Socrates, Hero to Some Matt Young College

The character of Socrates in Plato’s dialogues can be viewed as a distinct form of excellence. However, as seen through comparisons with such works as Aristotle’s Ethics, not all models of excellent people are the same, nor would many people who hold these views consider Socrates to be an excellent man. Looking through the lens of Plato’s dialogues, including the Republic, the Crito, and the Apology, I will show that Socrates is an excellent person because he possesses a desire to pursue the Good, a correctly ordered soul, intellectual humility, and other-regarding virtues. I will then put forth Aristotle’s model of the spoudaios, or most excellent man, and draw distinctions between Socrates and this excellent man, showing how Socrates holds a different purpose to be the reason for excellence and “fails” some of Aristotle’s model virtues, specifically those of high-mindedness, magnificence, and the nameless virtue between ambition and lack of ambition.

In light of the Republic’s philosophy concerning the aim of human life, Socrates fits the qualifications of an excellent person because he possesses a desire to pursue the Good. Much of the dialog in the Republic seems oriented toward a final purpose: the revelation of the Good...