STUDY QUESTIONS: EXAM 1

1. What are the charges, official and unofficial, that are brought against Socrates at his trial?
How does he defend himself against each of the charges?

Official:
- Corrupting the youth - He dismissed this by saying he not a teacher and people can see that
because he is still poor.
- Heresy changed to corruption – People knew him as a religious man so that charge was
dismissed.
Unofficial:
- Embarrasses Officials – He was only talking with the officials and asking them questions to see
if they had the wisdom he was looking for it’s not like he was intentionally embarrassing them.
- Eccentric – He said this was irrelevant to the case
- Personal dislike – Pretty much everyone in Athens disliked him so the next place he goes to
the same thing is going to happen where most of the public dislikes him.
- “Sophist” – He told them he didn’t think of himself as wise and that he was not a self
proclaimed wise man.
- Jealously – They were jealous of his wisdom but once again he told them that he didn’t have
any wisdom so what was there to be jealous of.

2. Whom does Socrates claim will be harmed if he is convicted of the charges against him?
Why? What punishments are proposed by Socrates and Meletus…and which possible
punishments does Socrates reject…and why?
Socrates said that Meletus and the other juries will be harmed because They will feel guilt and
shame for convicting and old innocent man. He proposed his punishment be free room and
board since he provides wisdom to the people of Athens. Some of the other possible
punishments were a fine which he could pay so he was broke while the other one was exile, but
Socrates said he was an Athenian and wouldn’t leave Athens but on top of that he said in the
next place he went to he would be exiled as well due to the fact there would be a similar
situation like this one.
3. What is the Socratic Method? What goal(s) does Socrates hope to achieve by using the
Method?
The Socratic method is a processing of challenging a claim they have made by using objections,
questions and challenging their claim. Either the other person can defend their claim, or they
cannot. If the person can defend their claim, then the claim may be true but the whole goal of
this method is to find knowledge.

4. What is the ‘Myth of the Cave?’ What points is Socrates making with the myth?
There is a man chained to a post facing the back of the cave where he cannot move or turn his
head. Behind the chain main there is people who are casting shadows and making sound for the
shadows they cast. No one really leaves the cave and especially not the man chained down. The
only thing that the man chained to the post believes is really the shadows on the back of the
cave. If someone went outside of the cave, they would be blinded the sunlight and go back in
the cave or adjust to the sunlight and proceed to tell the others what was outside and about
their experience. The others would then proceed to tell the person that they are wrong and
make fun of him. What Socrates point is that people are blinded and hypnotized by lies while
the people who go outside are blinded by the truth and try and tell it to the others who accuse
him of lying when they are in fact blinded by the lies. Some people are ignorant and other
accept the truth. Socrates also says that wisdom belongs to the gods, humans font posses this
knowledge.

5. What are ‘telos’ and teleology? What role did the concept of telos play for the ancient
Greeks in their understanding of the universe? Plato argues in the Republic that everything
has a purpose…in his ethics, what is a person’s proper function and how is it related to one’s
moral worth?
Teleology is the study of telos. Telos is that everything has a purpose or a goal that it is trying to
achieve. So, the Greeks used this to understand explain and understand the patterns around
them. In the republic Plato argues that a person telos of a human being is to be well balanced in
spirit, rationality and desires. They key to this balance is knowledge. If someone had balance in
all these areas, they had contentment within life, and this is what they are striving for.

6. What is the relation between knowledge and moral conduct in Plato’s moral theory? How
does this differ from Aristotle’s?
So to be balance in Plato’s moral theory of the three elements of a human being you had to be
knowledgeable to gain balance. This differs from Aristotle’s because he believed that to achieve
moral conduct is that you need to be rational and control the irrational impulses.
7. Reconstruct the Sophists’ conception of human motivation and develop its implications for
their definition of justice.
The sophists believed that human motivation was in their own self-interest as their definition of
justice. They believed that someone would rule in their own self-interest because they would
get away with whatever they wanted. They used the myth of Gyges ring to tell people if that
someone had power they would act in their own self-interest.

8. Describe the psychological theory underlying Plato’s ethics. How is this related to his
conception of the state?
This is a bit complicated to explain but he was debating with the sophist about justice about
being in the self-interest of the stronger or weaker. When defining justice, he said that that
justice is in the interest of the weaker is a vague and broad term, so it is intellectual garbage. He
then goes into saying that justice is in the interest of the weaker and goes on to explaining who
should rule the people. This is his idea for the state a monarchy run by the “philosopher king”
who was balanced in the 3 elements of a human being. This related to his conception of the
state because the king is the one who’s balanced in all three areas and the wisest since they
want the wisest ruler for the city.

9. How do the Sophists define ‘justice’ in the Republic? How does Socrates object to this
definition?
The sophist s define justice as “justice is in the interest of the “stronger” Socrates objected to
this by saying that ruler will sometimes err. The sophist them responded with in the case where
the rulers err they should not be referred to as “rulers.” There were many examples that were
brought up one of them being teachers. When teachers err they aren’t actually teaching. To be
a teacher you the requirement for teaching is to learn something and it must be true. Socrates
uses the same example by asking the question who benefits when they are teaching. The
students are the one who benefit. Socrates then turns back to the sophists answer and said that
“justice is in the interest of the weaker.”

10. Compare and contrast the ethical and political theories of Plato and Aristotle.
Plato:
- The three elements of human beings
- Monarchy
Aristotle:
 - His “four causes”
- Oligarchy
Similarities:
- They both believed that humans have a Telos.
- They believed the human telos was happiness/ contentment

11. What is the “Chief Good” according to Aristotle? Why?

12. What are Aristotle’s ‘four causes’? How do they relate to his ethics?
1. Material cause- the physical components that make it up
2. Efficient cause- the process that was put into existence
3. Formal cause- The appearance of something
4. Final cause- The Telos of something
This relates to the “virtue ethics” Saying that everything should be fulfilling a telos of
something. This should be true for humans as well.

13. What is the Golden Mean, according to Aristotle? How does it apply to his political
theory?
The golden mean is the midpoint between to extremes. This applies to his political theory
because Aristotle believes in an Oligarchy which means its rules by a few people. He dislikes
democracy being ruled by all and a monarchy being ruled by one. This is taking the two
extremes all and one and coming up with is golden mean of oligarchy which is ruled by some
people.

14. What is the distinction between ‘ethical absolutism’ and ‘ethical relativism’? Why is
Plato an absolutist and Aristotle a relativist?
Ethical absolutism is someone who believes there are absolute morals that everyone must
follow at all times. While Relativists is someone who isn’t an absolutism, and they deny there
are moral truths that always applies to everyone. Plato is an absolutism because he has an
absolute moral code that all humans should always follow with no exceptions to the rules laid
out. Aristotle is a relativist because he has the golden mean which takes two extremes and
finds a median but if the median doesn’t apply to certain people, then he is willing to find a way
to make it work.

15. What arguments does Crito give to get Socrates out of jail and how does Socrates
respond?
Crito brought up reputations, family, friends, and himself. Socrates response to reputations by
saying he can’t control what other people think of him and Crito so he flat out ignores it. The
second argument about family he says that he is setting the right example for his sons by
staying in prison. The argument about his friends connects back to setting a good example but
also sticking tot the morals that he has shared with his friends. The last argument about himself
Socrates relies with that he doesn’t want to harm himself by doing the wrong thing and going
against his morals. One of the arguments that Socrates makes is to Athens. He said that he
benefited from Athens laws so he must follow them since he believes there is a social contract
between them.

In addition to the material brought up regarding Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, there will also
be 10 multiple questions on “How To Write an Argumentative Paper”. Other than the 10
multiple choice questions on the paper, the rest of the exam is essay and short essay
questions.