The Nature Of Philosophy On The Book Apology By Plato

Short Essay Question: The Nature of Philosophy In the book Apology by Plato, Socrates refers himself to a gadfly as a metaphor of his service to his community and city. In this essence, Socrates was explaining to the people of Athens that like an annoying gadfly to a horse, his service through his insights and challenges to the people in authority is in fact for their own benefit (Brickhouse, 121). A gadfly agitates a horse out of sluggishness and ends up benefitting the horse as it ends up feeding and being productive. Socrates through his insights and questioning of the people around the city was a means of passing knowledge. The debates they generated enlightened a lot of the Athenians of corruption and negligence conducted by the people in power. It is for this reason that the mighty people in the government ensured that they defeated Socrates before he stirred up a revolution against their system. This metaphor is considered a characteristic of philosophy because it fundamentally elaborates the basic thought behind philosoph y as a discipline and a school of thought. Philosophy can be defined as the study of ideas to denote knowledge, truth and meaning of these ideas in relation to human life. In this regard therefore, philosophy becomes a study of the underlying issues and facts to explain the nature of our realities. The gadfly metaphor is thus considered a characteristic of philosophy as it pertains to the aspect of people analyzing and defining their realitiesShow MoreRelatedBiography of Socrates, An Annotated Bibliography1581 Words   |  6 Pages61-79. Humanities International Complete. Print. 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