Paper Topics and Examination Questions on Plato

1. In the Apology, Socrates compares himself both to Achilles and to a gadfly. Explain the significance of these analogies.

2. Is philosophy a danger to a political community? Or is philosophy beneficial to a political community? Or is it both? What point of view is presented in the Apology?

3. Is Socrates truly guilty of corrupting the young? How successful is his defense against this charge. If it is successful, explain how Socrates rebuts this charge. If it is not successful, explain why Socrates presents an inadequate defense.

4. Is Socrates truly guilty of impiety? How successful is his defense against this charge. If it is successful, explain how Socrates rebuts this charge. If it is not successful, explain why Socrates presents an inadequate defense.

5. Did Socrates present the kind of defense that was most likely to lead to his acquittal? If not, why not?

6. Why does Socrates philosophize

7. Is there anything you find real and applicable in today's world about Socrates' idea of forms or the line?

8. Is the philosopher (a) harmless, (b) a useful and necessary gadfly, or (c) a danger and a threat to society?

9.  Socrates denies the assertions of three men in Chapter One of The Republic. Write an essay in which you explain what he affirms in this chapter.

10. If poetry is no more than the product of imagination, and rhetoric does not seek the truth, how can we learn about what is good other than by dialectic?

11. Knowing Socrates' theory of education from Book VII, fill out the proper educational curriculum for a citizen (man or woman).

12. Does the affirmation of the Good as the most important subject of study imply anything about God, or the Gods?

13. Discuss Socrates' understanding of the divine. \

14. In what way is Socrates' religion in accordance with aspects of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam?

15. What are the great weaknesses of Plato's envisioned just city?

16. How does Socrates' conclusion (the good/philosophic man will not consider human life to be of great importance) cohere with Socrates' concern for justice, proper behavior?

17. How does the primary objective of realizing one's excellence mold the requirements of the good state?

18. Explain Socrates' critique of democracy

19. Piety in Plato (Tompkins): In Plato's Euthyphro, summarize Euthyphro's third and fourth definitions of "piety" or "the holy" and describe the problems Socrates raises with these definitions.

20. (Karras): Would Socrates agree with Pericles' description of Athenian government and justice? Why or why not?

21. Socrates' Philosophy (Siegel):Explain Socrates’ idea of “self examination” and “seeking the good” in regard to Plato’s theory of Forms and the Realm of Ideas. Why is “the tending of the soul,” which is another way of expressing these pursuits, the most important thing to Socrates? This quotation from the Apology should help: “To let no day pass without discussing goodness and all the other subjects about which you have heard me talking and examining both myself and others is really the very best thing that a man can do, and life without this sort of examination is not worth living.”

22. The Search for Knowledge: Both Oedipus and Socrates were searching for knowledge. Compare/contrast their searches, considering purpose, process, and result.

23. Apology versus Republic (Taub) In their responses many students argued that Socrates’ death in The Apology was a triumph because it justified the principles which served to guide his life. Plato is the author of The Republic and The Apology.  Does the Allegory of the Cave (Republic) seem similar to the story of Socrates (Apology)? How? In what ways is it different?

24. Did Socrates Receive Justice? (Taub): The concept of Justice is one of the main themes of The Republic.  Thrasymachus presents one position, Socrates argues for another.  In The Apology Socrates is given a guilty verdict. Was this just?

25. Socrates versus Sophocles on Civil Disobedience (Karras): Compare and/or contrast the attitudes of Antigone, Creon, and Socrates toward civil disobedience. Under what circumstances to they believe it is morally permissible to break the law?  

26. I0s there anything you find real and applicable in today's world about Socrates' idea of forms or the line?

27. Is the philosopher (a) harmless, (b) a useful and necessary gadfly, or (c) a danger and a threat to society?

28. Why does the discourse of virtue, the Good, continue to avoid the terms of the discourse of power?

29. Socrates denies the assertions of three men in Chapter One of The Republic. Write an essay in which you explain what he affirms in this chapter.

30. If poetry is no more than the product of imagination, and rhetoric does not seek the truth, how can we learn about what is good other than by dialectic?

31. Knowing Socrates' theory of education from Book VII, fill out the proper educational curriculum for a citizen (man or woman).

32. Does the affirmation of the Good as the most important subject of study imply anything about God, or the Gods?

33. Discuss Socrates' understanding of the divine.

I34. n what way is Socrates' religion in accordance with aspects of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam?

35. What are the great weaknesses of Plato's envisioned just city?

36. How does Socrates' conclusion (the good/philosophic man will not consider human life to be of great importance) cohere with Socrates' concern for justice, proper behavior?

37, How does the primary objective of realizing one's excellence mold the requirements of the good state?

38. Explain Socrates' critique of democracy.