Transcript Socrates & Plato - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Socrates, Plato &
The Sophist
The Sophists
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Protagoras
Gorgias
Thrasymachus
Argued that truth was relative.
Taught rhetoric, the art of persuasion,
regardless of the truth.
Protagoras
• Man is the
measure of all
things. Of the
things that are,
that they are, of
the things that
are not, that
they are not.
Relativism
• Protagoras is a relativist about knowledge.
• The question is what type of relativist?
Is knowledge relative to the:
Individual
Culture
Species
Protagoras regarding God
• About the gods, I am not able to know
whether they exist or do not exist, nor
what they are like in form; for the factors
preventing knowledge are many; the
obscurity of the subject, and the shortness
of human life.
• Agnostic- undecided about god’s
existence.
Views on God
• Agnostic- undecided about god’s
existence.
• Atheist- God does not exist.
• Theist- God exist
Gorgias
• 1) That nothing exist
• 2) That if anything
does exist, it is
incomprehensible
• 3) That even if it is
comprehensible, it
cannot be
communicated.
Can’t express knowledge
• If reality is comprehensible, it cannot be
accurately communicated.
• He claimed that we communicate with
words,
• Words are only symbols or signs,
• Symbols can never be the same as the
thing they represent.
• For this reason knowledge cannot be
adequately communicated.
Impossible to Express
• 1) People communicate with words
• 2) Words are (symbols, signs, sounds)
• 3) Words are not the same as the thing
they represent
• 4) Our ideas are not the same as words.
• 5) For this reason knowledge (our ideas)
cannot be adequately communicated with
words.
Skepticism
• The idea that we do not have knowledge.
• Gorgias’ skepticism lead him to the study
and teaching of rhetoric.
Thrasymachus
• Thra-sym-achus
• Injustice Pays!
• Justice is for the
ignorant.
Thrasymachus
• The wise pursue their own interest at the
expense of others.
• Might = Right.
• A view echoed by Thomas Hobbes and
Nietzsche.
Socrates (469-399 BC)
• Socrates asked
probing questions of
the intellectual elite in
Athens.
Socrates (469-399 BC)
• All sources agree that Socrates was
exceedingly ugly, had an unorthodox
(lowly) manner of dress, and often
wandered around barefooted.
The Oracle of Delphi
• Declared by the Oracle at Delphi to be the
Wisest of men- he said he was wise
because he admitted his ignorance!
Dialogues or plays
• Socrates taught orally and did not put his
doctrines into writing.
• He did not write books. His student, Plato,
wrote dialogues that reflect his views.
• These are accounts of debates.
Not a Sophist
• Unlike the Sophists (who were paid for
teaching wealthy aristocrats the skills of
oration and persuasive argument)
• Socrates charged no fees and taught
students (including women) from various
walks of life.
Socratic Method
The Socratic Method is used to arrive at
truth- The Essential Nature of Things.
Also known as dialectic method, it is where
you continue to question something until
you arrive at a definition of the thing in
question. (If that is possible)
Socrates and his Student Plato
The Trial of Socrates 399 B. C.
• Socrates was accused of Impiety(refusing to acknowledge the gods
recognized by the State )
• & Corrupting the young.
• Jury of 500 Found Socrates Guilty.
• Sentenced to Death… Could have
escaped into exile. Choose to accept
death sentence.
Socrates was found guilty by a jury
of 500, sentenced to Death!
Plato 428-384 B.C.
• Plato, the student of
Socrates, founded the first
University in the year 387called the Academy.
• Science and knowledge
were the chief goals of
study.
• The mind was trained to
cut thru rhetoric.
Plato’s Philosophy
• Theory of Forms
– Allegory of the Cave
– Divided Line
– Platonic Forms
– Platonic Realism
– Division of the Soul
– Philosopher King
– Memories of the Soul
Allegory of the Cave
• Plato ask us to imagine…
• …that men believe the shadows are real.
• This is told in class, and it is told well.
• Page 40 in Book.
Plato on knowledge
• Plato thinks that because this world is
constantly changing, that truth is this world
is impossible.
• Truth for Plato is something, eternal.
• Objects in this world are not eternal, so
are beliefs about them cannot always be
correct.
Divided Line (p.51)
Intelligible
World
FORMS
Knowledge Truth/
Knowledge
Intelligible
World
Visible
World
Numbers & Thinking
Sets
Physical
Belief
Objects
Truth/
Knowledge
Opinion
Visible
World
Images,
copies of
objects
Opinion
Opinion or
Imagining
Platonic Forms
• PLATONIC FORMS:
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UNIVERSAL IDEAS OR CONCEPTS
ETERNAL
CHANGLESS
TIMELESS
NON-MATERIAL ESSENCES
Platonic Forms Continued
• All physical objects are copies of
these original entities
• They exist in another plain of realityin an immaterial realm.
Modes of Thought
Knowledge
Thinking
Belief
Imagining
Imagining
• Imagining is the lowest form of knowledge.
• It is the lowest because the mind does not
know it is just an image- it thinks the
image is real (as in the CAVE)
• An Imagine is an imperfect copy of a
physical object. As such it is lower on the
scale of knowledge than the physical
thing.
Belief
• A belief is held about some physical
object.
• Physical objects do not correspond to the
“true” or “real” Form that they copy.
• Beliefs about physical objects are not
certain, because the objects and world are
in a state of changing.
• Physical objects are not eternal.
Thinking
• Thinking is a deeper level of
understanding.
• One moves from the visible world, to the
intelligible world of thought.
• The objects of mathematics, such as
numbers, sets, geometric figures and
formula make up this level of knowledge.
Knowledge
• Perfect Intelligence- Knowledge of the
Forms.
• At this level of understanding the mind
grasp the unity of reality, and the truth that
the ideas or Forms are what really exist!
Platonic Forms
• Plato claimed that all physical objects copy
the original, unchanging Form.
• Physical objects are imperfect copies.
• Like Heraclitus, he held that this reality is
constantly changing and shifting.
• What is true today may be false tomorrow
in this world.
• In the realm of the Forms- truth is eternal.
How are Forms related to one
another.
• Forms are related to one another.
• For Example:
– Form Animal
– Form Horse
Particular Horse
Form Shape
Form Circle
Particular circle
How are Forms related to
Particulars
• Particulars- or Particular objects, partake
of the Form.
• Socrates partakes in the Form Man
• The clock partakes in circle, clock,
numbers…
• How specific we need to get is a question.
Platonic Realism
• The notion that Forms or Ideas exist in a
separate reality is known as Platonic
Realism.
Universals and Particulars.
• This is an issue in metaphysics• What is the relationship between ideas
and objects.
• Universals is another name for ideas or
concepts. (General terms)
• Particulars is another name for objects or
individual things that we encounter in the
world.
Ontological Status of Ideas
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Platonic Realism
Exaggerated Realism
Conceptualism
Extreme Nominalism
Platonic Realism
• Ideas are real. They have independent
existence, apart from our thoughts.
• For Plato Universals have Transcendental
existence apart from the particulars that
participate. The Form is the cause of the
essence of a thing, and the particulars are
said to imitate or copy the Forms in an
imperfect way.
Exaggerated Realism
• Exaggerated Realism is the notion that
Universals exist in the particulars as part
of what makes them similar.
• The particulars are a mix or composite of
form and matter.
Aristotle’s Exaggerated Realism
• Aristotle did not accept Plato’s claim that
there was a separate realm, or heaven of
Forms.
• Aristotle claimed that forms were real, but
existed in the objects that we perceive and
in our minds.
St. Anselm’s Exaggerated Realism
• St. Anselm argued that the doctrine of
original sin and of the Trinity required this
interpretation of what ideas are.
Conceptualism
• All ideas are real, but the are dependent
upon a mind, or thought.
• The function of a universal term is to
denote a special relationship between
particular objects. Universal are object
concepts that we form in our minds by
examining particulars.
Extreme Nominalism
• Ideas are not real objects. They do not have
real existence.
• Only particulars or individuals exist in nature. A
general term, a universal, such as a word does
not refer to anything; it is only a word (voces), or
a name (nomen), composed of letters and
expressed as a vocal emission and is therefore
only air.
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How do we know the Forms
• Why should we accept that there is a
separate reality filled with ideas?
• Plato claims that he remembers the
Forms.
• According to Plato our Soul is eternal, and
once existed in the realm of the Forms.
Memories of the Soul
• According to Plato our soul is eternal. It
comes from the realm of the Forms and is
infused with the body during pregnancy.
• All of us had complete access to all the
Forms
• We all have within our soul, absolute
knowledge.
Division of the Soul
• According to Plato the soul is divided into
three parts.
• Tripartite conception of the soul.
• Reason
• Spirit
• Appetite
Reason
• Reason guides us rationally towards
reasonable goals
Spirit
• Spirit gives us the ability to comply with
reason, to be brave and follow thru with
our goals
Appetite
• The appetitive side of our soul drives our
impulses and desires.
• Reason, according to Plato, must keep the
desires in check.
• Allowing our passions to make decision
will lead to chaos and ruin.
Plato and ignorance
• Ignorance leads to evil.
• Plato claims that no one knowingly does
wrong.
• Akrasia- or weakness of the will, does not
exist.
• People simply do not understand the harm
they are doing by performing certain
actions.
Philosopher King
• Plato argued that society should be
ordered like the soul.
• Reason- Philosopher King
• Spirit- Auxiliaries or Soldiers
• Appetites- workers/ artisans
Plato’s Ideal Society
• Plato’s ideal society is an intellectual
Aristocracy.
• Smart people deciding for everyone the
right and the good.
• Because smart people have a true grasp
of the world.
Ranking of Social Structures
• Plato thought an intellectual aristocracy
was the best form of government.
• He held that a democracy was the worst.