Laches

Plato studied under Socrates and was Aristotle’s teacher. Together these three Greeks developed the basis of philosophical thinking for the entire Western world. Plato was also a writer, mathematician, and founder of the Academy in Athens, which was the first university in Europe. In Laches Socrates attempts to define bravery. The fathers of Nicias and Laches ask Socrates to help them decide whether their sons should take up arms and learn to fight. Nicias, the tactician, wants to learn the new art, which he describes as the gymnastics of war. Laches, the blunt warrior, thinks that such an art is not knowledge and cannot be of any value. Socrates asks the young men to define courage as a way of deciding their argument.