Chapter 3 Goals

3.1 The Philosophical Gadfly

• Appreciate that, in contrast to his outward appearance, Socrates was charismatic, inspiring, brilliant, and persuasive, profoundly affecting the lives of those around him, gaining both followers and detractors.
• Understand why his words had such a powerful effect on those he encountered.

3.2 The Socratic Method

• Know what the Socratic method is and how it can be used to expose errors in ethical thinking.
• Define reductio ad absurdum and explain how this kind of argument is used in Socratic dialogues.
• Be able to create a Socratic dialogue that demonstrates the inadequacies of a moral concept.

3.3 Knowledge and Ignorance

• Explain the differences between Socrates’s approach to philosophical discourse and that of the Sophists.
• Understand how Socrates’s views the connection between knowledge and virtue.
• Know why Socrates says that nothing can harm a good man and that an unexamined life is not worth living.

3.4 Socrates’s Trial and Death

• Summarize the arguments Socrates made to the Athenian jury and be able to evaluate them.
• Relate Socrates’s explanation of why he is called wise and has “such an evil fame.”