desire. He did this by questioning others of their beliefs and their thoughts. He would raise doubts in their time old teachings in order to prove them wrong and raise contradictions. Socrates taught people in this way as opposed to preaching to the groups that he would attract. The proper order that Socrates held was that reason came first above all, then spirit and lastly, desire. This is correct because of all of the teaching of Socrates that Plato describes in The Republic.

Reason was the most important to Socrates because it was believed that his reason, or wisdom, could overcome his physical desires. Socrates also tied being just and unjust into reason. However, he does not have a proper definition for justice. Cep halos, Polemarchos, and Thrasymachos all offered various definitions for justice but none of them satisfied Socrates. When challenged of his views Socrates says that justice is wise and virtuous and he tries to prove that justice is more profitable than injustice. To do this, Socrates explains that you must look at the whole city and not an individual person.

When Socrates described the perfect city, it included three classes of people. The highest class, albeit the smallest, included the philosophers because they held the most wisdom. The philosophers were said to have gold in them and valuable virtues such as self-control and self-discipline. Because this group was the wisest, or had the most reason, that is why they were held in such high regard and were allowed to hold the upper class position. The second highest class consisted of the soldiers. Soldiers were important because they had the courage to protect the city, so they were said to have silver in them.

The lowest class, which was the most abundant, was the businessmen, farmers, and craftspeople. This class was considered to have bronze or iron in them. Even though the lower class didn't have as high a value as the upper classes, they were still important because the people in the lower classes specialized in a certain skill. Everyone in the state had their job and if they preformed their task and did it well then the reasoning would be that the state would be successful.

In order for each of the people to find their specialized task they needed an education. Therefore, spirit was the next important to Socrates because that dealt with education. Socrates believed that in order for the state to succeed the classes needed to be educated. Education for the people in the state began at an early age.

Anything that was taught had to have the correct moral implications as to teach people the right way to act. Socrates believed in censoring the stories that were told so that no story would portray "badly in words what the gods and heros are" (The Republic, Book II, page 175). By trying to censor all of the stories that are told to the children, Socrates wanted to make sure that only the good things were told to the children, so they don't know of the bad things that went on like the wars between states or quarrels between the gods. As a result of this censorship, it would only show the good in the gods and no harm would be done and no evil would exist. Desire was the least important to Socrates because there wasn't much that he desired. Socrates could be ascetic or monastic during his life.

He encouraged other people to be ascetic so they wouldn't desire another person's job and only do the job that was suited for them. Desire made people unjust and want more then they should. People who had diseases and had a bad moral character were not healed by the doctors and would in turn get executed. This would show people not to desire more than they should. In the Myth of Gages, a shepherd finds a ring of invisibility and his desire comes out and he seduces the queen, kills the king, and takes over the power of the state. Because he had the invisibility ring, he became unjust and let his desires take over and he became power hungry.

If anyone is given this power no one is sure what he will do with it, but there is a strong possibility that he will choose injustice and let desire overcome him. Socrates' order of reason, spirit, then desire is the correct one because reason, or wisdom should always come first. With reason many things are possible and proved to be beneficial for the possessor. Reason was viewed as one of the most important things in the society.

This is evident because the highest class consisted of philosophers and were said to be made up of gold. Spirit belongs next because the education that you received determined where you would be in the social classes. Desire is last because you were considered unjust if you would succumb to your desires and praised if you were ascetic. In conclusion, Socrates was important to the society because he would question people to make them think about things and not just accept what was told to them. Socrates tried to make the society better by coming up with ideas for a utopian society where all could prosper. Socrates created good examples for people to follow to better themselves.