19836 - Socrates and the Search for Truth in Today's Culture

Course Overview

We will examine the use of reason in dogma of faith. First, what is the justification of believing something that we cannot know with certainty; second, what is the justification of believing a doctrine based on the authority of one person; and third, what is the justification of believing a doctrine that we cannot know the truth of with any certainty. We will look into three dialogues of Plato that show Socrates examining these three areas of faith: the unquestioned acceptance of dogma, the unquestioned acceptance of an authority’s proclaiming the truth of such dogma, and the unquestioned acceptance of a dogma regardless of it being proven false. The three dialogues respectively are Euthyphro, Protagoras, and Gorgias.