The Noble Socrates

Mechelle To Philosophy 1000 Professor Izrailevsky 11/23/2013 http://mechelleto.weebly.com/

To 1

The Noble Socrates Is honor worth death? According to Douglas Soccio, Socrates died for claims of not worshipping the gods of the state and corrupting the young (116). Socrates believed if the Athenian community found him guilty he would take whatever punishment they gave him. He had several other options besides death such as living in exile or being humiliated publicly. Although Socrates did not believe he was guilty of these charges his beloved Athenian community found him guilty of the crimes. According to Douglas Soccio, he accepted his fate but he had one last thing to say to the jury: If you think that by killing men you can prevent someone from censuring your evil lives, you are mistake; that is not a way of escape which is either possible or honorable; the easiest and the noblest way is not to be disabling others, but to be improving yourselves. This is the prophecy which I utter before my departure to the judges who have condemned me (116). The trial lasted longer than usual and carried into the beginning of the Athenian holy period. Socrates was imprisoned until the holy period was over. He waited about a month before his execution. During his imprisonment he was visited by several friends and family. One of Socrates students offered him an opportunity to evade prison and escape death which meant he would have to live in exile for the rest of his life but he refused to do so. His beloved students tried to convince him to do so but he did not want to run away like a coward. Socrates believed that he had a purpose in life. If that was a part of his destiny then he would fulfill it. Socrates was not afraid to die according to Douglas Soccio, Socrates told one of his students that, To evade and fear death

To 2

would have made a mockery out of his entire life, for Socrates had long taught that death was not an evil (118). He wanted his students to be strong and not worry so much because death is just a part of life. Socrates was very noble and brave on the day he was to be executed. Instead of waiting until sundown like many people have in the past, Socrates asked the jailer for the hemlock early because he did not want to prolong anything else, for it would not benefit anyone. As he drank the hemlock his dear friends began to weep for the thought that Socrates would not be alive within the next few moments. They watched him grow weak as the poison spread through his body. His students tried holding back their tears but it was impossible to do so, while the life of their beloved teacher Socrates was drained from his body. One of Socrates greatest teachings was, Gnoti Seanton when translated in English meaning know thyself. Along with knowing ones self he believes we need to take care of our Psyche. Psyche representing our soul which is what, differentiates us from animals. Humans and animals all have instincts. Humans have souls which gives us the ability to critically self-reflect. Humans analyze and criticize the choices they make and the life they live. Animals do not criticize nor analyze their decisions; they solely act upon their natural instincts according to Socrates. Socrates believes we as humans need to learn to control our wants and desires, by critically self thinking and reflecting. Socrates stated, To have no wants is divine, to have as few as possible is close to divine. To best understand yourself, you first must know what you desire and want out of your life. The journey to knowing yourself may be a long road ahead but it can be discovered by simply asking yourself questions.

To 3

As a young man, Socrates engaged in such questioning himself. He inherited a considerable body of knowledge, or as he came to see, pseudo-knowledge (Johnson, 74). One of his famous quotes is I know, that I know nothing. Socrates did not believe that he knew more than anyone or knew anything at all. Although he may have known a great deal about a lot of things he did not ever claim it. Socrates did not think he was the wisest man, even though many have told him so. All the wisdom and knowledge he obtained was through conversations with many different people. Socrates enjoyed communicating with people and he like to questioned people to further seek a truth. He always hung out around the marketplace because of the diversity of people he would come in contact with there. This is what Socrates loved to do most of all, according to Paul Johnson even while imprisoned waiting to be executed, Socrates spent it in the way that gave him most delight- questioning and speaking to those he respected and loved about the things that mattered: virtue, wisdom, the soul, and death (169). Socrates loved to ask questions to further uncover the truth. His questioning method is now known as the Socratic Method. According to Max Maxwell, he believes the Socratic Method can be divided into two different types; the Classical Socratic Method and the Modern Socratic Method. Max Maxwell believes the Classical Socratic Method is used to clear the respondents previous idea of the question to, inspire the respondent to dig deep and think about the question with a new freedom that is obtained from discarding a previously held belief (Maxwell, paragraph 3). The Modern Socratic Method is a process of inductive questioning used to successfully lead a person to knowledge through small steps (Maxwell, paragraph 5). The Classic Socratic method uses creative questioning to dismantle and discard preexisting ideas and thereby allows the respondent to rethink the primary question under discussion (Maxwell, paragraph 3). Max Maxwell believes that by questioning their answers to

To 4

the question, it helps them reevaluate the question in a different way. It causes the respondent to realize that the previous idea may have been influenced by other factors. It is not what he or she may really believe is the answer they would have come up with by themselves without other factors influencing them (Maxwell, paragraph 3). The Classic Method is deconstructive, while the Modern Socratic Method is constructive (Maxwell, paragraph 6). The Modern Socratic Method is the method most widely used because it is easier to employ (Maxwell, paragraph 6). According to Max Maxwell, It is much easier to lead a person, by baby steps, to specific knowledge through a series of questions than it is to force a person to abandon a cherished idea and rethink an important or controversial issue just by asking creative questions (paragraph 6). With the Modern Socratic Method, the knowledge gained is specifically anticipated by the Socratic questioner. This stands in contrast to the Classic Socratic method in which the actual outcomes are unknown by all parties (Maxwell, paragraph 5). The ultimate goal of the Socratic method is to increase understanding through inquiry (Maxwell, paragraph 4). According to Max Maxwell both styles differ from the approach that is taken but, Both can inspire people to increase their love of good questions. Both can draw people into a more thoughtful mode of thinking (paragraph 7). For either method to be beneficial the individual must be open-minded and be able to admit that they may not have the right answer. The individuals willingness to be open-minded will help them with their pursuit to discover the truth. Along with discovering the truth they are free to look freely and analyze their morals, values, and beliefs. For Socrates, to be moral means to have an arte. Arte representing virtue, which is based on the knowledge you acquired. You should acquire knowledge throughout your entire

To 5

life. Socrates would encourage his students to continue educating themselves. Socrates believes, The unexamined life is not worth living. One must seek knowledge and wisdom before private interests. Knowledge is sought as a means to ethical action (The ethics of Socrates, paragraph 15). He believes that as an individual you have two moral options: 1. Is to do nothing at all 2. Be the best you can be Socrates did not believe in just getting by in life, in doing so you are not applying yourself to your full potential. He strongly believed, if you decide to pursue something you must give it all you have. Socrates believes Ignorance is the mother of all Evil. Ignorance is lack of knowledge. He believes uneducated people make ignorant decisions, because if ignorance is a lack of knowledge, ignorance is inflicted upon ourselves since we choose our education path. The best way to approach any situation is to be open-minded, so we can take in as much knowledge as possible to further understand the person. You are still entitled to your own opinions but by approaching objectives with an open-mind you can then decide for yourself what you believe is the truth. Everyones virtue may be different but virtue is still based on happiness. Happiness can be achieved by Gnoti Seanton. With everything that I have learned from Socrates, I find him to be a very noble person that died with honor, thus being the reason for my choice of philosophers. Socrates lived a much fulfilled life, teaching and learning things from everyone he interacted with. If he would have evaded from prison and lived a life in exile his philosophy would have been contradicted. He believed in what he had created and did not care what others thought about him or what they

To 6

would or could do to him. I believe from Socrates death his philosophy was that much more influential on Western philosophy. I find the Socratic Method to very interesting. Socrates is well known for creating the practice of the Socratic Method. He believed it was possible to uncover the truth through a series of questions, the answer lied within the responses the individual gave. The series of questions helps the individual free their mind of any previous ideas about the question and helps the individual critically think about the question and uncover the truth. I was taught many different things throughout my life. I was told what was right from wrong, but from experience I believe many things I have learned could be improved and further examined. Society thinks they have the right idea for people to live their life. We do not need to worship God, become doctors or lawyers to be successful and happy. Happiness can be found within ourselves! To uncover true happiness you must be able to understand what happiness is for yourself. Socrates teaches his student the idea of Gnoti Seanton. By knowing yourself you can uncover what would make you the happiest. Knowing thyself can uncover a lot more than just happiness. If you truly know yourself you are able to uncover the life you wish to live and fulfill your purpose. I believe everyone has a purpose in life. We dont know what that purpose is until we are able to uncover the truth about ourselves. I love the idea of questioning myself to uncover the truth everyone has their own truth. I am the person who knows the truth about myself, and what I truly desire. People are free to tell me what will make me happy or successful but that is their idea, not mine. It seems like the idea of success and happiness today is measured by the amount of money you have in your bank

To 7

account or what material items you are able purchase. It takes a strong, grounded person to enjoy the simple things in life and peoples inner beauty. The most important thing I have taken away from Socrates is his love for inner beauty. He believes we need to take care of our souls. Our soul is an intangible thing that cannot be measured. Our society believes they have the right idea of physical beauty but they never speak of inner beauty. Physical beauty is measured by your height, weight, features, etc. but what is inner beauty measured by? Society has no idea because we care too much about the tangible things in life. Socrates has really taught me to learn to look past the superficial things, taking care of myself, physically and mentally, and continuing my education. He may have died in a cold dark cell but from his death I was able to learn and appreciate his wise words.

To 8

Works Cited Johnson, Paul. Socrates: a man for our times. New York: Viking, 2011. Print. Maxwell, Max. "Socratic Method Research Portal." Socratic Method Research Portal. Kenneth J. Maxwell Jr., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. <http://www.socraticmethod.net/>. Soccio, Douglas J.. "The Wise Man Socrates." Archetypes of wisdom; an introduction to philosophy. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013. 89-121. Print. "Socrates." Socrates. University Press Inc., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/People/Socrates/>. "The Ethics of Socrates." The Ethics of Socrates. Philosophy Lander Edu, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. <http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/socrates.html>.