Reason and the Moral Life

The underlying basis of Plato's philosophy was derived by him from Socrates, and that principle is that virtue is knowledge. Plato relies on sense experience as the source of knowledge, which means that he relies on sense experience as a way of analyzing virtue to determine what is virtuous and what is not and thus what is knowledge and what is not. He presents his views through the Socratic method of question-and-answer leading to truth. He sees there as being one general truth which can be found in this method. His philosophy is that of the idealist, and in political terms this relates with authoritarian political views. For Plato, the act of examination itself is a necessary condition for knowledge, and no authority is possible without an enquiry into values and reason. The Socratic method

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awaits his execution, he applies reason even to that event and to the possibility of immortality. Socrates addresses the issue in the Phaedo with a series of "proofs" that in the final analysis are based very much on a preconception that immortality is a reality and that arguments must be devised to show this. Socrates believes in the eternal life of the soul and guides the discussion toward indicating several reasons for this belief. In this discussion, Socrates makes an explicit appeal to reason as the way to approach truth: Then he will do most perfectly who approaches the object with thought alone, without associating any sight with his thought, or dragging in any sense perception with his reasoning, but who, using pure thought alone, tries to track down each reality pure and by itself, freeing himself as far as possible from eyes and ears, and in a word, from the whole body, because the body confuses the soul and does not allow it to acquire truth and wisdom whenever it is associated with it (Plato 102). This is one of the primary reasons for elevating pure reason, the belief that the senses are imperfect and even confusing in what they reveal, while reason applied to the evidence can bring truth. Yet, there are dange
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Approximate Word count = 1548
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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