Prep for Seminar for 3/22

7) In your opinion, is it ever right to harm somebody? Why or why not? What would Socrates and/or Thrasymachus say in response to your answer?

After going over it in class my opinion on it has changed, well, actually not really I have just heard of how to reword it so that you really never have to harm anyone, just maybe defend yourself in certain situations. I use to think it's right to harm someone if they are harming you on purpose or they won't stop harming you, but Beth has recently brought it to mind, that harming someone that's harming you or someone you care for could be considered defending yourself, your family, your country, etc. depending on the situation. I think this is a very good point and I will most definitely bring it up in the debate when this question is asked if no one else does. If someone is trying to hurt you, and you fight back, it isn't really fighting/harming it's mostly defending yourself. If you just let them hurt you and you don't do anything about it then you'd probably end up dead or in a lot of pain. If you fought back as bad as they did, and badly injure or kill them, then you'd be misunderstood and you'd be just as bad, if not, worse then the person that came at you in force. But if you simply defend youself to stay alive or save yourself from a lot of pain, then that would be the most intelligent thing you could do in that situation, in my opinion at least. I think Socrates would say it is never right to harm someone but accept that defending yourself is a pretty smart move. He'd say it is never right to harm your enemies, though if they try to harm you, then defending yourself would be, certainly, a decent answer to overcome the situation.