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Assignment 1
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In The Apology, Socrates is brought before a jury of Athenians in an attempt to defend his name. In his speech that is given to the jury, Socrates refutes many allegations such as serving gods that the state does not recognize, the creation of his own gods and later, the accusation of being an atheist who has become an influence of evil upon the youth of Athens. Leading up to these accusations, Socrates states that he has made many enemies throughout his lifetime. This is due to a prophecy at the oracle of Delphi stating that there is no man wiser than him. Because of the prophecy, Socrates made it his life’s mission to find a man that he believed to be wiser than himself. After publicly questioning and eventually insulting many prominent men who claimed to have wisdom, Socrates realized that he was considered most wise because he never claimed to have wisdom. He freely admitted that there were higher matters that he knew nothing about. Socrates valued directness and honesty. He believed that the acknowledgement of ignorance was the beginning of wisdom.
Throughout the apology, Socrates eludes to the idea that he believes in a God that is not recognized by the state. The usage of the word God in his speech leads to speculation regarding Athenian religion amongst many of his followers and spectators. As for impiety being a reason he was put on trial, using verbiage such as Socrates did during his defense, was considered to be very controversial for the time period. Another issue that arose during the time of Socrates was the following of young men that were giving up prominent roles, such as to be a politician, in order to devote their lives to the study of philosophy. Elders within the community disliked this type of influence that Socrates had and therefore were highly suspicious of his teachings.
At the end of the text, the jury of Athenians found Socrates guilty and sentence him to death. For many of the youth in Athens, Socrates was admired as a teacher who challenged normative thinking within their community. Plato, Socrates’ most notable student, would continue to teach younger generations of his philosophies. Since there was no written text from Socrates himself, Plato and many other apprentices would use Socrates as a main character within their texts to debate philosophical issues. This style of writing can be most accurately depicted in Plato’s text, The Republic. In the Apology, Plato recalls the dialogue used during Socrates’ trial as a tribute to a man he considered to be a great philosopher. In this text, Plato aimed to portray his teacher as an honest man who did not deserve to be executed. With his teachings continuously passed down, Socrates would later be known as a founding figure of Western philosophy.
Socrates was considered to be a radical thinker of his time. In his speech, he tells us that we, as a society, are more comfortable going through life without being tested on what we have chosen to believe, or chosen to put value in. When our values are publicly tested, we as a people tend to react defensively and with profound anger. His philosophy challenges people to further explore their ideas and values as a way to gain further insight and understanding. He believed that open and honest discussion pertaining to ethics and morality was the beginning of wisdom.
Assignment 2
The person I chose to be the best philosopher of ancient culture and thinking is Aristotle. Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who existed between the mid to late thirteen-hundreds before Christ died. He has had a major influence in the world that many professions of medicine, politics science, business, and technology use a philosophical tool to encourage and motivate human behavior as well as human life. Aristotle himself, was very knowledgeable and well trained in logical and critical thinking. Plato was a mentor and teacher to Aristotle to which whom I believe is the reason why Aristotle was able to progress in his career. Reading fragments from Aristotle’s statements from, Thales, concerning the metaphysics, earth, and the soul was brought to my attention. Aristotle presented a sense to understand the different point of views that people such as Thales had himself. He did not have to argue, belittle, or take his statements to extreme measures. He made the statements as a way for people to be more open and research. This has taught me, that I am not always right with every thought or philosophy that comes to my mind. Some statements have to be taken into consideration before we as human come to conclusion. It is good for own intellectual because we can be doing things the wrong way and not realize it. Imagine the amount of burdens of any kind that can be removed if we would just listen to each other. Listen without making wrongful judgments to the extreme to prevent circumstances such as Socrates being sentenced to death because no one would listen to his point of view. Aristotle allowed everyone in society to feel important rather or not he agreed with them. Some people are very certain in the way the world should be and will go beyond measures to prove it. This tends to me an issue especially in free marketing societies. When there is no much opinion and not enough research we as humans and be in grave danger. If we all believed one way, there would be no structure for change. However, I agree with Aristotle’s motive to manage how the world is. We can not force people to do what the should do or think how they should think. We have to respect each other and prove through science and reasoning of what works and what is right. It will help innovate new discoveries.
Aristotle motivated the ancient culture to be balanced, careful and to carry out tasks in moderation. What I receive from this is being careful of what believe so that I do not disregard the wholeness of another person. It could be easy for me to place science above philosophy or religion. I could say that philosophy and religion should not have a place in science because both represents feelings and not facts. Would it be fair to people who are believers and philosophers? It would definitely be wrong. I found it very important that I act as Aristotle did and respect the wishes and beliefs of others.
