Ancient PhilosophyCal State Fullerton

Instructor: Jason Sheley

Quiz Reviewmotive FP ontology knowledge ethics

Thales

Pythagoras

Xenophanes

Heraclitus

Parmenides

Sophists

Socrates

Transition to Plato

• The question we want to consider now is what motivates Plato to pursue his philosophy?

• (As we will see, Plato believes in Forms. Why did he resort to this?)

• 1) What is real? What is known? (Heraclitus and Parmenides)

• 2) The political climate (and Socrates...)

• 3) Sophistry and values

• CAN WE DO BETTER?

• The question: what does the identity of an object consist in?

• The answer(s): ???

• Reasons: ...

• Critique?

Another version...

Modern Greece

Part 1 - Plato’s World

Map of Ancient Greece: http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/gk_wrld.htm

• Some key events:

• http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/chrono.htm

• How does Ancient Athens strike you? What sort of place and environment was this?

Part 2 - The SophistsHow many of Plato’s dialogues either have the name

of a Sophist in the title or are concerned with sophistry somehow?

• What did Plato find so problematic about the Sophists and their influence on his society?

Sophistry and the Good Life

Relativism

• Protagoras - “A person is the measure of all things — of things that are, that they are, and of things that are not, that they are not.” (#8)

• #10, #5

Relativism

“Man is the measure of all things. Of those that are, that they are. Of those that are not, that they are not.” -

Relativism

• Cultural relativism - judgments about truth are dependent on the culture in which they are said

• Individual relativism - judgments about truth are dependent on the individual

Application: Rotten Tomatoes.com

Should we treat moral judgments the same way we treat judgments about art or food?

Can you think of any objections to relativism?

The most important question is this: can relativism do all of the work we

need it to do?

Can you think of any objections to

relativism?

Rules by Convention

• Antiphon #21, 22

The Law Courts

“The Only Truth”

http://cityfile.com/profiles/murray-richman

The Socratic Shock

Apology

• Socrates wrote nothing himself during his lifetime. We know most of what we know about Socrates through the writings of his students (Plato, Xenophon), as well as his enemies (Aristophanes).

• Socrates often appears as a character in Plato’s dialogues.

• To what extent should we trust that the characters’ views were the views of the historical Socrates?

Plato’s Apology

The Story...• Socrates was accused and brought to trial.

The dialogue Euthyphro recounts a conversation before Socrates goes to trial (we will read this one later). The Apology tells us what happened at the trial. Crito takes place when Socrates is awaiting his execution. And Phaedo recounts a conversation that Socrates has on the day of his death, before he drinks the poison.

Why dialogues?

• Let’s look at the Toolkit entry on “Dialectic”...

Apology

• The Greek term apologia means “defense,” which would probably be a better translation for the title.

• We won’t focus on it here, but what was Socrates accused of? (19b-c) What is Socrates’ reply to the charges?

The Oracle at Delphi

γνώθι σεαυτόν μηδέν άγαν

"Know yourself" "Nothing overmuch"

The Mission:

• Let’s look at 20d-23c

• What does the Oracle of Delphi say?

• How does Socrates respond to this?

• What is he looking for?

The Method

• Socrates practices a type of dialectic (see Toolkit).

• How does he proceed? Does anyone pass the test?

• (By the way, consider just how out of the ordinary this is...)

The Purpose• But why does Socrates bother testing people

at all? What’s the point? (We get our answer to this after Socrates is found guilty and sentenced to death.)

• Let’s look at 30e-31c (how Socrates sees his role)

• The Gadfly analogy

• See 29d-30c on what people should care about

• Some further texts:

• 28b-d (on whether one should care about death)

• 29a-c (On Socrates’ views about his own wisdom)

• 29c-30b