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THE SOPHISTS • Sophists believed in developing the communication and persuasive skills of their students in order to prepare them for public office and other important posts. Sophists placed importance on the subjects of logic, grammar, rhetoric, and public speaking. Students were taught to argue both sides of the issue rather than pursuing their beliefs. Protagoras developed an effective teaching method that taught students how to become good communicators and persuaders. The influence of Protagoras, and the Sophists, is evident today in the political arena as well as the courtroom.
SOCRATES • Socrates (469-399 BC) is by far one of the most well-known Greek philosophers in the world. His works continues to influence Western society to this day. Unlike the Sophists, Socrates believed in the pursuit of the truth. He advocated a liberal education in order to get to this truth. Socrates was a proponent of academic freedom, a concept enshrined in today’s universities and institutions of higher learning. The Socratic Method, a dialogue based teaching method that forces students to think critically and deeply, is still in use today and is often cited as one of the best methods to teach and test.
The Socratic method (also known as method of elenchus, elenctic method, Socratic irony, or Socratic debate), is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas. It is a dialectical method, often involving an oppositional discussion in which the defense of one point of view is pitted against the defense of another; one participant may lead another to contradict himself in some way, thus strengthening the inquirer's own point.
PLATO • Plato (429-347 BC) was a student of Socrates, and the teacher of Aristotle. Along with Socrates and Aristotle, he is regarded as the most influential figure in Western philosophy. In The Republic, Plato outlines the ideal society as the one ruled by a philosopher-king. He placed a firm emphasis on the education of rulers, and regarded extensive studying as a necessity to assume political office. Plato believed in life-long learning and constant intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth.
What is real? • THEORY OF FORMS OR THEORY OF IDEAS_ Plato's theory of Forms or theory of Ideas asserts that non-material abstract forms (or ideas), and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality • The Greek concept of form precedes the attested language and is represented by a number of words mainly having to do with vision: the sight or appearance of a thing. The main words, εἶδος(eidos) and ἰδέα(idea)[ • come from the Indo-European root *weid-, "see". Both words are already there in the works of Homer, the earliest Greek literature. Equally ancient is μορφή(morphē), "shape", from an obscure root.[The φαινόμενα(phainomena), "appearances", from φαίνω(phainō),
CAN VIRTUE BE TAUGHT? The dialogue begins with Meno asking Socrates to tell him if virtue can be taught. Socrates says that he is clueless about what virtue is, and so is everyone else he knows.
Meno responds that, according to Gorgias, virtue is different for different people, that what is virtuous for a man is to conduct himself in the city so that he helps his friends, injures his enemies, and takes care all the while that he personally comes to no harm.Socrates objects: there must be some virtue common to all human beings.Socrates rejects the idea that human virtue depends on a person's gender or age. He leads Meno towards the idea that virtues are common to all people.
INNATE KNOWLEDGE • Socrates responds to this sophistical paradox with a mythos (poetic story) according to which souls are immortal and have learned everything prior to inhabiting the human body. Since the soul has had contact with real things prior to birth, we have only to 'recollect' them when alive. Such recollection requires Socratic questioning, which according to Socrates is not teaching. Socrates demonstrates his method of questioning and recollection by interrogating a slave who is ignorant of geometry.
Allegory of the chariot • few souls which are fully enlightened are able to see the world of the forms in all its glory. Some souls have difficulty controlling the black horse, even with the help of the white horse. They may bob up into the world of the forms, but at other times enlightenment is hidden from them. If overcome by the black horse or forgetfulness, the soul loses its wings and is pulled down to earth.Should that happen, the soul is incarnated into one of nine kinds of person, according to how much truth it beheld. The categories are: philosophers, lovers of beauty, men of culture, or those dedicated to love; law-abiding kings or civic leaders; politicians, estate-managers or businessmen; ones who specialize in bodily health; prophets or mystery cult participants; poets or imitative artists; craftsmen or farmers; sophists or demagogues; and tyrants.
CHARIOT ALLEGORY • Plato, in his dialogue Phaedrus (sections 246a - 254e), uses the Chariot Allegory to explain his view of the human soul. • the charioteer of the human soul drives a pair, one of the horses is noble and of noble breed the other quite the opposite in breed and character. Therefore in our case the driving is necessarily difficult and troublesome. The Charioteer represents intellect, reason, or the part of the soul that must guide the soul to truth; one horse represents rational or moral impulse or the positive part of passionate nature (e.g., righteous indignation); while the other represents the soul's irrational passions, appetites, or concupiscent nature. The Charioteer directs the entire chariot/soul, trying to stop the horses from going different ways, and to proceed towards enlightenment.
The Ring of Gyges • Glaucon asks whether any man can be so virtuous that he could resist the temptation of being able to perform any act without being known or discovered. Glaucon suggests that morality is only a social construction, the source of which is the desire to maintain one's reputation for virtue and justice. Hence, if that sanction were removed, one's moral character would evaporate.
Socrates along with various Athenians and foreigners discuss the meaning of justice and examine whether or not the just man is happier than the unjust man by considering a series of different cities coming into existence "in speech", culminating in a city (Kallipolis) ruled by philosopher-kings; and by examining the nature of existing regimes. The participants also discuss the theory of forms, the immortality of the soul, and the roles of the philosopher and of poetry in society.
PHILOSOPHER KING • Philosopher kings are the rulers, or Guardians, of Plato's Utopian Kallipolis. If his ideal city-state is to ever come into being, "philosophers [must] become kings or those now called kings [must]genuinely and adequately philosophize" (The Republic, 5.473d).
IF KNOWLEDGE IS INNATE, WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE EDUCATOR?HOW SHOULD WE TEACH? • WHERE DO YOU SEE THE ARGUMENTS BTW SOPHISTS AND SOCRATES TODAY? • WHAT TEACHING METHODOS/STRATEGIES DID SOCRATES USE? ARE THEY APPLICABLE TODAY?HOW?WHERE? • WHAT THOUGHT/POLITICAL SYSTEM DOES THE REPUBLIC SEEM TO SUPPORT? • PLATO SEEM TO SUGGEST THAT PHILOSOPHER KINGS SHOULD BE TRAINED FIRST WITH MUSIC AND POETRY, PHYSICAL TRAINING ETC. AND THOSE WHO SHOW ATTITUDE WITH 15 YEAR S OF PRACTICAL POLITICAL TRAINING. DO YOU AGREE IN THIS SELECTION? HOW SHOULD THE SOUL BE TRAINED?WHY?
