Philosophy

3. What does Socrates mean by saying "the life unexamined is not worth living?" Are you living an examined life? If so, what do you do that examines your life? If not, is your life worthless? Describe at least three things that Socrates would accept as things you engage in as part of the examined life.

"The life unexamined is not worth living?" means a person who did not try to examine oneself was not living to the fullest for Socrates. Since it was in Greece long ago, this person had to be a man. Women were at home doing their distaff and being not worth living. I am living in an examined life. Sometime I examine my life before I sleep, I would think about did I use my time wisely today? I think three things that Socrates would accept is to certain own beliefs, obtain happiness as human effort,and examining our life reveals patterns of behavior. I think examing life is like a deeper contemplation yields understanding of the subconscious programming, the powerful mental software that runs our life. Unless we become aware of these patterns, much of our life is unconscious repetition.

Crito's arguments for exile and Socrates' responses

(Crito )Crito's arguments: Socrates' death will reflect badly on his friends--people will think they did nothing to try to save him. Also, Socrates should not worry about the risk or the financial cost to his friends; these they are willing to pay, and they have also arranged to find Socrates a pleasant life in exile. On a more ethical level, Crito presents two more pressing arguments: first, if he stayed, he would be aiding his enemies in wronging him unjustly, and would thus be acting unjustly himself; and second, that he would be abandoning his sons and leaving them without a father. Socrates's responses: first that one should not worry about public opinion, but only listen to wise and expert advice. Socrates answers first that one should not worry about public opinion, but only listen to wise and expert advice. The question is whether or not it would be just for Socrates to attempt an escape. If it is just, he will go with Crito, if it is unjust, he must remain in prison and face death. At this point, Socrates introduces the Laws of Athens. Since the Laws exist as one entity, to break one would be to break them all, and in doing so, Socrates would cause them great harm. If Socrates were to break from prison now, having so consistently validated the social contract, he would be making himself an outlaw who would not be welcome in any other civilized state for the rest of his life. And when he dies, he will be harshly judged in the underworld for behaving unjustly toward his city's laws.

the itself by itself

Being-in-itself is the self-contained and fully realized Being of objects. Being-in-itself is contrasted with the being of persons. (written by Heidegger)

7. In the Symposium Plato has Socrates introduces Diotima. Who is she? Please describe her concept of love and how we attain true knowledge. Do you accept her theory? Why? Why not? Offer a plausible response. If you do accept it, where on the "ladder" are you?

Diotima - A woman from Mantinea whom Socrates claims once to have met, and who taught him everything he knows on the subject of Love. According to Diotima, Love is neither a god nor a mortal but rather a spirit born of a coupling between Resource and Poverty. Love itself is not wise or beautiful.

1.In the debate between Parmenides and Heraclitus we witness two divergent positions. On the one hand, change exists, all is transient. On the other, nothing really changes. Which do you believe it is? Explain.

Heraclitus argued that the fundamental charcter of reality is change itself. Everything in reality is in process, in flux, is changing. "One cannot step twice into the same river, " he wrote, since it is endlessly flowing, changing, moving with fresh waters. By claiming that everything is change or flux. Heraclitus denied that anything can stay the same, be identical with what is has been or will be. Thus he denied any permanence or immutability in the world. He denied the unchanging one and affirmed the changing many. For my opinion, I think that everything is always changing. If nothing changed this world would stay the same. To say that fire and water are always in motion and changing are the best arguments I see in his idea.

the examined life

Involves coming to understand what produces the various behaviors, actions, and attitudes of ourselves and others./Search lives and actions for signs of impure behavior and existence of gods grace. due to fact that they were afraid they would behave and show they were not actually members of the elect.

logic

Logic has two meanings: first, it describes the use of valid reasoning in some activity; second, it names the normative study of reasoning or a branch thereof. In the latter sense, it features most prominently in the subjects of philosophy, mathematics, and computer science.

Diotima's speech

Love is the child between plenty and poverty, impossible possibility, can be pregnant in bodies and pregnant in minds/souls (ideas)

two world theory

Metaphysics: Theory of reality. Epistemology: Theory of knowledge.Plato holds that in a sense there are two separate worlds or realms; or, to put the point a little more tamely, that there are two very different kinds of things, ordinary physical objects and Forms. Here are some of the main differences between the two.THE VISIBLE WORLD:The visible world consists of the things below the (main) line in the metaphor of the Divided Line: physical objects and their images, shadows, and reflections.Physical objects are constantly changing. They are transient and ephemeral.Physical objects are less real than the Forms. Physical objects get what reality they have by their participation in the Forms.We learn about physical objects empirically, by means of the senses: we look at them, taste them, listen to them, and so on. But none of the information we gain in this way is reliable or trustworthy: we don't have real knowledge of the visible world, just mere "opinion."The sun is what allows us to see physical objects.We have parts corresponding to the two worlds. Our physical bodies are a part of the visible world. Our bodies are responsible for our appetites. Our sense organs, by means of which we learn about the visible world, are also part of our physical body.THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD:The intelligible world consists of the things above the (main) line in the metaphor of the Divided line: images and Forms.The Forms are unchanging and eternal.The Forms are what really exists; the physical world is a kind of shadow or reflection of the world of the Forms.We learn about the Forms not by means of the sense but by means of Reason. We don't need to look at the Forms or listen to them; indeed we cannot do so. We figure out what they are by thinking about them. Empirical evidence is at best irrelevant, at worst misleading.The Good is what allows us to understand the Forms. (This is why the genuinely just person can't be a creep. We're just to the extent that our appetites and our reason are both properly developed and work together harmoniously. But when reason is developed, it makes us aware of the Good, and -- Plato thinks -- we can't know the Good without wanting to do it. So unless we do the good, we will inevitably be in inner turmoil.)But there's also another part of us which links us with the eternal realm of the Forms, namely our soul. So one result of coming to learn about the Forms is that we will become less concerned with physical matters; we will be less governed by our appetites, and less reliant on our unreliable senses for knowledge.

Socratic method

Named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and discussion between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas. It is a dialectical method, often involving a discussion in which the defense of one point of view is questioned; one participant may lead another to contradict himself in some way, thus strengthening the inquirer's own point.

metaphysics

Philosophy The branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and value.Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms: 1. What is ultimately there? 2. What is it like?

Myth of medals

Plato believes this is a way to preserve harmony

the personification of the laws

Plato introduces a kind of social contract that binds the citizens to the Laws tFor Plato, the social contract is not made between citizens, but between the individual citizen and the Laws. Therefore, the personification of the Laws is a crucial move in Plato's argument, as it allows an agreement to exist directly between the Laws and the people.

6. Which of the speeches on love from Plato's Symposium most closely resembles your own conception of love?

Plato is a force of nature. By his speech,I like Pausanias' effort the best. He talks about an action being in itself neither right nor wrong. "If it is done well and properly, it is right; if it is done wrongly, it is wrong." I prefer with Pausanius in the sense that love can and does exist in different forms and can certainly manifest itself in very different ways.

Divided line

Plato used the concept of the divided line to illustrate the relationship of knowledge to opinion, reality to appearance, metaphysics to epistemology, and the world of being to the world of becoming. A+B = World of Forms(Being, Knowledge, Intelligible World) C+D= Physical world(Becoming/Opinion/Visible World) A=Understanding(Highest/Purest form) B=Reasoning, C=Perception(common opinions about physical objects, morals, politics), D=Imagination(secondhand opinions and uncritical impressions), Plato; He suggests that particular geometrical things, for example, a particular triangle constructed of sticks, which a geometer might use for illustrative purposes or as a learning aid, have a relation to triangularity itself (the form) which is similar to the relation between a reflection or a mirror image of that stick triangle and the stick triangle itself. The existence of the image depends upon the existence of the things that they image. The forms are more real, the empirical things would not exist if the forms did not, and the real things only give us a partial and inadequate idea of the original forms. The divided line indicates that Plato thinks there are different levels of cognition, ranging all the way from pure ignorance to absolute knowledge. Kinds of being are associated with all these levels. The kinds of being that correspond to the lowest level, picture thinking, are less real than that which corresponds to the next level. The most real being is that which is most knowable., Plato used the concept of the divided line to illustrate the relationship of knowledge to opinion, reality to appearance, metaphysics to epistemology, and the world of being to the world of becoming. A+B = World of Forms(Being, Knowledge, Intelligible World) C+D= Physical world(Becoming/Opinion/Visible World) A=Understanding(Highest/Purest form) B=Reasoning, C=Perception(common opinions about physical objects, morals, politics), D=Imagination(secondhand opinions and uncritical impressions)

theory of forms

Plato's most important idea, which described that perfection could not be reached in the physical world, your senses can betray you based upon the influence and experiences of your life; the only truth is found outside the influence of society and religion; to find this truth a person has to let go of the influences that have shaped them, The fact that you are born with all knowledge, and learning is just remembering. It is also the fact that all you are seeing is the memory of everything, so you are seeing what you perceive to be the object, not the true form (the Cave Analogy)., Plato's contention that ultimate reality consists of abstact ideas or forms that correspond to all objects in the empirical world. Knowledge of these abstaactions is innate and can be attained only through introspection., In Plato's dialogues, there is a form for every object or quality in reality: forms of dogs, human beings, mountains, colors, courage, love, and goodness. Form answers the question, "What is that?" Plato was going a step further and asking what Form itself is. He supposed that the object was essentially or "really" the Form and that the phenomena were mere shadows mimicking the Form; that is, momentary portrayals of the Form under different circumstances. The problem of universals - how can one thing in general be many things in particular - was solved by presuming that Form was a distinct singular thing but caused plural representations of itself in particular objects.[13] Matter was considered particular in itself, Plato; there is one form of everything (one and the many concept again). The form itself must exist apart from the world familiar to the senses (the essence of something). He argues that the only real knowledge is the knowledge of forms, thus real knowledge does not come through the senses. The most that can be acquired through the senses is opinion. This view of knowledge is a version of rationalism. The forms have characterisics which include: 1) immateriality (they are not physical or visible), 2) the forms are the objects of genuine knowledge, 3) they are know by the soul prior to birth and recollected afterwards, and 4) they are eternal and unchanging.

Love

Platonic love in this original sense of the term is examined in Plato's dialogue the Symposium, which has as its topic the subject of love or Eros generally. It explains the possibilities of how the feeling of love began and how it has evolved—both sexually and non-sexually.

1. How did the questions asked by the pre-Socratics such as Thales differ from their contemporaries? Explain why this kind of questioning is viewed as philosophical. Please describe the split between mythos and philosophy.

Pre-Socratics took a step towards rationality, elements of mythology were still running in their thoughts. The concept of pure and neutral rationality is an ideal of modern philosophy rather than a reality, and it met with serious objections during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Pre-Socratics exhibited a unique style of thought containing both rational and mythical elements.Thales is reputedly the father of Greek philosophy; he declared water to be the basis of all things. Myth explained the circumstances of human life. When people wondered about where they came from, why and how evil came into existence, why there was fortune and misfortune in life, and how they could attain peace and happiness, they found an answer in mythology. Philosophy is Love of Wisdom. The distinction between philosophy and mythology, reason and belief, and poetic intuition and critical reasoning can be justified only in a limited sense.

Diotima's ladder

Sharing; Plato; Diotima speaking to Sophocles about finding true beauty - the virtue and not its semblance, Plato's ladder of love describes the ascendance of one's love for beauty, starting with a narrow view of physical beauty, to a view of the beauty of everything physical, to the beauty of minds, the beauty of institutions and laws and on to the beauty of knowledge for the sake of knowledge., Describes the process of finding love for beauty. Socrates goes throughout the stages necessary to find beauty. The steps include loving the physical beauty of a single person, physical beauty of multiple people, beauty of the soul, beauty of laws and institutions, and beauty of knowledge. The ultimate love is for beauty itself

ethics

Sometimes known as philosophical ethics, ethical theory, moral theory, and moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, often addressing disputes of moral diversity. The term comes from the Greek word ethos, which means "character".

3.Describe the "ring of Gyges" that Glaucon presented to Socrates in Plato's Republic. Do you accept the claim that moral behavior is something we do to avoid punishment?

The "Ring of Gyges" begins with a challenge put forth by Glaucon,he wants Socrates to defend the just life and he wants the defense to show that justice is intrinsically preferable to injustice. Even religious moralists struggle with the egoism since most obey a moral law out of fear of eternal punishment, or desire for eternal reward. I think once everyone follow the moral rule, there won't be any punishment exist to keep people all in line.

Ring of Gyges

The "Ring of Gyges" begins with a challenge put forth by Glaucon-he wants Socrates to defend the just life and he wants the defense to show that justice is intrinsically preferable to injustice. For the sake of the argument, Glaucon proposes to present a defense of injustice. Glaucon begins by asserting that people find it desirable or good to inflict wrongdoings on others but these wrongdoers regarded being on the receiving end of misdeeds as undesirable. When people have been on both ends of misdeeds (giving and receiving), they quickly realize that the pains of being a victim far outweigh the benefits of being the victimizer. To avoid being victims, people come together and forge agreements and dub these agreements with the name "justice." Glaucon makes it clear that people do not enter into the agreement that gives rise to justice willingly and that this situation is not regarded as the best. He regards justice as a compromise between what is most desirable to the individual (doing misdeeds with impunity) and what is the most undesirable for the individual (being a hapless victim). He further concludes that people accept justice because they are weak and that a person with the power to successfully carry out misdeeds would be a fool not to do so. In support of his claims that no one is willingly a follower of justice and that anyone who was free to be unjust would be unjust Glaucon tells the tale of the ring of Gyges. In this tale the shepherd Gyges finds a magical ring of invisibility within a strange bronze horse that has been exposed by an earthquake. Using the power of the ring, he seduces the queen and, with her help, murders the king and takes control of the realm. Given his tale, Glaucon concludes that if identical rings were given to a just man and an unjust man, then both men would act unjustly. This proves, to his satisfaction, that people act justly only under compulsion. By nature, he claims, all living beings desire more than what they are actually due. Despite this, he does consider the possibility that someone might decline to use the ring to perform misdeeds. While such a person would be praised to her face, she would be regarded as a great fool for not using the power in her possession. Glaucon finishes his case by presenting the details of his challenge. In this challenge the perfectly unjust man is to be squared off against the just man. The unjust man must be the very pinnacle of injustice and must have all that he needs to be unjust and carry out his misdeeds effectively and secretly. To this end he is, for the sake of the argument, given great skill in the use of both persuasion and force and is equipped with various virtues such as bravery and strength. He is further to be blessed with wealth, companions, and an unblemished (though false) reputation for justice. In short, though he is truly a master of injustice he is regarded by all as a just man., A story about a man who discovered a ring that made him invisible. It is supposed to illustrate how if the punishment aspect of acting unjustly was lifted, that everyone would act unjustly for their own personal gains, Mentioned by Plato. The ring granted you the power to become invisible at will. The story considers if an intelligent person would act morally if there was no fear of being caught or punished.This story remains important to us today because it concerns what we can expect humans to do with power over others. In politics, we give power to others, hoping that they will do what is right. If plato's allegory of the ring is right, then we had better watch out. Anyone who gains power without accountability is liable to use it unjustly. This particularly significant right now as the U.S and U.K. governments are increasing the secrecy of their actions and gaining increased power over public information such as news.

Allegory of the Cave

The Allegory of the Cave is presented by the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato in the Republic to compare "the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature". It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates. The Allegory of the Cave is presented after the Analogy of the Sun and the Analogy of the Divided Line. Plato has Socrates describe a gathering of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to label names to these shadows. The shadows are as close as the prisoners get to view reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners. The Allegory may be related to Plato's Theory of Forms, according to which the "Ideas", and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality. Socrates informs Glaucon that the most excellent must learn the greatest of all studies, which is to behold the Good. Those who have ascended to this highest level, however, must not remain there but must return to the cave and dwell with the prisoners, sharing in their labors and honors. Synopsis 1.Imprisonment in the Cave 2.Departure from the Cave 3.Return to the Cave 4.Remarks on the Allegory

epistemology

The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge and is also referred to as "theory of knowledge". It questions what knowledge is and how it can be acquired, and the extent to which knowledge pertinent to any given subject or entity can be acquired.

The different speeches on love

The dialogue's seven major speeches are delivered by: Phaedrus (speech begins 178a):[4] was an Athenian aristocrat associated with the inner-circle of the philosopher Socrates, familiar from Phaedrus and other dialogues. Pausanias (speech begins 180c): the legal expert. Eryximachus (speech begins 186a): a physician. Aristophanes (speech begins 189c): the eminent comic playwright. Agathon (speech begins 195a): a tragic poet, host of the banquet, that celebrates the triumph of his first tragedy. Socrates (speech begins 201d): the eminent philosopher and Plato's teacher. Alcibiades (speech begins 214e): a prominent Athenian statesman, orator and general.

5. Describe the allegory of the cave. Is it an apt metaphor for the way we humans learn? Provide an example from your life where you learned something that was both difficult and important but that nevertheless made you unpopular.

The prisoner in the cave is the common human. Who doesn't know what reality is, because they think reality is just what they can see (the shadows) which is really not reality at all.

Socratic irony

This form of irony is named for Socrates, who usually pretended to be ignorant when he was in fact cautious or tentative. The person who states "I do not understand; please explain this to me..." is a Socratic ironist, and his words are ironic, for he clearly does understand.

2.What were Socrates' two deep moral claims in the Crito? How was the 2nd a challenge to the lex talionis? Who else in antiquity articulated a similar moral claim?

Virtue and Laws. Lex Talionis is Latin for the legal concept of mirror punishment. It is based on the idea that a person who has injured another person is hurt to a similar degree, that the punishment should be similar in intensity and kind to the offense of the wrongdoer. The more common way to think of it is "an eye for an eye" or "a tooth for a tooth."By the time of Roman law, the Lex Talionis idea had been largely abandoned for non-physical crimes and specific penalties for crimes had been codified that seemed "more fair" to the culture involved

Socrates' 2 deep moral claims

Virtue and Laws.(Apology - translates as a defense) 1. Socrates concluded that he must be wiser than other men only in that he knows that he knows nothing. In order to spread this peculiar wisdom, Socrates explains that he considered it his duty to question supposed "wise" men and to expose their false wisdom as ignorance. 2. Socrates likens himself to a gadfly stinging the lazy horse which is the Athenian state. Without him, Socrates claims, the state is liable to drift into a deep sleep, but through his influence--irritating as it may be to some--it can be wakened into productive and virtuous action.Socrates is found guilty by a narrow margin and is asked to propose a penalty. Socrates jokingly suggests that if he were to get what he deserves, he should be honored with a great meal for being of such service to the state. On a more serious note, he rejects prison and exile, offering perhaps instead to pay a fine.

Aporia

an aporia is a philosophical puzzle or a seemingly insoluble impasse in an inquiry, often arising as a result of equally plausible yet inconsistent premises. It can also denote the state of being perplexed, or at a loss, at such a puzzle or impasse.

wisdom

the intelligence that gives individuals the empowerment and courage to act; the trait of utilizing knowledge and experience with common sense and insight

jurisprudence

the study and theory of law. A philosophy or body of written law used to settle disputes to regulate interactions. Influenced by the Justinian Code, the Napoleonic Code, and the common law of Great Britain.

philosphy

the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence,knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. In more casual speech, by extension, "philosophy" can refer to "the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group".The word originally meant "the love of wisdom"