Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 21

Ethics - Essay Example But the virtue which is made up of these goods, when they are severed from wisdom and exchanged with one another, is a shadow of virtue only, nor is there any freedom or health or truth in her†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Socrates did not fear death nor the danger of death. Reasoning practically, he said that he did not fear death as a soldier, and it would be strange if he feared death as a philosopher. In the Apology, Socrates was quoted as saying the following: â€Å"For the fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being a pretence of knowing the unknown; and no one knows whether death, which men in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.† Furthermore, Socrates said that death should not be feared because nobody knows if it is good or bad. To him, death appears to be good, because it is either a deep sleep (the absence of consciouness), or a new life with those who had gone before. For Socrates, the first is a beneficial rest, while the second is an opportunity to converse with the great minds and discuss many lofty issues. It is a further chance to seek knowledge and wisdom. It is Socrates’ reasoning that fear and wisdom could not co-exist, that fear is the absence of wisdom. But since he also said that virtue could not exist without wisdom, then fear and morality could not also co-exist. A moral man is a virtuous man, and in the absence of wisdom there is also an absence of virtue. that you engaged in the kind of practice as a result of which you now risk dying?’†, to which he answered that he did not care for the collective opinion of men, only whether what he did what was good or bad. In this context, â€Å"shame† meant public embarrassment. On the other hand, after he was meted his sentence he said, â€Å"I go to death, to which you have sentenced me, and you to shame and dishonor,† in which case he used â€Å"shame† was used to meant disgrace in not doing what was right. In this sense,