Socrates The Power Of Knowledge - 932 Words

Throughout 470-400 B.C, Greek philosopher Socrates touched many lives of the Athenians and lived to question the knowledge and intelligence of those he met. Socrates took joy in examining the world and self proclaims his own ignorance rather than living under the guise of being an expert. Student of Socrates, philosopher Plato grew in popularity around 400 B.C and strived to uncover the meanings behind ideas such as goodness, reality and beauty. While Socrates became infamous around Athens, and was later put to death for his core philosophies, Plato was generally accepted by the public and was praised for his insight into the nature of man. Although they had many disagreements about politics and how justice should be applied in the state,†¦show more content†¦Another major correlation between Socrates and Plato’s philosophy is their views reloving about human consciousness and our soul. Socrates was a firm believer in caring for the soul, and we can observe this in th e dialogue â€Å"Phaedo†, which were his last words before passing away from poisoning. Through Phaedo, he conveyed the notion that â€Å"the soul is evidently immortal†, and that we should treat death â€Å"as if it were an incarnation†, meaning that we should pay most attention to caring for our soul rather than our bodies as our bodies are only a temporary vessel for our soul. While socrates was on his deathbed, he still does not fear death as he has treated his soul well and remained just in his actions- he fears not the potential consequences of the afterlife, and embraces the next stages of existence. This topic is sustained in Plato’s The Republic as he proposes that the immortal soul is comprised of several parts, as described in The Myth of the Charioteer, where he uses a winged charioteer, a black pegasus and a white pegasus as metaphors for the human soul; the charioteer representing reason and logic, the white winged steed represents spirit an d ambition, and the black winged steed representing our desires and appetite for excess. This expands on Socrates ideas about the soul and how we can obtain true beauty and perfection. While the similarities between instructor and pupil are expected, there still exist differences in their opinions on politics andShow MoreRelatedSocrates Vs Niccolo Machiavelli Essay1606 Words   |  7 PagesSocrates and Niccolo Machiavelli are revered as some of the most influential thinkers of their respective times. Both of these thinkers developed their thoughts while Athens and Florence, their respective cities, faced political unrest. 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