Socrates Essay Research Paper

Socrates Essay, Research Paper

“Because he was unjustly convicted, Socrates had no obligation to remain in prison.” Socrates was convicted by a system of government where the people decided what was going to happen to him, a form of democracy. Since Socrates lived under this type of a government, he was accountable to any punishment that they saw fit. This type of government is chosen by the people, Socrates had the right to vote and whether or not he chose the people in charge directly or indirectly, the majority of his peers believed that this type of government and those representatives under it was the best system for them. I believe that Socrates had an obligation to the people of the country that he lived in to remain in prison. It is what, in theory, the people wanted, because their representatives chose this punishment for Socrates. I believe that Socrates was also in agreement with my opinion. Socrates believed that if sending him to prison was what the people wanted and was what would make them feel better, that it would be beneficial to society for him to be in prison. I also think that Socrates was not averse to going to prison because it would show the people that he was a man of his word and that he believed in the good of society. People would also realize that having Socrates in jail is not the key ending corruption of the young people in their society. Hopefully they would realize that Socrates was not the cause of the problems that society was having and that the problems were always there, Socrates just brought them into realization.

An objection to my opinion would be that Socrates deserved to be free because he was unjustly convicted. In some ways I believe that Socrates should have been free. The only thing Socrates was guilty of was expressing his opinion and getting other people to open their minds to his opinion. In that aspect I believe that he should be free. But in the system of government that he lived under, majority rules. They believed that he should be in jail and that by having him in jail, society as a whole would be better. Life is not fair, but by sending Socrates to jail, it gave many people peace of mind who believed that Socrates was the origin of all of the problems that the youth of society were facing. Whether or not Socrates was unjustly convicted is beside the point, society believed that it was best for him to be in prison for the good of the many. Socrates was one of the greatest thinkers that this world has ever know, and though it was a great tragedy that he was executed, society at that time believed that it was in their best interest. I believe that what society did was not in the best judgement, but at that time it was what they thought was best for the good of society.

“Socrates makes the weaker argument defeat the stronger.” I don’t believe that Socrates made the weaker argument defeat the stronger. His arguments were just better thought out and were easier to defend when questioned. Through his amazing reasoning capabilities, Socrates was able to make his arguments become the stronger arguments. Socrates knew what the stronger argument was and was able to defend it from most aspects of criticism. What was considered the stronger argument was what the majority of society believed to be true. Just because society believes something to be true doesn’t mean that is right. Socrates argued that just because most people believe something to be true, doesn’t automatically make it true. For hundreds of years, people believed that the earth was flat, that didn’t make it true. So the argument of the earth being flat was actually the weaker argument, not the stronger. If people had actually taken time to think about what they were being presented with in great detail, as Socrates did, they would realize what the stronger argument actually was. But the majority of the people who lived during Socrates time were not independent thinkers, they were conformers. They believed what they had always been taught by their elders and what the majority of society believed to be true. If society in Socrates time had had more great thinkers or even average people who were willing to question the common beliefs, society would have been more accepting to change. Socrates roused questions that shifted away from the norm, and therefore made people believe that he was trying to corrupt the youth by proposing his thoughts to them. Socrates wasn’t trying to make society change their views, he was just trying to get people to become more independent thinkers. I think that Socrates had a hard time accepting people who believed everything they were told and never questioned anything. My opinion is that Socrates simply made his argument the stronger argument by backing it up with well thought out statements and by going into detail about his thoughts. I consider the arguments of society the weaker arguments because they contained little or no truth and had no evidence to back them up.

An objection to my opinion would be that Socrates does make the weaker argument defeat the stronger. This statement can be viewed in a few different ways. If you believe that Socrates argument was the weaker argument, then the weaker argument does defeat the stronger. I believed Socrates arguments to be the stronger argument, not based on whether the majority of society believed it, but based on the facts, evidence, and well thought out ideas that his argume