Justin Mullin Baraka

Philosophy
9/15/15
Socrates Reflection

Socrates encouraged priority to be given to care for the soul. When

Socrates speaks of the soul he is referring to the true self. Socrates believed that
the human soul was invisible, immortal, and directs the physical body. Its parts
includes a person psyche, morals, beliefs, and thoughts. Socrates assigns priority to
care for the soul due to the fact he was convinced that true knowledge and moral
virtues are inscribed within the soul of every individual. Learning is, therefore, to
cultivate the soul and make ones implicit understanding of truth explicit. An
individual can care for her or his soul by living a virtuous life and gaining
information and knowledge during your life to be able to use it in situation.
Socrates advised, The unexamined life is not worth living. An examination
of life is to transcend instinct and desire and to make conscious, ethical choices. It
includes learning things through experience and using those experiences to live a
wiser life in which you are able to question different conceptions and ideals. I agree
with Socrates on his advice to examine life to achieve a good life. Living your life
while gaining knowledge and observing will help you gain wisdom that you can use
in your life in other situations as well as avoiding potentially harmful situations. If I
were discussing with a friend I would say it can be difficult to live an examined life
due to the norm that has been stablished by society, peer pressure, and the fear of
being ridiculed and/or neglected. These things can prevent you from living an
examined life.
Socrates held the belief that a person in a rational state of mind and being
will not knowingly choose evil. He also believed that while good persons still can
be victims of evil or harm imposed by others that they could move beyond evil and

Justin Mullin Baraka

Philosophy
9/15/15
not let it overtake them. Further he believed that persons received help from the
gods to overcome evil. And last that in committing evil a person primarily hurts
himself or herself. I believe that this concept is false, there are many examples in
our modern life that show individuals in a rational state and knowingly choose evil
such as, Columbine incident, racist/hate crimes, ISIS, etc. Socrates also goes on to
say you cannot permanently harm the good person, he believes even if you kill a
good person their soul will go on to live prosperous in the afterlife. This concept can
be true by some and not by others based on their beliefs and religion. He also says
that help is available to overcome evil, I believe this is true that there is always
someone to help you overcome your struggles and /or their religion can comfort
them in their time of need. Socrates states when one commits evil the primary one
harmed is the doer even while the subject is harmed. What he means by this is that
the doer of evil will be punished for his actions and if he is not caught he will be
punished in the afterlife.
As a part of his Ethic, Socrates warns, our ethical choices are autonomous. I
interpret this as governing yourself by living a good life and being good to others.
He believes responsibility and accountability of the person will be included in their
ethical choices. Our individual moral/ethical choices so important and significant in
how a person lives life because it determines how we view the description between
right and wrong and how we go about living our life and making decisions. In the
United States today we have widespread examples of how the ethical choices of one
or a few individuals can have widespread implications and effects on a community.
These events show how autonomous decisions have impacts and potential harms
for large numbers of people. Actions that recommend as critical to bringing greater

Justin Mullin Baraka

Philosophy
9/15/15
awareness to individuals as to the importance of ethical decision-making and its
significance for everyday life are giving real life scenarios that incorporate the use
of morals in decision making that can affect their lives, holding community
meetings that discuss such things and how to use morals for better decision
making.