The five dialogues of Plato are very important for students or any other person interested in knowing the art of philosophy. Philosophy is a very wide discipline that deals with a variety of fields thus making it very difficult for scholars to come up with a specific definition of philosophy. Philosophy is a discipline that is characterized by many questions and any person who can ask a question can be considered a philosopher in his or her own right. A philosopher should not blindly accept any answer without analyzing it critically. At the same time, a philosopher should avoid ambiguity when asking questions but should ask questions that can compel the respondents to think critically when answering them. Russell once stated that in Philosophy as a discipline, the answers that are given to questions are not important but what is important are the questions themselves. At the same time, one cannot claim to have learned philosophy without learning about ethics. It is on this basis that this piece of work tries to analyze Plato’s five dialogues.
Euthyphro dialogue is one of the five dialogues of Plato. In this dialogue, Euthyphro who is a lawyer-priest has met Socrates who is heading to the court to answer charges of creating and worshipping his gods instead of worshipping the gods of the society. Socrates is told that Euthyphro’s father is to be prosecuted because of murdering a slave. The tricky part is that the slave had earlier committed murder. Given that Socrates knows that Euthyphro is a good lawyer, he asks him to explain to him so that he can know the whole truth about what is pious. During the conversation, Euthyphro has told Socrates that what is pious simply means doing what pleases the gods. This answer is not satisfactory according to Socrates and goes to court without adequate truth. The theme in this conversation is the controversy about the truth. It is not clear which gods are the true ones between the gods of Socrates and the gods of society. Pious simply means something that is morally upright but in this conversation, what is pious is that which pleases gods but it is not clear which particular gods.
In the apology dialogue, Socrates tries to defend himself that he is innocent from the charges of Mellitus and the charges of corrupting youths. He also disputes the pronouncement made by a certain oracle that he (Socrates) is the wisest man in society. In this dialogue, Socrates says that he is not wise and all other people who claim to be wise are not wise either. This is a philosophical statement and in fact, Socrates has vowed to continue practicing philosophy the moment he is cleared of any wrongdoing because he is compelled by the gods to continue philosophizing. Socrates has willingly accepted the death sentence after being convicted but he warns the citizens to be prepared for youths who will definitely question people the same way he has done. Questioning is one of the characteristics of philosophy and when Socrates indicated that questioning will continue even after his execution, he implied that philosophy has been in the society and will continue existing even after death of known philosophers. From this dialogue, there should be no restrictions to what should be questioned. People should question anything including religious beliefs that are doubted.
In the dialogue with Crito, Socrates tries to convince Crito that it is right for him to face the death penalty that has been imposed on him by the court. He further explains that he has not been wronged in any way by the society or the laws but by the men in the society. He stands to his ground that he is innocent and that if he escapes from prison and runs away there will be no difference between him and the law-breakers that the jury has already concluded that he is. This discourse implies that people should always try to follow due process of the law. It also implies that people should continue doing what is right even when they are wrongfully convicted.
Meno is one of Plato’s friends and a dialogue with him raises a question of whether virtues can be taught or not. Meno argues that one cannot learn about virtues and practice them. Socrates tries to explain to him that learning simply means recollection. After a long discussion, Meno agrees that virtue is simply knowledge and can be learned just the same way people learn to acquire other knowledge. This dialogue reveals that even bad people who practice vices in society can learn what is morally upright and be good people in society. However, no person can claim to practice virtues always and therefore fit to teach the virtues.
Lastly, the Phaedo dialogue indicates that Socrates accepted death without any fear. He claims that the aims of true philosophy can only be achieved when one escapes bodily evils through death. This may signify that it might not be easy for people to find the ultimate truth until they die. Even though there is no proof that there is eternal life after death, people should always try to do good things even if it means losing their lives because they may later enjoy eternal life.