What do you think about Socrates' claim that: No evil happens to a good man?

Question

Also, could evil be ignorance, like he claims?

wow, jkk.... I fail to see how you could have even remotely read my Q correctly. Please show me where my own opinion or claims are in my Q. As a philosophy student, I am merely asking for opinions about a couple of claims that Socrates made.

Answer 1

anyone who says this isn't true is being too literal minded

this is another one of those perception questions. "good man" is being taken for meaning someone who cleans the enviroment, helps ladies cross the road, adopts blind-deaf-lame kittens, etc. the reality of the "good man" in this statement means more "good-tempered man" - an optimist. therefore, evil never happens to an optimist, because even when he is set back, he doesn't fail to get back up and take it as an opportunity.

Answer 2

the confusion is in the word 'evil' and what Socrates has in mind here. This is actual kind of a slogan in greek philosophy. it doesn't mean that unfair and bad things don't happen to good people in the way we normally think of them, what he means is that for a good person, nothing can happen to them to make them do evil willingly. A good man is one that fully fulfills the function of reason, so to make a good man bad would be tantamount to making them go against their primary function and willingly destroy themselves. Socrates claim is that no evil that befalls a great man can make that man be less good (or evil).

Answer 3

I think that you have to consider that Socrates was thinking on a different level than most people and that to him, a "good" man would not let evil affect him in the way that it affects the ordinary person.

Yes evil is created out of ignorance

Answer 4

I'm not so sure I agree--but I can make a valid argument.

A good man might have such a positive view of the world that he is able to make even seemingly "evil" things work to his advantage.

That is the only way I can make sense of that statement.


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Or-- If we assume this to be true, and we know that bad things happen to everyone, we could argue that there does not exist any good men. Maybe that was his point.

Answer 5

Evil can of path take place to a stable guy while activities exterior his power or impression conspire against him. Atrocities have taken place in the international, nicely documented by utilising historians, that harmed stable human beings. As to human beings in basic terms commit evil out of lack of awareness...it is available yet now completely real. maximum human beings could do evil deed out of lack of awareness of something extra suited. some although, could commit evils in finished awareness of all (maximum) factors that are in contact.

Answer 6

maybe socrates had an elevated perspective on humankind. whatever is happening to the good person - whether good or bad - is for the best.

Answer 7

It's simply not true!
There have been plenty of good people throughout history who were subjected to great evil.

Answer 8

wow, you mean all the christians who were sacrificed to the lions and burnt alive were evil people?

you mean that joan of arc was really a witch?

are you telling me that ghandi was the devil himself?

well, socrates was half right...youre pretty ignorant but i think youre just uneducated, unread and uninformed!

Answer 9

i think its false. there are lil kids getting AIDS and like cancer. and they are certainly innocent people.

evil can SOMETIMES be ignorance. i know lying is wrong but i still do it. lying is not "evil" persay but its a good example.