The Awakening Page 3

Although his powerful speaking skills helped show why Socrates had the impact he had, Socrates' reasoning was filled with inconsistencies. He taught his students to follow an argument where it leads, but the practice of this method could easily end up inconclusive. Again, the reason for this inconclusiveness was that there was no standard to judge decisions by; in other words, two different people could follow the exact same argument to a completely different place. The outcome all depends on a person's personal opinion of a situation, one could follow an argument one way and one could follow the same argument another way. Socrates had no better idea than anyone else about who was right or wrong in the paths one might chose. Socrates' took for granted that, ideally, all human beings should think alike and come to the same conclusions. Not only did he take for granted human nature, Socrates also frequently over-analyzed his thinking. Because of this, his reasoning often ran in circles and could be never-ending. A main instance of the lack of a solid standard of thought took place after he proposed exile rather than death. After he was sentenced to death, he completely changed his outlook stating that death could be a "wondrous gain" (Apology, 95). With his method, he could suit his reasoning to his own opinion at the time rather than having a standard that would lead to a single just end. His philosophical reasoning was so general that it allowed him to make good out of just about anything. The process relied on personal opinion rather than "reason" because Socrates never laid out a standard of how to judge who reasoned correctly.

The obscurity of Socrates' reasoning is even more apparent in Plato's Crito when Crito tries to help sneak Socrates out of prison and save his life. Socrates reasoned that he himself should die. Socrates taught to follow an argument where it leads, and in this case, the argument concludes with death. Death does not provide a rational end to an argument. Socrates developed his argument and then simply stated, "contradict it and I will obey you" (Crito, 107). Crito could not produce any counterexamples and thus Socrates keeps his vow to accept death. This is another example of where Socrates relies on refutation rather than applying a standard. Although Crito could not produce any counterexamples, was it really logical to accept death on Socrates' part? Without having any solid standards of judgement, his methods lack substance and are too broad to have a firm grasp of different situations. Socrates' methods and reasoning cannot universally apply to every possible situation without exception because his teachings are so general; therefore, he needed to approach extreme circumstances with more of a situational outlook.

Page 1 of The Awakening - Socrates and Athenian Society
Page 2 of The Awakening - Socrates and Athenian Society
Page 3 of The Awakening - Socrates and Athenian Society
Page 4 of The Awakening - Socrates and Athenian Society