...ancient philosophers present differing views on how a life should be lived. Both Socrates and Confucius prescribe a way to live the best life, but their reasons for doing so vary. Socratic philosophy is based on the pursuit of wisdom leading to the separation of the soul from the body. Confucian philosophy describes the path to become an exemplary person, which draw on the lessons of history and community. In comparing their beliefs, we can learn life lessons that are of benefit in the here and now and others that are more esoteric. In the Socratic philosophy of soul and body separation, Socrates maintains that the separation of the soul and body is the end goal of a philosopher’s life. He goes so far as to say that a philosopher ought to welcome death, as it is the culmination of one’s life. He is then asked why suicide is not an option, if a philosopher welcomes death. Socrates rebuts by saying that we are the possessions of our creators, “…would you not be angry if one of your possessions killed itself when you had not given any sign that you wished it to die.” (P. 99) Socrates continues to expand his philosophy by supporting why a philosopher would welcome death. He states that in death, “…I should go first to other wise and good gods, and then to the men who have died and are better than men are here. Be assured, that as it is, I expect to join the company of good men.” (P. 100) Socrates argues that a philosopher who has devoted his life to the search for pure wisdom...
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...In the Phaedo Socrates is waiting in jail for the poison that will fulfil his death sentence. On the day of his execution he has been talking with his friends about his expectations and their fears about his death. Socrates tries to prove that the soul is immortal to his friends in order for them to see that he is content and not unhappy about his death. Nevertheless, the Phaedo fails at proving the immortality of the soul because Socrates assumes that the soul exist and doesn’t clearly define what a soul is. So the arguments that follow like the philosophy is the practice for death, the soul is not likely to be scattered fail, and the proof that opposites come from opposites fail. The arguments work only if the soul exists, and since the soul is only assumed the arguments are unsuccessful at proving the souls immortality. One of the arguments that Socrates uses to prove the immortality of the soul is that philosophy is the practice for death. There are three premises that are implied in order for the argument to succeed. One is that the soul exists, the second is that there is such a thing as death, and the third is that death is the separation of the soul from the body. Yet the argument is circular and does not work because Socrates did not prove what he had assumed. According to Socrates the philosopher...
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...of discussion revolves around the efforts of ancient pioneering philosophers; and today, our philosophy integrates empiricism and rationalism. Empiricism implies that knowledge is gained through experiential insight, while the rationalism assumes that knowledge is gained through one’s practical understanding. During the early Greek times, the vast majority of the Greek philosophies and theories were composed of empiricism and rationalism. Questions that relate to human existence; mind and body, as we will see, were developed on the assumption that knowledge comes from experience. Some theories were so powerful that they have been moulded and manipulated to fit into the faculty of various religious beliefs and practices. The contributions of Socrates (500 BC) still remain to this day, and are studied in great depth such as the “Republic of Plato” which was written by Plato. Socrates, one of the world’s most influential philosophers, who was seemingly ahead of his time, shaped elegant theories which illuminated many of the puzzling aspects regarding life and death – body and soul. In the following narrative, we will describe the main differences, properties, and functions between the body and the soul, according to Socrates. Accompanying will be an explanation of what Socrates sought to be the underlying characteristics interacting within the body and soul. The ways in which Socrates describes the characteristics is what makes him so fundamentally different from any other philosopher...
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...PHI 150 3/11/14 Socrates Paper Socrates is believed to be one of the greatest philosophers of all time and he is credited as being the founder of western philosophy. This paper will explain some of his views to the most fundamental questions of today’s age. These questions will include topics about morality, the human condition, solution, and death. After Socrates’ views on these topics are explained, a critique will be done on his answers. I will start out by explaining exactly who Socrates is, and the time that he lived in. To start out, we will first examine Socrates’ view on morality. There are many questions that could be asked about the topic of morality. Questions like, what are the central moral principles, who is the ideal person, how do you determine right versus wrong. In Socrates’ eyes, I believe that the question of morality comes down to one main question, is it just or unjust? When Socrates was imprisoned facing his death, one of his close friends, Crito, came to him and presented him with an opportunity to escape and he replies to the proposal by saying, “Then in light of this admission we must consider whether or not it is just for me to try and get away without being released by the Athenians. If it turns out to be just, we must make an attempt; if not, we must drop it.” (Crito 48c). Crito then continues to give him reasons why they must escape including how Socrates is endangering the reputation of his friends, how he was put into jail unjustly...
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...Instructor Josh Dohmen Philosophy 1101-002 25 February 2013 Plato’s View on Life and How One Acquires Knowledge Plato is a well-known, intellectual Athenian philosopher that was born into an aristocratic family. Due to his family’s wealth, Plato was able to receive some of best education available to Athenians. When Plato was a pupil, he became infatuated with his Sophist Socrates. Socrates was a Greek philosopher and he was known to preach endlessly about his ideas and theories to anyone that would listen. Plato’s most renowned work comes from his Five Dialogues. In two of Plato’s dialogues, Meno and Phaedo, Socrates is the protagonist and Plato uses his character to portray his philosophical views of life and how one can go about acquiring knowledge. The Meno consists of a discussion between Socrates and his companion, Meno, in which Meno is trying to inquire information on whether “virtue can be taught? Or is it not teachable but the result of practice, or is it neither of these, but men possess it by nature or in some other way” (70a). In the beginning of the dialogue, Socrates asks Meno to define what virtue is and after numerous attempts, Socrates comes to realize that he himself is unclear on whether or not virtue can be taught so he suggests that they can seek out the answer together. Meno is puzzled because he doesn’t know how the two of them will search and acquire knowledge on virtue if they are both unfamiliar with the subject. Socrates’ responds with a debate...
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...Socrates Philosopher Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, Wikipedia “Personal background” Born: 469 BC, Athens, Greece Died:399 BC, Athens, Greece Full name: Socrates Nationality: Greek Era: Ancient philosophy Region: Western philosophy School: Classical Greek Main interests: Epistemology, ethics Notable idea: SocraticMethod, Socratic irony Influenced: Most subsequent Western philosophy; more specifically, Plato, Aristotle, Aristippus, Antisthenes Spouse:Xanthippe Children:Menexenus, Lamprocles, Sophroniscus Aristotle Philosopher Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great “Personal background” Born: 384 BC Stagira, Chalcidice Died: 322 BC (aged 61 or 62) Euboea Nationality: Greek Era: Ancient philosophy Region: Western philosophy School: Peripatetic schoolAristotelianism Main interests: Physics, Metaphysics, Poetry, Theatre, Music, Rhetoric, Politics, Government, Ethics, Biology, and Zoology Notable ideas: Golden mean, Aristotelian logic, syllogism, hexis, homomorphism, Aristotle's theory of soul Plato Philosopher Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece. He was also a mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western...
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...Ethics is defined as the branch of philosophy with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. Socrates discusses this many times in his teachings, specifically in the readings, Euthyphro, the Apology, the Crito and the Phaedo. Socrates’ main question was “What is the good life?” and his pursuit was to find out how to live this “good life”. Socrates’ pursuit of the “good life” helped him to identify knowledge with virtue. He equated knowledge with good or virtue and ignorance with bad or evil. Since no one would knowingly harm themselves, if harm came to a person, then that person must have acted in ignorance. This led him to the thought that if knowledge could be learned, so could virtue. This meant that virtue could be taught, so Socrates had conversations with anyone who boasted about being an expert of a certain subject. This would lead him to gain more knowledge (virtue), which in turn would help him in his goal to lead and teach “the good life”. In the Euthyphro, Socrates starts chatting with a man who is in court to prosecute his father for murder. This man, Euthyphro, claims to be an expert on piety (an expert of religious knowledge), and since Socrates is being prosecuted for impiety, he thinks he will learn how to escape prosecution from this expert. Socrates asks Euthyphro for a universal definition of piety, both for his own personal...
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...PHILOSOPHY ACCOUNT OF MAN & (HIS ENVIROMENT) Abstract This is a reflection in how man has influenced the universe or the world which he lives. From the origin of man till date, he has substantially brought nature under control and his existence is all about how nature and d universe has influenced man and vice-versa. What is philosophy and why is it necessary that we provide the philosophy account of man? The challenge here and the probable answers to the question raised rest on our ability to understand and correctly define first what philosophy is and from there we proceed to give reasons why it must be built on some foundation of man, in this case a philosophic account (foundation). Philosophy most time deals with the probe into the essential nature of things. Based on approach, philosophy can have different definition. To understand that which is philosophical, we must first appreciate what ‘philosophy’ is before explaining the attitudes that derives from it, which is the ‘philosophical’. The term philosophy is derived from two Greek words, ‘Philo’ which means ‘Love” and ‘Sophia’ which means ‘Wisdom’. Thus, literally, ‘philosophy’ is ‘love of wisdom’. Love is a feeling in the head or in the heart that makes us depending on who we are and who we are relating with. My love feeling for example towards my dog would not be the same love feeling to my siblings neither will it be the same with that for my parents and in particular that for my mother. The point here is that...
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...A philosophical view "I think, therefore I exist, as a thing that thinks." "...And as I observed that this truth 'I think, therefore I am' (Cogito ergo sum) was so certain and of such evidence ...I concluded that I might, without scruple, accept it as the first principle of the Philosophy I was in search." "...In the statement 'I think, therefore I am' ... I see very clearly that to think it is necessary to be, I concluded that I might take, as a general rule, the principle, that all the things which we very clearly and distinctly conceive are true..."[1][2] While reading Descartes, Locke began to relish the great ideas of philosophy and the scientific method. On one occasion, while in a meeting with friends, the question of the "limits of human understanding" arose. He spent almost twenty years of his life on the subject until the publication of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, a great chapter in the History of Philosophy.[3] John Locke's chapter XXVII "On Identity and Diversity" in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) has been said to be one of the first modern conceptualizations of consciousness as the repeated self-identification of oneself, through which moral responsibility could be attributed to the subject—and therefore punishment and guiltiness justified, as critics such as Nietzschewould point out, affirming "...the psychology of conscience is not 'the voice of God in man'; it is the instinct of cruelty ... expressed, for the first time, as one...
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...thought and contemplation. Consider the – how, why, where, when , what, etc., Here is a sampling of quiz questions and detailed answers that did receive full credit, and a few examples that did not: |Explain what Socrates means in Plato's "Phaedo" when he says that philosophy is the practice of death. | |Student response: |Philosophy is the practice of the separation of the soul form the body and in that it is like death. | |Score: |[pic] | Notice here how there is no development at all to the answer. The term ‘explain’ indicates much more than a one or two sentence answer. |Student response: |"I want to make my argument before you my judges, as to why I think that a man who has truly spent his life in | | |philosophy is probably right to be of good cheer in the face of death and to be very hopeful that after death he | | |will attain the greatest blessings yonder." These are Socrates famous words to his judges explains a little of what| | |he means by saying philosophy is...
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...PHILMAN PRELIM Lesson 3: Greek Wisdom of Man The Greek Triumvirate The Greek Triumvirate of philosophy is known for having a chain of teacher-student relationship. Socrates was the teacher of Plato; Plato was the teacher of Aristotle; and Aristotle was the teacher of one of history’s greatest conqueror – Alexander, the Great. The Greek Triumvirate & the Three Oriental Sages * Although the teachings of the Three Oriental Sages and the Greek Triumvirate are dissimilar, they however, have a resembling view on the soul of man. * The Oriental sages and the Greek triumvirate believed that man’s soul pre-existed his body. * The Greek triumvirate believes that man, in his original and ideal existence as a soul or a « pure mind », knew all things by direct intuition and had all knowledge stored in his mind. However, when man was banished into his world of sense, man blurred out and forgot almost everything he ever knew. * The Greek triumvirate posited that the present problems of man was caused by ignorance or lack of knowledge and that the only way for man to solve these problems is by recalling all his previous knowledge. * However, while they believe in the vitalityt of looking into one’s self as a method to resolve man’s problem, there are still major differences when it comes to the ‘specifics’ of their ideologies. Socrates * He was born in Athens circa 469 B.C. and died in 399 B.C. * He is known as one of mankind’s greatest teachers. ...
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...Writing Prompt : Socrates and “True Knowledge” With the notion of philosophy and the studying of philosophy it is well known that it is powerful and dangerous. Philosophy has many reasons for its importance such as how to understand your ideas, the origin of your ideas, how to contrast arguments. Philosophy can also help you defend arguments, read it, build your position and understand it. Philosophy is used for the betterment of the world, gender, race, civilization, town, state, country, etc. But in order to practice philosophy you need parrhesia and you need philosophy to practice parrhesia, they come hand in hand with each other. There have been many imperative philosophers that gave us the knowledge and foundation for our study of philosophy today, such as Plato, Aristotle, and among them Socrates. Socrates was an interesting philosopher and his main focus before his death was to find true knowledge and he believed that there was only certain acts of statements that qualified as such. In Socrates work, parrhesia worked as a big role in his work as parrhesia is also known as fearless speech. This form is merged with the courage to face danger in circumstances of life or death. Parrhesia consists of the individual to speak the truth courageously in spite of danger and in its extreme form in life or death. It creates the chance to take the form of criticism to another or oneself, but always in a situation where the speaker is in a position of inferiority. Socrates fits the character...
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... Abstract Many Philosophers made a difference in society but Plato is perhaps recognized as the most famous. His writings have had a profound effect on people, politics, and the philosophy throughout the centuries. He was a public figure and he made major contributions to society. Plato helped to lay the philosophical foundations of modern culture through his ideas and writings. One of the most philosophical thinkers of Western civilization, Plato is the only author from ancient Greek times whose writings survive intact. His collection consists of thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters, though the authorship of some is contested. Plato was born in Athens, into a prosperous aristocratic family. His Father’s name was Ariston and his Mother’s name was Perictione. His relative named Glaucon was one of the best-known members of the Athenian nobility. Plato's name was Aristocles, his nickname Plato originates from wrestling circles, Plato means broad, and it probably refers either to his physical appearance or his wrestling style. “Plato is, by any reckoning, one of the most dazzling writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wide-ranging, and influential authors in the history of philosophy,” (Kraut, 2009). Plato was born during the Golden Age of Athens’s which saw the birth of classical architecture, drama, arts and politics. However, as he was growing up he observed...
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...THE ARGUMENT FROM RECOLLECTION Henna Khan Philosophy 380: Death, Dying, and the Quality of Life 09/10/2017 Socrates presents an argument known as the Argument from Recollection, which attempts to prove one’s soul existed prior to his or her birth. To better explain this argument, a definition will need to be established. Socrates defines in his monologue, the definition of Recollection, “So all human beings are good in the same way, for they become good by acquiring the same qualities. It seems so. And they would not be good in the same way if they did not have the same virtue. They certainly would not be. Since then the virtue of all is the same, try to tell me and to remember what Gorgias, and you with him, said that that same thing is.” To better explain, the argument is sectioned into three parts. The first part stating simply that one acquires knowledge by remembering it through the soul...
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... Title: Phaedo The Last Hours Of Socrates Author: Plato Translator: Benjamin Jowett Release Date: October 29, 2008 [EBook #1658] Last Updated: January 15, 2013 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHAEDO *** Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger PHAEDO By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION.PHAEDO | INTRODUCTION. After an interval of some months or years, and at Phlius, a town of Peloponnesus, the tale of the last hours of Socrates is narrated to Echecrates and other Phliasians by Phaedo the 'beloved disciple.' The Dialogue necessarily takes the form of a narrative, because Socrates has to be described acting as well as speaking. The minutest particulars of the event are interesting to distant friends, and the narrator has an equal interest in them. During the voyage of the sacred ship to and from Delos, which has occupied thirty days, the execution of Socrates has been deferred. (Compare Xen. Mem.) The time has been passed by him in...
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