Socrates & Plato
Socrates (c. 470-399)
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Son of a stonemason
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Hoplite in Peloponnesian War
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Married w/ children
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Associates include Alcibiades, Critias
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Wrote nothing
The "Socratic Problem"
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Plato: Apology & other works
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Xenophon: Apology & Memorabilia
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Aristophanes, Clouds
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Aristotle & other later writers
Methods & Approach
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Not a sophist (no travel or fees)
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Focus on ethics (not rhetoric, science)
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Dialectic: S. as midwife or gadfly
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Acknowledges own ignorance
Virtue = Knowledge
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No one does wrong willingly
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Those w/ knowledge should rule?
The Trial of Socrates
404/3 Rule of the "Thirty Tyrants"
403 Democracy restored
Amnesty (for all but the 30)
399 Trial of Socrates
Accusers
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Meletus: poet w/ religious interests
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Anytus: democratic politician
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Lycon: unknown
Charges
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1a) Introducing new gods
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1b) Not recognizing state’s gods
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2) Corrupting the young
Socrates & Religion
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Delphic oracle
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Daimonion (divine "sign")
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"a rooster for Asclepius"
Charge (2) the real issue?
Plato (c. 429-347)
Life
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Aristocratic family
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Interest in Pythagoreanism
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Founds Academy at Athens
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Connections with tyrants in Sicily
Works
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Apology of Socrates
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30+ Dialogues
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[Letters] (one or two authentic?)
Early Dialogues
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Socrates as main character
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Method: elenchus (cross-examination)
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Usually ask "What is ________"?
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Stress search for definition (not just examples)
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Often ‘aporetic’ (no firm conclusion)
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Example: Protagoras
Middle Dialogues
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Socrates still prominent
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Some Q&A, but longer speeches too
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Attempts at positive answers
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Example: Symposium
The Republic
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Book 1: What is justice?
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Books 2-10: Sketch of ideal state
|
Individual
|
State
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| Reason |
"Guardians" |
| Spirit/Ambition |
Warriors |
| Appetites |
Workers |
Theory of Ideas/Forms
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Abstract concepts have real existence
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Metaphor of the cave (Republic 7)
How do we have access to Ideas?
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Rational thought + recollection
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Immortality of soul (Phaedo)
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Story of Er (Republic Book 10)
Later Dialogues
General characteristics
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Greater denseness & difficulty
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Less dialogue, more long exposition
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Increasingly mystical tone
Timaeus
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Cosmogony
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Only dialogue known in Middle Ages
Critias
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Unfinished supplement to Timaeus
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Atlantis myth
Laws
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2nd try at Republic
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"Socrates" does not appear
Key Platonic Features
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Idealism (vs. pragmatism)
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Higher truth (vs. senses, ‘reality’)
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Soul (vs. body)
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