Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Virtue Ethics
Socrates is a philosopher known for his wisdom, and in the case of Meno, a dialogue between Meno and Socrates; he examines what it is to have virtue and the difference between opinion and knowledge. According to Socrates, the difference between the two subjects, knowledge and opinion, is their stability to be questioned and disputed. He demonstrated this with an analogy of a statue that is well grounded and is more secure that one that is not relating to knowledge vs. opinion.
To explain this in a way not using his analogy, in terms of opinion, one never is fully aware if their beliefs and opinions are precisely true. They can be shifted, changed completely or even be irrelevant. There is no way to test whether someone’s opinion is true or
…show more content…
To prove these statements, we can examine each other and our relation to our government and the people we look up to in society. More other than not, we will admire a prestigious scholar rather than a homeless man. As the United States, we are hardly suffering as a country, however it is naïve of us to assume wealth of information will automatically be used to make just and virtuous decisions on our behalf. This is where I disagree with Socrates argument that knowledge is better than true opinion. Opinions might not be the best way to base a factual argument but they carry an emotional component, combined with passion and faith that give a significant weight to their claim. While factual information is important in developing an idea, the opinion is what drives the action to bring about change. In regards to both knowledge and opinion together, one cannot maintain life without the other. It is not until knowledge and opinion come together that virtue fully evolves. In the end I can draw as much as a concrete conclusion as Socrates did himself. The nature of virtue combined with knowledge and opinion is destined to remain at least in part a mystery of the human
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.
Socrates uses the explanation of food and drink and knowledge and intelligence in order to explain what is in a truer form of being. He states that while hunger and thirst will eventually come back once they are subdued by food and drink the man whom seeks knowledge and intelligence becomes ever full. This fullness is what it is like for a man to live a just life and thus the proper human life. Since the just life is the most pure form of being. He backs this claim by asking several questions such as which is more? A thing that is always going to be connected to something else and that is the same and is also always true, or something that is connected to something that is never the same as one thing and is mortal and only exists in itself. The obvious answer to this question would be that of the thing that is connected eternally is more. This is because the only thing that is of the most substance and that is more is of the thing that contains knowledge. “And the being of that which is always the same, does it participate in being any more than in knowledge?” “Not at all.” Socrates goes on to further strengthen his proposal by saying that if something is less in truth than it is less in being. This holds true for man as well. If a man pursues truth in a lesser way then he himself is not living a just life, as the life of justice is the only life to live that is worthwhile. The type of man that care more about the body and things of that nature are less in the way of truth than that of a man who is more concerned with the
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.
The following essay aims to discuss the opinion that Socrates should not be considered a Sophist, with one’s chosen focal point to be how although he may have shared many qualities, it is his differences from this group which set him apart in a group of his own. The ideas one shall go on to discuss include how Socrates can be equated with the Sophists, as he too saw the importance of this discussion and education of the moral society, the pursuit of such education lead to hostility towards both the Sophists and Socrates, both of whom were accused of impiety and corruption of the youth.One shall go on to argue against this interpretation however, presenting ideas around Socrates methods and
Descartes states his views on opinion saying that every human has the “power of judging well and of distinguishing the true from the false,” implying that everyone can be right (Descartes 1).
I totally agree that Socrates found it important to research about life’s morality and not just think the same way others do. That is a way of proving the knowledge of men. Ones sitting quiet in the corner usually have more knowledge than others that talk so much about what they know. Many men with a high position in life do not always have the most knowledge.
When Socrates is talking about persuasion and knowledge (454 d-e), Socrates asks a series of questions related to true and false conviction and knowledge. In line 454 d, Socrates asks Gorgias if there is true or false conviction. Naturally, Gorgias answers that he believes there is. In the same line, Socrates asks Gorgias if there is such a thing as true and false knowledge. It is here that Gorgias answers “no” to that question. Socrates finds the contradiction that he is looking for to prove his point of whether or not what an orator says, is simply attempting to persuade without the proper knowledge and without the intention of truly teaching.
The second problem is Socrates’ answer does not give the definition of virtue nor does it answer Meno’s paradox. All Socrates is saying is that we may be able to recollect the lost knowledge. He does not mention how we can do
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates argues that for the perfectly just city to be realized in practice, philosopher must become kings and kings must become philosophers. In order to prove his point I will discuss the metaphor of the divided line and the allegory of the cave to explain Socrates’ theory of knowledge. Finally the questions of whether what a person knows make him or her better person? Does it qualify him or her to rule? Will get answered.
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,
Crito thinks that we should care about the opinions of others, but Socrates claims otherwise. One possible objection to Socrates’s claim is how do we differentiate the difference between the wise and the unintelligent?
There is a complex process through which a person acquires knowledge, and it depends on the mental capacity of a person as to how much knowledge he can acquire. In Plato’s Republic, we can see what knowledge does for the man in the allegory of the cave. In this story, knowledge was acquired by experience. In Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, we learn what the ultimate intellectual virtues are and that wisdom is the highest of all. Knowledge from Plato and wisdom from Aristotle can be connected through the achievement of intellect.
We have two great philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. These are great men, whose ideas have not been forgotten over years. Although their thoughts of politics were similar, we find some discrepancies in their teachings. The ideas stem from Socrates to Plato to Aristotle. Plato based moral knowledge on abstract reason, while Aristotle grounded it on experience and tried to apply it more to concrete living. Both ways of life are well respected by many people today.
The ancient words of Socrates have laid the foundation for many modern-day ideals, laws, and forms of government. However, though he has many wise words to offer, there appear to be fundamental inconsistencies between some of his discussions and allegories. The words of Socrates in the Symposium and Republic were written by his mentee, Plato, who uses Socrates’ persona to reflect his own thoughts (though, not necessarily all of his proper beliefs). Therefore, the apparent inconsistencies between Plato’s works may be reconciled when the disposition of Socrates in these texts is considered: he is a character. Socrates and other characters are purely vehicles of Plato’s thought-provoking persuasion. In the Symposium, the interlocutors give praise to everything good about desire; the nature and purpose of love (eros) is explored and, in the end, a broader concept of desire is reached. In the Republic, however, justice (dikaiosune) and reason are the main objectives while desire appears to be something that should be suppressed in a just man. Both dialogues aim to discover the nature of these concepts, their link to Virtue, and man’s relationship to the good and the beautiful. I will argue that the attitudes of these characters may seem to vary between dialogues, but the overall message of the pieces remains consistent and, moreover, that they supplement one another.
Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato were two of the most influential and knowledgeable ancients in our history. Their contributions and dedication to science, language and politics are immensely valued centuries later. But while the two are highly praised for their works, they viewed several subjects entirely differently, particularly education practices, and human ethics and virtue.