The Definition Of Happiness In Plato's Apology

In the dialogue of Plato’s Apology, Socrates thinks that he is benefitting his fellow citizens and making them happy. I believe it coincides with Socrates’ definition of happiness, his belief that his activities benefits his citizens, and his belief that he is benefiting his city. Virtue is necessary and sufficient to happiness according to Socrates’ views and once you achieve it, you cannot lose it. By achieving virtue, a person achieves happiness, therefore, according to Socrates that person will be unable to be harmed by anyone worse or bad and your virtue cannot be taken away. Virtue, to Socrates, is the act of doing good things and not wicked or shameful actions, which means happiness is achieved by doing good things This leads to his belief that achieving excellence, or good, will give you wealth and everything else that everyone considers happiness both as an individual and publicly (30b). I believe that this connects with the activities he does with his fellow citizens, because he wants to show them what …show more content…
This came about because of the oracle of Delphi’s reasoning, which mentioned that Socrates was the wisest of all men; this puzzled Socrates and he wanted to prove the oracle wrong by finding a person who was wiser. It was because of these activities that caused many of the citizens to hate him because he uncovered their ignorance of knowing something and I believe that Socrates wanted them to understand that being ignorant of knowledge and virtue does not make one happy or wise. He expected that once the citizens knew that they knew nothing, they would be able understand that they are not wise. Therefore, even if the city wanted him to stop his activities, he wouldn’t be able to because he is considered the wisest and given the job of questioning his fellow citizens’ knowledge and in turn makes Socrates comment that this is also a benefit to the