Malik Johnson
Professor Flynn
Philosophy 102
4 May 2017
Homework
Thoroughly describe Socrates’ reasoning that no one does evil knowingly.
In Plato’s Apology, Socrates defends himself against Meletus’ claim that he is guilty of corrupting the youth. Socrates commences by asking if “wicked” people harm people who are the closest around them and if there are people who “want to be harmed” themselves, which Meletus replies “certainly [and] of course not”, respectively (Cahn 31). Socrates then asks Meletus whether or not he is being accused of corrupting the young deliberately; when Meletus replies affirmatively, Socrates continues his thought and questions the logic of doing wrong purposefully (Cahn 31). Socrates questions if he is unknowing of the situation where if he corrupts his young associates, they would later in turn do harm to him (Cahn 31). Socrates concludes that either he is not corrupting the youth or that if he did corrupt them, he did so unknowingly; if the latter is to be true, then Socrates should not be in court, but dealt with privately to educate him on any wrongdoings committed (Cahn 31).…show more content… In Book VII of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle critiques Socrates’ argument against incontinence by contrasting the former philosopher’s thoughts with “things that appear
