Good “I Know That I Know Nothing” Essay Example

Socrates

Socrates
Socrates - one of the most famous philosophers of ancient Greece. His philosophical works have not lost relevance over the centuries. Interest in his personality and views over the time has not diminished. The teachings of Socrates made a turn in philosophy - from considering the nature of the world to considering the person. However, Socrates considered person as a moral being. Therefore, the philosophy of Socrates is ethical anthropologism. Socrates was not interested in both mythology and physics. By means of Socrates the philosophize thinking for the first-time addresses to itself, investigating own principles and receptions. Socrates never compelled others to accept his point of view; philosopher was asking questions in the special way, so he forced other people to express their own philosophy.
Socrates considered that sense of his life is in education of youth and the person, in general. The method of his education was peculiar and attractive to many – knowledge was acquired in live conversations that was much more interesting than systematic lessons. According to Socrates, only God could be the wise man. The main task of philosophy according to Socrates consists in rational justification of religious and moral outlook.
According to Socrates the world - God's creation, so he believed that natural philosophy is godless occupation, he said that people need the divination to know the will of the gods, not researchers. Socrates trusted in prophesies of Delphic oracle. For the Socrates, nature was far less worthy of attention than the man was. Theology of Socrates appears in a primitive form - the gods take care of people in all respects: the night is sent to rest, the light of the stars and the moon helps to determine the time, the land gives people food. Socrates thought that the citizen must believe in the gods, rely on their mercy, offer sacrifices, and do not dare to explore space and the world around us. Citizen should be humble and God-fearing.
A man and his place in the world have become a central issue of ethics of Socrates and the main topic of his talks. It is thanks to the divine soul, man is attached to the divine knowledge. Issues about the immortality of the soul occupy a leading position in the moral philosophy of Socrates.
True knowledge, as Socrates understood, is designed to give faithful guidance to the man in his daily life. Therefore, the value of all knowledge - natural human and divine phenomena - is to learn how to lead human relations smartly. Socrates said that farmers and other people engaged in physical labor only are very far from being able to know themselves. They know only bodily needs and requirements. Therefore, Socrates rigidly separated one class from another; although he was a person from peoples, he appears as their enemy. According to the teachings of Socrates, knowledge and virtue, - are the privileges of nobles.

Questions about the moral virtues, moral qualities of the person are situated at the center of the Socratic philosophizing.

Socrates, in some sense, makes a revolution in the traditional value system. True values are not those associated with external things (such as wealth, power, glory), less with physical (life, physical health, beauty, strength), but only the treasures of the soul are the values that constitute together the "knowledge". This does not mean that traditional values are suddenly devalued, this means only that they have no longer value by themselves.
Political and legal views of Socrates form a part of his whole moral philosophy in which the ethical and political ways intertwine. Ethics in the understanding of Socrates is political - ethical policy. The highest and most important virtue (arete) is a political virtue, to which Socrates attributed the art of managing polis affairs. With the help of this particular art, people become well politicians, chiefs, governors, generally beneficial to themselves and other citizens of the state.
Comparing the position of Socrates with other philosophers of the ancient period, we can better understand how thoughts and views of Socrates differed from other philosophers whom Socrates called parrots that memorize a few wise words and throw them into the crowd. The main items of Socrates.
Denial knowledge of space, it is possible to learn only the soul. The soul, in his opinion, is a body antipode. The highest concepts — Good, Justice, Truth. Thanks to the soul, people learn how to find, their place in the world. The truth is necessary for the existing, and actions have to be virtuous and fair. Socrates singled three virtues: 1) restraint - how to subdue passion. 2) courage – how to overcome danger. 3) justice – how to observe human laws. The person gets all this by knowledge and self-knowledge.

The main items of Pythagoras

Comparing with each other, on the one hand, Socrates's theories, on the other hand, Pythagoras's theory, everyone can see that each of them was guided by the idea of fundamental concepts of a world structure and a role of the person in it.

Works Cited

“Socrates”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. First published Fri Sep 16, 2005; Web. March 21, 2015. Retrieved from: <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates/>
“Socrates (469—399 B.C.E.)”. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. n.d. Web. March 21, 2015. Retrieved from: <http://www.iep.utm.edu/socrates/>