Midterm Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Midterm - Research Paper Example In this latter particular then, I seem to have slightly the advantage of him.’ Socrates’ argument is therefore that knowledge is not about believing that one knows something, but instead about knowing that one, in fact, cannot know. Socrates is driven to those said to be wise, because he wants to consider the word of God. On this quest, Socrates finds that ‘I found that the men most in repute were all but the most foolish; and that others less esteemed were really wiser and better.’ Socrates will then go on to explain this apparent paradox. His argument is based around the idea that believing one has knowledge cheats one out of actually having knowledge. The only true posit of knowledge, in Socrates’ argument is God himself. So, following Socrates’ argument, God himself knows that his wisdom means nothing, which is precisely what makes him so wise. Socrates returns to the argument over knowledge later in the Apology at which point he discusses fear of death. He argues that this, rather than making a man wiser, fearing death shows a pretence of wisdom, because death is unknown and an unknown thing cannot be known and therefore feared. Man does not know if death is a terrible thing or not and it is therefore illogical to fear it. Following on from this logic, Socrates cannot know if his beliefs are true, because wisdom dictates that no knowledge is regarded as certain. Socrates’ discussion of knowledge in the Apology is an interesting one, since it centres on the idea that nothing can be truly known. It subverts the common view that a lot of knowledge is synonymous with wisdom and replaces it with the idea that wisdom is the having the openness of mind to understand that any amount of knowledge is never a lot. In the Republic, Plato reports Socrates’ notions on ethics, connected with idea of justice. These ideas are related to the debate over epistemology in the Apology since they rely