philosophy questions

In looking at the development of Plato’s conception of knowledge through the mouthpiece of Socrates, one can see that philosophy is about questioning the limits of knowledge. The ever popular and reoccurring question that philosophers want to know is what is everything? The beliefs and ideas of Socrates were shared by all philosophers of their time.

Ignorance was a major Socratic theme. Socrates was very concerned with definitions. He was always questioning what something was, or even how something worked for that matter. However, much of his ideals and beliefs were merely speculations and could not be proven. Socrates can be viewed as looking for objective knowledge.

In the Euthyphro, Socrates is under indictment for corrupting the young and not believing in the gods in whom the city believes in. Euthyphro is prosecuting his own father for the murder of a laborer who is himself a murderer. In the Euthyphro, Socrates is in search of the definition of piety. Socrates asks Euthyphro to help him understand the difference between pious and impious. Euthyphro says that what is dear to the gods is pious and what is not is impious. Socrates then gives the example of an action or a man that pi

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

They try to view this as love associated with pious and hate associated with impious. But yet again the confusion and comparison occur. But again the opposition occurs and so we are back again at square one. Indeed, some things are pretty much black and white, and not gray in between. Socrates says that he does not think that where there is fear there is shame. The theme of recollection is also present in the Phaedo dialogue. This basically is saying that some people may possess virtue while others may not.

We then come to a third view on piety which is that all that is just is pious. It is then posed that just by asking people questions, they will eventually get the answer. From trying to understand the meaning of virtue to what is pious and impious, Plato shows through Socratic ignorance that things are and are not what they seem. In this situation, an idea is proposed and then a scenario or result goes along with it. This concludes that if you have known knowledge of something before, then it is recollection. It refers to the appearance of something that could possibly be tangible.

Approximate Word count = 1195
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.