'That knowledge is the highest good for men. If one KNOWS what is right, he will choose to do the right thing and he will do it. No man is voluntarily bad'.
Thank you for taking your time in answering.
2007-03-09 22:30:19 · 8 answers · asked by oscar c 5 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Definitely not. Intelligence and conscience are two different things. "Good" is also too relative a term to make such a claim about.
2007-03-09 22:33:55 · answer #1 · answered by Biznachos 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
1. Knowledge is the highest good for men. I agree.
2. If one knows what is right, he will choose to do the right thing. I disagree.
3. No man is voluntarily bad. I agree, but conservatively.
2007-03-09 22:58:39 · answer #2 · answered by Aadel 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I often long to know what is right and if I would KNOW it for sure, I would indeed do it! So I indeed agree with Socrates, that knowledge is the highest good for men.
I believe that most people search for that knowledge and many people do what they "believe" is right and often through experiencing than only understand if it was right.
We would probably avoid lots of suffering if we have the "knowledge" concerning what is right and this means we would clearly understand the consequences of our action and as nobody really wants to suffer we would then wish to do what is right.
There might be some people who have perhaps "evil" intentions, so they would perhaps although they knew what is right, do what is wrong as it brings them more short term pleasure. But this last point is only a guess.
2007-03-10 00:06:07 · answer #3 · answered by I love you too! 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'd like very much to believe this, but find it philosophically flawed. (Sorry, Socrates.) #1. No one KNOWS what is right.
(Right for whom? Where? When?) #2. "Bad" is equally impossible to define; & humans can be sociopaths who have no conscience even if they knew what was "good" or "bad."
Pretty audacious, aren't I? Not really. It sounds so beautifully idealistic, it might be hard to resist. But it is not logical. There is always an example that I think of in the disparity of good & bad. I forget what country/culture it is, but there are people who truly make soup from the organs of the dead person, & drink it. That is "right" for them. For them to even comprehend embalming someone would be terribly "wrong."
Who is right & who is wrong? Absolute judgments are so divisive! Knowledge is great, but mustn't be biased, don't you think? We can only do (if we wish) what we perceive as "right."
2007-03-11 17:52:14 · answer #4 · answered by Valac Gypsy 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree .Everybody wants to be good . But they do bad things only when they are blinded with a wrong thought , which may come to them due to ignorance of the difference between good and bad .
2007-03-09 22:39:14 · answer #5 · answered by subra 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, I agree that knowledge is the higest good for man. However, history shows that even when we know what is the right thing to do, we do not always do it.
2007-03-09 23:46:02 · answer #6 · answered by A Person 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If that were true there would be no evil in the world. Cheating spouses are a common example of this. Most of them know what they do is wrong but they cheat anyway.
2007-03-09 22:35:07 · answer #7 · answered by Cristina O 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. Sadly people do wrong even when they know beforehand that it is wrong.
2007-03-09 22:39:24 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋