EDF1005-Reflection #11

Socrates was an important figure in history and we have developed things today because of him. Socrates, along with the other great philosophers at the time formed the Western Philosophy. He viewed happiness not as having a life, but as having a good one. His views on happiness were different from ours. He believed if we didn’t examine our life then we were just wasting it. We are wasting our gift of critical thinking and wisdom. He liked to look at things closely and precisely to examine them and conclude why they came out. I believe this is very true because we should examine our life, and set goals for ourselves to see how we are going to live it. On the contrast, some people like to believe the complete opposite of this. They rather just go with the flow and with whatever they feel like doing that day. I like to live my life examined with a set of goals and things I want to accomplish. By doing this you know what you want to get out of life and the things you want to achieve while living in it. He developed an idea in which is carried on today in classrooms, court houses, etc, and it is called elenchus. Elenchus is used in the western civilization as an ongoing process. It is the method formed by him which asks questions about moral concept. You argue with what you believe. It makes you doubt your own moral beliefs. He thought this was supposed to be applied to life and put together there. Socrates wanted people to believe and understand his ethics which lead to his belief that happiness is moral excellence. He would philosophize to everyone and wanted everyone to elevate in thinking in an ethical manner. Many of his ideas and thoughts are still being used today or have been evaluated and enhanced even more. All our different forms of religion have different ethical concepts and morals. He brought about these new ideas and methods to society, some in which are still being used today. Socrates liked to examine a person’s character. Pleasure to him was different forms of virtues. But, many people disagreed with him because you may be overcome with anger, guilt, or sadness, and act differently than what pleasure is to Socrates.