1 / 9

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. Key ideas. Socrates (470 – 399 BCE) concerned with ETHICS The truth about how to live a good moral life: what is goodness , justice, temperance? An action is right if it promotes our true happiness True pleasure is attained through ethical living

sumi
Download Presentation

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle Key ideas

  2. Socrates(470 – 399 BCE) • concerned with ETHICS • The truth about how to live a good moral life: what is goodness, justice, temperance? • An action is right if it promotes our true happiness • True pleasure is attained through ethical living • Universal definition of justice • Observe laws & limits to lead a good life • Dialogues – role of ignorant questioner to show experts their own ignorance • Care for the soul: gaining wisdom is key to a virtuous life & saving the soul • Knowing what is good = doing what is good The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David See www.pima.gov/publicdefender/socrates.htm

  3. The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David See www.pima.gov/publicdefender/socrates.htm

  4. In this painting, Socrates (470–399 B.C.), un-coerced and unshackled, freely prepares to die by drinking poisonous hemlock. • The philosopher is condemned to die by the Athenian democracy for promoting skepticism and impiety; the Athenians were nervous about offending the gods (after losing to Sparta in the Peloponnesian War). Rather than flee the city, Socrates accepts his unjust punishment and sacrifices himself on abstract principle. • Nevertheless, Socrates shows nobility and self-control in the face of death. (Thoughts, Books and Philosophy; J H Bowden) See www.philosophypages.com

  5. Socrates calmly sits upright with his finger extended in the air, exuding authority, responsibility, and intellect • Surrounding him are his students, most of them acting emotionally. The only students in control of themselves are Plato, seated resigned and unhappy at the end of the bed, and Crito, who has his hand on Socrates’ leg attempting to persuade him rationally not to die until the very end

  6. Plato(428 – 347 BCE) Knowledge through reason, the intellect – not the senses. Knowledge of reality & how we perceive it: what is whiteness, roundness, treeness? (Metaphysics – meaning and reality) Theory of Forms / Ideas: world of the senses / change / illusion / appearance / imperfect vs the authentic world / ideas / unchangeable / spiritual / eternal The Republic – Allegory of the Cave What is spiritual truly exists; the soul – no changeability. Plato distrusted the senses Dualism - Body & soul in conflict; body imprisons soul Ethics – seek truth, goodness, beauty: focus on ‘upward’ journey to the spiritual realm Image courtesy of news.bbc.co.uk

  7. Plato

  8. Plato asks the young girl in Sophie’s World (by Jostein Gaarder) to think about the following 4 questions, thereby engaging in philosophy • Think over how a baker can bake 50 absolutely identical biscuits • Ask yourself why all horses are the same • Decide whether you think that [the human person] has an immortal soul • Say whether men and women are equally sensible

  9. Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE) Interested in scientific proof & principle of cause & effect Whiteness, treeness, justice etc exist – called these ‘forms’ Form and matter: recognises the essence of something & its physical manifestation: what makes me unique + the physical characteristics I exhibit. Both need each other. Form = what makes something what it is: whiteness, treeness, it is unchanging; matter = individual, particular, concrete, it changes. Knowledge begins with the senses. 2 ways of knowing: through the senses first + then through the intellect. We must use our senses as well as our intellect. Seasons: senses tell us there is change. Intellect tells us why. Within change there is stability and a foundation for scientific thought / principles Image courtesy of space.about.com

More Related