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http://socrates.clarke.edu What is Socrates’ method? What is philosophical method? Watch this Philosophers’ Football Match !. The Socratic Method. Dialectic: question and answer, the importance of the method is that questions lead to more questions and not answers
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http://socrates.clarke.edu • What is Socrates’ method? • What is philosophical method? • Watch this Philosophers’ Football Match!
The Socratic Method • Dialectic: question and answer, the importance of the method is that questions lead to more questions and not answers • Irony: the pose of ignorance on the part of the teacher, who may know more than he lets on • Elenchos: cross-examination, refutation • Midwifery (maieutic): eliciting ideas already present in the pregnant subject’s mind
Plato’s Apology of Socrates • What charges are brought against Socrates? • “Socrates does injustice and is meddlesome, by investigating the things under the earth and the heavenly things, and by making the weaker speech the stronger, and by teaching others these same things” (p. 66). • “Socrates does injustice by corrupting the youth, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel” (p.73).
“Socrates does injustice and is meddlesome (a), by investigating the things under the earth and the heavenly things (b), and by making the weaker speech the stronger (c), and by teaching others these same things (d)” (p. 66). • This hard to remove slander comes from the comic poet Aristophanes in The Clouds (423 BC). • Was Socrates a sophist (i.e., a “wise” paid teacher of rhetoric, an egoist and relativist)?
Socrates’ Responses • (a) Soc. might admit to being meddlesome, after all he calls himself the “gadfly of Athens” • (b) Soc. suggests that he has been confused with Anaxagoras (p. 76) and that his accusers have not read the books carefully. • (c) Soc. is not a clever speaker, but a speaker of the truth. Here he offers the many present as his witnesses. • (d) Soc. says that he has never accepted money for his teaching. He later says that he isn’t a teacher…just someone who pursues justice and virtue.
“Socrates does injustice by corrupting the youth (e), and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes (f), but in other daimonia that are novel (g)” (p.73). • (e) Does the many or the one make the youth better? Horse analogy • (e) Does anyone wish to be harmed by those he associates with? • If Soc. voluntarily corrupts the youth then he risks receiving harm in return • Either he doesn’t corrupt the youth or he does so involuntarily (in which case he should be helped, not punished).
(f & g) Soc. gets Meletus to contradict himself by claiming that Soc. is an atheist and a believer in daimonia. (p. 77) • Does Soc. accurately respond to these charges?
The oracle at Delphi and Socrates’ response • What did the oracle say? • There is no one wiser than Soc. (p. 69) • How did Soc. respond? • He interpreted it as a charge from the gods to examine others to find out who is wise • He investigated politicians, poets, and craftsman • He concludes: “that really the god is wise, and that…human wisdom is worth little or nothing” (p. 71).
What is Socrates’ philosophy? • A great good, something he would never stop practicing • Not to care for the least important things, such as money, bodies, reputation, honor, family, household management, etc. (pp. 81 & 90) • But care for the greatest things, such as virtue, justice, prudence, truth, and “how your soul will be the best possible” (p. 81) • Socrates is convinced that he does “not do injustice to any human being voluntarily” (p. 91).
The Verdict and Sentence • What happened? • Soc. is found guilty by a vote of 280 to 220. • Meletus proposes the death penalty. What counterproposal is offered by Soc.? • Free meals in the Prytaneum (ancient and sacred hearth of the city reserved for Olympic victors and other benefactors of the city) • His supporters then get him to propose a fine, but the jury sentences him to death.
What are Socrates’ views of death? • Irrational to fear what one does not know, or to suppose that one knows what ones does not (p. 80) • Not something bad because “the sign of the god” did not oppose Soc. • Either: nothing, no perception, like a sleep without dreams, which would be a “wondrous gain” • Or: something—”a change and migration of the soul,” a journey to Hades, which would be “an inconceivable happiness,” for one could continue to philosophize • Does the last line of the text pose any problems? • Is the view of death in the Phaedo consistent with these views?
Plato’s Phaedo • “The setting for this dialogue is the prison on the day of Socrates execution. The interlocutors dialogue throughout the day and the execution occurs in the evening. Those present to converse with Socrates include Phaedo, for whom the dialogue is named, Crito, Cebes, Simmias, and Apollodorus. Notably absent is Plato. It has been speculated that he avoided the execution for fear of breaking down emotionally and disappointing his teacher.” • What are the central ideas in this text?
1. Dualism: (i) the view that a human being is comprised of both a visible part (body) and an invisible one (soul), and (ii) the view that there are two distinct worlds • 2. Immortality of the soul: What happens after death? • 3. The importance of philosophy: • “No one may join the company of the gods who has not practiced philosophy and is not completely pure when he departs from life, no one but a lover of learning.”
PLATO'S DIVIDED LINE PLATO'S DIVIDED LINE PLATO'S DIVIDED LINE Faculty (within the soul) Faculty (within the soul) Faculty (within the soul) Faculty (within the soul) Faculty (within the soul) Faculty (within the soul) Object (out there) Object (out there) Object (out there) Object (out there) Object (out there) Object (out there) KNOWLEDGE KNOWLEDGE KNOWLEDGE KNOWLEDGE KNOWLEDGE KNOWLEDGE Intelligence (Reason, Dialectic) Reason (Dialectic) Reason (Dialectic) Reason (Dialectic) Reason (Dialectic) Reason (Dialectic) Higher Forms (Beauty, Justice, Truth, etc. Higher Forms (Beauty, Justice, Truth, etc. Higher Forms (Beauty, Justice, Truth, etc. Higher Forms (Beauty, Justice, Truth, etc. Higher Forms (Beauty, Justice, Truth, etc. Higher Forms (Beauty, Justice, Truth, etc. Intelligible WorldLit by the Form of the Good Intelligible WorldLit by the Form of the Good Intelligible WorldLit by the Form of the Good Intelligible WorldLit by the Form of the Good Intelligible WorldLit by the Form of the Good Intelligible WorldLit by the Form of the Good Understanding (based on assumptions) Understanding (based on assumptions) Understanding (based on assumptions) Understanding (based on assumptions) Understanding (based on assumptions) Thinking (based on assumptions) Forms of Math and Science Forms of Math and Science Forms of Math and Science Forms of Math and Science Forms of Math and Science Forms of Math and Science OPINION OPINION OPINION OPINION OPINION OPINION Perception, Belief Perception, Belief Perception, Belief Belief (Perception) Perception, Belief Perception, Belief Particular Things - Living and Artificial Particular Things - Living and Artificial Particular Things - Living and Artificial Particular Things - Living and Artificial Particular Things - Living and Artificial Particular Things - Living and Artificial Visible or Sensible WorldLit by the Sun Visible or Sensible WorldLit by the Sun Visible or Sensible WorldLit by the Sun Visible or Sensible WorldLit by the Sun Visible or Sensible WorldLit by the Sun Visible or Sensible WorldLit by the Sun Conjecture, Imagining Conjecture, Imagining Imagining Conjecture, Imagining Conjecture, Imagining Conjecture, Imagining Shadows, Images, Reflections, Copies Shadows, Images, Reflections, Copies Shadows, Images, Reflections, Copies Shadows, Images, Reflections, Copies Shadows, Images, Reflections, Copies Shadows, Images, Reflections, Copies
What does Crito want of Socrates and how does Socrates respond? • To escape and go into exile (Thessaly) • Why? • Otherwise Crito will lose both a unique companion and his reputation. • Crito suggests that Socrates is betraying himself, as well as his family and friends. • Socrates wishes to focus on the reasoning and the arguments that can be deduced.
Argument about opinions: Should one honor the opinions of some or all? • For Socrates, it’s the former. Just as a gymnast would honor the one doctor or trainer who cares for the body, the person should honor the truth itself and not the many. • For Socrates, it’s not living, but living well that is most important.
Is it just for Socrates to escape? • Socrates gets Crito to agree that doing injustice is always wrong… • “Even he who has been done injustice, must not do injustice in return, as the many suppose, since one must in no way do injustice.” (p. 107) • Then “the Laws” speak (p. 108 f.) to suggest that if Socrates were to go away from the city without persuading it, he would be doing injustice to the laws and community.
Socrates embraces a “social contract theory” which holds that by staying in the city and enjoying the protection of its laws (e.g., marriage/birth, nurture, education), one has agreed to abide by those laws. • If Socrates were to leave he would be undermining the authority of the laws, and could then be truly considered as a corruptor of the youth.
