One of the points clarified in this way is then, as mentioned above, Socrates' apparent stubborn foolhardiness in refusing to refute the court's decision. Xenophon notes that Socrates found death desirable over life. This is a point that Socrates himself also addresses in Plato's work, when he considers the possibilities of life after death. Socrates appears to consider both complete annihilation and the migration of the soul as preferable to his current life: annihilation would be like a restful and dreamless sleep, while the soul's migration would result in reuniting with old friends. Both of these possibilities are highly desirable to Socrates.
Unlike Plato, Xenophon places Socrates' ideas surrounding death at the beginning of his work. This places the rest of the philosopher's actions into perspective right at the beginning of the action. In Plato's work, on the other hand, the reader only receives this revelation when Socrates reacts to the death sentence.
As mentioned above, the issue of the court's corruption is also more explicitly and clearly explicated in Xenophon's work than in that of Plato. In Plato, Socrates appears oddly unsurprised by his sentence. Rather than the court specifically, he appears to implicate rival philosophers who brought him to his doom. This is further puzzling, as his defense appears articulate, and more than adequate to prove his innocence regarding all the...
Plato -- Life and Works Plato was born in Athens circa 425 BC, just after the onset of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. He lost his father at an early age, but through his mother's marriage to a friend of the leading statesman and general of Athens at the time, Plato became affiliated with some of the most influential circles of a city enjoying a Golden Age. The early
Socrates and Plato Greek philosophy held a preeminent place in the middle ages among scholastics like Thomas Aquinas, whose Summa Theologica was an attempt to reconcile faith and reason. The faith aspect was supplied by the Church, but the reason came from classical (pagan) ecclesiology -- notably from Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. The latter was the pupil of the former, and the former was the pupil of the first
Socrates Both comedy and tragedy are "related to emotional needs and religious longings that became crystallized and structured in ritualistic celebrations and festivals," (34). Both can be framed as "catalysts" that force "some sort of conversion" in the individual (34). Moreover, both comedy and tragedy reflect the "eternal spectacle of human nature and its weaknesses," (35). Both art forms use imitation or mimicry of a political figure or idea. However, there are
Epistemology and Philosophy of Socrates and Plato Epistemology is the theory of knowledge. It attempts to answer such questions as: How does one acquire one's knowledge? What is knowledge? What is possible for us to truly know? Epistemological inquiry also deals with skepticism regarding certain claims of the true nature of knowledge. Ontology is the science of being. Ontological inquiry attempts to answer the fundamental questions of existence, and thus is
Existentialism takes the human subject -- the holistic human, and the internal conditions as the basis and start of the conceptual way of explaining life. Taking idealism From Descartes, Kant, and Hegel, then building upon it, existentialist thinkers strip away the external and look at questions that surround human existence, and the conditions of that existence, rather than hypothesizing or dreaming of different forms of being. Thus, the inward
The Plato was acknowledged for his contribution towards the development of the philosophy and arts. The scholar was deeply respected for his interest in the poetry and literature, and content of which narrated the political and social situation of the country, the Plato was always encouraged to join the political wing, but he expressed his reluctance because he believed that the cause was not strong and justified enough to offer
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