...Dear Jake, I am writing you to explain Simmias analogy to Socrates in Phaedo. Socrates presents his third argument for the immortality of the soul, called Affinity Argument, where he shows that the soul most resembles that which is invisible and divine, and the body resembles that which is visible and mortal. From this, it is concluded that while the body may be seen to exist after death in the form of a corpse, as the body is mortal and the soul is divine, the soul must outlast the body. Simmias draws an extended comparison between a human being and a musical instrument, the lyre. In Simmias analogy he says, the body is visible, composite and mortal. A harp is visible composite and mortal. When the harp is destroyed, the tune which is ethereal, invisible and divine is also destroyed. The soul is like a tune it is ethereal, invisible and divine. If the body is destroyed the soul cannot survive. The argument I believe Simmias is making to Socrates is that nothing can exist prior to the things which it was created from. Simmias argument talks about the body being a lyre and the soul being the body and the harmony being the soul. With this in mind he explains that if the lyre rots then the harmony must also change. In the same way if the body is ravaged by disease then the soul must also be destroyed. The question I believe Simmias is attempting to ask is how can the soul exist before the body? Simmias argument is that the soul is a harmony dependent on the body. If the body is...
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...Explain Plato’s analogy of the cave. (25 marks) The analogy of the cave is written in Plato’s famous book known as Republic. It is one of the three similes he uses to illustrate his theory of Forms. Plato uses analogy to help describe philosophical difference between physical world and the difference of the world of forms. In short the analogy explains to others about the physical world as nothing but full of illusion. He describes the true reality is to be found in the eternal unchanging world of forms. The analogy begins in the cave. The cave represents the visible world or the world of sense experience, where the shadows seem more real than truth itself. It indirectly represents the human body, which imprisons the soul preventing it from seeking the true knowledge. People are chained up in the cave such a way that all prisoners are facing the wall. They are chained up in a way that they can only look ahead of them at the wall of the cave. The only light in the cave comes from the fire. There is a wall behind the prisoners and fire is located behind the wall. Behind the wall other people are walking up and down carrying statues on their heads. The prisoners observe the shadows that flicker before them. The prisoners believe the shadows are reality as that is all they are able to see. If they hear the people behind the wall they associate the sounds made by individuals with the shadows. They think of the shadows as the true reality. Plato represents our condition as human...
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...Movers and Shakers in Education Anna Santana GCU: EDU 576 April 7, 2014 Education has been a concept of the most rudimentary from far back to times we cannot even comprehend to our more modern idea of education. Every aspect of American education was founded or molded by another country’s education system or some influential person’s philosophy. Along those paths, people, ideas, concepts, etc. have been more influential than most. Many United States citizens do not know the impact of the Kalamazoo case. United States citizens know some of the taxes they pay to the various entities (local, city, district, state, etc.) help to fund their local schools, from elementary schools to public universities. What they do not know is this case not only allowed for taxes to fund public schooling, it started a whole revolution of change in young children’s education. (Webb, 2013) Not only did the Kalamazoo case allow for more public funding, the case set the precedent for mandatory attendance for school aged children. This allowed the precedence for child labor laws. Because of this increase in students attending school, the literacy rate increased, but still varied by region, especially amongst those students who were non-white. As “[b]lacks had the highest illiteracy rate: 30.4% in 1910.” (Webb, 2013) In 1954, the U.S. Supreme court heard one of the most influential cases. This case would impact the future of not only the civil right movement, but also, the equal...
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...concept of the holiness emerges and why it takes a prominent position in the conversation between Socrates and Euthyphro. I will also explain the three definitions that Euthyphro uses in his response to Socrates and then present Socrates’s refutation of each of Euthyphro definitions. Also this essay will test my ability to develop my own argument as to what I think Socrates’s goal is in this dialogue. How do you know that is his goal? What features of the dialogue align his goals? I will also give own definition of piety/holiness and then take on the role of Socrates and respond to my own definition as I think he would. Plato conversation set close to the king Archon court were Socrates and Euthrophy cross words. The conversation surround Socrates trying to understand the concept of how gods see piety and impious in mankind. The debate between Socrates and Euthrophy is that Socrates wants a new form of definition for pious and impious needs to man needs to be judge by man not from god’s justice. The concept of holiness explain how to be devout religiously not the act of being love. The conversation emphasize the true meaning of piety and impiety, and important conversation between Socrates and Euthrophy took place because Socrates does not believe in tales mythology and Socrates would like a more reasonable answer to all his questions. At the end of the conversation both Socrates and Euthrypho concluded that holiness as something love by Gods because of stated of being holy ...
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...injustices, Oedipus must be exiled from Thebes: Socrates must drink hemlock and die. Discuss the extent to which Oedipus’ and Socrates’ final moments are determined by past acts of autonomy. Socrates is a character who is seen as person who dies for his ideals. He sees himself as a public servant who has lived his life helping the people of the city with his practice of philosophy and by living his life within the boundaries of the laws and justices of society. Socrates sees this as a commitment by an invisible contract and he must commit himself to obey them even though these laws have wronged him. He is urged by his friend Crito to escape but Socrates feels that this would be wrong as it is going against state, country and his life’s work he states, “I am not able to abandon the arguments I previously made, now that this misfortune has befallen me”, (Plato, 2007, p. 40). Socrates does not blame the law that convicted him but the people, (Plato, 2007, p. 47), so for him to run away from his sentence would be a renunciation of Athenian law, structure and honour, which has conceived him and given him education, (Plato, 2007, p. 45). Socrates argument through Plato’s work resonates to the reader that constitution, integrity, institutions and laws are the most valuable properties to human kind and because of this we can say that Socrates is a martyr for his causation rather than a lawless citizen who hates the governing system. If Socrates chooses to go against the governing system...
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...Anna Lin Exam 1 6/18/14 Socrates’ Courageousness Socrates should not be classified as a Sophist for many reasons. He did not take money from those whom he spoke to; sophists did not care if their conclusions were true, yet Socrates used his ways of dialectic to try to find the absolute truths and he tries to proof to people that the immortal soul exists that is why he does not fear death. Socrates tries to let people know that there is life after death by proving himself right; he is not afraid of death. For instance, “Socrates claims that the death is nothing more than the separation of the soul from the body and although some group of people denies it, the soul is immortal considering the cycle of life and death, the theory of recollection and the affinity argument” (Makaleler). Makaleler tells the audience that Socrates is so certain that the soul is immortal. He also says death is just the soul leaving the body, yet many people don’t believe what he says. People denies Socrates’ way of thinking is mainly because they are scared of changes, they fear the unknown of what exactly will happen to them when the soul leaves the body. This is a good example of why Socrates is not a sophist because if he was a sophist he would have collected money then tell people what they want to hear, as this quotes states people do not believe in him. Socrates is not trying to please anyone to get money, he is just stating what the divine voice had told him. Again, “The soul can be...
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...chapter, Plato talked about the dialogues between Socrates and Criton, Socrates’ best friend in his whole life. In this time, Socrates had already been put into prison by the unfair adjudgement in the court and he was waiting for the death penalty. When a Greek ship from Delos came back, he needed to get the death penalty. Before this time, Criton had visited Socrates for a few times, and tried to persuade him escape from this prison, but it was not worked. In the beginning of this dialogue, Socrates asked Criton, “Why have you come at this time of day”? He was sleeping and even forgot the time. Criton wanted to convince him leave the prison, and he had already found someone to help Socrates if he could escape. It must be the last time to get out from this prison, because the ship would come soon. However, Socrates refused his suggestion depending on his own opinion about moral and law. Then they began to debate by several aspects. Criton thought that he should leave the prison because he was guiltless. And he used a few ways to persuade him, just like, he let Socrates think of his sons and said “It is your power to bring them up and educate them, and now you will go off and leave them, and so far as you are concerned, they must take their life as they find it”. And they would be in orphan, if you leave them. He appealed by emotion to persuade him not giving up his life. On the other hand, Criton illustrated their friendship. If Socrates didn’t leave the prison, others who didn’t...
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...A FEW NOTES ON SOCRATES AND THE SOPHISTS Sophists and Socrates both used the elenchus, a method of questioning which is something like ‘cross-examination.’ The Socratic elenchus eventually gave rise to the dialectic, the idea that through question and answer, through opposing ideas, through modifying one’s position and throwing out false opinions (doxa) truth might be pursued. It requires the searching out and bringing forth of true opinions in order to guide the interlocutor towards right thinking and a knowledge of the true forms. Although Socrates, in the Apologia, claims to have discovered no other truth than that he knows no truth, the Socrates of Plato’s earlier dialogues is of the opinion that truth is obtainable by use of the elenchus. SOPHISTS - while they use the elenchus they do not develop a dialectic aimed at leading people towards truth. Some practice eristic, flashy and ostentatious employment of verbal tricks, capping an argument or trapping an opponent without regard to searching out truth. So, among all the other forms of decadence which Aristophanes points to in Athenian society at this time, might be added the decadence of philosophical argumentation. SOPHISTS were mainly outsiders, not Athenians. They came offering an education suited to the creation of a competititve public sphere which seemed to threaten the Old Education, the traditional mythopoetic education based on the poets (Homer, Hesiod, Pindar), religious ritual, and cultic initiation...
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...Plato was a pupil, he became infatuated with his Sophist Socrates. Socrates was a Greek philosopher and he was known to preach endlessly about his ideas and theories to anyone that would listen. Plato’s most renowned work comes from his Five Dialogues. In two of Plato’s dialogues, Meno and Phaedo, Socrates is the protagonist and Plato uses his character to portray his philosophical views of life and how one can go about acquiring knowledge. The Meno consists of a discussion between Socrates and his companion, Meno, in which Meno is trying to inquire information on whether “virtue can be taught? Or is it not teachable but the result of practice, or is it neither of these, but men possess it by nature or in some other way” (70a). In the beginning of the dialogue, Socrates asks Meno to define what virtue is and after numerous attempts, Socrates comes to realize that he himself is unclear on whether or not virtue can be taught so he suggests that they can seek out the answer together. Meno is puzzled because he doesn’t know how the two of them will search and acquire knowledge on virtue if they are both unfamiliar with the subject. Socrates’ responds with a debate he once heard from some priests and priestesses about how “the human soul is immortal; at times it comes to an end, which they call dying; at times it is reborn, but it is never destroyed, and one must therefore live one's life as piously as possible" (81b). Socrates informs Meno that knowledge is derived from the immortality...
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...Running head: PLATO’S INFINATE Plato’s Infinite Wisdom Student Paper February 23rd, 2008 The University of Montana-Western Plato’s Infinite Wisdom Plato was, and remains a very influential and relevant Greek philosopher that lived between (427 and 347 B.C.E) (Stevenson and Haberman, 2004). Plato was extremely diverse and accomplished in his lifetime achievements. His rise to fame began as a student of the great philosopher Socrates, but progressed into many other dignified positions. He is accredited with teaching another great philosopher and scientist named Aristotle, who later taught Alexander the Great. Plato also founded the worlds’ first formal university in Athens called The Academy (Brickhouse, 2006). Plato’s philosophical research was far deeper than anything previously explored and transcends 2500 years without losing modern applicability. His vast writings began with the study of human nature, ethics, morals, knowledge, and progressed into complex theories on reality, dualism, government and the human soul. The most famous of these dialogues, The Republic, but later works like The Laws and The Statesman are equally impressive. Plato believed education, knowledge, and truth were essential for society to become moral and just. The outcome of successful societies was stability and peace. Personally, Plato believed in a spiritual gain given to those who succeed, but his theories were not based on personal beliefs like the widely disputed and...
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...Socrates on Piety in Justice Towards the end of Plato’s dialogue The Euthyphro, Socrates takes the lead in a debate regarding what defines pious action and uncharacteristically gives significant insight to his own thoughts on what he believes piety to be and its relation to justice. As Socrates poses leading questions on the subject, Euthyphro attempts to reach a concrete definition of piety. At one point he comes very close to doing so, but Socrates quickly and perhaps deliberately changes the direction of the argument back towards uncertainty and confusion. As is the case with most of the Socratic Dialogues, The Euthyphro ends before an agreed conclusion is reached. Towards the end of the dialogue Euthyphro has grown weary of the debate. In an attempt to keep the conversation from losing all momentum, Socrates leads him to assert that piety is only a part of the larger set of justice (12d). This means that what is pious is necessarily just, but what is just is not necessarily pious. Afterwards, Euthyphro defines piety as the part of justice “concerned with tending to the gods, while the remaining part of the just if concerned with tending to human beings” (12e). Socrates focuses on Euthyphro’s use of the word “tend”, and uses his typical method of scrutinization to force Euthyphro into a corner. The argument follows that all tending shares the same aim of benefiting the thing being tended. Therefore, a man’s pious action would actually make the gods better. Euthyphro...
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...the like have become faster, easier, and more manageable than centuries ago. With this fact, people thanked and honored these certain men and women for their contributions. They dubbed these men and women the title ‘genius.’ Examples of these geniuses are Isaac Newton, Alexander Graham Bell, Wolfgang Mozart, William Shakespeare, and Albert Einstein. A man of experience and wisdom, though, would think otherwise. He has a different ‘genius’ in mind -- the type who values not the physical things, but the things that really matter. What are those “things,” and who might that ‘genius’ be? Socrates is the name, and according to him: “An unexamined life is not worth living.” He went around Athens and persuaded others to look and examine themselves while they still have the time; to not be content with who they already are but to keep finding ways to improve the self and enrich the soul. Socrates used the dialectic method (now known as the Socratic method) – a way of investigating problems through dialogue discussion wherein a problem is broken down into series of questions and the answers to those questions would gradually reveal the answer to the problem – to help them examine their respective beliefs and reshape those ideas if found to be in error. Through this method, he would be able to help them help themselves. This Socratic method is one of his legacies to humanity, for up until now it is still being used. Many teachers and professors employ...
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...The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living “The unexamined life is not worth living,” is a familiar saying that Socrates said at his trial for heresy, that is, encouraging his students to challenge the accepted beliefs and think of themselves instead and this led to his death sentence. Socrates could have avoided death by choosing life in prison or exile but he refused claiming that, these alternatives will prevent him from examining the world around him and see how to make the world a better place. He argued that with the absence of his examined life will, there was no value of living. Therefore, Socrates claimed that for a human being to live a worthy life, everyone should question, examine and re-examine the values of their lives daily (Kamtekar, 154). This paper explores the meaning and the significance of the Socrates claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living” focusing on the Apology and Euthyphro. The words, ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’ by Socrates comes from Plato’s Apology when Socrates is sentenced to death after being accused of corrupting the youth and impiety (Ahbel-Rappe & Rachana, 229). Patterson posits that apology is one historical account of Socrates’ defense during his trial (Patterson, 16), and these words appear at the end of the Apology when Socrates is going through possible punishments for charges against him. Socrates utters these words when the jury has already found him guilty and has to decide on what kind of punishment to impose...
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...In his dialogue The Republic, Plato brings to life various historical characters in order to discuss the nature of justice and its use in both collective and individual existence. Roughly speaking, the Greek philosopher divides a hypothetical society into three layers (rulers, guardians and people) and arrives at the conclusion that justice in a society can only be achieved when every member jointly interacts with the others. Early education, he explains, is the key for accurate identification of each member's particular abilities. Moreover, those who rule would view their roles in society more as a craft rather than a duty. In spite of Plato's utopian vision of human organization, these concepts are the core blueprints of what an undistorted democracy is: a society forged and governed by the people. In light of such vision and in order to arrive at an answer to the question "Is a democratic system fair?" we must first examine if our current system is democratic and if it presents traces of fairness. I have found that a great number of people mistakenly confound the term "freedom" with "democracy" to the point of making the two terms interchangeable. These concepts are different both in nature and structure. Freedom, for example, is not driven by the notion of equitable distribution of wealth but rather by economic divisions. Those who are richer are more “free” than others with fewer advantages. This is one of the greatest characteristics of our capitalistic way of life. The...
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...The Soul The concept of the soul is an integral point of concern in the writings of both Plato and Aristotle. Plato views the soul as beyond the body, something that must be released from the grip of mortality. Despite being the student of Plato, Aristotle has his own line of reasoning in regards to the soul, tying the existence of the soul to the existence of life. I will endeavor to show the differences between their thoughts on the soul and its purpose in their philosophical ideology, with the purpose of explaining how Aristotle’s beliefs on the matter of the soul are preferable. One of Plato’s clearest exposition on the soul occurs during the recounting of the death of Socrates, wherein Socrates tells of how “the wise man will want to be ever with him who is better than himself” and further that “the real philosopher has reason to be of good cheer when he is about to die” (Plato). These statements on death will serve as an opening for the rest the Plato’s theories on the soul; the idea that for true knowledge to be grasped, the soul must be freed from the prison of the body. Plato argues that the soul, as an immortal expression of being, is capable of existing beyond the mortal world. He asserts that the body is a detriment to the pursuit of pure knowledge, that it “is a source of endless trouble to us…” (Plato), leading to the idea that purity can only be achieved once the soul is freed. One of the arguments Plato employs as his reasoning for the idea of the Soul...
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