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Socrates Vs Plato

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In his book “the Republic”, the Greek philosopher and mathematician Plato (348/347 BCE) attempts to define justice, the order and character of the just-state and the just man. In “the Republic”, Plato represents his thoughts along with the thoughts of various other Athenian philosophers; one of significance is his precursor and mentor the classical Greek philosopher Socrates. See figure 1. The book contains discussions concerning the meaning of justice and examinations in regards to the pursuit of goodness and weather or not the just man is happier than the unjust man.
By examining the nature of existent regimes and considering a series of different hypothetically existent states, the participants along with Socrates, put forth many features …show more content…

In the book of the “the Republic”, as Socrates begins to define the economical condition in which the proposed government’s guardians will live, he suggests that they shouldn’t be allowed to have any personal property beyond what’s absolutely necessary. The state would provide the rulers with all their worldly needs.
In the many ways a state can decay, corruption is seen as the evilest. As the Austrian writer and journalist once put it: “Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual; the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.” Even thought the word corruption can be defined in many ways, one way corruption occurs is when the leading class acts out of it’s own self-interest as opposed to the interest of the …show more content…

By having a recognized amount of funds and materials allocated to each member of the ruling class, any increase in the financial status of a member would be seen as anomalous and cause of suspicion. Hence should a member acquire, for example, a new car, this would be plainly obvious as a result of corruption. Also, by this knowledge of how easily one’s bribes can be seen, the stated measures also act as deterrents for any possible corruption by those in

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the Republic, Socrates argues that justice ought to be valued both for its own sake and for the sake of its consequences (358a1–3). His interlocutors Glaucon and Adeimantus have reported a number of arguments to the effect that the value of justice lies purely in the rewards and reputation that are the usual consequence of being seen to be just, and have asked Socrates to say what justice is and to show that justice is always intrinsically better than is acting contrary to justice when doing so would win you more non-moral goods. Glaucon presents these arguments as renewing Thrasymachus’ Book 1 position that justice is “another’s good” (358b–c, cf. 343c), which Thrasymachus had associated with the claim that the rulers in any constitution frame

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794 Words | 4 Pages

Rafid Mirza Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731. He was the son of an ex-slave named Robert and his wife, Mary Banneky. He was a free black man who owned a farm near Baltimore, his state of birth. Since both of his parents were free, Benjamin was born free as well. He was taught to read by his grandmother, and he attended a small Quaker school for a little while.

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The characteristics Schenck exhibited was a perceived threat to the government and in Socrates’ favor he believed the character of the citizens determined the character of the state as a whole. Knowing Socrates was against this type of behavior in his state, leads to the aspects of his view that what individuals see, read, and experience can have an affect on their character, thus making the argument only more credible to the court’s ruling of “clear and present danger” it would have caused in Socrates “perfect

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In this paper I will argue that Socrates’s argument at 50a-b of the Crito would be not harming his fellow citizens by breaking the laws. Based on the readings from Plato’s The Five Dialogues, I will go over the reasoning of Socrates’ view on the good life. I will then discuss the three arguments Crito has for Socrates regarding his evasion of the death sentence including the selfish, the practicality, and the moral arguments. I will deliberate an objection to the argument and reply to the objections made in the paper and conclude with final thoughts. Socrates argues in the Crito that he should not escape or disobey the law because it is unethical.

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2106 Words | 9 Pages

In the Republic, Plato confers with other philosophers about the true definition of justice. Cephalus, Polemarchus, and Thrasymachus relay their theories on justice to Plato, when he inquires as to what justice is. Cephalus believes only speaking the truth and paying one’s debts is the correct definition of justice (The Republic, Book I). However, Plato refutes this with an example of a friend who has lost his wits and would be caused harm by repayment of a debt. This leads to Polemarchus’ view on justice, doing harm to one’s enemies and helping one’s friends.

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972 Words | 4 Pages

Corruption occurs in a government when politicians are bought out by private companies. These companies would pay the politicians large sums of money and in return, the politicians would do political favors for the companies. According

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1421 Words | 6 Pages

In conclusion, it is shown that the ethics of Socrates and Plato can be understood by examining the works of the Crito, Meno and Phaedo. Plato 's philosophical concept in these three dialogues is mostly about denying what the self wants, either normal things like food and earthly desires or trying to gain knowledge, and instead, choosing what is just and right. This is Plato’s concept of a good life. From this quest for knowledge, virtue is obtained, and this is the main goal of philosophy in Socrates ' mind. Laws must be made in accordance with wisdom by those who practice philosophy, and must seek to benefit the city as a whole.

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763 Words | 4 Pages

In Plato’s The Republic” written in 380 BC, Plato introduces two characters Polemarchus and Thrasymachus who hold two separate opinions on Justice. They both are made to give their own opinions on Justice by Socrates. Both standpoints accurately represent Justice in sirtain situations. The word justice can be represented in many ways because it holds a broad meaning. They are covering two completely different aspects of Justice.

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

What is justice? This is the crucial question that Plato attempts to answer in his dialogue, The Republic. He conjures up an allegory that justice can be found in a person, and a person can represent a city. Thus, his entire dialogue focuses on this ‘just’ city and the mechanics of how the city would operate. His dialogue covers a myriad of topics about justice in addition to the human soul, politics, goodness and truth.

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1082 Words | 5 Pages

As we have established, if the primary role of the state is to secure and maintain the most possible happiness for the people, the surely an unjust state would not be a state capable of achieving this goal. Monarchies seem the ideal constitution to Aristotle because the virtue of the monarch is not diluted by the potentially selfish desires of others. However, this is also the least stable of the

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2004 Words | 9 Pages

The concept of the Noble Lie is presented by Plato in the Republic. In Republic, Plato is engaged in creating an ideal political community, through the noble lie. The Noble Lie, ironically, despite being a lie, is still recognized as ‘noble’ by Plato since it aims to promote social welfare and harmony amongst the citizens. Plato’s idea of the noble lie led to the division of citizens into three distinct categories, namely, the rulers, the auxiliaries and the workmen . This paper will argue that Socrates principle of the Noble Lie must be considered justifiable under circumstances in which it intends to achieve moral ends.

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943 Words | 4 Pages

In Book IV of Plato’s Republic, Socrates and his peers come to the conclusion that a city is going to need people who have an understanding of what justice should be. Socrates at the end of Book IV can make the difference between individual, political, and social justice. He knows that individual and political justice is so much in common because they both weigh in heavy on truth, honor, and appetitive soul. That appetitive soul is an element that helps the secure the just community with love and support.

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He justifies the need for democracy, aristocracy and monarchy depending on location. The three philosophers use their judgment and prior knowledge on each other’s work to validate an ideal society, especially for the uprising continent of America. Governments are an established institution in every society. Though there are multiple types of governments, their purpose is fundamental to determining the influence on a civilization.

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1 INTRODUCTION Power and authority are the most important aspects of politics as such way of thinking comes a long way from the earliest thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle to mention few. They are the fundamental features of state in politics, focusing on who should have the power and authority over the people and who should rule them. During the time prior and after the birth of states, political authority has always been a major concern with regards to who should rule and how and who shouldn’t. Therefore this issues need to be addressed in a way that will at the end benefit the society. Plato is the thinker or theorist who came with addressing who should rule in a political environment in what Plato outlined that only Philosophers should rule.

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984 Words | 4 Pages

“Plato’s philosophy is an attempt to justify Socrates’ belief in the objectivity of moral virtues.” As one of Socrates’ most loyal disciples, Plato’s own philosophy was heavily influenced by Socrates’ own thoughts and teachings. Much of Plato’s philosophy is a direct extension of some of the questions Socrates posed, i.e., Socrates asked what justice is, and Plato explored this question in his own writings. It is Socrates’ code of ethics, however, that most closely corresponds with Plato’s ethics.

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