Todd Eckerson and coauthoring students’ Jamie Linz, Charles Lugton, Robbie Miller, Lauren Polo, and Morgan Stair’s ‘Socrates Was a Bad Teacher’ is an evaluation of the teaching methods of the late great Socrates with respect to his interlocutor Meno. The authors of this article deem Socrates to be a bad teacher for three primary reasons. The first being his lack of communication of the expectations of his interlocutor in their dialogue. The second fault of Socrates is his presumptive judgements of Meno and his treatment of Meno accordingly. Lastly, the third reason as to why the authors deem Socrates a bad teacher is his willingness to give up on students. The authors draw this conclusion, that Socrates is a bad teacher, from Plato’s dialogue “Meno” which depicts two characters, Socrates and Meno. …show more content…
The authors note that Learning specialist Grant Wiggins describes Meno as a "conventionally successful student … [whose currency is] thoughtless mastery” (84); the authors elaborate on this description to say that Meno is “incapable of original thought, totally dependent upon the ideas of others” (84). Alternatively, the prevailing scholarship holds Socrates to be “the wisest of men and the greatest of teachers” (84). Thus, Meno is historically left with to blame for the outcome of Plato’s “Meno”. The first reason as to why the authors deem Socrates a bad teacher is his lack of communication of his expectations. In the dialogue Socrates makes no clear objective for Meno to strive for. Socrates merely battles Meno’s responses leaving him confused and irritated. The authors refer to NAIS Principles of Good Practice for Secondary School Educators and reveal numerous errors on Socrates part. In fact, Socrates does not “maintain an environment that fosters respect” (84). Instead, Socrates belittles Meno and merely points out his
In the Greek literary work Apology written by Plato, Socrates was convicted for refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state, introducing new divinities and corrupting the youth. It is believed by many critics that Socrates knew he was going to be sentenced to death so, he was able to use his defense as an opportunity to clear his reputation, confront his accusers, but most significantly instruct the Athenians. He wanted them to look into themselves and seek virtue and wisdom before looking into personal interests. We notice throughout Socrates’ defense that there is a continued theme of wisdom and teaching towards the Athenians.
In “The Apology,” Socrates stands blamed for corrupting the young people of Athens and teaching the false divine beings, charges that eventually lead to his conviction. All through his defence, Socrates eagerly denies these allegations and declares that his activities are driven by a profound love for Athens. Accordingly, this paper is to dissect Socrates’ defence against the allegations introduced in “The Apology” and assess whether he really loved Athens by drawing bits of knowledge from both “The Apology” and “The Symposium.” In “The Apology,” Socrates justifies himself by using a mix of rationale, reason, and irony to address the allegations set out against him.
Socrates taught his pupils how to think by questioning and evaluating certain aspects of life in Athens from a more technical perspective. This new outlook could’ve caused young people in the community to find flaws with Athens and the government, and try to go against the standard, traditional ways of the community. By instructing his pupils to question how and where they live, Socrates was posed as a threat to the government. The government and other people in power believed that the youth, that was taught by Socrates may try to break away from the standards that were set, which can eventually lead to havoc within the
The trial and death of Socrates is a book with four dialogues all about the trail that leads to the eventual death of Socrates. The four dialogues are Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. It will explain the reasoning that brought Socrates to trial in the first place and give us a glimpse into the physiological thought of this time, and in this paper will describe some of the differences today. The first of the four dialogues are Euthyphro.
Socrates was a man that was in search of the truth about wisdom. However, it became more then just a search when it brought him to trail of accusations. As a philosopher Socrates was known to overdrawn ideas and to frustrate anyone he was talking to. He is always in search of a better idea and for anyone who has experienced Socrates could assume he is making up his own actualities. This becomes evident in “ Apology” written by Plato, where Socrates was brought in charges for corrupting the minds of the youth and not believing in the Gods.
In this play the Socrates here doesn't sound like the Socrates from the Apology or the real life Socrates. The real Socrates doesn't actually teach per say, he teaches in a way that makes you yourself use your brain. He makes you question everything and understand things based on your own perception. The writer of this play clearly felt as if Socrates was a major problem in his society for allowing people to actually try to think outside of the box and ask questions. He most likely enjoyed the fact that everyone were robots and all thought alike and believed in the same thing because it brought no need to bring out discussion.
Further elaborating on Meletus the claim, Socrates explains how Meletus is wrong by doing a comparison to horses. Socrates point consists of the idea that in order to improve a horse, a specialized person like a horse-trainer, is the only kind of people that have a positive influence on horses. Therefore comparing such idea to people where not everyone can improve the youth. Socrates finishes that stamen with "you make it perfectly clear that you have never paid the slightest attention to the matters over which you are now indicting me" (Apology
In order to establish my thesis, I will start by stating and explaining the argument that Socrates presents, I will
Here is another piece of evidence to support my point. “Because I’m well aware that wherever I go, the young people will listen to what I say, as they do here. If I antagonize them, they’ll drive me out by persuading their elders to do so.” (Lines 142-144) In this quote, Socrates is saying that even if he approaches the young ones with his ideas and philosophies, at a certain point they will come to a dislike of him and try anything at any cost to drive him away.
In the Apology Socrates defends himself against the charges brought against him by his prosecutor Meletus in two ways. In the first way Socrates describes his method and
In the Apology, drafted by Plato, contained within the First Year Seminar anthology, the main character Socrates was convicted of several offenses. One was that “Socrates was guilty of wrongdoing in that he busied himself studying things in the sky and below the earth; he made the worse into the stronger argument, and he taught these same things to others” (Belmont University, 2016). Socrates countered with the one defense that he gained this slander because he possessed a unique kind of wisdom that others envied. In essence, who were jealous of Socrates desired to drag his name through the mud.
“Plato Apology” relates the trial of Socrates (469-399) B.C.E known as the father of Western Philosophy. Socrates, a son of sculpture and the midwife had a queer with most Athenians due to his point of view on values and beliefs. Charged with impiety and corrupting the Youth, Socrates’ defends himself by persuading the jury of his innocence with tangible reasons which made his arguments effective.
Making enemies and becoming the topic of conversation, the Athenians began to view Socrates as a threat to their beliefs and way of life and sought to end it. In order to end this, Socrates was accused of blasphemy (Mod1SlideC7). Socrates’s accusers took him to court and after Socrates did not play their game by asking to be sent into exile, and in the end, he was sentenced to death. After reading the textbook and Plato’s writing influenced by Socrates, I realized that in the period of his life Socrates was indeed truly a threat to the Athens society, because he looked for answers that no one else bothered to find which challenged their culture.
The existence and continual study of Socrates’ philosophy regardless of differing accounts is astonishing in itself since it survived not through the specific philosopher, but through other people. Which is a testament of the impact that a man, such as Socrates, can make. When we think of Plato, who is regarded as a father of western philosophy, we are quick to think of his major work The Republic, his student Aristotle, and his writing on Socrates. (We think of his writings on Socrates as mere footnotes in philosophical thought without examining them.) “Nothing comes from nothing,” Parmenides proudly claimed, and this philosophical doctrine applies to Plato’s thought.
Introduction Socrates was a renowned philosopher for his method of learning and inquiry known as the Socratic Method . However this inquiry led him to expose Government corruption and be annoying to the powerful people of Athens. In the end though Socrates was primarily put on trial for the atrocities his students committed. Socrates loved Athens, even though his students harmed the state, he was not guilty of his charges nor of Athens ' loss in the Peloponnesian War. The Oracle at Delphi answered no to the question "Is anyone wiser than Socrates?"