Assignment

For Assignment, you are to challenge Socrates' argument against the existence of intentional evil. This argument appears in his defense against the charge that he corrupts the youth. As shown in the class notes, the argument runes as follows:

Argument against the existence of evil.

1. Wicked persons harm those around them.
2. Harming other creates harmful people around you.
3. Harming others causes harm to oneself.
4. No one wants to be harmed
5. No one intentionally harms others
6. Therefore, I corrupt the youth unintentionally or I do not corrupt the youth.

Remainder of Argument

7. If I corrupt the youth unintentionally, then I should be educated of my ignorance.
8. If I do not corrupt the youth, then I am innocent.
9. Either I should be educated of my ignorance or I am innocent.

Line 5 is Socrates' initial conclusion that "no one intentionally harms others." You are to contest this conclusion. In order to do so, you need to show why Socrates is mistaken in his argument. This is different from merely disagreeing with the conclusion. In other words, you need to show why either his reasoning is flawed or one of his assumptions is mistaken. You are to post your criticism in Discussion Board 2. What this assignment and argument are discussing is the nature of evil, why people do harmful things to others. The emphasis on the evaluation for this assignment is on how well you are able to show why Socrates is mistaken in reaching his conclusion on intentional evil.

Then you are to respond to the response made by someone else by defending Socrates. This means, you are to act as if you were Socrates and writing what you think Socrates would say in his defense. If you think the criticisms is indefensible, you are to show why you think Socrates has no possible response.