Sec19 Grp1: On Socrates

 (Look! I included the section and group number.)

Socrates' three most notable statements in the text and how our group perceived them today are as follows:

"Does being deceitful count as being immoral?"
We determined that as long as it furthers a positive goal set forth by the "helper" (person being deceitful), whether or not the other believes in its validity, it is acceptable. The language here is loose, but what this basically means is that the people performing the deceit may do so if it adheres to their moralistic principles.

"How can I be the wisest man in Athens when I know so little?"
Put simply, those who are wise are, in actuality, not wise at all.
This seems to hold up in both Socrates' time and modern times. Anyone can claim to be wise in a specific field, but in other fields they are not so confident. And since there exist specializations in every field, even respectable, highly intelligent individuals may not know as much as someone in a lesser position. Say, a neurosurgeon and a nurse, for example. Each know things the other does not.

"Life is only worth living if you think about what you are doing."
This holds both a degree of truth and of falsity. It is true in that rash, impulsive decisions often lead to rash endings that could have been avoided, but it is false in that risk-taking is essential to our growth as human beings. If we sit and ponder a mental list of pros and cons in which the latter outweighs the former, we're probably not going to do whatever it is we wanted to do before we thought about it, and sometimes, if we stop to think about it, BAM! it's too late and the decision has been made for us. Too much thinking is detrimental, but some is nice. After all, spontaneity is a much more positive word than randomness.