Questions tagged [socrates]
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, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes. Many would claim that Plato's dialogues are the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity.
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When is mental illness a meaningful failure of wisdom?
Some philosophers think mental illness is a failure of function, to act rationally, others a failure of doing, but it can also at least involve failures of self appraisal, to accurately judge what is ...
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Did Socrates say: "Strong minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; weak minds discuss people."?
Where did Socrates say or did Aristotle quote Socrates saying:
Strong minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; weak minds discuss people.
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Is it ok, that translation of “Apology of Socrates” has a lot of grammatical mistakes?
This is a technical and pretty specifically question: I bought a book, that contains Apology of Socrates, and some dialogues (Kriton, Meneksen, Ion, etc) in Russian language ISBN 978-197-4015-03-0, ...
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What is the origin of the account of Socrates learning to play the flute in prison?
I have long been familiar with a story about Socrates—that, while awaiting execution, he chose to use his time by learning to play a tune on the flute. An example of this in an article about a ...
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Did Socrates' actual apology resemble Plato's Apology?
I have seen that Plato's writings have traditionally been classified as Early, Middle or Late and that the earlier the work, the closer it resembles what Socrates might have actually said. In view of ...
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Explanandum and Explanans in Greek Philosophy
From Wikipedia: 'An explanandum is a sentence describing a phenomenon that is to be explained, and the explanans are the sentences adduced as explanations of that phenomenon. For example, one person ...
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Euthyphro's Dilemma
I'm current reading one of the first of plato's dialogues, Euthyphro, concerning piety. At one point in their conversation, Euthyphro proposes to Socrates the following definition,
I) What all of the ...
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What is a question?
Sponsored by Socrates:
Alcibiades 113, b
SOCRATES: Come then, give me the general principle. When there’s a
question and an answer, who is the one saying things--the questioner
or the answerer? ...
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Was Socrates hypocritical about Eros?
Taken at face value, in the Symposium and Phaedrus gay love that remains unconsummated is regarded as the highest form of love between humans men.
It makes the soul rise upward to the form of beauty, ...
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Is the temperance resulting from the socratic maxim "know thyself" always about knowing others?
I was just thinking about what good 'know thyself' means. There is something arguably narcissistic and unnecessary - or at least self absorbed - about examining your life just to know your own flaws ...
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If Socrates time travelled to the 21st century, would he still face the same fate?
I believe that the Athenian community and authority did not appreciate his philosophy and political view.
Sometimes, I tell himself that they just didn't know his worth as he was way ahead of his time....
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Does Socratic intellectualism suppose that no one is evil?
Since one will always do what one believes is right.
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Is Socrates' wisdom intrinsically valuable?
I don't mean specifically felicity etc. at philosophy, but whether a state of ambivalence toward death, while alive, can be intrinsically valuable because of some knowledge or wisdom that ambivalence ...
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Plato's Ion - Can a god inspire a wrong thing?
Let's suppose that Socrates does not mock Ion in the dialogue. Socrates states that in every topic which Homer talks about, the master of that topic have the authority to judge whether Homer is right ...
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Did Aristotle accuse Plato of distorting Socrates?
It is always said that Plato sometimes put his words in the Socrates's mouth. Aristotle is the contemporary and critic of Plato. If Plato misattributed some Platonian notions to Socrates, Aristotle ...
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How to understand that "It is fear and terror that make all men brave, except the philosophers"?
In Phaedo, plato writes the following:
And the brave among them face death, when they do, for fear of greater evils?
That is so.
Therefore, it is fear and terror that make all men brave, except the ...
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Is Socrates a teacher despite him denying so?
Despite him denying that he actually taught his followers anything and that they did everything on their own accord, what argument could be put forth that he was actually a teacher
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Is studying the origins of philosophy In the pre-socratic thinkers useful?
In what way can the study of the origins of philosophy in the pre-socratic thinkers illuminate the nature of philosophy?
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If Socrates said he was ignorant but was in fact knowledgeable, was he simply a liar?
According to "Does the center hold?" by Donald D. Palmer,
Socrates's main argument during his trial was that "he knew nothing". But Socrates discussed various topics with many ...
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In Plato's Republic, why would a musical, medical, or knowledgeable man NOT try to get the better of another like man?
Book I, 349e, Socrates confirming the position of Thrasymachus:
"...is any musical man who is tuning a lyre in your opinion willing to
get the better of another musical man in tightening and ...
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How do we know which dialogues Plato didn't write?
I understand that there are dialogues of Plato for which the authorship is contested, with some more than others.
How are the dialogues determined to be spurious? Is it a different process for ...
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No treatise by Plato exists or ever existed
In Plato's second epistle appears the following line:
For this reason I myself have never yet written anything on these subjects, and no treatise by Plato exists or will exist, but those which now ...
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What were Socrates views on afterlife?
Did Socrates believed in reincarnation or did he believed in heaven and hell concept?
And if he did, did he justify his beliefs and how?
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Quote about serving to someone better than you
I remember reading something along the lines of "what can be better than to serve to someone who is better than you" in my philosophy class back in the days. I was pretty sure that I read ...
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What is the origin of the idea that moral realism requires a god?
This idea has always been very strange to me. The first time I encountered this idea was when I was required to read about the Euthyphro Dilemma in college. It felt like a whole dialogue about ...
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Platos's/ Socrates' conception of reincarnational purpose and the soul's nature
I can not help but wonder what must have been Socrates' opinion of the human soul.
On the one hand I am told that 'the Greeks' (and thus, I assume, Socrates and his followers too) took ψυχή which is ...
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Is the examined life worth living?
Obviously, the unexamined life is not worth living. But, for Socrates, or indeed any Socratically influenced philosophy, is any examined life valuable or in some sense a success; fully lived?
Put ...
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Do philosophers ever admit to arguing for things they themselves don't believe? [closed]
Do philosophers ever admit to arguing for things they themselves don't believe, without that meaning the former is not really the case, but merely explicative or similar of something they do believe.
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What influence did Socrates and Plato have on ancient Greece?
We know that Socrates and Plato are two of the most influential Greek philosophers in current Western society. But what influence did they have in the Greece of their time and subsequent centuries? ...
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How is Socrates's daimon related to one of Aquinas's laws/views of virtue and justice
In Plato's Apology of Socrates, Socrates talks about having a daimon, a divine being/voice that tells him of things not to do. For Aquinas, what would this be?
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Is there any contradiction in Phaedo 102d-103a and 103c-105b?
I'm a complete beginner in philosophy and have been reading Phaedo for the first time. While reading about Forms in this, I understood that a thing can share in tallness and shortness at the same time,...
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Plato Symposium - Is Socrates's Response to Agathon Warranted?
I'm reading Plato's symposium and I had a question about the section 199b - 201c where Socrates responds to Agathon. This comes after Agathon's speech, but before Socrates tells the tale of Diotima.
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Is there an issue with the Socratic method arguing against points?
So, I've noticed something, looking at the classic example:
Do the gods know everything?
Yes.
Do some gods disagree with others?
Yes.
So gods disagree about what is true?
I suppose they must.
So gods ...
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The concept of nature in the Greek philosophy
My question is: Is it possible to point to a development in the concept of "nature" in the period between pre-Socratic philosophers and Aristotle (inclusive)?
Thank you very much.
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Are beautiful things difficult?
As you may already know, the dialogue Hippias Major ends with the following asseveration by Socrates:
So, I think, Hippias, that I have been benefited by conversation with both of you, for I think ...
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"Corresponding behaviour" in text on Socrates' philosophy
I don't know if this is the right place to post this question, but as I was reading Diogenes Laertius' 'The Life of Socrates', I came upon the following line:
"He recommended to the young the ...
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The index finger of Socrates and Plato
Why do we see Socrates in Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Socrates, and Plato in Raphael's School of Athens pointing up with their index finger? What does this gesture symbolize?
My initial ...
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Are there any Good Compilations of Socrates?
Fellow Thinkers, does anyone know of a book that has compiled all the main sources that we know Socrates from (Plato, Xenophon, Aristophanes, ...)?
Thank you for your time. - SDH
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What was Socrates' goal in life?
What did he hope to accomplish by asking people questions? What was his view on why to bother living at all?
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Would answering belief challenges be the same as the scientific method?
Let's say I believe this statement: "all swans are white". Someone comes and asks me these Socratic questions: "is it true that all swans are white?", "is there an instance that a swan is not white?", ...
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Which philosophers proposed theories containing a performative contradiction?
Socrates was blamed of this by being wrongly interpreted of saying: "I know that I don't Know." or other variants. What he really said was: "I neither know nor think that I know."
Source: https://en....
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When did the idea of free will begin? Same for determinism
Hey so I'm doing this free will v determinism thing for class and I've tried but I can't seem to find when the separate beliefs came about. I know Socrates and Aristotle had something to do with them ...
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From dialogue to monologue : Why (Platonic) Socrates claims to know nothing but manages to give book-length speeches all the time?
This inconsistency is very confusing to me. Socrates takes pride in knowing that he knows nothing. But if that is the case, how is he able to, as he often does, give book-length of "truth" (as opposed ...
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How does Socrates's acting on a dream in Plato's Phaedo square with his rationality?
Socrates is a symbol of rational thinking. He called himself a lover of wisdom. But, on the other hand, he started to make music (poetry/composing) just on the direction of a voice that he heard in ...
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Who invented definitions?
Is an intensional genus–differentia definition an invention of ancient greek philosopy?
"Chair is a seat typically having four legs and a back for one person"
Have you seen definitions like this ...
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Is Socrates' happiness possible for average, normal people?
Socrates talked a big game in the Republic: we don't need money, family or friends to be happy; all that requires is that we pursue truth and wisdom. I can sort of see how this can make sense for ...
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Can the Socratic method be used to teach science or math?
I'm not sure if this is philosophy or pedagogy, because it kind of straddles both!
I've seen this method used for extremely abstract problems in philosophy. But I haven't seen it used for resolving ...
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Question about the Argument of Recollection from Plato's Phaedo
Under the argument of recollection, what would the answer to the following scenario?
A young child has not learned a single thing about geometrical shapes. If a person were to draw a triangle and ...
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In the socratic dialogues, what figure argues in bad faith against Socrates?
If I remember correctly, one of Socrates' interlocutors challenged the Socratic method not directly but indirectly. They did so by not participating in the argument fully. In the literary context of ...
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