Socrates believed that virtue is the outcome of knowledge and that evil is…
2024
Socrates believed that virtue is the outcome of knowledge and that evil is fundamentally ignorance. This is an early instance of the belief that the intellectual or rational is dominant in man and morally superior.
Socrates’ point of view as described in the passage implies which of the following conclusions about evil people?
- A.
They often dominate those who are morally superior
- B.
They are unable to achieve complete self knowledge
- C.
They are ignorant
- D.
They are inherently virtuous but incapable of showing it
Attempted by 1 students.
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Correct answer: C
Concept: In Socratic intellectualism, virtue is equated with knowledge, so wrongdoing — vice or evil — is equated with the absence of that knowledge, that is, ignorance. Doing wrong is not a matter of intent but of not knowing what is truly good.
Application: The passage states directly that evil is fundamentally ignorance. Applying this definitional equivalence, anyone who behaves in an evil way must, by this view, lack the knowledge that would have led them to act virtuously — so the passage's own logic concludes that evil people are ignorant.
Cross-check: Checking the remaining options against the passage's actual claims —
The passage never claims evil people dominate the morally superior; it says the opposite, that the rational or intellectual side dominates and is morally superior.
The passage makes no claim restricted to self-knowledge specifically; it refers only to knowledge of the good.
The passage directly rules out the idea that evil people are virtuous underneath, since virtue and evil are defined as opposites via knowledge and its absence.
Result: By the passage's own definitional chain, evil people are ignorant.