Socrates Has Undoubtedly Had A Major Impact Upon Western Philosophy And Society In General. Plato, Whose Work Is Essentially An

Socrates has undoubtedly had a major impact upon western philosophy and society in general. Plato, whose work is essentially an elaboration and expansion upon that of Socrates, has had a similar effect. Naturally, these two philosophers have been subjects of immense academic interest for over two thousand years. With this great interest comes both praise and criticism. One of the most critical writers to attack these legendary philosophers was Friedrich Nietzsche. Here I will examine Nietzsche's arguments, draw evidence to support such arguments, and discuss his notion of Christianity as an extension of such philosophy.

From Nietzsche's viewpoint, Socrates and Plato were to Greek society symptoms of societal decay, or as Nietzsche usually puts it "decadence" (Nietzsche 39). In his attack on Western Philosophy throughout Twilight of the Idols, he purports the main weakness of Socrates to be evident in the delivery of his philosophy, or more specifically dialectics. Socrates was never a rich man and belonged to the lowest of the socioeconomic classes in Athens. Nietzsche claims that, "With dialectics the rabble gets on top", the rabble in this case being Socrates (Nietzsche 41). Socrates repeatedly takes on the government in various matters such as the weakness of democracy the connection of justice and holiness. He uses dialectics with such techniques as elenchus to use complex arguments to loosely back up his statements or to confuse his opponent into submission. Before Socr...

Socrates Has Undoubtedly Had A Major Impact Upon Western Philosophy And Society In General. Plato, Whose Work Is Essentially An

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