Post by Crystal Pepito on Jan 12, 2015 7:51:45 GMT
1. Why was Socrates sentenced to death?
Socrates was sentenced to death because of the accusations that Meletus brought upon him to the court. Meletus stated that Socrates "acts un-justly in corrupting the youth, and in not believing in those gods in whom the city believes, but in other strange divinities" (pg. 36, How Socrates Died). Meletus accuses Socrates of not believing in any gods at all because of the way he challenges the understanding of existing gods. Socrates states "I shall obey God rather than you...so long as I breathe and am able, I shall not cease studying philosophy and exhorting you and warning any one of you I may happen to meet..." It is almost as if he is mocking the Athenians and their understandings and beliefs. He also decides to challenge the Athenians and the Judges of the court by saying "if you should put me to death, you will not easily find such another... so the deity appears to have united me, being such a person as I am, to the city, that I may rouse you, and persuade and reprove every one of you, nor ever cease besetting you throughout the whole day". Basically, Socrates was stating this as if he was sent from a god to the people (Athenians) in order to challenge their views on life.
2. Why is there a conflict (for some) between science and religion?
Science is defined as the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world via observation and experiment. Religion is defined as the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods. However, with science there is still a mystery of discovering a logical structured explanation to many elements of life; and with religion there is a mystery of defending explanations of spiritual occurrences and beliefs. The theory of eliminative materialism replaces the beliefs of gods or spirits with a more precise and accurate physiological explanations (pg. 22, The Great Mystery: Matter vs. Spirit). However, the dilemma seems to lie in the confusion of how cells and molecules lead to felt states (pg. 21). Here is where we utilize terms such as "desire", "motivation", "love", and "free will" which arise from old mythic and religious comprehension of our very consciousness. Basically, the limitations of our mind go past the point of being able to find logical explanations regarding where our state of consciousness of feelings come from. Instead of finding a scientific explanation to them, we resort back to ancient theories of human psychology (pg. 22).
Socrates was sentenced to death because of the accusations that Meletus brought upon him to the court. Meletus stated that Socrates "acts un-justly in corrupting the youth, and in not believing in those gods in whom the city believes, but in other strange divinities" (pg. 36, How Socrates Died). Meletus accuses Socrates of not believing in any gods at all because of the way he challenges the understanding of existing gods. Socrates states "I shall obey God rather than you...so long as I breathe and am able, I shall not cease studying philosophy and exhorting you and warning any one of you I may happen to meet..." It is almost as if he is mocking the Athenians and their understandings and beliefs. He also decides to challenge the Athenians and the Judges of the court by saying "if you should put me to death, you will not easily find such another... so the deity appears to have united me, being such a person as I am, to the city, that I may rouse you, and persuade and reprove every one of you, nor ever cease besetting you throughout the whole day". Basically, Socrates was stating this as if he was sent from a god to the people (Athenians) in order to challenge their views on life.
2. Why is there a conflict (for some) between science and religion?
Science is defined as the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world via observation and experiment. Religion is defined as the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods. However, with science there is still a mystery of discovering a logical structured explanation to many elements of life; and with religion there is a mystery of defending explanations of spiritual occurrences and beliefs. The theory of eliminative materialism replaces the beliefs of gods or spirits with a more precise and accurate physiological explanations (pg. 22, The Great Mystery: Matter vs. Spirit). However, the dilemma seems to lie in the confusion of how cells and molecules lead to felt states (pg. 21). Here is where we utilize terms such as "desire", "motivation", "love", and "free will" which arise from old mythic and religious comprehension of our very consciousness. Basically, the limitations of our mind go past the point of being able to find logical explanations regarding where our state of consciousness of feelings come from. Instead of finding a scientific explanation to them, we resort back to ancient theories of human psychology (pg. 22).