SOCRATES

Socrates

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Discussion3

Influence4

Author Profile4

Virtue Is Knowledge5

No One Knowingly Does What Is Wrong6

Socratic Method6

Conclusion7

References8

Appendix9

Socrates

Introduction

Socrates is comedically depicted as adhering to a natural philosophy that has the effect of undermining human conventions such as the family. Socrates' influence on psychology is derived from his cautious study of the area of personal knowledge. In discovering this area, Socrates provided novel connotation to the word “psyche”.

Alternatively, in Plato's corpus, Socrates' primary concern is not the natural world but the human world and human ideas such as justice. According to Plato, Socrates' quest for truth generally leaves the moral convictions of his interlocutors intact, if not improved. In all portrayals, Socrates questions accepted beliefs and pretensions to knowledge. The Socratic method of teaching was to let someone state a thesis and then draw out, through a series of questions, the underlying consequences and contradictions of that position, leading to a deeper analysis of the problem. In 400 b.c.e., Socrates was indicted for impiety and for corrupting young Athenians. He stood trial in 399 b.c.e. and was sentenced to death by drinking hemlock.

Discussion

Socrates' development of knowledge marked the start of psychology's attraction with the personal self or individual. He gave other germinal ideas about the psyche, with a dialogue on conflict between impulse and reason in the psychology. Socrates is famous for his theory of knowledge as the recollection of ideas, for his conception of the soul and his attempted proofs of the soul's immortality, and for the theory of Ideas or universal forms, which Plato adopted and expanded. He is remembered as much for his personal courage and his clear idealism as for his philosophy, and he remains one of the towering figures of the Western world. (Strathern 1999 )

Influence

Socrates' influence led Plato, Antisthenes, Euclides, and Phaedon to become philosophers and start schools of their own. His method of teaching (as exhibited in many of Plato's dialogues), by posing a series of questions, the inevitable answers to which logically lead the answerer toward the truth, is still referred to as the “Socratic method.” Socrates continues to exemplify the virtues of the examined life. (Taylor 2000 )

Author Profile

Socrates' views on ethics must be understood against the background of his main opponents, the Sophists. They were moral relativists who believed that ethical beliefs could never be more than convention and subjective human opinions. In contrast, Socrates thought that ethical truths were universal and objective and concerned the way in which humans should best live. He said that the goal in human life was not simply living but “living well.” To make an excellent ship, one must understand the purpose of ships and what constitutes the standard of excellence for a ship. Similarly, to live life well, one must understand what constitutes human excellence. For this reason, Socrates said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” (Smith 2000 )

Socrates' position is sometimes called “ethical intellectualism,” because he believed that ethics is a matter of the intellect and that the moral person is one who has ...