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PLATO 101
LECTURE
24
MARCH 8,
2017
LECTURE OUTLINE
1. Socrates & Plato
2. Trial of Socrates
3. Allegory of the Cave
4. Plato’s Ladder
•
469-399BCE
•
Strange person
•
Not a “teacher”
•
Wisest man in Athens
•
Knows what he
doesn’t know
•
Method: Elenchus
•
Put on trial as a public
threat
SOCRATES
PLATO
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429-347BCE
•
Follower of Socrates
•
Establishes the Academy
•
Teacher of Aristotle
•
The Philosopher
•
Wrote in genre of dialogues
•
Character “Socrates”
TRIAL OF SOCRATES
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In Apology (defense)
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Charges: Impiety & Corrupting the youth
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Philosophy vs. Convention
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Socrates turns trial into an elenchus
•
Found guilty of the charges; accuser asks for the death
penalty
•
Socrates suggests alternative punishment: Meals for life
in Prytaneum
•
Happiness is the goal of philosophy!
INTEGRITY OF SOCRATES
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After the verdict, he continues his pursuit
•
“The unexamined life is not worth living for the
human being” (Apology)
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Answer to Oracle at Delphi’s “Know thyself”
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Refuses to fear death or to escape the penalty
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He drinks hemlock (poison)
•
How could the Athenian people be persuaded to kill
a good person?
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
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Shadows on the wall
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The light is the source of knowledge
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Return to the cave
•
How do you communicate all of this to the
shadow-watchers?
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Can Socrates’ conversations get us there?
PLATO’S LADDER
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Symposium is about love & beauty
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Love of a particular beautiful body (desire, sensory)
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Love of all beautiful bodies
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Love of beautiful souls (moral, intellectual)
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Love of beautiful laws & institutions
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Love of beauty of knowledge
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Love of beauty itself (objective, truth, form or idea)
FORM OR IDEA
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Back to the shadow-watchers…
•
Our everyday reality is made up of representations
•
•
Form is the real reality
•
•
Particular presentations of a Form
Objective, intellectual reality
Case: What is goodness?