Socrates World Views
Cameron Moon 3/11/2014
PHI 150
Socrates Paper
The goal of this paper is to discern and construct the world views of Socrates through the various readings, lectures and videos that we have seen in class. Some of these sources include: Socrates by G. Rudebusch; excerpts from The Last Days of Socrates by Plato; and The Allegory of a Cave. Of the nine world views covered in class, I will delve into my interpretation of four of them as seen through the various sources that we have been exposed to in class. These four world views will include Death, Condition, Solution and Morality. Finally, I will use my understanding of the world *views assessment to critique Socrates’ view of morality.
Death
The first and most obvious worldview that I wanted to cover is Socrates’ view of death. That is, what really happens to us when we die? This was such an evident topic to me because throughout a majority of our readings, Socrates was being faced with death, so what better time to discuss one’s thoughts for what is to come in the afterlife than when they are staring death in the face.
Socrates first brings to light his view of death in the Apology when he states, “Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything; or, as we are told, it is really a change: a migration of the soul from this place to another.” (Apology 40c). At this point, Socrates does not give any definitive answer as to whether death is annihilation or the migration of the soul; rather, he argues that it does not really matter. He explains why both options are favorable, by comparing annihilation to, “a dreamless sleep” (Apology 40d) and stating that if the soul migrates, the dead spend their time with “demigods that were upright in their earthly life” (Apology 41a).
It is later, in the Phaedo that I started to affirm my belief in where Socrates stands on death, which is the migration of the soul. For at this point in the literature, Socrates gives
PHI 150
Socrates Paper
The goal of this paper is to discern and construct the world views of Socrates through the various readings, lectures and videos that we have seen in class. Some of these sources include: Socrates by G. Rudebusch; excerpts from The Last Days of Socrates by Plato; and The Allegory of a Cave. Of the nine world views covered in class, I will delve into my interpretation of four of them as seen through the various sources that we have been exposed to in class. These four world views will include Death, Condition, Solution and Morality. Finally, I will use my understanding of the world *views assessment to critique Socrates’ view of morality.
Death
The first and most obvious worldview that I wanted to cover is Socrates’ view of death. That is, what really happens to us when we die? This was such an evident topic to me because throughout a majority of our readings, Socrates was being faced with death, so what better time to discuss one’s thoughts for what is to come in the afterlife than when they are staring death in the face.
Socrates first brings to light his view of death in the Apology when he states, “Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything; or, as we are told, it is really a change: a migration of the soul from this place to another.” (Apology 40c). At this point, Socrates does not give any definitive answer as to whether death is annihilation or the migration of the soul; rather, he argues that it does not really matter. He explains why both options are favorable, by comparing annihilation to, “a dreamless sleep” (Apology 40d) and stating that if the soul migrates, the dead spend their time with “demigods that were upright in their earthly life” (Apology 41a).
It is later, in the Phaedo that I started to affirm my belief in where Socrates stands on death, which is the migration of the soul. For at this point in the literature, Socrates gives
Bibliography: Gove, Philip Babcock. Webster 's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged: A Merriam-Webster. Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam, 1961. Print. Plato, and Hugh Tredennick. The Last Days of Socrates. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969. Print. Rudebusch, George. Socrates. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.