Socrates - A Great Teacher Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Socrates - A Great Teacher - Essay Example Therefore, the society in which Socrates lived was the perfect place for his kind of philosophy, which was centred on the idea of teaching about the power of humanity and human law and justice rather than the wrath or benevolence of the Gods. I feel that I can learn from this because even though I am a person who has religion, I think it is important to focus on humanity as well as God. Socrates believed in superhuman power but equated it directly with humanity. The philosopher recognized that his actions were in some way controlled by the moral hesitation that preceded them or the moral retribution that followed them if they were negative. He thought that the voice inside of him that caused him to stop and reflect before performing a certain action was divine, and I think that this is a good lesson to learn and apply in everyday life, by following my conscience. Socrates saw the human conscience as a gift from the gods and therefore continued an expanding humanist tradition in his s ociety by relegating more and more power to humanity as being inspired by the Gods, rather than being directly and explicitly controlled, monitored, punished, and rewarded by them. I think that I can learn from Socrates’ humanism, because he can teach people to be good, and he seems to have good expectations for society. I want to learn this kind of optimism and apply it to my own life. More and more throughout his life, Socrates began to see that goodness was not a reflection of divine destiny or a means to personal advancement, but was inspired by a sense of universal justice. To Socrates, being just to all meant goodness. This reflects the sense of fairness or balance that was a central feature in Socrates’ philosophy, which can be compared to some of the Stoics’ argumentative and unbalanced polemical perspectives previously. I agree that fairness and justice are important things. Most important, Socrates is a great teacher, because he teaches his students  to question.