Plato And Socrates example essay topic

The most interesting and influential thinker of his time was Socrates; his commitment to careful reasoning affected all philosophy to certain degree. Socrates wanted genuine knowledge rather than simple victory over anyone he was speaking to. Socrates used logical thought processes to this purpose, in the pursuit of truth. Socrates' willingness to call everything into question and his determination to accept nothing less than an adequate account of the nature of things made him many friends and enemies. (Biffle 41) Although he was well known during his own time for his conversational skills and public teaching, Socrates did not write anything down, so we rely on his student Plato for any detailed knowledge of his methods and results. The trouble is that Plato was a philosopher who most likely added his own theories into the dialogues, which were discussions between Socrates and others.

Even so, it is assumed that the Plato provided a fairly accurate representation of Socrates. From Plato's dialogues we can see that Socrates believed in the power of argument over writing and as a result he spent the greater part of his life in the agora and other public places of Athens, engaging in dialogues and deep discussions with anyone who would listen or who would submit to his interrogation. (Biffle 33) Because of this Socrates achieved social popularity due to his wit and sense of humor. Socrates was obedient to the rules and regulations of Athens, but he generally steered clear of politics, this was due to his divine warning. (Biffle 43) He believed that he had received a call to pursue philosophy and could serve his country best by dedicating himself to teaching, and to an extent forcing other citizens to examine themselves as to the condition of their souls. (Biffle 42) Socrates' belief in concepts such as justice, love, virtue, goodness, and knowledge were his central teachings.

He believed that all wicked or evil conduct was the result of ignorance, and that no one was voluntarily bad so virtue was knowledge and those who have knowledge will act appropriately. (Biffle 84) Socrates' logic placed specific importance on a rational argument and pursued definitions to those arguments. A true sense of how Socrates engaged into arguments through out his life was illustrated in Plato's dialogue, the Euthyphro. Euthyphro tried to justify his actions, which was his prosecuting his own father, by appealing to the gods. His claim was that it was the "holy" thing to do. This leads Socrates to ask Euthyphro, "Tell me the nature of holy?" Euthyphro's response was that, what was holy was what was loved by the gods.

Socrates points out that the gods often disagree some think that one action was holy while others call that same action unholy. This was a poor definition of holy, because the same action turns out to be both holy and unholy at the same time. This lead Euthyphro to change his meaning by saying that what was loved by all the gods was holy and what was hated by all the gods was unholy, and that which there was disagreement with was not holy or unholy. In response to this, Socrates asks Euthyphro "do the gods love what is holy, or is it holy because it is loved by the gods?" (Biffle 10 - 15) Because Euthyphro was convinced of his own moral righteousness and his ability to educate Socrates he unwittingly was cornered into a mental trap from Socrates' verbal badgering as it were. In fact, when Socrates suggests that he learn from Euthyphro so that he can disprove the charges against him, Euthyphro jumps at the opportunity. (Biffle 10) If there really was a Euthyphro he was pompous and not capable of abstract thought.

Socrates' mental agility allowed him to run circles around Euthyphro. Plato wrote that although Socrates was a patriot and a man of deep conviction, Socrates was regarded with suspicion by many of his peers, who disliked his attitude toward the Athenian state and the established religion. He was charged with corrupting the morals of the youth by leading them away from the principles of democracy. Socrates is also faced with the charge of being an atheist. Socrates refutes these charges in the Apology.

(Biffle 38-39) Plato's Apology gives the substance of the defense made by Socrates at his trial; it was basically an argument that served to justify his actions of his life. He was condemned to die even though only a small majority carried the vote. (Biffle 46) When, according to Athenian legal practice, Socrates made an odd counter-proposition to the court's death sentence, proposing only to pay a small fine because of his value to the state as a man with a philosophic mission, the jury voted for the death penalty. (Biffle 47-48) Socrates had a devotion to truth; this was apparent because even after the jury convicted him, he never stopped his pursuit of the truth. Socrates refused to accept exile from Athens or a sentence of silence as his penalty; he maintained that public discussion of issues of life and virtue was an essential part of any human life, to not take part in public discussions would be acting less then human. "The life which is unexamined is not worth living".

(Biffle 47) Socrates would rather die than give up philosophy, and the jury granted his wish. In the Crito, Plato emphasized through the story that Socrates should submit to the court's determination and quietly accept the death sentence he is faced with. (Biffle 69) Plato through Socrates contemplations contends that a country is more valuable, respectable, and important than the individual citizens who make it up. Socrates argues, since any adult Athenian citizen may take what is his, and go wherever he pleases, if he is unhappy with the country, those who do stay have now entered into a formal agreement to do what the laws tell them. (Biffle 67 - 68) For Socrates to rebel against the death sentence he received would devalue the state; in fact, it would work toward destroying the power that the state exerts through the laws over its citizens. Even though Socrates' friends planned for his escape from prison, he preferred to comply with the law and die for his cause, a martyr.

Plato's extraordinary description of a man willing to face death rather than discard his loyalty to philosophy makes Socrates the first martyr for philosophy and a benchmark for future philosophers. That is not to say, to be a good philosopher one needs to die for it, but what is being conveyed by Plato and Socrates held this to be true "that if the majority holds a belief, that belief is likely to be wrong". (Biffle 3- 4) The more a person is in the public eye the less of a grasp that person has on the every day reality. That person becomes an outsider like the person who had become free from the chains in the "Allegory of the Cave".

Once he is free to see the truth he then is put into a position of enlightening his fellow cave dwellers or keeping the information to himself. If he chooses to share his information with others he does so at his own risk because sometimes to see things in a new light can be painful and frightening. (Biffle 84 - 85) Maybe none of us are forced to make a choice between philosophy and death, but all of us are faced with opportunities to decide between convenient traditional values and our commitment to truth, virtue and reason. Plato would say, however we choose determines whether we deserve to call our lives virtuous.

Bibliography

Biffle Christopher. A GUIDED TOUR OF FIVE WORKS BY PLATO. Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 2001.