Socrates ( BC) Plato ( BC) Aristotle ( BC)
Plato is a nickname for Aristocles He came from a distinguished Athenian family Became a student of Socrates at age 28 At age 40 he founded The Academy Died at age 80
Approximately 30 of his known writings survive. Early dialogues Ethical investigations but few answers Middle dialogues Socrates is a spokesman for Plato’s ideas Later dialogues Socrates doesn’t appear
Socrates Displeasure with the Sophists Important more for influence and method than for content. Pythagoreans Pre-Socratic philosophers mediated through Socrates (Armstrong, p. 20)
Teachers of Rhetoric A well-spoken man could make lots of money in Athens Not primarily interested in truth Relativists Protagoras “Man is the measure.”
Socrates “you believe that everyman is the authority on what is true.” Protagoras “true” “Well, I just took a survey and …”
Every man’s idea is equally true Plato counters with - - 1. Self-refuting 2. The Test of Future Experience
Socrates executed when Plato was 28 Recorded in Apology, Crito, Phaedo Plato was nominally a follower, but it was the death of Socrates that most greatly influenced him.
Human beings participate in two different worlds 1. Physical world (the lower world) The world of particular things Everything in the world changes Everything in this world is known by sense experience 2. World of Forms (the higher world) The world of universals Unchanging Know by
There is a form in the world for every class of object Universals – properties shared by objects Eternal entities – numbers or propositions that can only exist in the mind
Appear in book 7 of The Republic Prisoners bound in the back of a cave and only able to see the back wall of the cave. Behind them there is a fire producing light for the back of the cave. Behind them men walk carrying statues which cast shadows on the back wall of the cave. One prisoner frees himself
He discovers that the shadows are not the real world. Finds the path out of the cave and after an arduous journey arrives in bright sunlight. Amazed by the wonder of the world Goes back to tell the other prisoners – kill him. You are the prisoners!
Metaphysical Dualism World of Forms World of Particular Things Anthropological Dualism Body (bad) Soul (good) Epistemological Dualism Know the world of particular things with body Know the world of forms with soul
1. Philosophical systems find their way into pop culture. Postmodernism Music, Emergent Church, etc. 2. Historical – Stand on the Shoulders of Giants Ethics, Politics, Epistemology, Metaphysics, etc. Ex. Four Virtues (Courage, Moderation, Wisdom, Justice)
3. Historical - Counter Errors by understanding the past Syncretism - “Early Christianity combination of Hebrew expectation and Greek metaphysical ideas.” NO! How do you deal with similarity? 4. Many modern Errors have been countered by the ancients. C.S. Lewis on the value of reading old books No need to recreate the arguments
Hedonism Empiricism Relativism Materialism Mechanism Atheism Naturalism.
Hedonism = Pleasure is the greatest good Plato counters with the question, “Can there be such a thing as an evil pleasure?” If yes, then there is a higher standard
“Kill them all and let God sort them out.” Probably not our best response Shows how seriously Plato took it. Atheism is a danger to the state (Republic) C.S. Lewis said that the greatest thing we could do for both God and man was to convert our neighbor.
Empiricism - All human knowledge has its source in sense experience. Plato calls all lower world understanding “opinion” Only in the upper story do you have “knowledge” Know the world of the forms via “reason”
Sophists “man is the measure of all things” Plato argued for objective truths and values that are the same for all
What is really, real? Matter. Argues that there must me a reality that is non- material – spiritual.
Naturalism – the world can be explained without reference to any supernatural reality
The world is just an elaborate machine Plato was a teleologist.
Read Armstrong pages 64-65