Essay #1

Arête means excellence, or a hero. Socrates demonstrated excellence when he questioned what everyone knew and what was taught at the current time. Many people disagreed with what he was telling people and what he was teaching, but he continued to teach and believe what he thought was correct. He taught in a way that no one had seen before to younger generations, the older generations didn't like this. Socrates also went with what he thought on everything and had a difficult time accepting that he was wrong. He would ask a question to a stranger or friend, when they answered he would add another question on top of it and kept going until an acceptable answer was reached, this is called the Socratic Method. To his students, Socrates was a hero. Before and after his death they thought highly of him, they thought he was a very smart philospher and he knew what he was talking about. People today still think of Socrates as a hero. Ancient Greeks demonstrated excellence when they decided to use democracy for their government in 508 BC. They are heroes in a way to the United States because we looked at this government and thought it was a clever idea, this helped form our government to be what it is today. Also, Ancient Greeks invented wheelbarrows, gears, plumbing and many more fasinating things that we use today or get the base idea of things that we use today. Overall, Socrates and the Ancient Greeks helped to dicover and create many great things all throughout history and even today.