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Socrates, Plato and Aristotle The Meaning of Life
28

His 101 socrates plato & aristotle

Jan 10, 2017

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Page 1: His 101 socrates plato & aristotle

Socrates, Plato and

AristotleThe Meaning of Life

Page 3: His 101 socrates plato & aristotle

SocratesHistorical Context

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Socrates 470-399 B.C.E.

Human wisdom begins with a recognition of one’s own ignorance.An unexamined life is not worth living.Ethical virtue is the only thing that matters.A virtuous person can never be harmed because even in death his virtue remains intact.Once a person has given sufficient thought to a matter, one’s emotions will follow suit and thus fear is dispelled by knowledge.

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Socrates and VirtueOnce one knows what virtue is, it is impossible to act in an unvirtuous manner.If a person fails to act virtuously, it is because he incorrectly identifies virtue with something it is not.Thus, virtue is a form of knowledgeVirtues include: courage; piety; justice

Can one know one virtue and incorrectly identify another virtue?Socrates “NO” Les Miserables as an example of contrary opinion

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Socrates and Religion

Socrates, according to Plato, did not practice the usual religious rituals (offering sacrifice, visiting temples, participating in festivals).Athenians, like other peoples believed that if citizens did not honor the gods, the gods would visit their wrath on the city.Socrates believed that one honored the gods by being a virtuous man and continually reexamining his assumptions about virtue rather than participating in public observances. His ideas about piety were contrary to the conventional wisdom.

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Socratic MethodIn the marketplace, Socrates asked other citizens questions about abstract virtues such as piety. He continued to ask questions in response to answers given by students and others until they admitted, or it became obvious to everyone that the person who answered needed to reevaluate their answers.What is piety?

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Socratic Method IIWhat is virtue?If you cannot identify piety or virtue and you do not examine these virtues further, how can you call yourself a pious or virtuous citizen?

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Peloponnesian WarAthenian democracy and golden age fueled by Athenian empire Delian League members not permitted to withdraw and any attempt to do so was brutally put down by AthensCorinthians threatened by Athenian naval control of Aegean Sea

allied with SpartaBy 431 B.C.E. Athens and Sparta fighting a stalemate

Athens could not defeat Sparta by landSparta could not defeat Athens by sea

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The Peloponnesian War

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Plague of Athens429 B.C.E.Killed over 1/3 of population of AthensKilled PericlesBubonic plague? Anthrax? 1999 Conference at University of Maryland: Plague of Athens was caused by “Epidemic Typhus Fever”

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Religious ScandalBefore the expedition to Syracuse many hermai were defaced.

Hermai were statues to the god, Hermes, who protected travelers.

Some of those accused of the destruction were alleged students or associates of Socrates

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Disaster at Syracuse415 B.C.E. Athenians debated attacking Syracuse. The hawks won by a narrow margin

Naval Attack on Syracuse without hoplite support. Led by Alcibiades + 2 others.

The night before the fleet departed many hermai defaced—a bad omen blamed on associates or students of Socrates

Hermai were markers with the head of Hermes, the god who protected travelersAt Syracuse, all ships were destroyed and thousands killed

Democracy overthrown in Athens and an oligarchy of 400 were installed

404 B.C.E. Lysander of Sparta attacked Athens and set up an oligarchy of 40—many were associated with Socrates

Democracy restored in 403 B.C.E.

Socrates tried in 399 B.C.E. on charges of impiety and corrupting the young.

Socrates found guilty and sentenced to death

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Socrates and DemocracySocrates criticized democracy arguing that the demos included not only the virtues of the people but also the vices of the people.Socrates argued that most people were not interested in examining their assumptions of virtue or piety and therefore were neither virtuous or pious.

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The Death of Socrates (1787) by Jean-Louis David. Oil on Canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Plato

Ideal world of Forms and Human Perception

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Plato who?427-327 B.C.E. Wealthy student of SocratesGroomed to enter politics by his familyFollowing execution of Socrates, Plato rejected politics and became a teacher focused on philosophy. Plato founded an Academy in Athens that lasted from 387 B.C.E. until 529 A.D. when it was destroyed by Justinian“Know thyself”World of Ideals vs human experience

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Ideal vs. Human Perception•  The Allegory of the Cave

    - The world we experience without thought is not the real world, just shadows; the real world must be approached intellectually    - Knowledge can't be transferred from teacher to student; teachers must direct students' minds towards what is real, and allow them to make their own decisions regarding what is real.

• The ideal republic    - Enlightened individuals have an obligation to society    - A good society must be one where the wise are the rulers (i.e. Philosopher-Kings)

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Questions raised by Allegory of the Cave

What is the cave?Is acquiring knowledge easy?What is knowledge?

How do we know that what is outside the cave is more real than the shadows inside the cave?

What is the meaning of representation?Can abstract ideas be represented by concrete things?

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More questionsIs the Allegory of the Cave a challenge? If so, what is it challenging us to do?Can the people inside the cave be blamed for refusing to exit the cave?What is freedom?What if people cannot agree on virtue?Who has the right to say what virtue is?

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Aristotle

Empiricism

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Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)

Student of PlatoTeacher of Alexander the GreatRejected PlatonismEmbraced empiricism, arguing that knowledge is ultimately based on perception

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Aristotle & EthicsVirtue is related to the proper function of a thing.

The proper function of an eye is to see therefore an eye has virtue to the extent that it can see.

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Aristotle and PoliticsThe aim of the city is not just to avoid injustice or for economic stability, but rather to allow at least some citizens the possibility to live a good life, and to perform beautiful acts: "The political partnership must be regarded, therefore, as being for the sake of noble actions, not for the sake of living together."

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Aristotle and Beauty“to be beautiful, a living creature, and every whole made up of parts, must … present a certain order in its arrangement of parts” “The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree”

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauty/#ClaCon