Midterm Plato and Socrates

Key philosophical claim in Apology and Crito

"I do not think it is permitted that a better man may be harmed by a worse"

What does Euthyphro say piety is?

"What is dear to the gods is pious, what is not is impious"

3 requirements that must be met to Socrates about the nature of piety

(1) A satisfactory answer will pick out some feature that is the same in every pious action. (2) This feature will not be shared by an impious action. (3) It will be that feature (or the lack of it) that made an action pious (or impious).

What is the Essence Argument in Phaedo?

(1) An essential property of a thing is a property that thing cannot lack. (2) Life is an essential property of the soul. (3) Therefore the soul cannot lack life. (4) If the soul cannot lack life then it cannot die. (5) Therefore, the soul cannot die.

Death and the idea of philosophy for Socrates in Phaedo

(1) Death is the separation of body and soul. (2) Philosophers train themselves to separate body and soul. (3) So, philosophers train themselves for death.

What 2 possibilities does Socrates consider death may hold?

(1) Either the dead are nothing and have no perception of anything (dreamless sleep) or (2) a change and relocating for the soul from here to another place

Socrates makes 3 astonishing claims to the jury in Apology. What are they?

(1) If they kill him, they will harm themselves more than they harm him. (2) A better man cannot be harmed by a worse man. (3) He is defending himself not for his own sake but for theirs.

Main argument about inquiry in Meno

(1) Inquiry is not possible about what is known, for there is no need to inquire into what is known. (2) Inquiry is not possible about what is not know, for we do not know how to recognize what we are looking for. ((3) Everything is either known or not known.) (4) Therefore, inquiry is not possible.

What are two statements that Socrates seems to "know"?

(1) It is better to suffer injustice than to commit injustice. (2) A good person cannot be harmed in either life or death.

What is the invisibility argument made in Phaedo?

(1) Only composite things can be scattered. (2) Only changing things are composite. (3) So, only changing things can be scattered. (4) Invisible things do not change. (5) So, invisible things cannot be scattered. (6) The soul is invisible. (7) So, the soul cannot be scattered.

How did a typical Socratic conversation go? What was the outcome?

(1) Question posed by Socrates (2) Person assumes answer to be right (definition) (3) Socrates proves them wrong (4) Repeat #2 as many times until... Outcome= no agreed upon solution; forced to admit ignorance and LEARN HOW LITTLE THEY REALLY KNOW

In Phaedo, Socrates distinguishes two classes of things. What are they? Where does he class body and soul in these two categories?

(1) Those that are invisible, invariable, and incomposite (soul) (2) Those that are visible, variable, and composite (body)

What were the two charges mentioned in Apology that Meletus accused Socrates of?

(1) guilty of corrupting the young (2) not believing the gods in whom the city believes

List the reasons Crito urges upon Socrates for making his escape.

(1) reputation and what the majority will think of his friends (2) majority has inflicted a great evil (3) if it's b/c Socrates thinks that his friends and family could be in danger, don't fear because they're willing and it's easy to bribe the informers (4) If he doesn't know what to do after he left Athens, then he doesn't need to worry b/c he'd be welcome in many places and his friends in Thessaly would greatly appreciate him and keep him safe (5) doesn't believe what Socrates is doing is right to give up life then save it and hasten fate (6) betrayal of sons (7) chose the easiest path (8) friends were cowardly and unmanly in not saving Socrates and letting it get to this pt (9) evil and shameful for both friends and him

What is Socrates's question/ response to Euthyphro's claim on the nature of piety?

(a) Is an action pious because it is loved by the gods? Or, (b) Is an action loved by the gods because it is pious?

What does Socrates say about the link between death and belief in Apology?

- a good man will not take into account the risk of life or death, but only his actions, whether what he does is right or wrong, whether he is acting like a good or bad man - a man who has taken a position that he believes to be best will remain and face danger without a thought for death or anything else

Meno Recollection Argument

1. The boy did not know the answer at time t1 2. The boy answered the questions on his own. 3. The boy knows the answer at time t2. 4. So, the boy must have recovered his knowledge of the answer from within himself. 5. Recovering knowledge from within oneself is recollection. 6. So, the boy recollected the answer. 7. The boy did not obtain his knowledge of the answer during his present life. 8. So, the boy is recollecting knowledge he obtained prior to his present life.

Who did Socrates say he could converse dialectically with?

A certain character: Someone who... (1) open and honest about what one really does believe (2) Not so wedded to any one of your beliefs that you consider it an attack BASICALLY, ONE WHO HAS A CERTAIN OBJECTIVITY WITH RESPECT TO ONE'S OPINIONS AND SKIRT TWO DANGERS--> WISHY WASHINESS AND DOGMATISM

The health of a man's soul is determined by the desires he aims to fulfill. What does Plato mean?

A just soul is a soul that pursues the right desires. Desire for physical pleasure is not worth fulfilling. So though the good man, the philosophical man, might have physical desires directed at his young friend, it is crucial to his virtue that he not act on these; he must not try to satisfy his lust for physical pleasure. Instead, he must transmute that erotic desire into a longing for truth and goodness, and a longing to find this truth and goodness together with his beloved.

What is Thrasymachus?

A sophist

What are Socrates's views on wrongdoing?

All wrongdoing is due to ignorance.

What is the connection between eros and education?

Although study allows us to make the intellectual leap toward this higher realm, eros provides the emotional motivation for studying. For Plato, all action must be motivated by some desire or emotion. The emotional motivation that sends us looking for the Forms, then, is erotic love. Eros is the bridge between the physical world and the intelligible, the motivation for the philosopher's quest.

Which three classes of people did Socrates question? What, in each case, was the result? What dialogue is this from?

Apology: (1) Upper class (highest reputation)= politicians--> most deficient even more than inferior (2) Middle class= poets, seers, prophets--> bystanders explained poems better than authors; compose poems from inborn talent and inspiration, not understanding or knowledge (3) Lower class= craftsmen--> same fault, b/c of success at craft, thought himself wise, but not BASICALLY, EVERYONE NOT WISE AND KNOWS NOTHING BUT THINKS THEY KNOW MORE THAN THEY DO.

What is the connection between dialectic and the truth?

As long as people sincerely say what they believe in and are open to revisions on the basis of good reason, people can together identify inadequate answers to important questions

How does Socrates say he is like a midwife?

B/c he can't give birth to wisdom, but he delivers this wisdom through heaven's work and his own. He assists at the birth of ideas which are within the "learner" all along and identifying those that are "illegitimate".

Why is Socrates unsatisfied with Euthyphro's first response to his question about piety?

B/c he presents an example, not a definition

Why does Socrates say that Meletus is likely to be wise?

B/c he thinks that Meletus is the "only one of our public men to start out the right way, for it is right to care first that the young should be as good as possible"

Why does Socrates believe that the best humans can do is subject themselves to constant dialectical examinations?

B/c humans do not know what makes for virtue and a good life (only god knows)

Important note about ethics in Euthyphro

Can ethics be independent of what God or the gods approve?

How does Socrates respond to Simmias's concern with Socrates's theory of the soul and body?

Cebes says that though he follows the argument that the soul existed before birth, he is still not convinced that it is immortal. Unlike Simmias, he can believe that the soul survives the death of the body, but he does not take this in itself as evidence that it is eternal. He draws an analogy to a tailor and his cloak. A cloak is far more frail and short-lived than a man, and so a tailor will make and wear out many cloaks over the course of his lifetime. But the tailor will eventually die, and his last cloak will outlive him. The same thing, Cebes suggests, could be said about the soul and the body. The body is constantly changing, and, we could say, it is constantly being remade by the soul. But when the soul dies, the body can no longer be remade, and quickly deteriorates and rots. Even though the soul may outlive several bodies, we could still not maintain that it is immortal unless we could somehow show that it suffers no ill effects or deterioration at each death and rebirth.

What was Socrates's bigger purpose of examining people's definitions of an idea?

Clear intellectual rubbish and get closer to the truth

Sophists vs Socrates

Commonality= arts of communication and arguments and technologies of persuasion Differences= Sophists: used arts of rhetoric as strategy and tactics in battle where victory goes to the best speaker, no concern for truth, relativist and skeptics Socrates: advance toward the truth, shape opinions to be more "like the truth", believed sophism to be a prescription for intellectual idleness and cowardice

What does Socrates contrast first in Apology? Why?

Contrasts persuasion and truth; wants to separate himself from Sophists, wants to characterize the kind of man he is and reminds the jury of his duty

Which dialogue and who? "One should never do wrong in return, nor injure any man, whatever injury one has suffered at his hands."

Crito and Socrates

What basically happens in Crito?

Crito makes one last effort to persuade him to escape into exile, and all arrangements for this plan have been made. Socrates refuses and explains why. (authorities wouldn't have minded much as long as he left the country)

What does Socrates derive from the Opposites argument in terms of life and death?

Dead things go from being living to being dead through the process of dying, and similarly, living things must go from being dead to being living through the process of coming to life.

Know Thyself.

Delphic Oracle says this was a motto for Socrates's own life and practice

What is dialectic? What was it used for? Who used it?

Dialectic is the technique of proposal-question-difficulties-new proposal. It was thought by Socrates to be the best way to improve our opinions and maybe even come to knowledge of the truth. Socrates used it.

What is the context of Phaedo?

Echecrates asking Pheado how death proceeded

What dilemma does Socrates present to Meletus in Apology? (about corrupting the youth)

Either he doesn't corrupt the young or if he does, then it is done unwillingly.

What does Socrates say about the laws in a city?

Either persuade it or obey its orders, most important part of city and socrates is that they had an AGREEMENT and Socrates chose the city and must obey its laws

what does love have to do with education for Socrates?

Eros, or proper love, is the emotion that motivates us to ascend to the heights of knowledge. As we will see later, true knowledge does not attach itself to the observable world around us. True knowledge, instead, has as its object the realm of the Forms, the universal, eternal truths that only our mind can access. Although study allows us to make the intellectual leap toward this higher realm, eros provides the emotional motivation for studying. For Plato, all action must be motivated by some desire or emotion. The emotional motivation that sends us looking for the Forms, then, is erotic love. Eros is the bridge between the physical world and the intelligible, the motivation for the philosopher's quest.

Conclusion: The soul cannot die.

Essence Argument in Phaedo

Question: Can the soul die?

Essence Argument in Phaedo

Piety is a part of justice. It is that part consisting in care of the gods.

Euthyphro

What dialogue is this from? Search for the nature of piety (typical search for universal definitions of ethical terms) Talks about one Form Gods and Piety Genus and Species

Euthyphro

What dialogue is this from and who says it? x is pious if and only if x is loved by the gods

Euthyphro says this and Socrates investigates this claim and finds it to be false

Socrates makes three arguments against Thrasymachus's claim. What are they?

First, he makes Thrasymachus admit that the view he is advancing promotes injustice as a virtue. In this view, life is seen as a continual competition to get more (more money, more power, etc.), and whoever is most successful in the competition has the greatest virtue. Socrates then launches into a long and complex chain of reasoning which leads him to conclude that injustice cannot be a virtue because it is contrary to wisdom, which is a virtue. Injustice is contrary to wisdom because the wise man, the man who is skilled in some art, never seeks to beat out those who possess the same art. The mathematician, for instance, is not in competition with other mathematicians. Socrates then moves on to a new argument. Understanding justice now as the adherence to certain rules which enable a group to act in common, Socrates points out that in order to reach any of the goals Thrasymachus earlier praised as desirable one needs to be at least moderately just in the sense of adhering to this set of rules. Finally, he argues that since it was agreed that justice is a virtue of the soul, and virtue of the soul means health of the soul, justice is desirable because it means health of the soul.

Diotima's account of the Form of beauty:

First, it always isand neither comes to be nor passes away, neither waxes nor wanes. Second, it is not beautiful this way and ugly that way, nor beautiful at one time and ugly at another, nor beautiful in relation to one thing and ugly in relation to another; nor is it beautiful here but ugly there, as it wouldbe if it were beautiful for some people and ugly for others. Nor will the beautiful appear to him in the guise of a face or hands or anything else that belongs to the body. It will not appear to him as one idea or kind of knowledge. It is not anywhere in another thing, as in an animal, or in earth, or in heaven, or in anything else, but itself with itself, it is always one in form; and all the other beautiful things share in that, in such a way that when others come to be or pass away, this does not becomethe least bit smaller or greater nor suffer any change. (211-211b)

what are socrates's strict rules on sexual and intercourse?

For guardians, sexual intercourse will only take place during certain fixed times of year, designated as festivals. Males and females will be made husband and wife at these festivals for roughly the duration of sexual intercourse. The pairings will be determined by lot. Some of these people, those who are most admirable and thus whom we most wish to reproduce, might have up to four or five spouses in a single one of these festivals. All the children produced by these mating festivals will be taken from their parents and reared together, so that no one knows which children descend from which adults. At no other time in the year is sex permitted. If guardians have sex at an undesignated time and a child results, the understanding is that this child must be killed.

The objects of knowledge, Plato says, are

Forms (intelligible realities)..

all goods can be divided into three classes: things that we desire only for their consequences, such as physical training and medical treatment; things that we desire only for their own sake, such as joy; and, the highest class, things we desire both for their own sake and for what we get from them, such as knowledge, sight, and health.

Glaucon (The republic 2)

Ring of Gyges

Glaucon appeals to a thought experiment. Invoking the legend of the ring of Gyges, he asks us to imagine that a just man is given a ring which makes him invisible. Once in possession of this ring, the man can act unjustly with no fear of reprisal. No one can deny, Glaucon claims, that even the most just man would behave unjustly if he had this ring. He would indulge all of his materialistic, power-hungry, and erotically lustful urges. This tale proves that people are only just because they are afraid of punishment for injustice. No one is just because justice is desirable in itself.

attempts to demonstrate that not only do people prefer to be unjust than just, but that it is more rational to do so.

Glaucon in the Republic 2

Why does Socrates say killing oneself is wrong in Phaedo?

Gods would be angry if one of their possessions killed itself when the gods hadn't given it any sign that they wished it to dies, and would punish the possession and would be angry because of it

What are the three points made against Socrates in the older accusations in Apology?

Guilty of wrongdoing b/c (1) busies himself studying things in the sky and below the earth (2) makes the worse into the stronger argument (3) corrupting the young and not believing in the gods

How does Socrates defend the claim that he is corrupting the youth?

He asks Meletus who improves the youth and Meletus basically says that all the other citizens improve the youth and only Socrates corrupts them.

What were Socrates's thoughts on justice and opinion?

He believed Justice to be independent of opinions and that it required investigation and examination.

What does Euthyphro claim to know?

He claims to know all there is to know about what is holy.

How does Socrates distinguish himself from the Sophists in Apology?

He doesn't claim to know everything. He's simply the wisest man, because he knows he knows nothing. Also, he doesn't get paid, like the Sophists do.

Why does Socrates declare himself satisfied to both the people who sentenced him to death and acquitted him?

He has presented himself for what he is and hasn't betrayed himself by saying only what they wanted to hear in order to avoid death. (Ned Stark, nooooo)

What were Socrates's views on the good and beautiful?

He identified them in terms of usefulness or advantage and these were his typical views on questions of value

What two examples does Socrates give for not entering politics? How does this affirm Socrates's justness?

He is apolitical b/c he resisted both the democracy and oligarchy. He resisted alone b/c others were doing something contrary to law, and was in danger in both cases. (1) democracy= ten generals who failed to pick up survivors of naval battle and 6 executed, but he alone voted against it (2) oligarchy of Thirty= ordered him to bring Leon of Salamis so he can be executed and he alone, did not follow orders

Why does Socrates say in Apology that he is not responsible for the good or bad conduct of the people (slanderers) who say that he is their teacher?

He is not a teacher, b/c he never promised to teach them anything and hasn't done so.

How is Socrates's behavior when Crito has just started talking to him in Crito? What are his thoughts on death and how does the dream affirm those beliefs?

He is peaceful without a care in the world. His dream confirms what he concluded at the end of his trial. Death isn't an evil to be feared but is more like the soul coming home again after many hardships.

Why didn't Socrates enter politics?

He said that he would have died early and wouldn't have been a blessing to the city then (lol what)

What does Socrates say in Crito abut majority opinion?

He said that they shouldn't think so much about what the majority will say about them, but should be concerned about the one who understands justice, injustice, and truth.

What comment did Socrates make about opposites after his legs were removed from their fetters?

He said, though pain and pleasure may seem opposites, and we never experience both at the same time, they seem intimately connected b/c rarely do we find one without the other.

How does Socrates respond to Meno's concern that we can't know anything?

He says according to Meno's logic, it's not possible for a person to inquire about what he knows, or about what he does not know. After all, he wouldn't inquire what he knows since he knows it or about what he doesn't know since he doesn't know what he is to inquire about it.

What does Socrates say about pity and begging in court?

He says he will do none of it, but with regard to his reputation, and b/c he believes he has NOT broken any Athenian law.

What does Socrates say he will never do in Apology?

He says he'll never fear or avoid things of which O do not know, whether they may not be good rather than he knows to be bad. He also says he'll practice philosophy no matter what.

Why does Socrates say in Apology why his reputation is terrible and people think he's a slanderer?

He says that "what has caused my reputation is none other than a certain kind of wisdom." Wisdom that he knows he knows nothing, and goes on some godly mission to prove anyone who thinks they are wise, that they truly are not.

What does Socrates claim to know in Apology?

He says that he knows that it is wicked and shameful to do wrong, to disobey one's superior, be he god or man.

Why is Socrates unpopular amongst people? He says in Apology that he has a certain kind of wisdom that triggers people...

He says that no one knows anything worthwhile, but other people (politicians, poets, seers, prophets, and craftsmen) thinks he knows something when he does not, while he does not think that he knows what he does not know. Investigation of seeking anyone or everyone who he thinks is wise and proving to them that human wisdom is worthless is triggering.

How does Socrates believe we can be harmed?

He says that only the individual can harm himself, not others, by acting unjustly.

What does Socrates say about the physical world and our sense in Phaedo?

He says they are deceiving, unclear, and imprecise, thus whenever people attempt to grasp truth through the body, it's deceived. This is not the case of the soul. Thus, a philosopher more than other men frees the soul from association with the body as much as possible.

Above all else, what does Socrates says that the guardians should guard?

He suggests that guardians guard their own elementary education above all else, and that they share everything in common among them, including wives and children. He declares that the just city has no use for laws. If the education of guardians proceeds as planned, then guardians will be in a position to decide any points of policy that arise. Everything we think of as a matter of law can be left to the judgement of the properly educated rulers.

What does Socrates say is the link between the city and himself?

He tells Crito that the laws and the city have an agreement with him, and thus, must respect the judgments that the city came to

What does Socrates specifically ask Euthyphro to do in his investigation of the nature of piety?

He tells him not to tell me one or two of the many pious actions, but the FORM ITSELF that makes all pious actions pious and all impious actions impious

How does Socrates say the lifestyle if the guardians should be?

He tells the money-loving Adeimantus that there will be no wealth or poverty at all in the city since there will be no money. Adeimantus objects that a city without money cannot defend itself against invaders, but Socrates reminds Adeimantus that our city will have the best warriors and points out that any neighboring city would be happy to come to our aid if we promised them all the spoils of war. Socrates limits the size of the city, warning against it becoming so large that it can no longer be governed well under the current system. He suggests that guardians guard their own elementary education above all else, and that they share everything in common among them, including wives and children. He declares that the just city has no use for laws. If the education of guardians proceeds as planned, then guardians will be in a position to decide any points of policy that arise. Everything we think of as a matter of law can be left to the judgement of the properly educated rulers.

How does Socrates differ from the Sophists the most?

His aim is progress toward truth, not victory over the speaker

What does Socrates say is the greatest blessing for the city?

His service to the god. (Apology)

What is Socrates's most characteristic claim?

IGNORANCE--> That he knows he knows nothing

How did something come to be? (Short)

If something has come to be, it must have come to be by the agency of some cause. The universe has come to be. Therefore, the universe must have come to be by the agency of some cause.

Why can Forms only be apprehended by the mind according to Socrates?

In Phaedo he says that Forms are invisible and thus, can only be apprehended by the mind.

How does Socrates address the question whether or not the soul coheres as one unit after death?

In Phaedo, he states that composite things are liable to break up since it's made of many dif parts, whereas incomposite things can suffer no such fate. Thus, things that are constant and invariable are incomposite, since they can't be changed or broken apart.

Thrasymachus

In Plato's Republic, the Sophist who presents the view that justice is the advantage of the stronger, and that immorality will bring happiness.

Just relations between the 3 parts of the soul mirror just relations among the classes of society. How?

In a just person the rational part of the soul rules the other parts, with the spirited part acting as helper to keep the appetitive in line. Compare this to the city where the truth-loving guardians rule, with the honor-loving auxiliaries acting as their helpers to keep the money-loving producers in line. What it means for one part of the soul to "rule" the others is for the entire soul to pursue the desires of that part. In a soul ruled by spirit, for instance, the entire soul aims at achieving honor. In a soul ruled by appetite, the entire soul aims at fulfilling these appetites, whether these be for food, drink, sex, fine material goods, or hordes of wealth. In a just soul, the soul is geared entirely toward fulfilling whatever knowledge-loving desires reason produces.

How does Socrates go about definin the virtues of a just city?

In order to define these virtues, all we need to do is look into our city and identify them. So we will now look for each of the four virtues: wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice.

Whay does Plato forbid sexual intercourse to enter into relationships with knowledge?

In the highest sort of love—which leads to knowledge of the Forms—the goal is to lead the beloved to knowledge of truth and goodness. What the lover desires, more than anything, is to improve the soul of the beloved. But this only explains why love should not focus primarily on physical pleasure, not why Plato forbid it.

Throughout their lives, philosophers do what for Socrates?

In their search for truth, have attained a state as close to death as possible, trying to distance the soul as much as they can from the needs of the body. Therefore, death should only be seen as a help to philosophers, giving them a greater separation between soul and body.

Conclusion: The soul cannot be scattered.

Invisibility Argument in Phaedo

Question: Can the soul be scattered after death?

Invisibility Argument in Phaedo

What is the main question posed in Euthyphro by Socrates?

Is an action loved by the gods because it is pious? Or, Is an action pious because it is loved by the gods?

Where does the best kind of wisdom come from to Socrates in Phaedo?

It comes from reason alone, when distanced as far as possible from the distraction of the body. Definitely not our senses b/c they're imprecise and deceiving.

According to Socrates in Phaedo, what will the pursuit of wisdom do for the philosopher?

It will cleanse the philosopher of all the impurities of bodily life and its passions, preparing him for an exalted afterlife among the gods.

How is dialectic different in that it's paradoxical?

It's somewhat a paradoxically cooperative enterprise in which each person assists the other by raising objections to what the other says

What are the parts of individual justice?

Justice in the individual, as in the city, involves the correct power relationship among parts, with each part occupying its appropriate role. In the individual, the "parts" are not classes of society; instead, they are aspects of the soul—or sources of desire.

What is Socrates's view on individual justice?

Justice in the individual, as in the city, involves the correct power relationship among parts, with each part occupying its appropriate role. In the individual, the "parts" are not classes of society; instead, they are aspects of the soul—or sources of desire.

It is possible that P <--> There is at least one world at which it is true that P It is necessary that P <--> At all worlds it is true that P

Lewis's Reductive Definitions of Necessity and Possibility

Diotima's Account of Love in Symposium

Love as a spirit, between god and mortal (202e)Distinction between what isloved, and what deservesto be loved; or what oughtto be loved.What deserves to be loved is beautiful (204c-d)So the lover shouldlove what is beautiful.Lover seeks to possess what he does not have (the beautiful). Stages, often presented as a ladder (so start from the base up). Sixth, the lover will glimpse the Form of beauty.Fifth, what is responsible for laws and institutions? Knowledge, so the lover will seek knowledge of all kinds.Fourth, the lover will realize the ground for a beautiful soul, 'the beauty of laws and institutions', which cultivate beautiful souls.Third, the lover realizes that a beautiful soul is more beautiful than a beautiful body, and will seek a beautiful soul to love.Second, the lover will realize that one beautiful body is the same as other beautiful bodies, and will love many beautiful bodies.First, the lover will love a beautiful body.

Body or soul? Socrates

Man's concern is not with the body, but the soul

What happens in Euthyphro?

Meets Euthyphro at court, Socrates explains he's under indictment by Meletus for corrupting the young and for not believing the gods in whom the city believes, Euthyphro explains natue of piety, doesn't go well....

Who were the three "later accusers" in Apology?

Meletus, Antyus, and Lycon

What is Meno about?

Meno asks Socrates whether virtue can be taught, and this question and the definition of virtue, is explored

"From what sort of thing, from among the ones you do not know, will you take as the object of your inquiry? And even if you do bump right into it, how are you going to know that it is the thing you did not know?"

Meno in Meno

Knowledge vs True Beliefs

Meno--> Socrates ...true beliefs - as long as they stay put - are a beautiful thing, too, and everything they bring about is good. They aren't willing to stay put for long, however, but flee from a person's soul. So they aren't of much value until someone ties them down by reasoning out the explanation. And that, Meno, my friend, is recollection - as we agreed before. When they are tied down, they first become bits of knowledge, then they stay put. That is why knowledge is more valuable than true belief, and it is being tied down that makes knowledge different from true belief.

Now why did he who framed this universe of becoming frame it? (Short)

Model is the ideal Living Thing. Order better than disorder. Intelligent better than unintelligent. The universe given a body and a soul.

Does Socrates feel betrayed by the laws or the city?

No. He believes he was not wronged by the city or its laws, but men.

Happiness (Plato and Socrates)

Not a feeling, but a state of being. Eudaemonia. When the parts of the soul (desire, spirit, and reason) act harmoniously in bringing about action.

Which of the following is not a theme expressed in Euripides' play, Hippolytus?

Nothing can harm the truly innocent..

How does Socrates react to Euthyphro's definition of piety and impiety? (Come to a conclusion together with Euthyphro)

Objection: Different gods consider different things to be just....The same things then are loved by the gods and hated by the gods and would be both god- loved and god- hated, and thus, impious and pious

What is the one last useful fiction that owuld be told to the guardians? Why?

One last useful fiction that will be told to the guardians is that it is unlawful for them to even handle gold or silver—that it is impious for them to mix earthly gold and silver with the divine silver and gold in their souls. Socrates's reasoning is clear: if the rulers are permitted to acquire private property, they will inevitably abuse their power and begin to rule for their own gain, rather than the good of the entire city.

Which philosopher, to Socrates, possesses the most courage and self- control?

One who does not fear death

Conclusion: The souls of the dead must exist in the underworld.

Opposites Argument in Phaedo

Question: Do the souls of those who have died exist in the underworld?

Opposites Argument in Phaedo

What are the 3 arguments that Socrates says to show that the soul is different from the attunement of an instrument?

Phaedo--> First, he points out that an instrument can be more or less well-tuned, and so can have more or less attunement. A soul, on the other hand, cannot be even remotely more or less soul than any other soul, and in this way is unlike attunement. Second, Socrates points out that some souls are good while others are bad, and makes Simmias agree that a good soul may be seen as analogous to an instrument in tune, and a bad soul as to one out of tune. But since an instrument in tune has more attunement than one out of tune, and since Socrates and Simmias have already agreed that no soul has more soul than any other soul, this analogy does not hold. If every soul is an attunement, no soul is in discord, and every soul is equally good. Third, Socrates has Simmias agree that the soul governs the body, compelling it to move and to act. Contrary to this, the attunement of an instrument depends wholly on the instrument itself and the manner in which it is made. The body, on the other hand, has no ability to affect the soul, nor does the soul depend upon it.

What is Socrates's basic Theory of Recollection and which dialogue is it from?

Phaedo--> all learning is recollection

Different souls face different fates after death. What happens according to Socrates?

Phaedo--> the soul that has detached itself from earthly cares and has dedicated itself wholly to the life of the mind as found in philosophy will be able to leave this world of inconstancy and decay behind. It will find itself instead among other divine beings, in a heavenly realm of immaterial, invisible, wise souls.

What does Socrates try to examine in Euthyphro about piety and justice? What does Euthyphro say? What conclusion do they both come to through dialectic?

Pious is a part of justice, what part of the just is it? Euthyphro says that the godly and the pious is part of the just that is concerned with the gods, while that concerned with the care of men is the remaining part of justice.. There's no way that care of the gods is to benefit the gods and make them better, same with sacrificing and praying to them.

Which two people in the Republic represent the popular thinking on justice?

Polemarchus and Cephalus

What does Protagoras promise to teach Hippocrates?

Proper management of his own affairs and the affairs of the city..

Why is Euthyphro in court?

Prosecuting his father for murder

Socrates's Theory of Forms--> phaedo, What is the example he gives?

Reintroduced in Phaedo--> ex= form of equality, no instances of perfect equality in sensible world but we have an idea of it, thus, obtained knowledge before birth

Virtue 2 (courage)

Rep 4--> Courage lies with the auxiliaries. It is only their courage that counts as a virtue of the city because they are the ones who must fight for the city. A courageous farmer, or even ruler, would do the city no good.

Virtue 1 (Wisdom)

Rep 4--> Wisdom lies with the guardians because of their knowledge of how the city should be run. If the guardians were not ruling, if it were a democracy, say, their virtue would not translate into the virtue of the city. But since they are in charge, their wisdom becomes the city's virtue.

How does Socrates think that guardians should be trained?

Republic 3--> This training, he warns, should resemble the sort involved in training for war, rather than the sort that athletes engage in. He emphasizes how important it is to properly balance the music and poetry with physical training. Too much physical training will make the guardians savage, while too much music and poetry will make them soft.

What is Euthyphro about?

Search for the nature of piety (typical search for universal definitions of ethical terms) Talks about one Form Gods and Piety Genus and Species

What is death to Socrates?

Separation of body and soul (Phaedo)

What is the contradiction that Socrates points out when Simmias and Cebes believing the Theory of Recollection is supremely convincing?

Simmias is contradicting himself if he maintains both that the soul is an attunement and that learning is recollection. The Theory of Recollection shows that the soul must have existed before birth, but the attunement of an instrument cannot possibly exist before the instrument is made. Simmias acknowledges this contradiction, and accordingly withdraws his objection. The argument from attunement was based only on an ungrounded kind of appeal, whereas the Theory of Recollection is based upon the Theory of Forms, which is a strong and credible hypothesis in Simmias' opinion.

What is Simmias's problem with Socrates's theory of the soul and body in Phaedo? What example does he give?

Simmias suggests an analogy between the relationship between the soul and the body and the attunement of the strings of a musical instrument and the instrument itself. Like the soul, the attunement of a musical instrument is invisible, incorporeal and divine, and like the body, the instrument itself is corporeal, composite, and earthly. Just as the attunement of an instrument exists as a result of the instrument itself being held together at the right tension and in the right way, the soul exists in the body through the body's being properly assembled. And if destroying a musical instrument can destroy the attunement of the instrument, why can we not say that destroying a body can destroy the soul that is in it?

What does Socrates propose for his penalty in Apology after he's been announced guilty?

Since he believes he has done no wrong, a fine which Plato, Crito, Critoboulus, and Apollodorus will pay

"As long as we think we should search for what we don't know, we'll be better people...than if we were to think that we had no chance of discovering what we don't know and that there's no point in searching for it."

Socrates

"the unexamined life is not worth living"

Socrates

Human excellence is wisdom or excellence.

Socrates

Human existence consists in knowledge.

Socrates

It is not possible to apprehend the good clearly and not to do it.

Socrates

One who has mastered the craft of living well will live well.

Socrates

The most important part of a human being is not the body, but the soul.

Socrates

Those who wish to live well must understand themselves and what the point of living is

Socrates

How does Socrates use the analogy of the horse breeders to cast doubt on Meletus's concern for these matters?

Socrates asks if all men improve horses and one individual corrupts them, when it's actually the other way. This leads to Socrates stating that Meletus has never had concern for the youth and is straight out indifferent.

What is the "divine sign"?

Socrates claims to have a "divine sign" come to him from time to time. Gods speak to mortals in signs, apparently. Socrates viewed it as the voice of conscience.

Which dialogue and who? "The unexamined life in not worth living"

Socrates in Apology

Which dialogue and who? "A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not public, life if he is to survive for even a short time."

Socrates in Apology--> but isn't this a contradiction of what he said about death and being firm in your beliefs and not caring about majority opinion

"To fear death...is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know." Who, what, and which dialogue?

Socrates in Apology= saying that no one knows what death really is and how it may even be the greatest blessing for a man, but men fear it as if its the greatest evil. And surely, it's the most blameworthy ignorance to believe that one knows what one does not know.

The soul (over body) is the most important.

Socrates in Crito

Which dialogue and who? "The most important thing is not life, but the good life"

Socrates in Crito

What book is this from and what is the context for this? "is the pious not the same and alike in every action, and the impious the opposite of all that is pious and like itself, and everything that is to be impious presents us with one form or appearance insofar as it is impious?"

Socrates in Euthyphro; Socrates is asking Euthyphro the nature of piety and unsatisfied with his definition and finds it to be paradoxical

Conclusion: Inquiry is not possible.

Socrates in Meno

Only the purified soul will reach the divine.

Socrates in Phaedo

Practicing philosophy is the only way to purify the soul.

Socrates in Phaedo

So, practicing philosophy is the only way to reach the divine.

Socrates in Phaedo

Who and what dialogue? Quest for truth will be aided by death if at that point our soul is completely separated from the contamination of the body.

Socrates in Phaedo

What does Cebes disagree with in regards to the soul? Which dialogue and who is he arguing? What example does he give?

Socrates in Phaedo--> agress with most of what Socrates said about the soul, but isn't convinced that the soul coheres and remains active and intelligent after death. Ex= the soul leaving the body might be dissipated like breath or smoke so that it no longer exists as one coherent unit.

What is the context of Apology?

Socrates is delivering a speech for his own defense at trial

How does Socrates counter Polemarchus's definition of justice?

Socrates reveals many inconsistencies in this view. He points out that, because our judgment concerning friends and enemies is fallible, this credo will lead us to harm the good and help the bad. We are not always friends with the most virtuous individuals, nor are our enemies always the scum of society. Socrates points out that there is some incoherence in the idea of harming people through justice.

What is knowledge in the techne sense?

Socrates says it's both a necessary condition for human excellence (without it you cannot be a good person) and a sufficient condition (when it is present, so are all the excellent qualities of human life).

What is foolishness and how do we avoid it?

Socrates says that foolishness is behavior based on false opinions and we need to know what we do know and what we do not know so we can act wisely and avoid foolishness.

What does doing wrong unwillingly mean in terms of the law and punishment to Socrates? What does it say about Meletus?

Socrates tells Meletus and the jury that if he corrupts the youth unwillingly then by law, it does not require Meletus to bring him to court for such unwilling wrongdoings, but to get hold of them privately, to instruct them and exhort them; b/c clearly if he learns better, then he will cease to do what he is doing unwillingly. Socrates accuses Meletus of having avoided his company and says that he wasn't willing to instruct him, but instead, brought Socrates in court where the law requires people to bring those who are in need of punishment, not instruction!

What technique was better at detecting errors than identifying the truth? Why was this used?

Socrates used dialectic to do this, and it was used because if one is sure that some opinions are not right, what remains unrefuted is in the vicinity of truth (might not guarantee the truth, though)

What basically happens in Phaedo?

Socrates's friends come to visit him in prison on the last day of his life, b/c he will have to drink hemlock at sundown. They mainly talk about the nature of the soul and arguments for its immortality, and the places the soul goes after death. Then, he dies.

If an action is loved by the gods, then it is pious. If an action is pious, then it is loved by the gods.

Socrates's restatement of Euthyphro's claim on the nature of piety

Unified whole in Timaeus

TIMEAUS: Since the god wanted nothing more than to make the world like the best of intelligible things, complete in every way, he made it a single visible living thing, which contains within itself all the living things whose nature it is to share its kind. (30d)

What is techne? How does Socrates use this?

Techne is applied knowledge, and Socrates says that human excellence is techne. An expert in human excellence (or virtue) would know human nature, how it function, and wherein its excellence consists

What dilemma does Socrates present to Meletus in terms of gods in the Apology? Explain how Socrates explains this dilemma.

That Meletus is accusing him of not believing in the gods, but believing in the gods. Socrates proves this contradiction by asking, "Does any man believe in divine acticities who does not believe in divinities?" Then, he tells Meletus that he is the one that said Socrates believes and teaches about divine activites, so how can he not believe in divine beings then?! (Meletus is getting crushed)

What does Socrates say about Meletus in Apology?

That Meletus is someone who ought not to be taken seriously, that he has not thought through the meaning of the charge, and that he doesn't even care about the matters that he's accusing Socrates of

What does Socrates claim will be his undoing, if he is undone in Apology?

That he is unpopular with many people

What is justice? Why should we be just?

The Republic

Why is injustice contrary to wisdom?

The Republic (1)--> Injustice is contrary to wisdom because the wise man, the man who is skilled in some art, never seeks to beat out those who possess the same art. The mathematician, for instance, is not in competition with other mathematicians.

Thrasymachus angrily says that he has a better definition of justice to offer. What is it? What does his definition imply?

The Republic (1)--> Justice, he says, is nothing more than the advantage of the stronger. Though Thrasymachus claims that this is his definition, it is not really meant as a definition of justice as much as it is a delegitimization of justice. He is saying that it does not pay to be just. Just behavior works to the advantage of other people, not to the person who behaves justly. Thrasymachus assumes here that justice is the unnatural restraint on our natural desire to have more. Justice is a convention imposed on us, and it does not benefit us to adhere to it. The rational thing to do is ignore justice entirely.

Why is justice desirable?

The Republic (1)--> justice is a virtue of the soul, and virtue of the soul means health of the soul, justice is desirable because it means health of the soul.

What is Cephalus's defintion of justice?

The Republic (Book 1)--> His definition of justice is an attempt to articulate the basic Hesiodic conception: that justice means living up to your legal obligations and being honest.

How does Socrates counter Cephalus's definition of justice? What example does he use?

The Republic (Book 1)--> returning a weapon to a madman. You owe the madman his weapon in some sense if it belongs to him legally, and yet this would be an unjust act, since it would jeopardize the lives of others. So it cannot be the case that justice is nothing more than honoring legal obligations and being honest

Socrates moves on to what might seem like a surprising topic in a discussion on education: the correct love between a boy and a man. What does he say?

The Republic 3--> Socrates considered such relationships a vital part of a boy's education. His main point here is to warn against allowing any actual sexual intercourse to contaminate these relationships. They should not involve an erotic element, he explains, only a pure sort of love.

Third Man Argument

The argument that shows there is something wrong with Plato's theory of Forms—that positing a Form to explain a visible fact commits you to an infinite series of Forms, all of which are required to account for that fact.

Divided line

The image Plato uses to illustrate the relationships between the intelligible world of Forms and the visible world.

What is the result of the jury vote in Apology?

The jury reaches a verdict of guilty and Meletus, the little bitch, asks for the penalty of death.

What did Socrates call himself and why?

The midwife in the realm of thought (examination, resemblance, consistency)

Love of wisdom

The motivational drive that propels us toward more and more satisfying objects for our eros, moving us out of the cave and up the divided line to the ultimately real things.

What myth does Socrates use to counter Cebes's disagreement with his soul theory and it remaining intelligent even after death?

The myth that souls exist in some other world after death, and that after some time it returns to animate another body in this world. If this is true, then the soul must cohere after death since otherwise it wouldn't be able to return to animate the other body.

Philosopher kings

The only foundation for a just and happy society, according to Plato's Republic, is for philosophers (lovers of wisdom) to become kings or for kings to become philosophers.

What conclusion does Socrates draw from his investigations of the classes of people in Apology?

The outcome of examination should be acknowledging our ignorance and that human wisdom compared to divine wisdom is "worth little or nothing."

Continue the myth of the metals in terms of bronze, iron, etc people. What does this mean in the just society?

The people must be told that though for the most part iron and bronze people will produce iron and bronze children, silver people silver children, and gold people gold children, that is not always the case. It is critical to observe the next generation to discover their class of soul. Those who are born to producers but seem to have the nature of a guardian or an auxiliary will be whisked away and raised with other such children. Similarly, those born to guardians or auxiliaries who seem more fit as producers will be removed to that class of society. Although the just society is rigid in terms of adult mobility between classes, it is not as rigid in terms of heredity.

What is the link between the soul, body, and prison that Socrates makes in Phaedo?

The philosopher avoids the lusts and desires that afflict the soul when it is imprisoned within the body. Philosophy helps release the soul from this prison, guiding it toward what is true and just, steering clear of the pleasure and pains of bodily life.

What does Socrates say about the physical world and bodily pleasures in Phaedo?

The philosopher shouldn't be concerned with bodily pleasure like food, drink, clothes, shoes, bodily ornaments, etc.

What does Glaucon ask of Socrates after he sates what?

The republic 2--> Glaucon, one of Socrates's young companions, explains what they would like him to do. Glaucon states that all goods can be divided into three classes: things that we desire only for their consequences, such as physical training and medical treatment; things that we desire only for their own sake, such as joy; and, the highest class, things we desire both for their own sake and for what we get from them, such as knowledge, sight, and health. What Glaucon and the rest would like Socrates to prove is that justice is not only desirable, but that it belongs to the highest class of desirable things: those desired both for their own sake and their consequences.

Why does Socrates say in Apology that exile wouldn't matter?

The same thing would happen

Cebes makes a comparison between serving versus governing. What conclusion does he come to?

The soul and the divine are alike in that they govern, whereas the body and that which are mortal are in subservient positions.

What is Socrates's main idea about knowledge?

The soul is directly acquainted with the truth before it enters the human body, and thus, we hope to recover knowledge we had before birth in the physical world.

Nothing is more crucial than self knowledge for Socrates. Why?

The soul is the most important part of a human being. Convictions in the soul flow all those actions that reveal what a person really is. Thus, self- knowledge is the most important task.

Form of the Good

The ultimate explanation of everything, the Form in which everything else, both intelligible and visible, participates.

Two ways of being- which is the universe?

The universe is visible and tangible -it is perceived through the senses.If something is perceived through the senses, it has come to be.So, the universe has come to be.

Diotima

The woman from whom Socrates claims to have learned about love (eros).

Socrates says he knows nothing, BUT...?

There are things that are good as known and he's so confident that he's willing to die for them. There are certain affirmations that survive all the scrutiny and harsh questions, they've STOOD FAST, "like the truth" so much that it becomes almost inconceivable that they should be upset in the future

What is the last verdict on the penatly of Socrates in Apology?

They sentence Socrates to death, wtfffff

What did Socrates believe about the young?

They should be educated (especially morally), right to care first that the young should be as good as possible

What distinction does Socrates make between the two types of accusers in Apology?

Those who have accused him recently and those who have accused him in the past

Soul set in the center and extended throughout the body and outside.

Timaeus

the universe must have come to be by the agency of some cause

Timaeus

What are the different ways of being? Who and what dialogue?

Timaeus--> That which always is That which comes to be but never is

Judgments about perception vs intelligence

Timaeus--> Judgments about what is perceptible can yield opinions and convictions .Judgments about what is intelligible can yield understanding and knowledge.

How did something come to be? (Long)

Timaeus--> TIMAEUS (cont'd): Now everything that comes to be must of necessity come to be by the agency of some cause, for it is impossible for anything to come to be without a cause. So whenever the craftsman looks at what is always changeless and, using a thing of that kind as his model, reproduces its form and character, the, ofn ecessity, all that he so creates is beautiful. But were he to look at a thing that has come to be and use as his model something that has been begotten, his work will lack beauty.(28)

Now why did he who framed this universe of becoming frame it? (Long)

Timaeus--> TIMAEUS: ...Now why did he who framed this universe of becoming frame it? Let us state the reason why: He was good,and one who is good can never become jealous of anything. And so, being free of jealousy, he wanted everything to become as much like himself as was possible. In fact, men of wisdom will tell you...that this, more than anything else, was the most preeminentreason for the origin of the world's coming to be. The god wanted everything to be good, and nothing to be bad so far as that was possible...(29d-30b)

Soul as a mixture.

Timaeus--> TIMAEUS: In between the Beingthat is indivisible and always changeless, and the one that is divisible and comes to be in the corporeal realm, he mixed a third, intermediate form of being, derived from the other two. (35)

Creation of the body in Timaeus

To be visible, need fire. To be tangible, need earth. Bonded by air and water: FireAirWaterEarth Soul set in the centre and extended throughoutthe body and outside.

What does Socrates believe is the most important thing of all?

To care for your soul

What is the life of a philosopher to Socrates in Apology?

To examine himself and others without the fear of death or anything else

There are two charges against Socrates in Euthyphro. What are they?

Under indictment by Meletus for corrupting the young and for not believing the gods in whom the city believes

What, according to Heraclitus, is wisdom?

Understanding the thought that steers all things..

Socrates's views on wrongdoing and belief

We always act out of a belief that what we are doing is good. At the least, we think that it will produce good in the long run. We never intend to do what we know is wrong or bad or evil or wicked. So if we do things that are wrong, it must be that we are not well- informed.

What happens to our knowledge of the Forms (according to Socrates) after birth?

We lose knowledge of the Forms at birth and it is through the process of learning that we come to recollect them and know them again. Thus, all learning is recollection.

Upshot of Recollection Argument

We search for what we once knew, but do not know now. In the process we are searching for what we do not know now, since it has been forgotten, so we are still legitimately searching for something that we do not know. However, given that we once knew it, we have reason to think that we will be able to tell what it is when we find it again. Inquiry aims to recover lost knowledge. Method: we form a hypothesis, and subject it to testing through dialectic.

What is the only thing of true value for Socrates in Phaedo?

Wisdom

Just as the shoemaker cannot make good shoes unless he understands his material...

You cannot construct a good life unless you know yourself

Socrates distinguishes true philosphers from which group?

a brand of psuedo-intellectuals whom Socrates refers to as the "lovers of sights and sounds." The lovers of sights and sounds are aesthetes, dilettantes, people who claim expertise in the particular subject of beauty.

When Socrates says that he wants the "form" of piety, he means that he wants

a definition.

Dialectic is

a technique for helping others by raising objections to what they believe..

Conversations with Socrates generally end with

agreement that a satisfactory answer hadn't been reached..

What were Plato's views on sxual intercourse?

as serving no useful end. Heterosexual intercourse must be tolerated because it is necessary for procreation, but homosexual intercourse, he believed, serves no end but the fulfillment of physical pleasure. Since homosexual intercourse is useless, it cannot be good or beautiful. Whatever is neither good nor beautiful should be avoided. Second, as Plato makes clear later in The Republic, the health of a man's soul is determined by the desires he aims to fulfill. A just soul is a soul that pursues the right desires. Desire for physical pleasure is not worth fulfilling. So though the good man, the philosophical man, might have physical desires directed at his young friend, it is crucial to his virtue that he not act on these; he must not try to satisfy his lust for physical pleasure. Instead, he must transmute that erotic desire into a longing for truth and goodness, and a longing to find this truth and goodness together with his beloved.

Xenophanes criticizes the Homeric gods

as unworthy of our admiration and respect..

Anaximander's argument for the Boundless as that out of which all things come

assumes that observable features of the world all need explaining..

What does Adeimantus say about Galucon's arguments?

bolsters Glaucon's arguments by claiming that no one praises justice for its own sake, but only for the rewards it allows you to reap in both this life and the afterlife. He reiterates Glaucon's request that Socrates show justice to be desirable in the absence of any external rewards: that justice is desirable for its own sake, like joy, health, and knowledge

The gods, in Homer's poem,

care about the honor given them by men..

What do the three parts of the soul correspond to? Explain

correspond to the three classes in the just city. The appetite, or money-loving part, is the aspect of the soul most prominent among the producing class; the spirit or honor-loving part is most prominent among the auxiliaries; and reason, or the knowledge-loving part, is dominant in the guardians.

Socrates believes that wrongdoing is

due to ignorance..

How do philosophers achieve knowledge and become real?

erotic love spurs us toward knowledge in several steps. We first love the beauty of one physical body. From there, we go on to love two physical bodies. We next move on to the love of all physical beauty, and then to a love of traditions and institutions, to beautiful studies, and finally, to one supreme study, the knowledge of beauty itself. Once we have reached beauty itself, or the Form of Beauty, the journey is complete. We have acheived knowledge and become real philosophers. So the topic of erotic love is perfectly suited to a discussion of education. Erotic love is necessary in the education of the philosopher.

What is Symposium about?

erotic love spurs us toward knowledge in several steps. We first love the beauty of one physical body. From there, we go on to love two physical bodies. We next move on to the love of all physical beauty, and then to a love of traditions and institutions, to beautiful studies, and finally, to one supreme study, the knowledge of beauty itself. Once we have reached beauty itself, or the Form of Beauty, the journey is complete. We have acheived knowledge and become real philosophers. So the topic of erotic love is perfectly suited to a discussion of education. Erotic love is necessary in the education of the philosopher.

What are forms?

eternal, unchanging, universal absolute ideas, such as the Good, the Beautiful, and the Equal. Though Forms cannot be seen—but only grasped with the mind—they are responsible for making the things we sense around us into the sorts of things they are. Anything red we see, for instance, is only red because it participates in the Form of the Red; anything square is only square because it participates in the Form of the Square; anything beautiful is only beautiful because it participates in the Form of Beauty, and so on. (rep5)

Xenophanes says that with respect to the truth,

even if we knew it, we couldn't know for sure that we knew it..

What is Socrates's basic idea of the Opposites Argument?

everything that comes to be comes to be from its opposite

Sophists tend to hold that the gods

exist by nomos..

In saying that all things are full of gods, Thales apparently meant that

explanations of events in the world could be explained in terms of events in the world..

We know about Socrates primarily

from Plato's dialogues..

Justice, in the Homeric world, consists in

giving to each man his due..

How does Socrates propose that they avoid rampant unintentional incest?

guardians must consider every child born between seven and ten months after their copulation as their own. These children, in turn, must consider that same group of adults as their parents, and each other as brothers and sisters. Sexual relations between these groups is forbidden.

2 main aims of rep 4?

have identified justice on a city-wide level. Our next task is to see if there is an analogous virtue in the case of the individual.

Parmenides is rightly called a rationalist because

he is willing to follow the argument wherever it leads..

How does Glaucon attempt to demonstrate that not only do people prefer to be unjust than just, but that it is more rational to do so.

he perfectly unjust life, he argues, is more pleasant than the perfectly just life. In making this claim, he draws two detailed portraits of the just and unjust man. The completely unjust man, who indulges all his urges, is honored and rewarded with wealth. The completely just man, on the other hand, is scorned and wretched.

Socrates is unlike the Sophists in that

he thought winning was not the main thing..

Socrates points out that since our just person is ruled by a love of truth,

he will not be in the grips of lust, greed, or desire for honor. Because of this, Socrates claims, we can rest assured that he will never steal, betray friends or his city, commit adultery, disrespect his parents, violate an oath or agreement, neglect the gods, or commit any other acts commonly considered unjust. His strong love of truth weakens urges that might lead to vice.

What will hapoen to Greek enemies in war for Socrates?

hen it comes to Greek enemies, he orders that the vanquished not be enslaved and that their lands not be destroyed in any permanent way. This is because all Greeks are really brothers, and eventually there will be peace between them again. When it comes to barbarian—i.e., non-Greek—enemies, anything goes.

Chilredn training to be guardians and war

hildren training to become guardians should be taken to war so they can watch and learn the art as any young apprentice does. He recommends that they be put on horseback so that they can escape in the case of defeat.

spirit part and class

honor-loving part is most prominent among the auxiliaries

Example that Socrates comes up with in Euthyphro about piety and justice in response to Euthyphro and why he says it

horse breeding= care of horses hunting= care of dogs cattle raising= care of cattle piety and godliness= care of gods (Euthyphro) Socrates says that care has the same effect in these cases (aims at the good and the benefit of the object cared for), but care of the gods is not to benefit the gods and make them better.

One of the things the Sophists do not teach is

how to discern logically good arguments from bad..

Socrates refuses Crito's offer of escape from prison because

in escaping he would do injury to the laws of Athens..

When Anaximander says that things make reparations to each other for injustice, he means that

inherent in nature is a principle of balance..

Heraclitus believes that opposition

is an essential and necessary part of reality..

The Form of the Good

is the ultimate explainer..

The problem with defining piety as what all the gods love is that

it gives only an external characteristic of piety..

We tend to think of justice as a set of actions. Yet, what does Socrates claim?

justice is really a result of the structure of the soul.

What does Polemarchus say the definition of justice is? How is this similar to Cephalus's definition of justice?

justice means that you owe friends help, and you owe enemies harm. They share the underlying imperative of rendering to each what is due and of giving to each what is appropriate. This imperative will also be the foundation of Socrates's principle of justice in the later books. Like his father's view, Polemarchus's take on justice represents a popular strand of thought—the attitude of the ambitious young politician—whereas Cephalus's definition represented the attitude of the established, old businessman.

What does Socrates conclude that the god means by human wisdom?

knowing that one really knows little or nothing..

reason part and class

knowledge-loving part, is dominant in the guardians.

The term "philosophy" means

love of wisdom..

appetite part and class

money-loving part, is the aspect of the soul most prominent among the producing class

The oracle at Delphi told Socrates' friend that

no one was wiser than Socrates..

ploemarchus and adeimantus in rep5 want socrates to explain further about sharing spouses and children. How does Socrates respond?

ocrates declares that females will be reared and trained alongside males, receiving the same education and taking on the same political roles. Though he acknowledges that in many respects men and women have different natures, he believes that in the relevant respect—the division among appetitive, spirited, and rational people—women fall along the same natural lines as men. Some are naturally appetitive, some naturally spirited, and some naturally rational. The ideal city will treat and make use of them as such. Socrates then discusses the requirement that all spouses and children be held in common. For guardians, sexual intercourse will only take place during certain fixed times of year, designated as festivals. Males and females will be made husband and wife at these festivals for roughly the duration of sexual intercourse. The pairings will be determined by lot. Some of these people, those who are most admirable and thus whom we most wish to reproduce, might have up to four or five spouses in a single one of these festivals. All the children produced by these mating festivals will be taken from their parents and reared together, so that no one knows which children descend from which adults. At no other time in the year is sex permitted. If guardians have sex at an undesignated time and a child results, the understanding is that this child must be killed. To avoid rampant unintentional incest, guardians must consider every child born between seven and ten months after their copulation as their own. These children, in turn, must consider that same group of adults as their parents, and each other as brothers and sisters. Sexual relations between these groups is forbidden. Socrates explains that these rules of procreation are the only way to ensure a unified city. In most cities the citizens' loyalty is divided. They care about the good of the whole, but they care even more about their own family. In the just city, everyone is considered as family and treated as such. There are no divided loyalties. As Socrates puts it, everyone in the city says "mine" about the same things. The city is unified because it shares all its aims and concerns. The final question to be asked is whether this is a plausible requirement—whether anyone can be asked to adhere to this lifestyle, with no family ties, no wealth, and no romantic interludes. But before answering this question, Socrates deals with a few other issues pertaining to the guardians' lifestyle, all of them relating to war. He states that children training to become guardians should be taken to war so they can watch and learn the art as any young apprentice does. He recommends that they be put on horseback so that they can escape in the case of defeat. He also explains that anyone who behaves cowardly in war will be stripped of their role as a guardian. He ends by discussing the appropriate manner in which to deal with defeated enemies. When it comes to Greek enemies, he orders that the vanquished not be enslaved and that their lands not be destroyed in any permanent way. This is because all Greeks are really brothers, and eventually there will be peace between them again. When it comes to barbarian—i.e., non-Greek—enemies, anything goes.

The key idea in rhetoric is that

one should be able to make a persuasive case for any position..

What does Adeimantus say about being a ruler in republic 4?-->

points out that being a ruler sounds unpleasant. Since the ruler has no private wealth, he can never take a trip, keep a mistress, or do the things that people think make them happy.

What does Socrates say about philosophy and death?

practicing philosophy is to practice for dying and death

Socrates "divine sign"

prevents Socrates from doing or saying certain things..

What is eros?

proper love, is the emotion that motivates us to ascend to the heights of knowledge.

Homer's great poem, The Iliad, begins by announcing that his theme will be

rage

The soul, Plato tells us, has distinct parts, each of which has a function. For instance:

reason, which guides..

A reductio ad absurdum argument

reduces its assumed premise to absurdity..

Would the just city have laws? Why or why not?

rep 4--> He declares that the just city has no use for laws. If the education of guardians proceeds as planned, then guardians will be in a position to decide any points of policy that arise. Everything we think of as a matter of law can be left to the judgement of the properly educated rulers.

Specialization in the just city?

rep 4--> Moderation is identified with the agreement over who should rule the city, and justice, finally, is its complement—the principle of specialization, the law that all do the job to which they are best suited.

What does Socrates say that the guardians should share?

rep 4--> that they share everything in common among them, including wives and children.

What are the four virtues?

rep 4--> wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice.

What does Socrates say about females in the ideal city?

rep 5--> emales will be reared and trained alongside males, receiving the same education and taking on the same political roles. Though he acknowledges that in many respects men and women have different natures, he believes that in the relevant respect—the division among appetitive, spirited, and rational people—women fall along the same natural lines as men. Some are naturally appetitive, some naturally spirited, and some naturally rational. The ideal city will treat and make use of them as such.

Virtue 3 and 4 (Moderation and justice)

rep4--> Moderation and justice, in contrast to wisdom and courage, are spread out over the whole city. Moderation is identified with the agreement over who should rule the city, and justice, finally, is its complement—the principle of specialization, the law that all do the job to which they are best suited.

spirited part of the soul

rep4--> a spirited part of the soul that lusts after honor

appetitive part of the soul

rep4--> an appetitive part of the soul that lusts after everything else, including food, drink, sex, and especially money.

rational part of the soul

rep4--> rational part of the soul that lusts after truth

a person who's soul is in the right arrangement will behave according to the intuitive norms of justice

rep4--> socrates

Socrates claims that there are 3 parts of the soul. What are they?

rep4--> y cataloging the various human desires, he identifies a rational part of the soul that lusts after truth, a spirited part of the soul that lusts after honor, and an appetitive part of the soul that lusts after everything else, including food, drink, sex, and especially money. These three parts of the soul correspond to the three classes in the just city. The appetite, or money-loving part, is the aspect of the soul most prominent among the producing class; the spirit or honor-loving part is most prominent among the auxiliaries; and reason, or the knowledge-loving part, is dominant in the guardians.

Justice amounts to the health of the soul. How?

rep4-->a just soul is a soul with its parts arranged appropriately, and is thus a healthy soul. An unjust soul, by contrast, is an unhealthy soul. Given this fact, we are now in a position to at least suspect that it pays to be just. After all, we already admitted that health is something desirable in itself, so if justice is the health of the soul then it too should be desirable.

Socrates explains that these rules of procreation are the only way to ensure a unified city. Is this a plausible requirement (whether anyone can be asked to adhere to this lifestyle, with no family ties, no wealth, and no romantic interludes)? How does Socrates respond to this question?

rep5-->

The guardians's lifestyle and war?

rep5--> He states that children training to become guardians should be taken to war so they can watch and learn the art as any young apprentice does. He recommends that they be put on horseback so that they can escape in the case of defeat. He also explains that anyone who behaves cowardly in war will be stripped of their role as a guardian. He ends by discussing the appropriate manner in which to deal with defeated enemies. When it comes to Greek enemies, he orders that the vanquished not be enslaved and that their lands not be destroyed in any permanent way. This is because all Greeks are really brothers, and eventually there will be peace between them again. When it comes to barbarian—i.e., non-Greek—enemies, anything goes.

Socrates explains that these rules of procreation are the only way to ensure a unified city. Why?

rep5--> n most cities the citizens' loyalty is divided. They care about the good of the whole, but they care even more about their own family. In the just city, everyone is considered as family and treated as such. There are no divided loyalties. As Socrates puts it, everyone in the city says "mine" about the same things. The city is unified because it shares all its aims and concerns.

Socrates then discusses the requirement that all spouses and children be held in common. What does he mean?

rep5--> or guardians, sexual intercourse will only take place during certain fixed times of year, designated as festivals. Males and females will be made husband and wife at these festivals for roughly the duration of sexual intercourse. The pairings will be determined by lot. Some of these people, those who are most admirable and thus whom we most wish to reproduce, might have up to four or five spouses in a single one of these festivals. All the children produced by these mating festivals will be taken from their parents and reared together, so that no one knows which children descend from which adults. At no other time in the year is sex permitted. If guardians have sex at an undesignated time and a child results, the understanding is that this child must be killed.

What will happen to those who act cowardly in war?

rep5--> will be stripped of their role as a guardian. He ends by discussing the appropriate manner in which to deal with defeated enemies.

What does Socrates prescribe in terms of medical training that should be provided in the just city?

republic 3--> Doctors should be trained to treat the healthy, who suffer from a single, curable ailment. They should not be trained to deal with the chronically ill. Those suffering from an incurable physical disease should be left to die naturally. Those suffering from an incurable mental disease should actively be put to death.

The group called guardians is split. How?

republic 3--> The best from this group will be chosen out as rulers, and only they will now be termed "guardians," while the rest will remain as warriors and will be termed "auxiliaries," because their role is to aid rulers by carrying out and enforcing their decisions.

What is the myth of the metals? Why is it told?

republic 3--> To ensure that there is never controversy over who should rule, Socrates suggests telling all citizens a useful fiction. The myth contends that all citizens of the city were born out of the earth. This fiction persuades people to be patriotic. They have reason to swear loyalty to their particular plot of ground and their fellow citizens. That plot of ground is their mother, and their fellow citizens are their brothers and sisters. The myth holds that each citizen has a certain sort of metal mixed in with his soul. In the souls of those most fit to rule there is gold, in those suited to be auxiliaries there is silver, and in those suited to be producers there is either bronze or iron. The city must never be ruled by someone whose soul is mixed with the wrong metal; according to an oracle, the city will be ruined if that ever happens.

How would Athens ensure the right selection of ruelrs according to Socrates?

republic 3--> all the young guardians in training are closely observed. They are made to go through various tests which are intended to determine which of them remain steadfast in their loyalty to the city. They are exposed to various fears and pleasures meant to tempt or frighten them out of their convictions. Those who do best in these tests will proceed on to higher forms of education that will prepare them to rule. The rest, destined to be warriors, will end their education where Socrates left off.

What does Plato say about housing provided for the guardians?

republic 3--> he guardians, we are told, all live together in housing provided for them by the city. Guardians receive no wages and can hold no private wealth or property. They are supported entirely by the city through the taxation of the producing class.

What is the third and final class of the just society that Socrates mentions?

republic 3-->rulers.

Socrates tells Adeimnatus that there will be no welath or poverty at all in the city since there will be no money. How does Adeimnatus respond and what does Socrates say>

republic 4--> Adeimantus objects that a city without money cannot defend itself against invaders, but Socrates reminds Adeimantus that our city will have the best warriors and points out that any neighboring city would be happy to come to our aid if we promised them all the spoils of war.

Socrates says that we cannot provide the guardians with the sort of happiness that owuld make them something other than guardians. What example does he give and what does this mean?

republic 4--> He compares this case to the building of a statue. The most beautiful color in the world, he states matter-of-factly, is purple. So if our intention were to make the statue's eyes as beautiful as possible, we would paint them purple. Since no human being actually has purple eyes this would detract from the beauty of the statue as a whole, so we do not paint the eyes purple. On the statue, as in the city, we must deal with each part appropriately, in order to make the situation best for the whole.

How big should a city be in ocrates's views?

republic 4--> Socrates limits the size of the city, warning against it becoming so large that it can no longer be governed well under the current system.

How does Socrates repsond to Adeimantus's worry that being a ruler sounds unpleasant?

republic 4--> esponds by reminding his friends that their goal in building this city is not to make any one group happy at the expense of any other group, but to make the city as a whole as happy as it can be. We cannot provide the guardians with the sort of happiness that would make them something other than guardians. He compares this case to the building of a statue. The most beautiful color in the world, he states matter-of-factly, is purple. So if our intention were to make the statue's eyes as beautiful as possible, we would paint them purple. Since no human being actually has purple eyes this would detract from the beauty of the statue as a whole, so we do not paint the eyes purple. On the statue, as in the city, we must deal with each part appropriately, in order to make the situation best for the whole.

How does Socrates propose that only phil can have knowledge?

republic 5-->Socrates paints a fascinating metaphysical and epistemological picture. He divides all of existence up into three classes: what is completely, what is in no way, and what both is and is not. What is completely, he tells us, is completely knowable; what is in no way is the object of ignorance; what both is and is not is the object of opinion or belief. The only things that are completely are the Forms. Only the Form of the Beautiful is completely beautiful, only the Form of Sweetness is completely sweet, and so on. Sensible particulars both are and are not. Even the sweetest apple is also mixed in with some sourness—or not-sweetness. Even the most beautiful woman is plain—or not-beautiful—when judged against certain standards. So we can only know about Forms, and not about sensible particulars. That is why only philosophers can have knowledge, because only they have access to the Forms.

true knowledge does not attach itself to the observable world around us

republic--> True knowledge, instead, has as its object the realm of the Forms, the universal, eternal truths that only our mind can access.

How does Socrates identify justice? His method

societal justice and then individual justice

In his comic play, The Clouds, Aristophanes portrays Socrates as

someone who teaches for pay..

Are the Forms incomposite or composite to Socrates and why?

the Forms must be incomposite since they are constant and invariable, never admitting any alteration.

What does Thrasymachus say is the nefarious result of Socrates's confusion?

the Sophist's campaign to do away with justice, and all moral standards, entirely.

If Plato is right, then if "Gertrude" names an individual elephant, the term "elephant" names

the eternally existing Form of the Elephant..

In Plato's Divided Line,

the intelligible world is related to the visible world as visible things are related to likenesses of them..

In the Myth of the Cave,

the prisoners represent all of us before we begin tosearch for wisdom..

What does Glaucon say in how most people class justice?

the republic 2-->Glaucon points out that most people class justice among the first group. They view justice as a necessary evil, which we allow ourselves to suffer in order to avoid the greater evil that would befall us if we did away with it. Justice stems from human weakness and vulnerability. Since we can all suffer from each other's injustices, we make a social contract agreeing to be just to one another. We only suffer under the burden of justice because we know we would suffer worse without it. Justice is not something practiced for its own sake but something one engages in out of fear and weakness.

What are the three classes that Glaucon divides all goods?

the republic 2-->things that we desire only for their consequences, such as physical training and medical treatment; things that we desire only for their own sake, such as joy; and, the highest class, things we desire both for their own sake and for what we get from them, such as knowledge, sight, and health.

When Protagoras says that man is the measure of all things, he means that

there is no objective criterion available to humans by which to judge truth and goodness..

What makes philsophers dif from lovers of sights and sounds?

they apprehend these Forms. The lovers of sights and sounds claim to know all about beautiful things but cannot claim to have any knowledge of the Form of the Beautiful—nor do they even recognize that there is such a thing. Because the lovers of sights and sounds do not deal with Forms, Socrates claims, but only with sensible particulars—that is, the particular things we sense around us—they can have opinions but never knowledge. Only philosophers can have knowledge, the objects of which are the Forms.

Hesiod claimed to write his poems

through divine inspiration..

Soul also needs Samenessand Differenceat both levels.

timaeus--> TIMAEUS: Because the soul is a mixture of the Same, the Different and Being..., because it was divided up and bound together in various proportions, and because it circles round upon itself, then, whenever it comes into contact with something whose being is scatterable or else with something whose being is indivisible, it is stirred throughout its whole self. It then declares what exactly that thing is the same as, or what it is different from, and in what respect and in what manner, as well as when, it turns out that they are the same or different and characterized as such. This applies both to the things that come to be and the things that are always changeless. (37 -37b

Parmenides says that a goddess spoke and told him

to judge by reasoning what she tells him..

What does Glaucon ask Socrates to prove about justice and desirability?

to prove is that justice is not only desirable, but that it belongs to the highest class of desirable things: those desired both for their own sake and their consequences.

According to Plato, education is

turning the soul of the student toward the real..

Knowing something

uts you in touch with reality..

In discussions with others, Socrates

was happy to be refuted..

Relativism is the view that

what is true for me may not be true for you..

The Ring of Gyges story poses the problem of

whether we should value moral goodness only for itsconsequences..

A moral person

will be a happy person..