Socrates And Plato

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Socrates and Plato

Ancient Greek Philosophy gave birth to two of the biggest philosophers of its time; Socrates and Plato. Both of these philosophers covered an enormous number of topics including ethics, politics, metaphysics, ontology, logic, and mastered the art of philosophy in these genres. Their similarities in these fields grew stronger with time as the student-teacher relationship grew.

The Apology by Plato is an interpretation of the trails of Socrates back in 399BC where he explains the kind of person he was and the kind of life he led. The word "Apology' in this context is an "explanation' and should not be confused with ‘being sorry'. So, “The Apology” is an explanation of Socrates trails in court when he was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. He denied all the accusations and kept presenting his definition of truth because he wanted to save the entire generation of Athens. For Socrates, life is something to be lived, not a thought or a conversation to be talked about. His core objective of life was, living life with reasons means there should be a reason for the life we are living and pursue the truth behind everything. An examined life is better than an unexamined life and this is what he uttered during his trails and preferred to continue to find the truth to his question. If seeking the truth and knowing about his ignorance means corrupting youth, then he is ready for whatever decision the court will make. He preferred death over being aware of his ignorance, and this way he challenged the answer of the Delphic oracle. Death is natural and can come anytime; it is either of the two things: A Change of place or a Deep sleep and he does not mind both because he is not a sophist rather someone who holds tight to the claim. He is not afraid of death as it's peaceful than the waking irrational ignorant waking days. Through death, he will be able to meet all the great Greek thinkers and in no way be harmed as he has been harmed the ignorance of the people of Athens ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Q7xaPoyr","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Leibowitz)","plainCitation":"(Leibowitz)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":63,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/bWNXhCgk/items/6C543NLW"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/bWNXhCgk/items/6C543NLW"],"itemData":{"id":63,"type":"book","title":"The Ironic Defense of Socrates: Plato's Apology","publisher":"Cambridge University Press","number-of-pages":"205","source":"Google Books","abstract":"This book offers a controversial interpretation of Plato's Apology of Socrates. By paying unusually close attention to what Socrates indicates about the meaning and extent of his irony, David Leibowitz arrives at unconventional conclusions about Socrates' teaching on virtue, politics, and the gods; the significance of his famous turn from natural philosophy to political philosophy; and the purpose of his insolent 'defense speech'. Leibowitz shows that Socrates is not just a colorful and quirky figure from the distant past but an unrivaled guide to the good life - the thoughtful life - who is as relevant today as in ancient Athens. On the basis of his unconventional understanding of the dialogue as a whole, and of the Delphic oracle story in particular, Leibowitz shows that the Apology is the key to the Platonic corpus, indicating how many of the disparate themes and apparently contradictory conclusions of the other dialogues fit together.","ISBN":"978-1-139-49026-9","note":"Google-Books-ID: _JPsatMWpAgC","title-short":"The Ironic Defense of Socrates","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Leibowitz","given":"David M."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010",7,12]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Leibowitz)

The platonic ideal of the philosophy of life is a life directed towards the Good and fruitful life of virtue. Phaedo by Plato is a dense dialogue Socrates had with his fellow philosopher about the immortality of the soul and philosophical life. It contains an extended discussion of the theory of forms introduced by Socrates. One of the main things he discussed in Phaedo is the idea of death as a normal thing and a true philosopher practices death at every moment and thinks body as an obstacle. Once the search for happiness begins, death does not count any importance in life, it is a search for the actual goodness and happiness that does not involve any material approach. The philosophy of life is the journey of finding the truth and the separation of the soul from the body can ease this journey. It's a continuation process and should be greeted amicably. Practicing death is important in refining people's character because the materialistic approach of men is the root of evil. Separation of the body from the soul enables man to see beyond the worldly things.

The immortality of the soul is somewhat very important for a philosophical way of life. The arguments in the Phaedo suggest that the soul existed before birth and will continue to exist after death. The body is a hindrance in the search for wisdom and happiness. It is important to acknowledge the fact that the sole which is undying and never-ending is the sole purpose of life. The immortality of the soul is indestructible once the body dies

Both the philosophers give a detailed account of how a life a good life should be lived and they inspire me in a way that death is not something to be afraid of rather it is an acceptance to enter into a better life than this. They inspire me to lead a life with reasons and become aware of my ignorance and there is no shame in that.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Leibowitz, David M. The Ironic Defense of Socrates: Plato’s Apology. Cambridge University Press, 2010.