Essay about Was Socrates Wise - 581 Words

Was Socrates Wise? Webster defines wise as: (1) having or showing good judgment; (2) informed; (3) learned; (4) shrewd or cunning. In my opinion, Socrates was wise in all aspects of the word. If I were placed in his position and were to make the same decisions, I would not consider myself wise. I would consider myself to be a great fool, but given the circumstances and the parties involved I believe that Socrates made proper decisions in his defense. Socrates knew that the jury was prejudiced against him from the start and addressed it immediately. In his opening statement, of the prosecutors he stated, but of their many falsehoods, the one which astonished me most was when they said that I was a clever speaker, and that you†¦show more content†¦He did not feel that he was even slightly wise let alone the wisest man. He tried to prove the oracle wrong by examining reputedly wise men and he realized that they thought that they knew things that they did not and this made them unwise. It wa s after these encounters that Socrates realized that the oracle meant that human wisdom is worth little or nothing.(19) It was this realization that made Socrates wise. Socrates knew that he would be convicted and sentenced to death, so his speech on death was not foolish. He was just addressing the inevitable. He says that a man of any worth does not think of life and death or of anything except whether he is acting as a good or bad man. Socrates does not fear death, for no one knows whether death may not be the greatest good that can happen to man. But men fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of evils.(24) Socrates was borderline foolish when he discussed his political career and how he was ill suited for it because was just and made his decisions accordingly. This was a thinly veiled allusion to the moral character of the politicians of Greece, which must have been insulting and would not help acquit him. After Socrates was found guilty, he accepted the death penalty by insulting the jury again. He proposed that, instead of the death penalty, he should receive a public maintenance in the Prytaneum.(29) Today, that would beShow MoreRelatedWas Socrates Wise?1042 Words   |  5 Pages2010 HZT 4U1 Wise Men Argue Causes, Fools Decide Them. Socrates, an Athenian philosopher who lived from 469 BC until his very unnecessary death in 399 BC, has had his wisdom called into question many times since he has been studied. But to know whether some is wise, we must first know what it means to be wise. According to Websters Dictionary, to be is wise is : (1) having or showing good judgment; (2) informed; (3) learned; (4) shrewdRead MoreSocrates Was Wise About God1633 Words   |  7 PagesKara Osborne Phil. 120 November 18, 2014 Socrates was wise about God As an attempt to prove that Socrates was wise about God the true meaning of wisdom has to be defined in all of its terms. 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Examine firstly the context of the word wise , Socrates wasnt wise in the sense of preserving his own life as he stayed to die. He was encouraged and given the chance to escape by his friend Crito, but Socrates did not want to escape . Why? nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Socrates was a wise man. He believed in absolutes, and pursued the knowledge of mans source of goodness and virtue