UTJECAJ SOKRATOVOG ETIČKOG UČENJA NA PLATONOVU FILOZOFSKU MISAO
THE INFLUENCE OF SOCRATES' ETHICAL TEACHING ON PLATO'S PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT

Summary/Abstract: This text analyzes the multiple influence of Socrates' ethical teaching on Plato's philosophical thought. Socrates' effort to establish standards for moral aspiration and action through ethical research through the determination of universal determinants, i.e. the essential meanings of being, is extended by Plato to his Theory of Ideas. Plato's Theory of Ideas is based on the legacy of the idea of the existence of universal determinants that appear as immutable truths, and it extends to the research of their application in the field corresponding to their nature. Socrates believes that the essential determination of being is a prerequisite for gaining knowledge, cultivating virtues, and thus achieving the common goal of the human race - happiness. Movement towards the goal is realized with the help of persistence in the direction of knowledge and moral aspiration, through the medium of the soul. According to Socrates, knowledge is what needs to be nurtured and born from the soul itself. Plato, following in the footsteps of Socrates, underlines the importance of the soul and its nature in relation to the physical, creating a detailed account of the movement of the soul in the direction of knowledge and overcoming the changeable. The soul remembers the knowledge it observed in the preexistent period and acts according to virtue thanks to the correct upbringing and education. Socratic questioning and teaching in favor of the soul's recollection of knowledge, which we get to know through Plato's early dialogues, is extended by Plato to the establishment of an education system that will enable the construction of a state and social community based on knowledge.

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