Breeana Glenn
A03 Jackson
Week 3 Questions
9/13/13
1. Socrates asked a lot of questions. “What is it?” being among them. Socratic definitions are important because they are objective, they are fundamental for knowledge, and they are fundamental for morality. The difference between giving a definition and offering examples is your level of understanding. When you give examples, you are working through the problem in your mind, critiquing your understanding and ideas in this perpetual forever, constantly updating your claims, challenging them, and creating the best definition of your own ideas.
I think that definitions are important because it gives your understanding of a subject in a couple of sentences. This forces you to actively think about it and come up with an idea that you think encapsulates your claim in the most efficient and effective way.
2. 1) That which is right is commanded by God because it is right.
God has no influence in what is right and wrong. Therefore there is morality outside of religion.
2) That which is right is right because it is commanded by God.
Everything that God commands is good. Every murder, death, genocide, and inhumane detail in the Bible is God’s will, and therefore it is unquestionably good.
3. It allows for people to be good without the need for God in their philosophy. God is not necessary in his commands, even though by following his commands you gain access to heaven and enlightenment. Does following his commands because they are good make you a simple person for blindly following God, or does it even matter since these commands are deemed good in the broad scheme of things? This was most likely controversial in Greece and subject to harsh criticism or worse. This does present some concerns because you are forced to question your motives. If you’re good to please God, are you actually good? If you’re good for the sake of being good, will God accept you whether or not you are a Christian?
This...