Life Of Socrates Research Paper

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Socrates is known as the father of philosophy. His work in the 400s B.C.E living in Athens was to make the citizens think for themselves and challenge the preconceptions that the government say. His ideas and beliefs made the government mark him as a liability if he continued to, in their minds, corrupt the youth of Athens, because citizens who have the idea to think for themselves cannot be easily controlled. With the work that he did, Socrates was sentenced to death. Though a loophole could’ve let him live in exile, he knew his death was needed. If he had gone through with just being exiled, his teachings would have meant nothing. His beliefs led him to die, and another prominent figure in history who died because of his beliefs was Thich Quang Duc. Born Lam Van…show more content…
His death was that of self-immolation, where he was sacrificing himself in the name of his belief and the protest he was apart of. He did this by setting himself on fire. His actions are like that of Socrates, since both could have lived, but instead choose the way of death, because they believed it would help the work that they lived for. These individuals differed though, in the beliefs that they died for. While Socrates choose the option of death, because if he had taken the easy road into exile all his work in using dialogues to open the mind of the citizens of Athens, to him, would have been for nothing. So his death and the beliefs Socrates had for its meaning, was the preservation of philosophy. Quang Duc’s death, being the act of suicide, was meant to capture the attention of the world, so that the persecutions on his religious beliefs in his home country would end. Though they both died for their beliefs, the way their death came and their personal beliefs differed greatly. The idea to die for one’s beliefs can be seen as a waste of that

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