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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 • 429-347BCE • Follower of Socrates • Establishes the Academy • Teacher of Aristotle • The Philosopher • Wrote in genre of dialogues • Character “Socrates” TRIAL OF SOCRATES • In Apology (defense) • Charges: Impiety & Corrupting the youth • Philosophy vs. Convention • 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 • After the verdict, he continues his pursuit • “The unexamined life is not worth living for the human being” (Apology) • Answer to Oracle at Delphi’s “Know thyself” • Refuses to fear death or to escape the penalty • 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 • Shadows on the wall • The light is the source of knowledge • Return to the cave • How do you communicate all of this to the shadow-watchers? • Can Socrates’ conversations get us there? PLATO’S LADDER • Symposium is about love & beauty • Love of a particular beautiful body (desire, sensory) • Love of all beautiful bodies • Love of beautiful souls (moral, intellectual) • Love of beautiful laws & institutions • Love of beauty of knowledge • Love of beauty itself (objective, truth, form or idea) FORM OR IDEA • 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?