Characteristics Of Modern Day Socrates

1460 Words6 Pages
In this paper, I will argue that Martin Luther King Jr. is a modern day Socrates. In order to obtain a proper definition, I will describe three main characteristics that a modern day Socrates must possess; these characteristics include determination, a desire to shape minds, and wisdom. First, I will describe exactly why these characteristics of Socrates are important by providing supporting evidence from Plato. Afterwards, I will describe why Martin Luther King Jr. possesed said characteristics; in doing so, I will give evidence from The Letter from the Birmingham City Jail to support my claims. Determination drives change. It’s what motivates people to stay persistent in accomplishing their goals. Socrates was an incredibly determined person. His single goal in life was to learn and to question others, a task he claimed was given to him by the gods, and in this goal, he succeeded tremendously. Socrates was endlessly determined to question as many people as possible, and even more so determined in aiding the questionee to achieve non biased logic in their thinking, while showing that what the claim to know, they do not really. For example, when Socrates was questioning Euthyphro about how he concluded what’s pious and what’s not, he kept asking what Euthyphro meant meant by his responses: “So you did not answer my question, you surprising man” (Euthyphro 8a). In saying that Euthyphro didn’t answer his question, Socrates was essentially asking yet again for him to clarify