When my world history professor, Dr. Sirmon, lectured on ancient Greece, he naturally mentioned Socrates. Dr. Sirmon said that he died because he never shut his mouth. I now understand what Dr. Sirmon meant when he said that. Though reading his many questions really annoyed me, some of the things that he brought up were interesting. The most intriguing of those is that of the government and laws. Socrates asks whether or not citizens should be obedient to the government, and the clear answer is yes. Then, he asks if the government is infallible, and makes all laws perfectly, to which the answer is obviously no. This part of the discussion instantly brought to mind the passage in Romans 13, in which Paul instructs readers to subject themselves to the government. Now, the conversation doesn't move towards answering the question of when to obey the government and when not to, in the case of an unjust law, but I like to see the topic brought up because it is always so hard to answer.
Yo, on Caleb's
I agree that Sacrotes should have held his tongue. As I read through his discussions, he reminded me of the smart kid in school whowould just ask questions in order to show how smart he is.
ReplyDeleteHad Socrates chosen to remain silent, the world would have lacked vast amounts of wisdom that it currently holds. While Socrates may not have displayed his knowledge in a way that pleases some people, I am certainly grateful that he chose to express his wisdom rather than let it go unnoticed. Entire pieces of history could be potentially altered had this man chosen not to grace the world with his knowledge. For example, had Socrates chosen to “hold his tongue”, then he never would’ve influenced his student Plato, and further reaching the mind of Aristotle and Alexander the Great. Not to diminish the feats of Plato and Aristotle, but it is easier to observe the physical impact Alexander the Great had on the world as a whole. The entire ancient world was touched by the influence of Alexander, the student of Aristotle. It could be argued that the entire world would have actually taken on an entirely new shape had the influence of Socrates not flourished. The result of wasting wisdom and knowledge is far more detrimental to society than the annoyances it may cause. The world needs people like Socrates to speak up and enlighten the rest of us.
ReplyDelete