PHIL 127: History of Ancient Philosophy
Socrates and His Mission
When is a Question Philosophical?
Philosophical questions have answers. (A question that has no answer is not a question; it just masquerades as one.)
But a question is philosophical for a particular culture at a particular time when no means of answering it are available – or, none of the prevailing methods have any authority.
A problem is a philosophical problem when the way to go about answering the question is in question. An issue is a philosophical issue when the right way to settle the issue is at issue.
A Philosophical Crisis
If the claims in the previous paragraph are true, then 5th century Greece was in a philosophical crisis. It was a crisis in morality.
In our culture we think of morality as being concerned with rules.
Here are some rules
– You should not kill.
– You should not steal.
– Don’t hit people.
– Lying is wrong.
– It’s wrong to promise to do something and then not do it.
– You should not covet your neighbors wife, or his ox or his ass or his male or female slave, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
– You should not lie with a man as with a woman.
– Thou should not wear fabric woven of wool one way and linen the other.
– Do (imperative) unto others as you would have them do unto you.
– Help (imperative) other people who are in need when you can do so at no great risk or cost to yourself.
Why do we think of morality as consisting of rules?
This question is important because rule-morality has one bad consequence.
(This does not mean that rule-based morality is false or misguided.)
The bad effect is that people who break rules sometimes advantage themselves by doing so.
We say that “cheaters never prosper.” But is that a credible induction from your experience?
Rule morality can make morality appear to be an irksome restriction on pursuit of our