Share your thoughts on Socrates.
I share mind, below on the query.
What are Socrates’ views on the relation between moral, political and legal obligation? Should one obey the law just because it is the law? What does Socrates think? What do you think?
An unexamined life is not worth living (Apology).
-Socrates
Socrates is a great philosopher of all times. He cared about his moral convictions above and beyond the duty or parameters of the political and legal obligations and restraints, on a citizen member of a society.
He captures the essence of all volition – piety, pursuit and acceptance of truth, singularity of a truthful individual and his moral obligation to stand up for the truth, regardless of anything, even a threat to his personal life itself.
Socrates teaches that the self analysis and criticality of a mind is essential to constantly evaluate the plausible reasons for the actions of any person, in order for that person to assume and uphold one’s personal duty towards the morality of any behavior. He despises hidden anything. To him reasoning and questioning is everything so that a truthful and fair judgment can be made and passed. He is not shy of owning up to his mistake and he encourages the personal mettle of any soul who is devoted to finding the truth and then up holding that truth.
Clarity of consciousness is all that Socrates wants and that is why to him, the personal saving grace is not simply abiding by law or fear of a policy, but believing in its value, to be able to fulfill it without any reservations. He wants us to leave no stone unturned lest moral defame becomes the outcome. He does not like foiled truth either. To him, for anyone to be immaculate and follow the truth with intrepidity is a lot more valuable than to be enslaved in thinking that one ‘has’ to do something just because it is prescribed.
Socrates wants us to know the ‘why’ behind, what we have to do, what we have to do. Following his reasoning, we can not subjugate ourselves to chance fortune or misfortune. We have to earn it, we have to pay our dues or own up to our flaws. Thus, the validity of his personal moral duty argument lies in the pragmatic conjecture that we have to commit morality not for the sake of others, or for superficiality, but do so with a genuine regard for the moral rational criteria to be accessible to us, so that we can give it our full devotion. Otherwise, the self infliction of moral fallibility will befall the individual.
What is amazing is that in a time and culture of Greece, when Greek mythological Gods and Goddesses and their love and acceptance was so prized, when the concept of the Polis had not been arrived at yet, Socrates, had already taken it upon himself to state the facts about personal accountability and moral valuation. If it were to be a loss of support that mattered more, for his morals, he was willing to be isolated and punished, yet, he stood by what he said and what he postulated in regards with moral obligation. It is almost like he is saying, if one does not value personal duty towards morals, then one must know that one is not absolved of moral obligation and thereby one is bound to live a terrible tragedy of errors of the consequences of not binding to one’s moral duty.
So, in reality, for Socrates, the moral obligation is a given for the legal and the political obligation to be fulfilled. The premise is: the moral obligation precedes the construction and function of the legal and the political ones. It is a transaction that one has to make with oneself and not for the others to look at and ascertain.
Socrates wants us to be ourselves, own accountable guardians who will not stop short of actually living morally, rather than only in words supporting moral obligation, in a self-deceptive way, at that. I feel that Socrates wants us to be in the right and not in the wrong, to later suffer the guilt ridden personal worthlessness and regret over what we ‘ought’ to have done, if we are honest with ourselves. He won’t want us to live our lives in euphemism of selfishness nor submissiveness.
If anything, he would have all our brevity and personal strength lead us, from start to finish, when it comes to meriting our morals. This distinction between right and wrong, levels the ways for feeling transparent and that is one more gain, when Socrates is listened to and his reasons are acknowledged.
When we indicate that we are committed, Socrates does not condone looking for false and invalid non committal to take place. He assures us that we are fully and independently personally responsible for all our actions and reactions, whether they be legal or political.
Socrates makes a person have self-worth, and intellectual
independence as well as a solid determination of willingly holding on to one’s own morality by oneself, i.e., it is not imperative for a person to blindly give way to anything and everything expected of himself, but what he must honor, is his morality. And he said it right. Quite logically, when the truth of a matter underlies it, things become clearer.
It can be said that, perhaps, Socrates does demand absolute purity of thought and consciousness so that morals can be addressed as they ought to be. When there are no doubts and suspicions and everything is out in the open, then deciding to act in accordance with moral conviction becomes a compassionate fulfillment of the moral duties in practice.
Socrates will not like us to feel incriminated in something that we know is not right, independent of the legal or the political obligatory references. His theory inspires us to reflect upon the nature of our actions and he makes us honestly think: why, did we or are we and will we be still doing something that we know, we know (emphasis implied in repetition), is not right.
He wants us to make peace with the resolutions that we place on ourselves, and he tells us, by reasoning that morals teach us not merely ‘what to do’ under varying situations in life, but what ‘ought’ to be done. And here is where he cannot be refuted. He calls for reasoned will so that neither any benefit nor any suffering is attributed to factors beyond the individual’s control.
We must be able to make this distinction ourselves between right and wrong. Rest is upon the individual to live up to the morals and honor them well. After all, it is Socrates who said, ‘We are only as ethical as we do!”.