- Published: December 11, 2021
- Updated: December 11, 2021
- University / College: The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
- Level: Doctor of Philosophy
- Language: English
- Downloads: 25
Ethic Case 2 Socrates, a strong believer, lived in pursuit of knowledge, wisdom and devoutness and in accordance to the will of God. Socrates is accused because he was challenging the traditions upon which lives of Athenians was rooted. He questioned the power of fathers, reality of religious myths and reliability of some accepted beliefs among others. This did not go well with most Athenians who considered him dangerously seditious.
Socrates had a conviction that the examined life is that spent pursuing internal and pious wisdom. This he says can be achieved by exploring the lives of others and searching the unsurpassed condition of the soul. Socrates’ statement that “ The unexamined life is not worth living,” summarizes his idea of good life. The examined life reveals that human lives and ways of living are unequal. Life appears on a hierarchical order. However, Socrates fail to clarify the precise ranking of life and does not provide where any given kind of life belong in the hierarchy. From his interaction with different people, Socrates gets first-hand information, which makes him to conclude that “ unexamined life is not worth living.” He believes that Athens does not persevere to obtain what is good.
About good life, Socrates exemplifies the enlightenment stance. His notion is that ethical virtue defines a good life, which entails the practice of specific proficiency or wisdom concerning ethical issues. According to Socrates, pragmatic wisdom about ethical issues entails knowing the meaning of virtues, which involves the riddance of irregularity in belief concerning the meaning of virtues. In his pursuit of true knowledge, he comments, ” Certainly I would pride and preen myself if I had this knowledge, but I do not have it, gentlemen.” As it appears, Socrates believes in true wisdom founded on curiosity.