Plato Case
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Chapter 6
It is a great crime to be killed for your beliefs. Socrates died from drinking Hemlock after he was sentenced to death for the crime of speaking his mind against the gods. Plato seems to risk suffering a similar fate for someone who he admired and knew as a close friend. He challenged the current order with reasons and wanted to prove that it was wrong. It seems Plato wanted people to start thinking in different ways so that they could rebel and change the existing order. He mostly like wanted to put an end to judgments based on opinion and teach knowledge to the population. Many must have been scared and intimidated of the current order in Greece and Plato being from a family of wealth and power had the ability to study and understand the laws. But the debt to Socrates he was unable to repay until he was older when he started his school and taught others to think with reason.
It makes sense to me that Plato would not have gone into this pursuit of truth and teach reason if it wasnt for the death of his friend and teacher. Socrates death and his following must have rocked the current order in Greece because of the way it appealed to the commoner seeking to get away from the Sophists ideals. Plato perused his belief by trying to prove the existence of knowledge and its relevance in order to reason and rebel against the Sophists. It was a belief that became knowledge and a tool he used to outsmart public popular opinion. Philosophy does not come from the death of Socrates but rather from what Plato was able to reason and understand from being influenced by it. I know it happened hundreds of years ago so its all speculation, so does the truth about Platos reasons really matter? How important was his teacher to him?
I agree with Plato that Knowledge cannot be false and irrational. That it needs evidence to support its clam or conclusions, but I am still confused about how specific he can define what knowledge is. Are theories knowledge? They are supported by facts and are rational beliefs. But they can be disproven when new evidence surfaces which makes them what exactly? To me it seems more like it is all opinions. They can be logical and rational based on the perspective of an individual which can change from time to time based on what they experience. I am still yet to understand Platos logic and gain a deeper understanding of his ideals which will help in