Does Socrates teach anyone anything or is he a roadblock? What ways of life are most worth pursuing?
Socrates both teaches and creates a roadblock for the men of Athens. Socrates shares his ideas to help open the minds of the younger generation, so that their common education is not the only thing they are taught. Education may have been simply memorized and not pondered; for example, as to why one needs oxygen. We need oxygen and no one thought any more about it. Socrates believes that it is good to challenge or question what others believe to be true because once it is proven after questioning, one can start to believe in it as well and know why you believe what you do (Apology 45). Cleitophon believes that Socrates should be praised for his being receptive to new views. Socrates can question things in the world and leave the answer open to interpretation by many. Socrates himself is open-minded in that he is eager to hear what criticisms Cleitophon has. He says that he “will practice and pursue the one and shun the other with all [his] might (Cleitophon 112).” When Cleitophon first heard what Socrates had to say, he did not question it because he thought it was virtue, as if there were nothing more to the idea. However, once Cleitophon started to grasp the ideas Sophocles was sharing, he began to question the authority of these thoughts. What comes next? Socrates could never answer these questions and so, for Cleitophon, this created a roadblock to his goal of becoming virtuous and becoming happy (Cleitophon 114-117).
Socrates believes that the majority of people’s thoughts cannot compel someone to believe in something or act on that something; however, this is what he expects when he “teaches” people what he understands and believes. Cleitophon says that one of the reasons he did not praise him was because Socrates told people that it is “voluntary” to be unjust, and that being unjust is disgraceful to the gods. So why would anyone choose to be unjust?...