Sheikh Hasnat Jahan

Introduction to Philosophy
Professor Jules Salomone
March 13, 2017

Socrates Apology:

Socrates Apology is a world-renowned work of philosophy. In

Socrates Apology we learn that Socrates has been accused of impiety

and harming the young. Due to these accusations there is a meeting in

which the accusers and Socrates will be present in front of the court.

However, Socrates chooses to defend himself and Socrates Apology is

Platos rewrite of how Socrates defended himself. Before Socrates can

address the accusations towards him he must address a more

important kink to his reputation. He refers back to a time when his

friend who is no longer around went to Delphis Oracle, the Pythia, to

find out who the wisest man was. The oracle told Socrates friend that

there is no man wiser than Socrates. This news eventually got to

Socrates and he goes around trying to find someone who is wiser than

he. Socrates admits that he does not think that he knows what he does

not know whereas the others he has approached do not know yet claim

to know. Virtue is simple in this where Socrates states that he knows it

is wicked and shameful to do wrong (29b). The only thing of utmost

importance is looking towards your actions, whether the action is right

or wrong without taking into account the risk of life or death.

 I agree with Socrates to an extent. However, it isnt as simple as

looking at the action as good or bad and ignoring whether your life is

at stake. I believe that one must watch out for their life. Each and

every individual life is important. Almost everyone has a family. If we

dont take into account the risk we put on our life and just focus on the

action we may end up hurting people who loves us the most and who

need us. Every situation is unique so the same principles do not apply

to all of them. There are several actions that may consider really bad

from ones perspective but from anothers perspective it may not be

that bad of an action. For example, stealing is a very bad thing to do.

To steal is to take something that does not belong to you without

proper payment or permission. But if we consider that the person, who

is stealing, steals only from the wealthy a small amount to feed the

poor would we really call him a bad person? Robin hood is one of the

most beloved Disney characters out there because he takes from the

king and gives back to the poor. We must be conscious of our actions

and always try to do good and we must worry about our lives

because our lives arent just our own. Some may have a mother,

father, wife, and children waiting for them to come home and to do an

action without thinking about your life can ultimately be selfish

because it can take you away from those that really depend on you.

Rationalism:
 Socrates through tells Meno there is no teaching but

recollection (82a). To prove his point to Meno through his dialogue

with Menos young slave that there is no teaching but recollection

through a series of questions he will ask the young slave. Socrates

goes about asking questions about shapes, figures, lengths, and

numbers. All of which Menos slave answers and then Socrates turns to

Meno and asks him to pay attention as the slave recollects knowledge

from another life since the soul is immortal. As he continues to asks

questions the slave is able to answer them using recollection rather

than Socrates teaching him.

I dont quite agree the belief of the soul recollecting knowledge

from a past life. However, I do believe that the soul is immortal and

that after death the soul goes to an after life. As a result I dont really

agree with the experiment. I feel as though the questions Socrates

asks are leading questions. Each question pushes the young slave to

come to answer without Socrates explicitly giving him the answer. To

me it feels as though Socrates is guiding the young slave while

allowing him to understand why what he believes is wrong or right.