Socrates / Socrates - Tutorial Preparation Sheet(1)

L ecture 2 – Socrates

1. Background questions:

1. Why is Socrates the wisest person?

2. What was the reason for Socrates’ questioning? (What was he trying to prove?)

3. According to Socrates, what’s the worst kind of ignorance?

4. What is Socrates’ Elenchus method and how did it work?

5. Does Socrates believe in revenge? How is Socrates’ view on this different from the Homeric tradition?

6. Socrates compares a healthy body with a healthy ________________. Why?

7. What is Socrates’ idea of ‘a good life’?

8. Why did Socrates believe that it was important to be moral?

9. If we do something wrong in life, who are we hurting the most? Why?

2. Tutorial discussion questions:

10. In what ways can the same things such as health, strength, and beauty be both beneficial and harmful?

11. Try to explain the concept of ‘virtue is knowledge’ in your own words.

    1. What sort of knowledge are we talking about

    2. Explain why virtue implies knowledge

    3. Explain why knowledge implies virtue

12. For Socrates’s argument to work we have to accept an egoistic theory of motivation:

    1. What is that?

    2. Why do we need to accept it?

    3. Do you accept it?

13. In Socrates’ view, why or when do people do wrong?

14. Can a good person be harmed in the sense that Socrates discusses?