Philosophy Essay: Socrates on Definitions
Philosophy Essay: Socrates on Definitions
Late in his life Socrates went around the market place having discussions with the countrymen. He believed that if someone claimed to know what X was then they should be able to define it. So he would usually ask a question such as, what is X? Socrates would not be pleased by just any answer; it had to be a solid definition. According to Socrates a solid definition consists of three conditions. The first is that the definition of X must hold true for all things that are X, but not for those things that are Y. The second is that a definition cannot be an example of the word. The third is the definition must be a description of X not an evaluation. Since Socrates never kept a record of his dialogues, we must rely on the dialogues that Plato wrote about him in Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Meno, which are a close approximation of Socrates’ discussions. Euthyphro and Meno have a lot of questioning, which allows us to understand Socrates’ style of questioning and his expectations for a definition. Euthyphro deals with what is pious and impious, while Meno deals with what is virtuous. In these two dialogues Socrates rejects many attempts made by Euthyphro and Meno to define pious and virtue.
In the dialogue Euthyphro Socrates asks Euthyphro. “What is the pious, and what the impious (5d)?” Euthyphro suddenly gives an answer that pious is what he himself is doing now. Impious would be not to prosecute his own father for murder (5d-e). Socrates is not satisfied by Euthyphro’s answer. Socrates understands that prosecuting his own father maybe an example of what is pious, but there are many pious actions. Socrates was looking for the definition for what all pious actions are (6d-e). I agree with Socrates that examples make it difficult to truly understand a word. For example, if I were to say this is an “A” paper to the five GSI’s at the same time, there is a great chance that they will all interpret my claim differently. Charles might think an “A” paper is merely four 8.5 X 11 inches of paper stapled together. Josh may believe a bunch of small black words written on a blank white page...