In the sixth century Socrates was not your common man you saw walking around Greece. He was a rather ugly guy that had a burning desire, a desire to study nature and the scope of knowledge within other humans. He looked at the world much differently than others around him. Rather than studying science and cosmology he pursued ethics and logic with his time. Socrates taught other human beings that the main goal of life was to find happiness within his soul. Only then you would truly be happy, he talks as if the human body is a cage that you are trapped in. The only way to escape this cage is to find happiness within your soul. In order to live a good life, a person needed to know the nature of goodness. When Socrates would converse …show more content…
The question of purpose is a good representation of these questions. Many people have many different beliefs that answer these questions in their own terms. For example Christians believe we are here because of god and should serve him through ought our lives. Atheist believe there is no god and tend to lean on sciences but really don’t know why we are here. The truth is that nobody knows the answer to this question and it is honestly a little frightening when you think about it. Socrates thinks that life begins when you find true happiness within the soul. Almost as if it is a burden to be in your body. Socrates said “Now here is a question for you, isn’t it the case that part of us is part body, part soul?” (Phaedo 79b) It is in this quote that Socrates is claiming for man to have a spiritual side along with his physical body. That spiritual side of you, your soul is immortal in Socrates thoughts. If there is a purpose to life then why would we stay in our physical bodies, what is the point of even going through the …show more content…
A roman philosopher named Cicero once said that Socrates “wrested philosophy from the heavens and brought it down to earth.” Socrates believed that it is human nature to desire happiness. He believed that it was obtainable and teachable through human effort. He based his view of happiness on four cardinal virtues including courage, wisdom, justice, and self-control. To him if you achieve and follow these four virtues then you will have lived a truly excellent and happy life. Out of those four virtues wisdom has the biggest effect on how happy you may be in your life. To begin with, Socrates famously maintained that “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Apology, 38a). Virtue is necessary for happiness, Socrates believed that without virtue one could not achieve true happiness. Therefore, Socrates believed that we should “discuss virtue every day” (Apology, 38a) Socrates says that one cannot become an excellent human being foolishly, blindly, or by accident. It takes a decent effort on a person to be happy. One cannot be happy without being virtuous, and one cannot be virtuous without being