Write a paper : Both Laches and Nicias offer a definition of courage, only to have that definition refuted by Socrates. Choose as your topic either Laches’s definition and subsequent debate with Socrates, or Nicias’s definition and subsequent debate with Socrates—not both. (Do not try to cover both Laches and Nicias: there isn’t enough space.)
First, explain your chosen interlocutor’s definition of courage, and at least one of Socrates’s objections to that definition. Second, offer your own original philosophical response to this debate, and argue for your position.
What I mean by “your own original philosophical response” is that you should take your own position on the question the two speakers are debating about (namely, “What is courage?”), in a way that responds to or builds off of their debate.
Questions for brainstorming your original philosophical response: Do you think Socrates’s objection to the proffered definition is a good one, or not? Can you refute Socrates’s objection, and thereby defend his interlocutor’s definition of courage? Or, do you think Socrates’s objection is a fair one, but one that could be avoided if his interlocutor tweaked his definition a bit? Do you think the interlocutor’s basic insight is good, but that his position should be modified slightly? Or do you have a view about what courage is which is different from either Laches’s or Nicias’s, and if so, what do you think courage is? Why is your definition better than the view (either Laches’s or Nicias’s) that you chose to discuss?
