The main character, Socrates, is played by Jean Sylvère and his portrayal was accurate in portraying the philosopher’s thoughts concerning inductive reasoning. Socrates replies to Hippias concerning the beauty of various things; “Yet, earlier you said, "A beautiful virgin. That's what beauty is." …show more content…
One of those topics is his reaction to the Sophist's concept of relativity. “Contrary to the Sophists, who believed truth to be personal and noncommunicable, Socrates believed truth could be general and shared” (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2013). Socrates, the film, exhibits the philosopher explaining that there is general truth. He asserts that knowledge outside our souls exists when saying, “If you had listened to me, for years I've been urging you to realize that there is but one good: knowledge. And there is but one evil: the presumption of knowledge” (Rossellini, 1971). The film adaption of Socrates’ final years living was and is well received by critics. Although the high reviews, the film could have had misdirection concerning the details of Socrates personality. The amount of knowledge that the textbook and other resources have concerning Socrates is not a whole lot, but we know more about Athens and the commerce that happened there. The error is that the film could have spent more time and put more effort into the characters that surrounded this teacher. The overtly stoic nature of many of these secondary characters would be given life in a more modern take on Socrates.
A large part of what we know concerning Socrates comes from Plato’s dialogues. The film based a great deal of its content to these dialogues. Our knowledge of Socrates is seen through the lens of Plato. From our textbook, we read, “Plato essentially reported the thoughts and methods of his teacher, Socrates” (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2013). This teacher and pupil who later became a teacher had a similar life goal; to find real knowledge. The film shows Socrates explaining his self-given purpose, “Life is worth living, only in joy and man's only joy is the unswerving search of truth” (Rossellini,