Therefore, a person may choose an unpleasant means or sacrifice some short-term gain, if they believe the end result will benefit them. As Socrates tells Polus (Plato, 2013) that one chooses to drink medicine for the sake of health, a longer-term benefit, even though it is unpleasant and is not what one ones to do. What an individual perceives as the best course of action may not necessarily align with what they want. For example, someone who gives money to charity does so because it makes them feel good and they perceive the pleasure derived from helping people as a greater benefit than spending the money on themselves. This is true even for actions that appear altruistic. According to him, an individual will always choose the course of action that, at the time of decision, is perceived to bring them the greatest benefit (or the least harm) out of all available options. Right and wrong, good and bad are typically associated with human actions, and Socrates has successfully demonstrated that the motivation for every action is self-interest. The aim of this essay is to demonstrate how it is possible that nobody does wrong knowingly. On the contrary, he saw virtue as the greatest benefit and maintained that immoral actions actually harmed the agent and could therefore only be committed out of ignorance and misunderstanding of what the greatest benefit is. Socrates saw no conflict between self-interest and morality. He also argued that this instinct prevents people from intentionally harming themselves and that when people do harmful things, it is only out of ignorance either not knowing what will benefit them the most, not knowing the correct method of attaining that benefit, or not knowing how not to do something which is harmful to them. Socrates asserted that all human actions were driven by self-interest. However, when we look at the logics behind human behaviours and motivation, the concept begins to make more sense. This view appears controversial because people are known to occasionally commit deeds that are apparently evil either out of self-interest or acting on impulse, against their best. He claimed that all wrong, or evil, is only done out of ignorance and not from the intention to do evil. According to Socrates (Plato, 1961) it is not in human nature to choose to act in a way what one believes to be harmful, instead of a way that is good.
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