Socrates: Unveiling Wisdom, Knowledge, and Happiness

Socrates: Wisdom, Knowledge, and Happiness

Socrates: Wisdom is knowledge that leads to happiness. To be wise, we must know ourselves so we know what we need.

Socrates is not comparable to the Sophists. Socrates believed that the process should make us better to act without imposing our opinions.

The Socratic Method

The Socratic method comprises the maieutics, which can help others learn more about the truth. It is divided into two periods:

1. The first involves Socrates interrogating people on different issues, asking questions until they run out of arguments or contradict themselves. This helps them realize they don't know everything and admit their ignorance, fostering a desire to learn.
2. The second involves maieutics, where the person discovers the objective truth and its essence through dialogue and alternating questions. This enables a definition of moral worth through discussion.

We conclude that Socrates believed we could get to know objective truths, unlike the Sophists, who advocated skepticism and believed we cannot reach absolute truth.

Moral Intellectualism

Moral intellectualism is the philosophical theory developed by Socrates, according to which knowledge and reason are the same. According to this theory, absolute moral values can be obtained through Socratic induction, defining how to behave: the happy, good, fair...

A wise person has done the thinking process that makes the individual wise. To stop being ignorant benefits include a mood to learn authentic concept of values.

Socratic Induction

According to Socrates, we can learn abstract concepts. This is based on real and concrete situations and is called Socratic induction: First, it examines specific cases where there is a certain moral quality (Justice, Happiness, Love...) and analyzes what all of these cases have in common, their essence. What we obtain serves as a guide for how to behave.

The Sophists disagreed because they defended moral relativism, arguing that there are no absolute moral values, but they depend on society and time.

Conclusion

Conclusion: Personally, I opt for a mixture of two opinions: I believe there are absolute moral values, but proving the truth would be chaos. But I also respect the accord and dignity. Socrates advocates a just society and promotes understanding between people, while the Sophists advocate freedom of speech and a more egalitarian society at the time of rule.

In our society, we are afraid to defend moral relativism if we consider the great diversity of cultures.