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What does fear mean essay
What does fear mean essay
What does fear mean essay
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On June 1,1985, Greg Wilhoit’s wife, Kathy, was found murdered, leaving their two daughters of four and fourteen months old left in the care of their father. The small necessity of having a family was abruptly altered when Kathy was murdered, and even more so when Wilhoit was falsely convicted by evidence of a bite mark, matched to him by two dental “experts.” To worsen the situation, Wilhoit’s lawyer, who once was one of the best, fell into alcoholism, resulting in his not preparing a defense, and showing up to the trial drunk. Wilhoit said, “"The judge told me I was to die by lethal injection. Then he said, 'But if that fails, we'll kill you by electrocution.
Here, Socrates begins considering various alternative punishments such as imprisonment, exiles, or fines, but comes to the conclusion that he would rather be put to death because all other options
I interpret this as Socrates’ stating that he, himself, is choosing to not fear death because there is no way of anyone, alive, knowing what death is like because no living soul has experienced death first hand. Therefore no one should fear death because you will never be able to control or even know the outcome. Another philosopher named Epicurus has a couple of beliefs as to how we should view death.
For example, his demeanor in the face of near certain death seems unshakable. Although his death is foreshadowed many times, including in dreams, Socrates does not seek to avoid his fate. He is a firm believer in justice and the rule of law and order. He believes in these concepts to the extent that he does not seek to run and hide or seek any kind of protection in the face of certain death, rather he believes that he should accept whatever judgment is bestowed upon him because it is the just thing to do.
After being sentenced to death, he doesn’t fear from the unknown and instead thinks that death can also be a blessing from god to be away from evil on the earth. Furthermore he says that death can be like taking a trip to another place to get rid of the fake people. Also, it would be not smart to fear about life after death when you are actually alive. Socrates rather chooses to treat the death as a grace of the god and believes that a good person gets good blessings whether he or she is alive or dead. Also the reasoning at the end of the quotes shows his philosophy that an assumption cannot be always predicted correct or accurate if it is not proved in
No matter which path death is, death is a gain. One will either be a peaceful sleep, or a journey to another world filled with intelligent people and knowledge. He had support to his theory, but only talked about conversing with people from the past. The apology is repetitive in the last two paragraphs because Socrates desired to talk to all these different people. He did not clarify as to why living on Earth was cruel and that death was the only answer.
Additionally, his teaching and philosophy would not have the same effect since he would be going against everything that he had taught previously. He believed that it would be wrong for him to leave the arguments that he believed in from the past, just because he was set to die. If he were to change his philosophy on the law and how the rules were being followed, it should not be simply because he was in danger. By not escaping, he would be honorable just as his teachings had acknowledged. Socrates believed that an injustice should not be committed, knowingly and even in retaliation, it is wrong to inflict an injury upon someone who has wronged you since inflicting injury is a form of injustice.
Socrates & Snowden Socrates was a true believer that true pleasure only comes when individuals live a moral life. He believed that an individual’s inner life, or the soul, is the most important part of life. Each person must keep his or her soul healthy, by seeking truth, self-knowledge, justice, and goodness. Socrates believed that any soul in search of fame, wealth, and power becomes ignorant, sickly, and weak (Claudia, 270). He was concerned with strengthening his inner self by examining and criticizing it.
Socrates was a greek philosopher who found himself in trouble with his fellow citizens and court for standing his grounds on his new found beliefs from his studies about philosophical virtue, justice, and truth. In “Apology” written by Plato, Socrates defended himself in trial, not with the goal of escaping the death sentence, but with the goal of doing the right thing and standing for his beliefs. With this mindset, Socrates had no intention of kissing up to the Athenians to save his life. Many will argue that Socrates’ speech was not very effective because he did not fight for his life, he just accepted the death sentence that he was punished with. In his speech he said, “But now it’s time to leave, time for me to die and for you to live.”
The first reason Socrates gives for accepting his death sentence is the fact that Athens has provided him with education. (Crito page 15) Although Socrates thinks this is a just reason, Plato would disagree because Socrates could have become corrupted and bad without proper education. According to Plato, Socrates would have the traits of a philosopher king. Socrates loves the truth, hates the false, is moderate and courageous. (The Republic 485a-486b)
This quotation is significant because it represents Socrates’ ideas about death. He believes that fearing the unknown is unreasonable because we don’t know what happens after death. Socrates also believes that “being dead is one of two things” (Socrates 58); either you feel nothing at all or it is a “journey from here to another place” (Socrates 59). Fearing something we don’t now is not going to get us anywhere except limit our potential. Although, death is a frightful concept, it might also be a good thing.
In Plato’s Apology, Socrates is put into trial because he is accused of corrupting the youth with his teachings that deviate from the established beliefs of the Greek society. Although he justifies that he is only doing what he believes is his duty, he reasons that even if he is given a death penalty, death is nothing to be feared. He raises multiple strong and effective arguments that explain to his audience that it is illogical to fear death. All of these arguments revolves around the central idea that death is not evil and that “no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death” (Apology, 41c). The first argument that Socrates presents during his trial is the idea that death is not the most important thing to worry about in
Therefore, Socrates was willing to die if it meant that his actions would still be
Plato’s view on death According to Plato, Socrates didn’t fear death. He stopped fearing death when God ordered him to live the life of a philosopher. “No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of all evils.” He says that this is just as bad as thinking that you’re wise, when you’re actually not.
It comes across to me as impossible that he could possibly find comfort in not knowing. I would not be able to simply tell myself that it’s okay that I don’t know. But since this whole mess was caused because he was trying to disprove the Oracle of Delphi who had said that he was the wisest Athenian, he probably figured that in his 70 years of life he had learned everything he most necessarily needed to know. That being said, death was a whole new unconquered experienced, filled with new philosophies, questions & answers, and new discoveries to be made. Death never scared Socrates, he never feared it in the least bit.