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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 10 page paper which examines whether or not Socrates was right to obey his Athenian conviction of death by poison or if he should have acted to preserve his own life by escaping and going into exile, within the context of considering how Chuang-Tzu would have condemned the philosopher’s choice to abide by the capital punishment of the state. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
10 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGsoctzu.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
he seemed most willing to push the boundaries in order to find answers to the question of life. However, Socrates was also very much a man of the state.
He was a product of the proud democracy that characterized his beloved Athens. He believed that the state was synonymous with the wisdom he sought and revered, and
one must ultimately obey its laws, even if he didnt particularly agree with them. When Socrates was brought up on charges of impropriety, specifically, the corruption of Athenian youth,
he vigorously defended his right to pursue philosophical inquiry. However, when a jury of his peers convicted him and sentenced the aging teacher to death by poison, Socrates stoically
accepted his fate without protest. His students (Plato, among them), stood vigil with Socrates in his cell, and some encouraged him to escape and live out the remainder of
his life in exile. But Socrates steadfastly refused, saying that he would abide by the edict of the state, even if he disagreed with the death sentence it had
imposed on him. Was Socrates right to obey the state or should he have employed any means necessary to preserve his own life? Not all philosophers would agree
with the path he ultimately chose. First, it is important to keep in mind that practically all that is known about Socrates ideas and convictions is Platos interpretation of them.
Socrates himself never articulated any of his thoughts or philosophical impressions into writing. At least as described by Plato, Socrates contended that the state was expected to serve
as the keeper of public virtue. Socrates believed that without virtue, there could be nothing else - no justice, no individual, and in effect, no state. The state,
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