P R E S E N TAT I O N O N

S O C R AT E S
WHO IS SOCRATES ?

• Socrates is the father of western philosophy

• He never wrote down any of his teachings, his student, plato did, this
for him
• Socrates philosophy arose out of his negative feelings in relation to
the teaching of the sophists.
THE SOPHISTS
Who were they?
• Intelligent men, who travelled from place to place, teaching subjects
like grammar, rhetoric(debating, argument, logic) and literature
• Athens was an emerging democratic centre and educated people
were needed
• The sophists charged for their services, usually employed by the
wealthy and powerful- what the sophists taught was in demand
THE SOPHISTS
What was their philosophy?
• The sophists were concerned with the individual and the individual’s
place in the world
• Protagoras : ‘Man is the measure of all things’
• Led to the belief that the difference between good and evil cannot be
known
• The sophists believed other concepts of truth and justice were
products of habit and circumstance created by those in power to suit
their own interests
‘Justice is simply the interest of the stronger’
~Thrasymachus
 THE PROBLEM WITH THE SOPHISTS
Truth was not the most important issue but rather the ability to
persuade your audience of the truth of your position
• The sophists’ philosophy created tensions in Athens
Ø They suggested there were no absolute norms for the right or
wrong
Ø This contributed to a breakdown in moral order
Ø The distinction between good and evil was no longer clear
Ø He who could argue the best won out(or he who could pay a
sophists the most to argue won out)

• Socrates had enough of the sophists

THE LIFE OF SOCRATES

• Socrates was born around 470 B.C

• Lived in Athens at the height of its civilisation
• Described as a very ugly man, who often walked barefoot and wore
the same kind of clothes whatever the weather
• He was very disciplined person
• He was interested in the development of a person’s moral character
• He lived a virtuous life
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOCRATES

• Unlike the sophists, he believed that there was definite right or wrong
• He believed that people could accept it and apply it into their daily
lives
• He said that it was up to people(society), as a whole, to establish
those things that are right and those that are wrong
• Dedicated his life to searching for standards by which people could
live a virtuous / good life
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOCRATES
Socrates was also concerned with justice
• He wanted life to be fair for all
• It was a person’s. Duty to explore the truth regarding right or
wrong , justice and injustice ,courage and cowardice
• He worked to find principles and laws that all could live by and be
happy

Universal-these truths would be applicable for all people,

at any time , everywhere and in all cases
THE SOCRATIC STYLE
Socrates’ style was distinctive
• He questioned people through discussion or dialogues
• He chose people who were experts in their field and who fully
understood the topic being discussed
• He adopted the role of ignorant questioner who pretended that
he didn’t know and wanted to be gain more information
• He asked tactful question which would bring the experts to a dead
end-they would run out of the answers
Ø This showed them, and others, that they did they did not have all
the answers and, so,were nit experts
Ø Therefore, the aim of this method was to get to the truth of how a
person could live a good, moral life
WHY THE SOCRATIC METHOD?
• Through the dialogues, Socrates wanted to discover people’s
views on living a moral, just life
• Socrates urged to people to question what they are being told,
as well as their beliefs – question everything
• Socrates, himself learned through this process and developed
his own philosophy from this method
OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR SOCRATES
The soul

• The soul is hugely important in his philosophy

Ø Had to be nurtured and protected
Ø Gaining wisdom would save the soul
Ø This lead the person to live a virtuous life
• Knowing what is good is the same as doing what is good
Ø Believed people would not willingly do wrong
Ø No- one wants to be a bad person
Ø Later philosophers would disagreed with him
THE EXECUTION OF SOCRATES
• Socrates was executed in 399 B.C
• Saw Athens was in g]danger of destruction
• Became critical of the government
• He was a social and moral critic
• He attempted to improve Athenian’s sense of justice clashed with
Athenian society
• He claimed he was the wiser one since he was the only person
aware of his won ignorance
THE EXECUTION
OF SOCRATES

• Put on trial and found guilty

for heresy and corrupting
the minds of the youth
• Socrates was forced to drink
lethal poison
• He was given the
opportunity to escape
• However, he chose not to
escape, drank the poison
and died
SUMMARISING SOCRATES
• Virtue(knowledge) is the most valuable of all things
• Life should be spent in search of goodness
• Truth is possible to achieve
• People should focus on self development rather than material
wealth
• It is the job of the philosopher to show people how little they
really know
• An action is right when it promoted true happiness
Student
PLATO
GENERAL FACTS

• 427-347 BCE
• Son of wealthy and influential Athenians
• Student of Socrates
• Aristotle was a student at his “Academy” in Athens
EARLY
PHILOSOPHICAL LIFE

• Studied with Socrates

• When Socrates died, Plato
traveled to Egypt and Italy, studied
with students of Pythagoras, and
spent several years advising the
ruling family of Syracuse
• In 386 BCE, he returned to Athens
and founded his own school of
philosophy, the Academy
HIS PHILOSOPHY

• Concerned with justice, virtue, character, and the human soul.

• Wanted students to become independent thinkers (think for
themselves).
• The only good life or life worth living is a life reasoned by your
own mind, not other’s ideas and opinions; change your life
and mind!
• Examine your life, history, and ideas, once you self examine,
then you are ready for knowledge.
• All knowledge begins in not knowing. To state “I don’t know”
is the first step – open to learning.
HIS
PHILOSOPHY
• Everything has a truth or an “essence,” your job is
to seek this truth. Life is an adventure and
journey, not destination.
• The good teacher will spark you, lead you to the
truth with integrity, reason, imagination.
• Virtue is excellence, or doing your best – reaching
your highest potential for good. All human’s have
potential for virtue, goodness, and to shape good
character.
• The potential rests in the human soul (or
psyche/mind), everyone born with a soul.
• Character is what is developed from this soul, and
is molded and tested and shaped—a dynamic
process.
HIS
PHILOSOPHY
• Plato was the first to unify a system of thought in
Western society.
• We all begin with common sense beliefs,
opinions, we are lead further to ideas, and
principles.
• Human life always involves our fellow man and
our personal and societal destiny.
• Philosophy is not specialized nor technical but a
way of life, requiring intellectual ability and moral
goodness to pursue the good and truth.
• Society is our ultimate teacher, and it may
produce errors and evils, as well as wrong values.
Previous generation may have been wrong and
transmitted bad ideas and practices
PLATO’S
THEORY OF
KNOWLEDGE
• Plato described how the
human mind achieves
knowledge, and indicated
what knowledge consisted
of, by means of:
• 1) his allegory of the Cave
• 2) his metaphor of the
divided line
• 3) his doctrine of
the Forms
THE DIALOGUE
FORM
• Plato used the dialogue form of writing as the most effective means of
presenting his philosophical ideas.
• It was not Plato’s intention to answer specific question or to propose final
and dogmatic solutions to any of the problems that were being discussed.
• Plato preferred instead to do something that would stimulate original
thinking on the part of the reader. This manner of presentation enabled
Plato to present contrasting points of views as they would likely occur in a
series of conversations taking place among individuals having different
points of view.
• Finally, by using conversational method (dialogue), it would be possible to
illustrate ways in which current issues of the day were related to one
another.
• This is one of the reasons why none of Plato’s dialogues are devoted
exclusively to the discussion of a single topic. Plato wanted to make it clear
that in order to understand any particular subject, you must see how it is
related to other subjects and to the field of knowledge as a whole.
THE CAVE

• Allegory from The Republic

• Socrates is talking to Glaucon, one of his
followers
• Story to explain knowledge/wisdom
• Contends that we are ignorant and we are
comfortable with the ignorance because it is all
we know
• Seeking the truth is a difficult process
• Once you have had a taste of the truth, you never
want to go back to being ignorant
PROPOSITION 1:
• What would happen if one of the prisoners was unchained, forced to
stand up, turn around, and walk with eyes lifted up toward the light of
the fire?
• All of his movements would be exceedingly painful
• Would the objects being carried be less meaningful than the shadows seen
before?
• Would his eyes ache from looking at the light of the fire?
• He undoubtedly would return to the things he could see with clarity and without
pain, convinced that the shadows were clearer than the objects he was forced to
look at in the firelight
PROPOSITION 2 :
• Q-What if the prisoner could not turn back and was dragged
forcibly to the mouth of the cave and released only after he
had been brought out into the sunlight?
• The sunlight would be so painful on his eyes that he would be unable
to see any of things he was now told were real
• It would take time for his eyes to become accustomed to the world
outside the cave
• Would at first recognize some shadows
• Would next see reflections of things in water
• In time, he would see things themselves
• Next, he would see heavenly bodies at night
• Finally, the sun
PROPOSITION 3:
• How would such a person feel about his previous life in the
cave?
• He would recall what he and his fellow prisoners took to be wisdom, how they had
a practice of honoring and commending each other (i.e. prizes for the sharpest
eye, best memory, etc.)
• Would the released prisoner still think that such prizes were worth having?
• Would he envy those who received honors in the cave?
• Instead of envy, would he have only sorrow and pity for them?
PROPOSITION 4:
• Q-What if the released prisoner went back to his former seat in the
cave?
• He would have great difficulty seeing for going suddenly from daylight into the
cave would fill his eyes with darkness
• He would have trouble distinguishing the shadows on the wall
• Those who had their permanent residence in the cave would win every round
of competition with him
• Those in the cave would find this very amusing and would taunt him saying
that his sight was perfectly fine before and was now ruined
• They would argue that it was not worth going out of the cave
Student
LIFE

• Born in 384 BCE. at Stagirus, a Greek colony and

seaport on the coast ofThrace
• Father Nichomachus, court physician to King Amyntas
of Macedonia
• Aristotle's long associated with theMacedonian Court
, influenced his life:
• Father died when Aristotle was 17: Guardian ,
Proxenus , sent him toAthens . the intellectual center
of the world, to complete his education
• Joined Plato’s Academy and
studied under him, attending his
lectures for a period of twenty
years
• began to lecture on rhetoric
• Plato died in 347, but Aristotle
was not designated to lead
Academy divergence from
Plato’s teaching was too great,
Plato’s nephew Speusippus was
chosen instead
• : left for friend Hermes court (ruler of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia): stayed 3 years, married
Pythias, the niece of the King
• married a second time to Herpyllis later; she bore him. Nichomachus
• Hermes was overtaken by the Persians, and Aristotle went to Mytilene:
• At the invitation of Philip of Macedonia he became the tutor of his 13 year old sonAlexander
(later world conqueror); he did this for the next five years
• Philip and Alexander appear to have paidAristotle high honor, and there were stories that
Aristotle was supplied by theMacedonian court, not only with funds for teaching, but also with
thousands of slaves to collect specimens for his studies in natural science. These stories are
probably false and certainly exaggerated.
LOGIC

• Categories (10 classifications of terms)

• On Interpretation (propositions, truth, modality)
• Prior Analytics (syllogistic logic)
• Posterior Analytics (scientific method and syllogism)
• Topics (rules for effective arguments and debate)
• On Sophistical Refutations (informal fallacies)
PHYSICAL WORKS

• 1Physics (explains change, motion, void, time)

• 2On the Heavens (structure of heaven, earth,elements)
• 3.On Generation (through combining materialconstituents)
• 4.Meteorologics (origin of comets, weather,disasters)
PSYCHOLOGICAL WORKS

• 1. On the Soul (explains faculties, senses, mind, imagination)

• 2. On Memory, Reminiscence,Dreams, and Prophesying
WORKS ON NATURAL HISTORY

• 1.History of Animals (physical/mental qualities, habits)

• 2.On the parts of Animals
• 3.On the Movement of Animals
• 4On the Progression of Animals
• 5.On the Generation of Animals
• 6.Minor treatises
• 7.Problems
PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS

• Metaphysics (substance, cause, form, potentiality)

• Nicomachean Ethics (soul, happiness, virtue, friendship)
• Eudemain Ethics
• Magna Moralia
• Politics (best states, utopias, constitutions, revolutions)
• Rhetoric (elements of forensic and political debate)
• Poetics (tragedy, epic poetry)