Socrates,Plato,Aristotle

14 Pages 3385 Words

gs of Plato. Plato was traumatized by being present at the trial and execution of Socrates. Plato’s response was to continue to teach the methods of Socrates in order to clear his mentor’s name as a corruptor and in order to defy authority- in a sense to be true to himself. Because Plato’s work was recorded and remained intact, much more of his views are known than those of Socrates. Aside from his many famous dialogues, he also founded a school of science and philosophy, Academies, from which the word academy comes. (Magee, 1998)
The belief differences between Socrates and Plato are hard to determine because they are based solely on Plato’s writing, making them biased . The works of others, such as Xenophon and the comedian Aristophanes, give us insight into Socrates’ life, but, “This evidence is not consistent and interpretations vary widely.” (P.M. Huby, 1964) From what Plato writes, Socrates believed knowledge was the key to virtue and happiness. Plato’s teaching method was the exploration of the question itself, and coming to a satisfactory answer was not the intent of the discussion. Socrates was dissatisfied with those who defined something by listing or using a series of words to describe it. If someone tried to define ‘justice’ by using a series of just actions, he would not accept it. He wanted an individual to explore what the list of words had in common, aside from pertaining to justice. Even Socrates had trouble grasping a definitive answer, which led him to “what is justice?” Socrates disagreed with others, like a member of the academy named Theaetetus. In Theaetetus, Plato’s dialogue from 367 b.c., Theaetetus defined knowledge as “geometry, the craft of shoemaking, and carpentry.” According to Socrates, such a definition would be unacceptable because it is a mere list and because the craft of shoemaking can be defined as ‘knowing how to make shoes.” (D.J. O’Conn...