Greek Classical Philosophy

1. Greek Classical Philosophy “Western philosophy is just a series of footnotes to Plato.”

2. A BRIEF Overview • The Major Players • What they believe… • Some examples…

3. The 3 Great Minds... • Socrates (469 BC- 399 BC) • Plato (428 BC-347 BC) • Aristotle (384 BC- 322 BC)*

4. Socrates • One of the founders of Western Philosophy • Not known for his writing, but through other observers----- Plato’s dialogues • Major concept: the Socratic method • “Gadfly of the state”----Death

5. Socratic Method or “Elenchus” • To solve a problem, it would be broken down into multiple questions. • The answer eventually comes to the forefront • Perfect for assessing personal beliefs and the extent of someone’s knowledge • “The highest form of human excellence is to question oneself and others.”

6. The Steps of the Method… • Socrates' interlocutor asserts a thesis, for example 'Courage is endurance of the soul', which Socrates considers false and targets for refutation. • Socrates secures his interlocutor's agreement to further premises, for example 'Courage is a fine thing' and 'Ignorant endurance is not a fine thing'. • Socrates then argues, and the interlocutor agrees, that these further premises imply the contrary of the original thesis, in this case it leads to: 'courage is not endurance of the soul'. • Socrates then claims that he has shown that his interlocutor's thesis is false and that its contrary is true.

7. Socrates and Philosophy • A little difficult… Why? • The Soul & Immortality • Virtue & Moral Stature Divine Bequest • Knowledge: Wrongdoing was a consequence of not knowing better • Virtue & Ideal life in search of the good • Politics: Government of Philosophers a “Philosopher King”

8. Plato • Student of Socrates & Recorder of the Dialogues • Founder of the Academy in Athens • Platonism

9. Platonism • The senses… Reality??? • “He who sees with his own eyes is blind.” • Physical objects and physical events are shadows of their ideal or perfect forms, and exist only to the extent that they instantiate the perfect versions of themselves. • Perfect Justice exists… But not clear where…

10. The Theory of Forms (Ideas) • The material world as it appears to us is not real, but only a shadow of the real world. • The forms are unknown, because we cannot fully grasp them… • A Form is an Abstract Quality

11. 6 Concepts of Forms: • Forms are transcendent- do not exist as a part of space or time • The forms are pure- Are separated from all other qualities • The forms are archetypes- perfect models for all of the properties that are present in material objects • The forms are ultimately real. Material objects are images or copies of the forms. • The forms are the causes of all that exist in the world. • Systematically Interconnected- They are all connected to one another and flow down from the form of good

12. How it works…

13. The Theory of Forms Was meant to Solve: • How can humans live a happy life in a changing world, where everything they attach themselves to can be taken away? • How can the world appear permanent and changing?

14. An Example…

15. The Basketball… • For example, if you separate the roundness of a basketball from its color, its weight, etc. and consider just roundness by itself, you are thinking of the form of roundness. Plato held that this property existed apart from the basketball, in a different mode of existence than the basketball. The form is not just the idea of roundness you have in your mind. It exists independently of the basketball and independently of whether someone thinks of it. All round objects, not just this basketball, participate or copy this same form of roundness.

16. “As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.”