Socrates Contradiction

Plato is considered one of the most influential philosophers when it comes to human thought, due to vitality of his ideas and the fact that his philosophy appeared at a relatively early stage of the western culture. Plato’s ideas affect people’s perception of daily life in the following two ways: first, Plato developed his ideas in close interrelation with Christian theology; more specifically, his contribution to the Christian doctrine lies in establishing the opposition between the spirit and the flesh. Secondly, the works of Plato regard scientific mentality of people. He was one of the greatest philosophers of his days and specialized mainly in a specific field of knowledge that is very different form the knowledge of science. His main aim was to get an insight into the truth and study reality. The theory of knowledge arises from the dialogue that takes place between Plato, Socrates and Theaetetus. In the dialogue, Socrates contradicts himself several times which poses a question whether he can overcome these contractions as usually mentioned by article writing service.

Socrates Contradictions

It seems that Socrates will not be able to overcome the contradictions he himself established since his perception of things differs from that of the rest of the scholars’. For example, regarding the definition of knowledge, Socrates rejects it claiming that the examples are ‘neither necessary nor sufficient’. He argues that by saying that the examples are not necessary because they are not relevant and, hence, insufficient since they bring out an understanding beforehand on what the definition should provide. Socrates believes that a definition should be brief and that defining something by providing examples causes deviation from the whole point. Other philosophers, though criticized Socrates’ definition of knowledge, finally concluded that Socrates only wants to discuss issues that are very different and those that do not belong to the list of things of common knowledge. From this, it is clear that Socrates may never be able to overcome his contradiction because he thinks differently from the way other people are thinking.

Secondly, Socrates’ contradiction arises in the ‘cold wind argument’ and the theory of flux. At this point, he commences his presentation of Protagoras’ opinion that things are to any human just as they appear to that human by using an example of a wind which influences people differently. He argues in support of Protagoras that the wind has brought about a cooling effect to the person who is feels cold and has not to a person who does not feel cold. The contradiction here is in the fact that the wind in itself is both cold and warm. Socrates supports this contradiction but does not clearly explain or interpret it (Cornford 36). As for the theory of flux, Socrates comes up with three theses that appear shocking to everyone. In his understanding, Plato argues that the theory implies that first, qualities do not have any dependent existence in space and time, secondly, he states that qualities are inexistent except in their perception. Finally, he states that changes that occur in qualities of some objects or notions do not bear essential changes as compared in perception of that object or notion. Socrates uses these three implications to argue out his point to the subjectivist as to why he rejects the entire object/quality metaphysics and rather decides to replace it with metaphysics of flux. From this theory, it is clear that Socrates cannot overcome his contradiction because he stands by what he believes to be the truth and defends his point of view based on what he knows and not what other people understand. By so doing, it makes it difficult for other philosophers to understand him, which, in turn, reduces the number of critics of his work.

In addition, Socrates objected to the theory of flux demanding that to understand distinction between the deceptive or false appearances, for example, dreams and reality or unreceptive appearances of the waking world. In answering his question, the theorist said that the appearances he was referring to should not be described as ‘true’ or ‘false’ appearances to the same person but they should rather be defined as different appearances to different people. On the other hand, objections to Protagoras noted that ‘if all perceptions are true, then there is no reason to think that perception of animals is inferior to that of humans. This expression sounds absurd to Socrates. The objection is followed by seven other objects, which prompted Socrates to sketch a response to the seven objections. His ninth objection stated that ‘if the theory is general in its application, then it must say that not only what counts as justice in cities, but also what benefits cities, is a relative matter’. In this statement, the contradiction is clear, Socrates argument puts Protagoras in a state of dilemma because he claim that the theory is incomplete and should include other aspects such as benefits of justice system to a city. Socrates finds various ways of criticizing other people’s work in a contradictory manner and this further supports the argument that he can never overcome his contradiction.

After the first definition of knowledge as perception and rejection of the definition by Socrates, Theaetetus came up with the second way of defining knowledge as ’true belief’. This definition provoked Socrates to delve into the matter of false belief. After a long time Socrates went back to the second definition and argued, ‘accidental true beliefs cannot be called knowledge’. He supported his argument using Athenian jurymen. Based on this second definition, Socrates manifests contradiction because he rejects the definition and forces his own ideas.

Rejection of the second definition of knowledge prompted Theatetus to propose a final definition of knowledge as a true belief. Consequently, this raised arguments mainly focused on the word account to reject this definition. The first explanation defines the word ‘account’ as a speech or statement, the second states that account is an enumeration of the elements; finally, the word was taken to mean a sign or a pertaining feature, which differs from everything else. Hence, all the three attempts to determine the actual meaning of the word account proved to be insufficient. The arguments were found to be contradictory despite the fact all the meanings seemed correct.

As one of the most notable philosophers of his time, Socrates comes with contradicting ideas. He perceives things in a very different way from that of the others. In arguing his ideas he bases on his experience and knowledge rather than on the common knowledge of the majority. .For this reason, it is difficult for him overcome his contradiction since contradiction is what enables him to argue out his points.