Plato- Four Texts on Socrates: Beliefs of Socrates About Reason and Knowledge

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Rejection of Reason
“Plato-Four Texts on Socrates” has four recognized works that depict the way of life and beliefs of Socrates. Socrates was a “philosophical rationalists” and ensured that reason was a key guide in his way of life. He would only accept debated and tested answers. Socrates believed that it is only through reason that permanent truth could be discovered. But can reason, as advocated for by Socrates, help to permanently determine truths about what is wrong and what is right? The Athenians did not think so and it was the reason why they often clashed with Socrates who used reason to discredit what the Athenians thought they knew. Modern scientists seem to discredit the importance of reason. However, reason is an important guide in life that can help one question unjustified opinions. This essay will look at why Socrates held such a statement in high regard.
Socrates believed that reason was the pillar of his life. Socrates obsession with reason was perhaps the main cause of tension between him and the people of Athens. When he looked at the opinions of Athenians, he realized that they never actually knew what they presumed they knew. Socrates was bold enough to point out where they were wrong and this angered them. Socrates discredited their opinions without providing then with an alternative. West, Thomas & Platon (71) note of Socrates saying:
Finally, I went to the manual artisans. For I was conscious that I had knowledge of nothing, so to speak, but I knew that I would discover that they, at least, had knowledge of many noble things. And I was not played false about this: they did have knowledge of things which I did not know. But men of Athens, the good craftsmen also seemed to me to go wrong in the same way as the poets….
Socrates strongly believed in the importance of knowledge and he was dedicated to it but he was also aware that there were a lot of things that he is ignorant at. In Euthyphro, we get a glimpse of the view of Socrates on reasonable judgment. He is able to assert the importance of reasonable judgment in determining what is right instead of blindly following the authority. Socrates rejects traditional stories on the reason for impiety yet he agrees that all good things come from the gods (Plato 11).
It is from the action of Euthyphro that Socrates stresses on the importance of reason as the foundation for truth. Euthyphro is going to prosecute his father for impiety, the same case that that Socrates is being prosecuted for. When Socrates puts him to task to explain to him the meaning of impiety, he is unable to provide a useful explanation. The implication here is that the people of Athens are blindly following the law without knowing what they really mean. To Socrates, this is wrong. There must be an attempt to separate what is right from popular opinion. What Socrates suffered then is still popular in the world today where people would go with popular opinion without establishing whether they are reasonable. Using reason, Socrates is able to bring to ...