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A boy once approached Socrates with the desire to obtain wisdom. Without saying a word, Socrates led the boy down to the edge of the sea and walked in, beckoning him to follow. When they were standing waist deep in the water, Socrates pushed the boy down, completely submerging his head. He held him thus for a couple of minutes, until the boy was almost to the point of death, before letting him up. Sputtering and angry, the boy demanded to know why Socrates had held him underwater for so long. In response, Socrates asked, "when you were under the water, what did you want more than anything in the world?"
After a moment's reflection, the boy answered, "I wanted to breathe."
"Ah," Socrates replied. "When you desire wisdom and knowledge as much as you desired to breathe, it is then that you shall have it."
Learning is a talent. It is something that is born from an intense desire to gain knowledge and it is something that can be practiced and improved upon. During our high school career, we have not only been learning how to conjugate verbs or how to integrate polynomials, but w...
Consequently, In Plato's Euthyphro, our acquaintance with Socrates is immensely beneficial to society, as we obtain awareness on such an innovative method of achieving intuition. The Socratic approach is now a fundamental approach implemented in daily conversation in society Furthermore, not only is Socrates is able to verify that the true seekers are the wise; he also validates the notion that the answers to many questions are merely questions. Simply because, life is so debate that certain subjects begin to intertwine. To sum up, Plato's Euthyphro is extremely indicative of this Socratic irony, for the reason being that: Socrates's portrays a sense of intellectual humility.
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 established very early in his defense that he knew he had no wisdom, and he based his investigations of Athenians’ wisdom on finding at least one person wiser than he was. He recalled a story of Chaerephon, an old Athenian friend, who went to the Oracle of Delphi to ask whether anybody had more wisdom than Socrates did, and she “’…answered that there was no man wiser.’” (Plato, 3) Socrates explained that since he knew he had no wisdom, he began a search to find a ...
The Meno is another story written by Plato in which Socrates uses his method of inquiry on the youth of Athens. The story illustrates how successful the Socratic method is in terms of helping the city of Athens by creating a more educated and ethical community. The story’s dialogue begins with Meno asking Socrates if virtue can be taught, and Socrates responds by saying “I myself, Meno, am as poor as my fellow citizens in this matter, and I blame myself for my complete ignorance about virtue” implying that he does not know the true definition of virtue, nor does anyone else, making it impossible to teach. Meno claims that virtue is different for different people based on things such as sex or age, and Socrates rejects this idea. Meno then proposes that virtue is the desire for good ...
To the County High School Class of 2012: As you sit in front of me, I know what most of you are thinking at the moment. There are those who are already pondering about what life without high school will be like; those who are debating whether or not to tell your crush tonight about your whispers of adoration you’ve secretly held for four years; some simply want to get out of that ungodly chair, get that thing that isn’t really a diploma but only tells you when to pick up the thing, and then be the first one on the green bus to the grad party — you know who you are. And the rest, well, the rest aren’t even paying attention, you’re thinking, “Great, here comes one of the valedictorian speakers. Next up: a boring speech straight out of the pits of scholarly hell.” And it’s OK, I don’t mind — that sort of thing comes with the territory. But tonight, I ask that you give me a chance to break that stereotype so that I may address you in the full splendor that you deserve after 13 grueling years of work. I do not want to be known as your “valedictorian” as I stand here, c’mon guys, there is no time left to place labels on people anymore, instead I ask that you accept me as one of your peers — and as a man who will enjoy becoming a graduate alongside you.
In the Apology by Plato, Socrates made many bold and inspiring statements leading the reader to have to interpret it on their own terms. He stated, “I am likely to be wiser . . . to this small extent, that I do not think I know what I do not know” (21d). Later, Socrates went on to say, “I go around doing nothing but persuading both young and old among you not to care for your body or your wealth in preference to or as strongly as for the best possible state of your soul” (30a-b). These statements and how they support one another can only be understood by analyzing what is wisdom, excellence, and who is fit to teach these to others.
In modern society, wisdom can be defined as the quality of having experience, knowledge, and moral judgment; the quality of being wise. However, Socrates had the idea that wisdom was knowing oneself. Socrates’s was beyond brilliant compared to the average Athenian; he was self-aware and just. Although Socrates tended to meddle in the affairs of others, he consequently had the ability to spark enlightenment among the people in Athens. To Socrates, philosophy served as the study of humans. He highlights this in The Apology when he goes from one social group to the next in search for the wisest of all the land. This is of course in response to the Oracle of Delphi addressing the fact that Socrates presents himself as the wisest of the entire known world. This was dangerous since Socrates dared to challenge the Oracle by trying to demonstrate he was not the wisest. Through this, however, Socrates learns that he was the wisest because he could admit that he did not have knowledge in all subjects; he could explicitly declare that he has not achieved ultimate knowledge of everything, unlike most Athenians.
Socrates goes on by referring to a Greek poet Pindar, to highlights the belief that the human soul is immortal and that every time “it comes to an end-that which is called death – and at another is born again” (81b). Thus, he concludes that given that the “soul has been born many times, and has seen all things both here and in the other world” (81d), then it must have acquired all knowledge possible already. Further, he adds that since the soul has indeed learned everything already, then there is no such thing as “seeking and learning [for they] are in fact nothing but recollection” (81d). To illustrate his point, Socrates uses a slave boy who most likely is very limited in his knowledge of things. He uses a process whereby he simply start by interrogating the boy and leading him to give his opinion on geometrical questions. He concludes that, the fact that the boy is able to answer positively, negatively or by a number to the questions asked, it must be that “his opinions were somewhere in him” (85c), and that “the spontaneous recovery of knowledge that is in him is recollection”
Socrates concedes that he is actually the wisest person in Athens—but only in one crucial respect. What is it? Explain what he means by it.
Socrates would often question men in the market places. This earned him many admirers among the young men of Athens. However, many of the men he would converse with in the marketplace would ended up hating him because of how foolish he made them look.
Socrates then introduces the idea that, since they have come to understand these truths and amassed great amounts of knowledge, the philosopher is humble, and is humbled by the enormity of the truths and knowledge. This knowledge and these truths also make the philosopher courageous as he no longer fears his death. The philosopher is also considered the optimal leader due to his disregard for wealth and material goods, Socrates clarifies that since his energy and desire are all concentrated on knowledge and truth his appetite will mimic that of a stream, with his mind flowing in the direction of “learning and everything like it” (485d) Socrates says that, assuming he is a “true philosopher, a genuine lover of wisdom, and not a pretend lover of wisdom” (485e) that the pleasures of the mind will be more than enough for
According to Socrates, most people tend to rely on their senses too much and believe the world as it is appeared to our sight. In order to free our souls from this mental prison, Socrates suggests that we should go through a phase that does not only prepare ourselves for the real world but also prevent us from heading to the wrong direction to seek the truth - education.
Throughout this mission, Socrates talked with politicians, artisans, poets and other “experts," and soon realized they all lacked true wisdom. When Socrates tried to explain this lack of real wisdom on the part of the “experts," he noted the consequence was their hatred of him for doing so. Socrates discovered then, that ultimately, they knew nothing more than he did. The difference resides in the fact that Socrates did not pretend to know what he didn’t. While reflecting on his findings, he defined wisdom as human humility, which meant that true wisdom stems from the acknowledgment of one’s own ignorance. After Socrates arrived at this definition of wisdom, he resolved to share his newfound knowledge on what wisdom truly consists of. He likened himself to a gadfly, as he intended to “sting” the citizens of Athens. He would expose their ignorance though a method of questioning that resulted in the exposure of faulty logic. Taking this idea a step farther, the philosopher would claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living”. Through this statement, Socrates acknowledges the distinct difference between living and merely existing. He states that an individual should carefully analyze themselves if they wish to live a life that is worth living. If they do not, they are just existing with no greater purpose. A lack of knowledge, wisdom, or the
When Socrates was brought to trial for the corruption of the city’s youth he knew he had done nothing wrong. He had lived his life as it should be lead, and did what he ne...
Socrates believed that questioning was an excellent way to gain understanding and knowledge. Parents would ask questions until they were answered correctly.