Lecture 3 Lecture 3

Ancient Greek PhilosophyAncient Greek PhilosophySocrates and PlatoSocrates and Plato

The Branches of PhilosophyThe Branches of Philosophy

Metaphysics - What’s what? – Reality

Epistemology - What do we know? - Knowledge (Or what’s true?)

(& Truth)

Ethics/Axiology - What’s good? – Value

Confucius 551 -479 B.C.Socrates (469-399BC)Plato (427-BC 347) Aristotle ( 384-BC322 )

Socrates Socrates

Plato (427-BC 347)

Aristotle ( 384-BC322 )

Sayings concerning or from SocratesSayings concerning or from Socrates

• The wisdom of a Socrates.  苏格拉底式的智慧

• Socrates laid the foundations of logic.  苏格拉底奠定了逻辑学的基础。

• The soul also acquired an independent and immortal existence in Socrates;  在苏格拉底的心目中，灵魂也有一种独立和不朽的存在

• The unexamined life is not worth living.-- Socrates  混混噩噩的生活不值得过。－－苏格拉底

• Other man live to eat, while I eat to live.( Socrates) 

别人为食而生存，我为生存而食。（苏格拉底）　 • One thing I know, that is I know nothing. (Socrate

s Greek) 

我所知道的一件事就是我一无所知。（苏格拉底古希腊）

• Plato : ancient Athenian philosopher (428-347 BC);

pupil of Socrates; teacher of Aristotle. 

柏拉图 : 古雅典哲学家（公元前 428-347 年）；苏格拉底的学生；亚里斯多德的老师。

• Socrates was the first of the three great Athenian philosophers (the other two are Plato and Aristotle). He was not from a rich family. His father was probably a stone-carver, and Socrates also worked in stone, especially as a not-very-good sculptor. Socrates' mother was a midwife. We do not have any surviving pictures of Socrates that were made while he was alive, or by anyone who ever saw him, but he is supposed to have been ugly.

• 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.

• But when Socrates was in his forties or so, he began to think about the world around him, and try to answer some difficult questions. He asked, "What is wisdom?" and "What is beauty?" and "What is the right thing to do?" He knew that these questions were hard to answer, and he thought it would be better to have a lot of people discuss the answers together, so that they might come up with more ideas.

• Socrates soon had a group of young men who listened to him and learned from him how to think. Plato was one of these young men. Socrates never charged them any money. But in 399 BC, some of the Athenians got mad at Socrates for what he was teaching the young men. They charged him in court with impiety (not respecting the gods) and corrupting the youth (teaching young men bad things).

He refuses to escape from death He refuses to escape from death sentence.sentence.

• Socrates's argument proceeds from the statement of a perfectly general moral principle to its application in his particular case:

• One ought never to do wrong (even in response to the evil committed by another).

• But it is always wrong to disobey the state.

• Hence, one ought never to disobey the state.

• And since avoiding the sentence of death handed down by the Athenian jury would be an action in disobedience the state, it follows Socrates ought not to escape.

The Trial of SocratesThe Trial of Socrates 399 B. C399 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.

• Plato's dramatic picture of a man willing to face death rather than abandoning his commitment to philosophical inquiry offers up Socrates as a model for all future philosophers.

• Perhaps few of us are presented with the same stark choice between philosophy and death, but all of us are daily faced with opportunities to decide between convenient conventionality and our devotion to truth and reason. How we choose determines whether we, like Socrates, deserve to call our lives philosophical.

• Socratic method

• Perhaps his most important contribution to Western thought is his dialectic method of inquiry, known as the Socratic Method which he largely applied to the examination of key moral concepts such as the Good and Justice. It was first described by Plato in the Socratic Dialogues. To solve a problem, it would be broken down into a series of questions, the answers to which gradually distill the answer you seek.

The Death of Socrates The Death of Socrates

• The influence of this approach is

most strongly felt today in the use of the

Scientific Method, in which hypothesis is the

first stage. The development and practice of

this method is one of Socrates' most enduring

contributions, and is a key factor in earning

his mantle as the father of political

philosophy, ethics or moral philosophy, and

as a figurehead of all the central themes in

Western philosophy

Plato(427 BC - 347 BC)

Socratic Method of Teaching

“Teaching by Asking Instead of by Telling”

Socrates(470-399 BCE)

The Socratic Method is a conversation, a discussion, wherein two or more people assist one another in finding the answers to difficult questions.

Socrates believed that the most effective way of teaching a student to argue logically was to engage the individual in a philosophic dialogue, in which he would attempt to argue a point.

In the Socratic method an interchange takes place between the professor and an individual student in front of the entire class, which trains the student to think on his or her feet - while in front of an audience.

Through questions and answers, and further questions and further answers, the (sometimes randomly) chosen student will hopefully develop, and defend positions that may have first been only vague intuitions.

Philosophical beliefsPhilosophical beliefs

• If anything in general can be said about the philosophical beliefs of Socrates, it is that he was morally, intellectually, and politically at odds with his fellow Athenians. When he is on trial for heresy and corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens, he uses his method to demonstrate to the jurors that their moral values are wrong-headed. He tells them they are concerned with their families, careers, and political responsibilities when they ought to be worried about the "welfare of their souls."

Opinion on KnowledgeOpinion on Knowledge

• Socrates often said his wisdom was limited to an awareness of his own ignorance. Socrates believed wrongdoing was a consequence of ignorance and those who did wrong knew no better. The one thing Socrates consistently claimed to have knowledge of was "the art of love" which he connected with the concept of "the love of wisdom", i.e., philosophy. He never actually claimed to be wise, only to understand the path a lover of wisdom must take in pursuing it.

Opinion on VirtueOpinion on Virtue• Socrates believed the best way for people to live

was to focus on self-development rather than the pursuit of material wealth.

• The idea that humans possessed certain virtues formed a common thread in Socrates' teachings. These virtues represented the most important qualities for a person to have, foremost of which were the philosophical or intellectual virtues. Socrates stressed that "virtue was the most valuable of all possessions; the ideal life was spent in search of the Good. Truth lies beneath the shadows of existence, and it is the job of the philosopher to show the rest how little they really know."

Socrates and his Student PlatoSocrates and his Student Plato

Plato 428-384 B.C.Plato 428-384 B.C.• Plato, the student of

Socrates, founded the first University in the year 387- called the Academy.

• Science and knowledge were the chief goals of study.

• The mind was trained to cut thru rhetoric.

Plato in his AcademyPlato in his Academy

Plato’s PhilosophyPlato’s Philosophy

–Allegory of the Cave

–Philosopher King

–Platonic Love

Allegory of the CaveAllegory 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.

Lessons of the Cave Allegory:

1. Constantly challenge what we consider to be reality.

2. Think dialectically (idea, counter-idea, new idea).

3. Rely upon reasoning over “false” material indications of reality.

three class structure

Head; Reason

Chest; Spirit

Abdomen; Appetite

• Platonic Love (精神恋爱 )

• The combination of flesh is not pure, is dirty

• Love and sexual passion are two opposed status

• If a person is really in love with someone, he will never think of having sex with that person.

• Thank you for your cooperation and wish you have a happy New year !