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Philosophical thoughts on education of plato
Philosophical thoughts on education of plato
The Teaching Of Plato
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In Plato’s Meno, Socrates purposefully uses ignorance and irony to insufficiently define excellence for Meno. Initially, Meno argues a particular definition, which is a universally inconsistent proof, is sufficient to define excellence. However, Socrates asserts that the definition of excellence must be consistent and applicable to all individuals, by comparing individuals in a society to bees in a colony. Socrates demonstrates the failure of a particular proof to define all constituents of a group. In order to exemplify the errors of inconsistent and universally inapplicable definition, Socrates uses a universally inconsistent proof to erroneously assert a figure is not a shape. Socrates purposefully applies an inconsistent proof to define all figures because Meno, as a student, must be critical of a teacher’s argument. In order to stimulate Meno’s development, Socrates erroneously uses a consistent proof to determine excellence is different than knowledge. Unable to define excellence, Socrates deliberately attributes excellence to the divine. Plato employs Socratic irony to inspire a new definition of excellence and determines the errors in particular proofs. In order to emphasize contradictions and stress the areas necessary for logical review, Socratic ignorance fails to determine a universal conclusion from a consistent proof. Ultimately, Meno’s review of Socrates’ argument must determine that both knowledge and excellence are defined by a consistent proof. As a result, both excellence and knowledge are either divine awards or attainable by humans.
Socrates argues the definition of excellence must be consistent for all individuals in a group. According to Meno, excellence is based “on our walk of life and our age” (Meno, pg...
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...e process, Socrates illustrated the fallacy in particular proofs. Socrates deliberately determines excellence is unlike knowledge. This failure furthers Socrates’ argument that a consistent proof must be used correctly. Socrates methods are intended to force Meno’s review of the argument and develop a personal definition of excellence. Meno must determine that a consistent argument develops the same conclusion with every application. As a result, the definition of knowledge will determine that excellence is teachable and attainable. Socratic methods stimulate the development of personal resolutions. Through review, Meno, as the student, must conclude that excellence is attainable because knowledge is attainable. The divinity of the excellence is not sufficient to define excellence in relation to humans. Therefore, excellence must be a genuine characteristic.
Right after Socrates comments how they can both look for virtue, Meno gives him these questions: “How will you look for it, Socrates, when you do not know at all what it is? How will you aim to search for something you do not know at all? If you should meet with it, how will you know that this is the thing you did not know (80d)?” This is Meno’s paradox which explains the discovery of knowledge is impossible and if you do not know what you are learning, and that you cannot discover it either. Meno states in his first premise that you either know what knowledge is or you don’t, and whether you do know it or not, you cannot discover what that piece of knowledge is. This,
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.
In what is noted as one of Plato first accounts, we become acquainted with a very intriguing man known as Socrates; a man, whose ambition to seek knowledge, inevitably leaves a significant impact on humanity. Most of all, it is methodologies of attaining this knowledge that makes him so mesmerizing. This methodology is referred to as Socratic irony, in literature. In any case, I will introduce the argument that Plato's Euthyphro is extremely indicative of this type of methodology, for the reason being that: Socrates's portrays a sense of intellectual humility.
In this paper I will be discussing the four charges brought against Socrates in Plato’s essay The Apology and why exactly each of these charges is completely fictitious. The four charges brought against Socrates were that he argued the physical over the metaphysical, he argued the weaker claim over the stronger claim, he went against the gods, and he was corrupting the youth. Each of these four charges is false for varying reasons and I will be addressing each explanation on why each charge is a complete sham, after discussing each charge.
"A shape is that which limits a solid; in a word, a shape is the limit of a solid."
The paradox arises due to a number of assumptions concerning knowledge, inquiry and definition made by both Socrates and Meno. The assumptions of Socrates are:
I am going to attempt to show that although the argument that Socrates makes in The Republic by Plato is valid, it is not sound. I am going to explain his argument and challenge a premise that he has made to support his argument.
...crates argument because there are many just ways in today’s context, where many have become better than their equals, without being unjust. If we take the example of Yahoo and Google, both search engines, Google has surpassed Yahoo by being more ambitious and offering a better service without being unjust, so far as we know. Therefore, Socrates argument is flawed because, in today’s society as well as in Socrates, there is no room for competition, which we cannot show the differences between people. One professor surely is not better than the other, but one professor might have better ideas than the other which could make him recognized more-so than the other professor. Consequently, if we keep this in Socrates context, the professor with the ingenious ideas can never, and should never try to surpass another professor, since that would be an unjust thing to do.
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).
In his defense, Socrates claims over and again that he is innocent and is not at all wise, “…for I know that I have no wisdom, small or great.” Throughout the rest of his oration he seems to act the opposite as if he is better than every man, and later he even claims that, “At any rate, the world has decided that Socrates is in some way superior to other men.” This seems to be his greatest mistake, claiming to be greater than even the jury.
In the Meno, Plato addresses the question of virtue, what it is, how to obtain and if virtue can be taught. Meno came to conclusion after a long discussion with Socrates that it is impossible to know what virtue is. The Meno’x paradox states, “if one knows what virtue is, he does not need to search for it. However, if one does not know what virtue is, how can he search for it? He may not know he has it even when he gets it.”
" But soon after these definitions of justice were given, they were shot down by the quick wits of Socrates. Throughout the books of The Republic, I enjoyed reading the many ways that Plato picked apart the flaws in examples by others. It seems that Plato could find flaws without spending much time actually examining the definition. Friends and men of Athens had to restate and restructure their definitions time in and time out during the search for the meaning of Justice.
Socrates’ argument was unique in that he tried to convince the jury he was just an average man and not to be feared, but in actuality demonstrated how clever and tenacious he was. He begins with an anecdote of his visit to the Oracle of Delphi, which told him that there was no man smarter than he. He, being as humble as he is, could not take the Oracle’s answer for granted and went about questioning Athenians he felt surpassed his intelligence. However, in questioning politicians, poets, and artisans, he found that they claimed to know of matters they did not know about. Socrates considered this to be a serious flaw, and, as Bill S. Preston, Esq. put it: that “true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing.”
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...
The interesting dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro demonstrates this Socratic method of questioning in order to gain a succinct definition of a particular idea, such as piety. Though the two men do not come to a conclusion about the topic in the conversation seen in Euthyphro, they do discover that piety is a form of justice, which is more of a definition than their previous one. Their conversation also helps the reader to decipher what makes a good definition. Whenever Euthyphro attempts to define piety, Socrates seems to have some argument against the idea. Each definition offered, therefore, becomes more succinct and comes closer to the actual concept of piety, rather than just giving an example or characteristic of it. To be able to distinguish between a good definition and a bad one is the first step to defining what Socrates so desperately wished to define: w...