SOCRATES - THE ANSWERS

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>SOCRATES</FONT><BR> THE EXAMINER</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>All is Revealed</B></FONT><P> The first of the Greek moral philosophers, Socrates helped to lay the foundations of Western thought. Rejecting the purely scientific knowledge of earlier <A HREF="../t03/g026.html" TARGET="_top">Ionian philosophers</A>, he concerned himself with the conduct of human life. Socrates' philosophical debates were aimed at determining how man could achieve true happiness and live a good life. In his view, no one would wish for other than true happiness. If a man had the knowledge of what is good, he would always act on it. The problem lies in lack of knowledge which often leads men to mistake bad things (like wealth and power) for good. The aim of philosophical debate was to establish a universal and absolute morality by the exercise of reason and come to an understanding of what was good. Thus Socrates equates virtue with knowledge and seeks absolute and unchanging definitions of such concepts as virtue and knowledge.<P> <TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=2 CELLPADDING=1 bgcolor="ffffee"> <TR> <TD><BLOCKQUOTE>Socrates' last words to the jurors as recorded in Plato's "Apology"<P> "When my sons are grown... I would have you trouble them, as I have troubled you, if they seem to care about riches or anything, more than about virtue; or if if they pretend to be something when they are really nothing, then reprove them as I have reproved you... If you do this, both I and my sons will have received justice at your hands. The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways - I to die, and you to live. Which is better God alone knows."</BLOCKQUOTE> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>