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Understanding Socrates Argument“Knowledge Is Virtue“

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Understanding Socrates' argument " Knowledge is virtue"

Socrates devoted his life to resolving the philosophical problems he discovered through persistent dialectical activity. One of his concerns was to prove that good could not be done without knowledge. In other words, he claims the idea of Knowledge is Virtue. (Boguta, 130) Not less important was question what it was that makes people complete and whether there are such things that make woman/man perfect. Good people for him were virtuous people, people who had such qualities as wisdom, courage, temperance, etc. Moreover, nothing would be good were it is not for knowledge, and hence, knowledge is the only profitable thing; but virtue is profitable as well because it brings profit to one's soul. Thus, Virtue must be Knowledge. (Boguta , 131)
So, good involves knowledge as in the ability to make, use and choose good things and actions. Without knowledge it is impossible to fulfill our desires and make us happy. Things for Socrates are neither good nor evil. It is only because of knowledge or lack of it that makes them either. Besides, Socrates assumes that anyone who has the mind will always try to act in a way that is better for him/her. In other words, any human being does what benefit him/her the most.
Furthermore, Socrates talked much about soul. He thought of the soul as " the intellectual and moral personality, the responsible agent in knowing and acting rightly or wrongly". (Armstrong , 29). As such the soul is the essence of a person, his/her true rationality. In order to be virtuous everyone should care about his/her soul. In addition for virtues are "qualities of the soul. " ( Boguta, 131) Everyone, who neglects these qualities, makes the soul bad, which makes whole human being bad. In describing the soul he also refers to the importance of knowledge, saying, " the things of the soul… hang upon wisdom". ( Boguta , 131) Socrates claims in such a way that right ac...

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