The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is known for a technique called the Socratic Method

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is known for a technique called the Socratic Method

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is known for a technique called the Socratic Method, in which the teacher leads the student through a process of questioning to come to a logically valid conclusion.

Born in 469 B.C.E., Socrates is considered one of the founding fathers of Western philosophy, even though he left no writings behind and very little is known about him. Everything that is known of his teachings is found in the works of his students, like Plato. Much of Plato’s writings are dialogues between Socrates and his students.

Using the Socratic method, answer the following questions:

Part 1

What do you think of Socrates’ conclusion that no person knowingly does evil, and therefore, all evil is ignorance?

Do you agree or disagree, and why?

Part 2

If people accepted that all evil is ignorance, what implications would that have on the justice system?

How would prison sentencing or the death penalty be affected?

Answer Preview

During Socrates’ time, the usage of the word “evil” denoted something slightly different from the way we perceive it today. It meant the absence of pleasure, and good, or better still the pursuit of pleasure or absence of pain. He believed that at heart, all people were pleasure seekers and therefore no one would be knowingly do evil. From this premise therefore, he was in order concluding that evil was just ignorance which was logical for that time thinking (Magee, 2007. p. 86)…

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