SOCRATES

Socrates



“No Human Agent knowingly Does Evil” - Socrates

Introduction

In this paper, I intend to explore the hotly debated issue regarding the saying of Socrates that “no human agent knowingly does evil.” Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher who helped in shaping Greek beliefs. The ideas he created are present in our culture today. Socrates was born in 470 B.C., and he grew up during the Golden Age of Athens. This was a period when Greece was very powerful. The philosophy before Socrates was primarily concerned with matters relating to the existence of the world and what it is, however, Socrates believed that the sins are only a result of ignorance. Therefore, if people could differentiate between right and wrong, the question of evil would not arise.

General Topic

This is the question whether the humans do evil intentionally, or they do it unconsciously. Theorists have formulated various ethical theories that help us in making ethical choices. One such theory is the natural law ethical theory. This is extremely helpful in aiding us to understand the human actions that are morally right or wrong. Every human has some sense that enables him to understand what is right or wrong. Similarly, with reference to abortion and nuclear war, the natural law ethical theory enables people to distinguish right from evil. According to this theory, there is no such thing that is known as “neutral ethics” or “perfect ethics”, and this is because ethics for individuals are different (Crank & Caldero, 2010). This is because some humans think one thing is ethical while the other might think it to be unethical. Ethics differs from person to person, and from country to country, and this is the reason why some countries have made abortion legal while some have not. Even in the United States, it was not legal initially but later onwards, it was made legal. There are three main determinants that are used to determine ethical choice, which can help us in distinguishing evil with regards to abortion. These are mentioned below.

1.The act itself - This determines whether the act is good or evil because abortion can be considered evil.

2.The motive - The reasons of getting a baby aborted can vary from person to person. Some of these are to kill the baby, avoid disgrace, to cure a disease which is deadly or for the purpose of family planning.

3.The circumstance - This refers to intercourse with a willing spouse or forcibly with a stranger.

There are some ethical principles that resolve around the choices that we make. These ethical issues relate to the professional, sociological, economic, legal or political implications. Therefore, a moral choice is considered correct in certain situations while it is considered unethical in other situations.

Main Argument

I shall argue against Socrates who defends the humans by saying that they do not do evil consciously. In the modern world, terrorism can be defined as evil which is the use of violence or threat that is posed by individuals or groups against other ...