Plato's Apology: A Career In The Nursing Field

While it sounds like “Plato’s Apology” was Plato apologizing to someone, it was actually Plato’s representation of how Socrates defended himself against his accusers: Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon. Socrates was accused of impiety against the Athens’ Gods and corrupting the youth by allegedly making them question the status quo. Due to Socrates’ understanding of philosophy, he was devoted to adhering to his principles of living a virtuous life, therefore, he taught his mentees (e.g. Plato and others) to live a virtuous life by asking his students questions repeatedly until they came to their own conclusions. With Socrates’ way of living a philosophical life, who valued virtue, wisdom, courage, and piety, a career in the healthcare field would be

I think it is a career with many daily challenges, but it is also extremely rewarding to know that you are helping a person gain back their health. To be a nurse, it requires much mental strength, patience, empathy, and a sense of problem solving. While we use philosophy in our everyday lives, there are many important codes of ethics that healthcare workers should follow in order to be an adequate fit for the position. For instance, a healthcare worker/or nurse should provide the best care for their patients, as if they were friends or family, as well as putting morals and beliefs aside, while having the patients health as their highest priority. If Socrates were to pursue a career in nursing, I believe he would set the standard high for incoming nurses by never being satisfied with the knowledge that is already known. I believe he would continue to learn and research new techniques and/or procedures to better patient care. While Socrates would be a wonderful asset to the healthcare community, I believe he would have trouble reasoning with a doctor or physician with a higher ranking than his own, because if a doctor insisted on taking an easy route, Socrates would insist on better care and justice for his patients. According to the “What is Philosophy?” article by Thomas Metcalf, he states one of the major ongoing philosophical debates is “To learn how to better think and reason” (Metcalf para. 18). With this ongoing debate, we can relate it to how Socrates would process information to further his knowledge by self-reflection. Furthermore, with Socrates’ philosophy in mind, I think if he were to apply his own strategies into a nursing career, he would use his own “Socratic Method” either to work through a patient’s diagnosis, or figure out why a doctor chose a plan of action for a certain patient. Although it is not possible, the healthcare community could benefit from