philosophy term paper
... blessed, and therefore was not worried about the matter. Similarly, he realized the insignificance of how he was buried. By saying you may bury me as you please, he helped his friends to realize the same thing. He also requested that he make a libation to one of his gods with his poison showing he was not troubled with the fact that he was about to drink it. Socrates was always trying to teach his followers something new: from a simple nugget of wisdom to a profound principle for living. He wisely stated: you must know that to use words wrongly is not only a fault in itself; it also corrupts the soul. He meant that by saying something untrue, you could infect your own mind with the untrue idea. Since Socrates did not write anything down, Socrates thinking is told through his student, Plato, who wrote his teacher’s thoughts. Socrates is an idealist who believes that things are inherent. Therefore he believed that before we are born our soul knows everything. As we grow day by day, we recollect the knowledge from our soul. The soul, that is, the human mind, before it is united with the body, is acquainted with the intelligible world or the world of Forms. This prior existence is the true knowledge. After its union with a human body, a person’s mind contains its knowledge deep in its memory. True knowledge in this world consists of remembering, in reminiscence or recollection. What the mind or soul once knew is raised to present awareness by a process of recollection aided by the technique of dialect or the Socratic method. This is known as the theory of recollection. The theory of recollection is told through Plato in the Phaedo and the Meno. In the theory of recollection Socrates belief is that all is not learned, but, that knowledge is recollection. This thesis allows a man to have ideas of which he later becomes conscious by recollection; thereby overcoming the sharp division between not-knowing and knowing, and justifying inquiry. Socrates states that a man cannot inquire about what he knows, because he knows it, and in that case he is in no need of inquiry, nor again can he inquire about what he does not know, since he does not know what he is to inquire. This theory of recollection may explain why we often say that we had certain knowledge before we learned it or heard it for the first time. It is often said that we are born with concepts and it is these concepts that structure our minds, beliefs, and actions. Plato illustrates how Socrates is able to show that even a young uneducated slave boy knows some truths of geometry not because somebody taught him that subject but because be naturally knows the relationship of various ideas to each other. This illustrates how Socrates thought that the uneducated boy knew geometry. He recollected it from his soul. Socrates states that the boy is recovering by oneself knowledge within oneself. Knowledge is perceived as having an acquaintance with the object, but not knowing how it functions. Socrates states that true knowledge is that, that is learned. Once learned, we remember that knowledge and apply it when needed. This can be done through recollection or memory. As an occasion arises that requires the use of this knowledge, we can use the abilities of our mind and recollect the knowledge for the circumstance. By destroying the illusion that we already comprehend the world perfectly and honestly accepting the fact of our ignorance, Socrates believed, are vital steps toward our acquisition of genuine knowledge, by discovering universal definitions of the key concepts governing human life. The Socrates of the Meno tries to determine whether or not virtue can be taught, and this naturally leads to a careful investigation of nature itself. Although he believes that virtue is unteachable, Socrates does propose the doctrine of recollection to explain why we nevertheless are in possession of significant knowledge about such matters. Socrates argues that knowledge and virtue are so closely related that no human agent ever knowingly does evil: we invariably do what we believe to be best. Improper conduct, then, can be a product of our ignorance rather than a symptom of weakness of the will. I interpret Socrates to mean that I was born with knowledge of right and wrong, but I needed to experience situations where I needed to recall this knowledge. He refers to the initial knowledge being in the soul. Life of Socrates Socrates, 469-399 B.C.E, was a Greek philosopher from Athens. Famous for his view of philosophy as a pursuit proper and necessary to all intelligent men, he is one of the great examples of a man who lived by his principles even though they ultimately cost him his life. Knowledge of the man and his teachings comes in...