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Compare the ideas of plato and socrates
Compare And Contrast Plato And Socrates
Differences between socrates and plato
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Chase Colaw Mrs. Fullingim Comp II 4-15-2018
Wisdom
Throughout history, there have been the ups and downs of humanity. From incredible leaders like Alexander and Caesar, to some of the most diabolical the world has ever seen, such as Vlad the Impaler of Adolf Hitler. One idea has remained constant, and that is wisdom. Over time, philosophers, teachers, spiritual leaders, and other important thinkers have tried to understand the concept of wisdom. As these individuals have come up with numerous theories and ideas regarding wisdom, some are more accepted than others. There are three ways that wisdom can be looked at through the eyes of the ancient philosophers. What contributes to human wisdom, how different philosophers have defined wisdom over centuries, and how these philosophers definitions compare and contrast with the view of wisdom in Plato’s Apology.
What contributes to human wisdom? Gathering and sharing of knowledge over time may have been a big contributor to the
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For example, Aristotle disagreed with many of Plato’s theories on wisdom. Look back at Plato’s idealized Republic theory. Refer back to the History of Philosophy, “Aristotle countered this concept by stating that because he had never seen or heard of such a human in recorded history, then it was an impossible concept. He believed that inductive reasoning was required to establish some basic premises before scientific demonstrations.” Aristotle also believed that knowledge and wisdom could only be gained by comparing it with what was already known and perceived. He goes on to distinguish between two types of wisdom, theoretical and practical wisdom. Theoretical wisdom is “scientific knowledge, combined with intuitive reasoning.” In Plato’s Apology, the concept of “Socratic Wisdom” emerges. This happens when Socrates visits the oracle at Delphi, and the oracle
In Athens, there were two wise men named Socrates and Pericles. In the short story "Plato's Apology", Socrates is on trial, and is speaking before his peers so that he may be judged. In "Pericles's Funeral Oration", Pericles himself is giving a speech at a funeral on behalf of the fallen soldiers of Athens. In both speeches, Socrates and Pericles believe it will be hard to talk about the subject because the people listening might not believe what they say to be the truth or the whole truth. Both men were considered wise, but Socrates believed men were not virtuos, and Pericles believed that man does strive to become virtous. I believe that Socrates's arguments are a rebuttal to Pericles's Funeral Oration, and although they are both wise, only Socrates has true wisdom.
One of the argument found in Plato’s Apology is that during the trial, Socrates had tried to defend himself in front of the judges and spoke, “If I disobeyed the oracle because I was afraid of death, then I should be fancying that I was wise when I was not wise”. This is an example of a Deductive Argument because it has a hypothetical syllogism which consist of having a conditional statement for both its premises in this case. More interestingly in this argument, it consists of pure hypothetical syllogism due to the fact that both statements are conditional. Based on the information given in this form of argument, I believed that this is considered to be an invalid argument because the conclusion does not necessarily follow both premises as
To understand why Socrates and other philosophers say that wisdom can only be acquired through philosophy, philosophy must first be defined and its connection to wisdom must be evaluated. According to Plato’s Republic, wisdom is the byproduct of the critical thinking that is necessary for philosophy. In this work, the general idea of the novel is that wisdom can only be acquired by those who study philosophy are willing to learn about the world around them in its entirety. Philosophy requires that a person is introspective and attempts to understand the foundations of the world and its functions through logic and reasoning. A philosopher seeks the answers to five fundamental questions of the world; they seek to
“In my investigation in the service of the god I found that those who had the highest reputation were nearly the most deficient, while those who were thought to be inferior were more knowledgeable.” (Socrates, Apology) “Either I do not corrupt the young or, if I do, it is unwillingly,” (Socrates, Apology) “Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you…” (Socrates, Apology) “I am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long…arousing and persuading and reproaching…you will not easily find another like me.” (Plato, Apology) “To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know.” (Socrates, Apology) “I go to die, you go to live. Which is better God only knows.” (Socrates,
After reading “The Apology of Socrates”, I feel very strongly that Socrates was innocent in the allegations against him. “The Apology of Socrates” was written by Plato, Socrates most trusted pupil, who in fact wrote everything for Socrates. Numerous times in his defense, Socrates points out ways that what he is being accused of is false. The point of this paper is to show how Socrates did this, and to explain how he proved his innocence by using these quotes. He uses a lot of questions to the accusers to prove his points and is very skilled in speech and knowledge. This essay’s purpose is to explain why I think Socrates was innocent, and how he proves that in his speech.
In Plato’s Apology, when Socrates is pleading his defence, he makes a good argument against the charges of corrupting the youth of Athens. This is evident when he states that, firstly, Meletus, the man who is trying to get Socrates executed, has never cared about the youth of Athens and has no real knowledge on the subject. Secondly, Socrates states that if he was in some way corrupting the youth, then he was doing it unintentionally or unwillingly, in which case he was brought to court for no reason. Finally, Socrates brings to light the fact that Meletus doesn’t have a single witness to attest to Socrates’ corruption. This is how Socrates proves his argument that he isn’t responsible for corrupting the youth of Athens.
According to Aristotle, a virtue is a state that makes something good, and in order for something to be good, it must fulfill its function well. The proper function of a human soul is to reason well. Aristotle says that there are two parts of the soul that correspond to different types of virtues: the appetitive part of the soul involves character virtues, while the rational part involves intellectual virtues. The character virtues allow one to deliberate and find the “golden mean” in a specific situation, while the intellectual virtues allow one to contemplate and seek the truth. A virtuous person is someone who maintains an appropriate balance of these two parts of the soul, which allows them to reason well in different types of situations.
During this essay the trail of Socrates found in the Apology of Plato will be reviewed. What will be looked at during this review is how well Socrates rebuts the charges made against him. We will also talk about if Socrates made the right decision to not escape prison with Crito. Socrates was a very intelligent man; this is why this review is so critical.
In the Apology, Socrates was told by the Delphic Oracle that there was nobody wiser than him. With ancient Greece having been a prominent home of philosophy and art since before Socrates' time, the Athenian court found his proclamation both insulting and hard to believe. Socrates goes through great lengths to find the wisest of men and seeing if their reputations are in fact true. He hoped to find a man wiser than him to prove the oracles prediction was false, even Socrates failed to believe he was the wisest man. He first went to a man that seemed wise. After he spoke with him Plato quotes "I came to see that, though many persons, and chiefly himself, thought that he was wise, yet he was not wise."(77) With his certainty that Socrates was wiser, the man was insulted and hated Socrates for derailing his intelligence. Socrates then goes to another wise man, but is again let down. He still believes he is wiser. Convinced that he would not find a more intelligent man amongst wise men, he then questioned the more "educated people", such as poets and artisans. According to Plato, Socrates says "I imagine, they find a great abundance of men who think that they know a great...
Throughout the early dialogues, Plato draws comparisons between virtue and knowledge. These Socratic dialogues often refer to virtue “as an expertise (science, art, craft)” like any other that requires more than simple knowledge of how to but also an ability to explain or
In the retelling of his trial by his associate, Plato, entitled “The Apology”; Socrates claims in his defense that he only wishes to do good for the polis. I believe that Socrates was innocent of the accusations that were made against him, but he possessed contempt for the court and displayed that in his conceitedness and these actions led to his death.
In the opening of The Apology, Socrates informed the jurors how he intends to address them, what they should pay attention to in his remarks, and what he sees as his greatest obstacle in gaining an acquittal. How does he intend to address the jury? Socrates’ approach towards addressing the jury is way different than what you would see a normal defendant doing. Socrates does not stand in front of the jury and beg that he doesn’t get charged. Instead, Socrates believes that you shouldn’t have to cry and beg for the right to live in court if the defendant has done nothing wrong. The first thing that he says when speaking to the jury was to basically hear him out, and listen to even if he started to talk in his language of habit. He then said they should excuse that because he is seventy years old and has never appeared in court. “I must beg of you to grant me one favor, If you hear me using the same words in my defense which I have been in habit of using, and which most of you may have heard in the agora, and at the table of the money-changers, or anywhere else, I would ask you to not be surprised at this, and bot to interrupt me (Dover p. 19).”
Certainly, it is true that Plato and Aristotle agree on wisdom being the primary requirement for a truly just and good polis. However, they possess different approaches to governing the city, which are based on Plato’s vision of the (1) the individual governance of the king and (2) Aristotle’s the collective governance of the aristocracy. Plato argued in favor of the philosopher king because of the inherent qualities of thought found in the philosopher’s mind. In this case, men of great wisdom and virtue were considered to be rare, which made the philosopher the only proper candidate to rule over others. In The Republic, Plato argues that men that pursue knowledge and wisdom are typically philosophers. Therefore, a great leader must always love searching for knowledge and wisdom in the philosophical tradition. This is why the philosopher king is an individual “who has a taste for every sort of knowledge and throws himself into acquiring it with an insatiable curiosity” (Plato 475c). This aspect of Plato’s argument defines the underlying premise that philosophers should rule as kings because they are more interested in pursing wisdom-based ideas, rather than seeking monetary wealth, military power, or tyrannical control over the citizens. A wise king will always follow the virtues and not the personal desires of unqualified
Philosophy can be defined as the pursuit of wisdom or the love of knowledge. Socrates, as one of the most well-known of the early philosophers, epitomizes the idea of a pursuer of wisdom as he travels about Athens searching for the true meaning of the word. Throughout Plato’s early writings, he and Socrates search for meanings of previously undefined concepts, such as truth, wisdom, and beauty. As Socrates is often used as a mouthpiece for Plato’s ideas about the world, one cannot be sure that they had the same agenda, but it seems as though they would both agree that dialogue was the best way to go about obtaining the definitions they sought. If two people begin on common ground in a conversation, as Socrates often tries to do, they are far more likely to be able to civilly come to a conclusion about a particular topic, or at least further their original concept.
What does it mean to be wise? Is it the specialization of one thing or the knowledge of many? Perhaps it is determined by your age or experience? Well according to Socrates, arguably one of the world’s greatest philosophers, human wisdom can be characterized as knowing what one does know. What he means by this definition is that there are limits to our knowledge and understanding of things, and we must be aware of that. This definition is an adequate account of the concept because Socrates, himself is considered a credible source, he took time out research this idea to justify his claim, and he possesses the quality of wisdom himself. Socrates definition of human wisdom proves that the allegations held against him were false and therefore his death was unwarranted.