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Since one will always do what one believes is right.

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    No One Errs Knowingly/No One Errs Willingly: Socrates famously declares that no one errs or makes mistakes knowingly (Protagoras 352c, 358b-b). Here we find an example of Socrates’ intellectualism.
    – Mauro ALLEGRANZA
    Jan 11, 2022 at 11:31
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    When a person does what is wrong, their failure to do what is right is an intellectual error, or due to their own ignorance about what is right. If the person knew what was right, he would have done it. Hence, it is not possible for someone simultaneously to know what is right and to do what is wrong. If someone does what is wrong, they do so because they do not know what is right, and if they claim they have known what was right at the time when they committed the wrong, they are mistaken, for had they truly known what was right, they would have done it.
    – Mauro ALLEGRANZA
    Jan 11, 2022 at 11:31
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    To follow Mauro's post that is where Hanlon's Razor comes in: "Never attribute malice to that which can be explained by stupidity (ignorance)." and yet in matters of law there comes a time where these propositions are not or cannot be taken into consideration as such! Where does one draw the line in order to truly know?
    – Somnis
    Jan 11, 2022 at 22:40

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Socrates held that no one is evil on purpose. If it happens that one is evil is due to ignorance of what is good in each case.

This attitude is common in various philosophies based on the virtue of knowledge, including Indian philosophy.

Thus one even if evil can be made virtuous by acquiring proper knowledge

Socrates claimed that the famous oracle of Delphi appointed him the task to examine the concepts people held as true. Socrates could do that because he was aware of his own ignorance, thus by carefully examining what people thought about certain things and using proper rules of reasoning, both him and the other person would arrive at the truth. Thus the person would acquire true knowledge and thus become virtuous.

This was called the midwife method by Socrates, because like a midwife, it only helped the other person arrive to the truth which is already inside.

This was taken further by Plato, in the sense of the theory of eternal forms which represent eternal truth. Since truth is eternal and unchangeable, there is no learning of novel truths, only remembering of already existing ones..

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    Some people seem to have forgotten a lot.
    – Scott Rowe
    Jun 10, 2022 at 23:59

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