Mini essy short answers - Essay Example

Philosophy Explain the differences between knowledge and opinion through the eyes of Protagoras and Socrates.The views of Socrates and Protagoras on knowledge and opinion are opposite. For Protagoras knowledge is on the second place and man’s opinion is the most important. Socrates in his turn considers knowledge to be the most important. He states that everything is based on the knowledge and accepted concepts, and the opinion of an individual can’t be considered essential.2. Explain in detail what constitutes the “wisdom” of Socrates.

The ideas of Socrates were not accepted by his contemporaries as they opposed to religious view. Socrates’ contemporaries tended to explain everything by existence of God and did not want to find new ways. The “wisdom” of Socrates states that every man should always look for the new knowledge. Nobody can know everything, but a person can be wise if he understands this fact.3. Explain the meaning and importance of Socrates’ teaching “Know Thyself.” Use Plato’s work Apology to support and illustrate your explanation.

Views of early Plato were very close to Socrates’ views. Plato’s Apology is not the story of Socrates’ life and death. It is a reconstruction of his philosophy and the explanation of the reasons why he was executed. “Socrates is an evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others” (Apology). This is the accusation provided by Plato in Apology and it also contains the wisdom of Socrates.

Socrates ‘’Know Thyself” is an attempt to explain that Socrates considered himself to be wiser than other people, because he recognized that he did not know everything.4. Identify the two charges for which Socrates was tried, convicted and executed. Socrates was executed because he: 1.doubted the existence of God; 2. influenced young people badly by creating new ‘”gods”. Works CitedApology By Plato. trans. by Benjamin Jowett available at http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html