Argumentative Essay: Is Socrates Doing Wrong?

Improved Essays
As of just a week or two ago, I was secure with my belief that socrates was, for lack of better words, full of crap. Of course people act immorally! People steal, lie, cheat, kill, the list goes on and on of the immoral acts that people commit. Cut to now and I believe I understood socrates incorrectly. Socrates believes that no person will choose to do wrong, because doing so will in turn harm the wrongdoer, and no one seeks to intentionally hurt themselves. Humans have an instinct to act in their own interest, therefore nobody will act out of a desire to cause themselves harm. Even with motives such as stress relief and entertainment, we choose things that will benefit us in some way.
Morality is defined as principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong. Ethics, on the other hand, is the way in which we reason our morals. There also needs to be a distinction made between objective reasoning and knowledge and personal, subjective intuition regarding one's own well being. When events such as school shootings or terrorist bombings occur, we may not understand how the person or persons committing these acts can justify them, but the person committing the act does have a conscious motive to benefit themselves. Perhaps it’s an act of revenge, or to please their god. Doing wrong to others isn’t right, but the motivations of a person to commit such actions dictates the character of the will involved. The benefit of the horrendous action may only be perceived by the person committing it. And, if a person acts out of a compulsion, then they are unable to make an actual choice and therefore are removed from the sphere of morality. If one is unable to choose, they are unable to be moral, since moral is a measure of choosing right versus wrong. Socrates believed that choices serve to meet the end goal that the person choosing seeks to obtain, and not the ways through which the end goal was obtained. People don’t do things if they perceive them to be harmful
…show more content…
And he who knows how to achieve happiness will do so. Therefore, he who knows what is right will do right, because why would anybody choose to be unhappy?” which is something I do believe in [Gaarder, 70]. It is very difficult to think of a situation in which a person committing a wrongful action is doing so with no motive to benefit themselves or relieve their suffering. Take stealing for instance. While it is of popular objective opinion that stealing is wrong, the people who steal experience a benefit through the act of theft that makes them feel the ‘wrongful’ action results in obtaining something that will improve their lives. Even if the act being committed causes the person some form of harm, the person committing the action is seeking what will benefit them, and the benefit is perceived as being more powerful than the potential harm. An example of this can be the use of drugs. Drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and meth are known to do harm to people’s bodies but it does provide a high to the user, a moment of stress relief and bliss. The harming of themselves is a means to receive the benefit of the high. The drug user does not self harm for the sake of harming themselves, it is the effect of the harm that they seek. In that moment of decision making, the perceived benefit (the high) is more important than the ways in which they obtain it

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    A common result of a person feeling like they have to change something about their life is turning to drugs. This is because drugs can give the person a sensation of escape from reality, but it is really only a temporary feeling. The addiction of escape can drive someone to continuously abuse drugs in order to make them feel in control of the thing they originally wanted to change. Likewise, when someone has a mental illness the symptoms may drive them to self medicate in order to soothe their imperfections. Studies have shown that there is a connection between substance abuse and mental illness.…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Immoral and vicious people can not be happy because of their actions. Immoral actions are not good and do not lead to happiness because they are taking part in harmful actions which may impede some else’s…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Striving For The Truth: An Academic Essay on Socrates Dialogue and How it Relates to Contemporary Education SITI SARAH BINTE NUR SAIDY BACHELOR SCIENCE OF EDUCATION AY14/15 AED 105-CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES OF EDUCATION TUTORIAL GROUP 12 TRAVINAH KAHNG Sarah Nur Saidy 1 Over the last millenium, education has been greatly influenced and developed through historical formation. From different eras, countries and cultures, it has come to an agreement that knowledge is vital in ones life. In this context, Socrates a renowned Greek Teacher and Western philosopher believed in developing ones…

    • 1271 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Socrates Is Guilty Essay

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I am Crito, a 66 year old farmer who lives just outside of Athens. I am a Socratic, and one of Socrates most influential followers (ROLE SHEET). Since the time Socrates has been put on trial for the charges of corrupting the youth and not believing in the God’s, scholars, professors, students of all kinds, and being charged of treason. Citizens have argued and debated the truth behind his sentence. I know there are some citizens out there who believe that Socrates is basically guilty.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Socrates Rhetoric Analysis

    • 1685 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Socrates as one of the founders of Western philosophy opened a new chapter for the humankind. He considers rhetoric as a form of deception which only casually informs people for the sake of arguing for egotistical motives. He initially has started questioning almost everything around him and was looking for logical answers. So, as a person, who believed in the reasons he did not want to accept any position without a thought. Socrates believed that the art of rhetoric does not require lots of research and in-depth knowledge.…

    • 1685 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Virtue In Plato's Crito

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Just or unjust, good or bad, virtuous or vicious- Pablo López Yagüe The writings of Plato, Sandel, and Straus bridge centuries but all highlight the importance of political theory as the basis in providing a discourse for the reflection of life. Plato’s Crito focuses on reason by adapting the moral point of view on the affairs of justice and virtue, through the analysis of the human natural and the social contract. Sandel’s Doing the Right Thing deliberation on problems helps assess the difficulty of morality over individuals, society and the law in determining what is just and virtuous. However, Straus’ What is Political Philosophy considers the Socratic political philosophy thesis in an effort to restore rationalism, by criticizing positivism…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The character that I decided to stand by during this dialog is Socrates. It seems like he was the most logical and provided the most facts out of all of the characters. Socrates is for the people before he his for himself. Even though I connected most with Socrates I do stand by Callicles in some of his points. Socrates is basically the goody tushu of all the characters.…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Arguments Against Socrates

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Socrates argument In the apology book Socrates have many accusers. Now he is accused of corrupting the youth but He is denying the allegations he is saying that he could not intentionally corrupt anyone. Some people are convinced that he is speaking the truth but some people thing that he is lying.…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Crito, a friend and follower of Socrates, arrives in his prison cell one day and tries to convince Socrates into escaping. Socrates counters Crito by giving a few arguments as to why he should not escape, yet his arguments could also be disputed in some ways which brings up the question of Socrates intents. For example, his first argument is that he should not escape as it would mean harming someone and you should never harm even if you are harmed first. This could be contradicted with an act of self-defense; in this case you are not intently harming yet trying to prevent harm from yourself. Also, how exactly would they be physically harming people by escaping?…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The “cyclical argument” of the Phaedo imparts the ideology Socrates had in regard to the immortality of the soul and his views about death, which he was about to face himself. Among a gathering of his most faithful followers, his friends are astonished that Socrates is not desolate about his ill fate, but rather, he is delighted with it. Socrates proclaims that the life of a philosopher is merely a preparation for death since the mind is most pure when the pressures of the body is felt least. He even informs them that he believes in the soul and the afterlife. After his friends vocalized their skepticism of his beliefs, he begins a discourse in which he attempts to prove the immortality of the soul.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Protagoras, a Greek thinker and teacher, while commenting about his affliction to human reasoning and logic, quipped, “Man is the measure of all things.” (Jowett, 1871, p. 17) Just as Protagoras held this philosophy, and the reliance of man to act as man, it is unlikely he could have ever known how Socrates, some many years later, would prove him right. This affirmation was best evidenced by the philosophical argument held between Socrates and Euthyphro regarding man’s moral obligations, and holiness.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Today is one of the most important days in my life, for I was chosen to be a member of the jury deciding Socrates’ fate. Meletus and other two people accuse Socrates is an evil-doer (Plato, Apology,p.234). They bring up 2 main accusations to Socrates First, Meletus accuses Socrates has corrupted the youth; Second, Meletus accuses Socrates does not believe in god, he is an atheist. Here is how Socrates defends himself.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Plato’s, The Trials and Death of Socrates, Socrates is the ultimate cause of his own death because of not conforming to the democracy of the Athenians and corrupting the young. Socrates was a wise philosopher of his time and was in search of the truth, rather than believing in the Athenians Gods. Nevertheless, it was more than just a simple search for Socrates. His search for the truth turned into a complex journey to where the answer of true wisdom leads Socrates to be brought up on charges of corrupting society. He taught his philosophy of life on the streets to anyone who cared to listen.…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    What is required for a person to have a “good life?” The answer is not quite clear. Some believe the good life consists solely in the experience of pleasure, while others think it consists of the acquisition of some set of goods. Another claim, one that consists of satisfying desires, is closest to my view. I will explain why the good life consists in satisfying desires, address an objection to my stance, and argue against the objection.…

    • 1620 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Drug use and abuse has been a major concern to the society for a long a time. There are myths and facts about drug abuse. Many people have been having misconception on the truth about drug abuse. This has led to many people, both old and young, to continue abusing drugs and substances. With drug abuse becoming more common in our society, many scholars have been trying to explain reasons that make people, especially young people abuse drugs.…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays