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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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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Is it ethical to try to convince someone of something without explicitly letting them know what that is?
Is it ethical or virtuous to try to convince someone of something without telling them explicitly what that is? For example, is it ethical to try to convince someone that an art work by Picasso is ...
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Is Plato contradicting himself in the Republic?
In Book VII of the Republic, Plato claims that geometry and arithmetic will lead to eternal/pure truth. However, as we know the eternal/pure truth are Forms. Knowing the forms is knowing the pure ...
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Does Plato think there is a anti-social/non-pragmatic danger in the study of mathematics?
In the Theaetetus we see Socrates interacting with an up-and-coming mathematician Theaetetus with his mentor Theodorus. It's noteworthy that Plato places his dialogue about the nature of knowledge in ...
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What's the argument of Socrates in addressing Thrasymachus' argument that the pursuit of self-interest or injustice pays better than that of justice?
While reading The Republic by Plato, I don't quite understand the argument. It seems that the argument did not address why a just man won't be worse off than an unjust man.
What's the argument of ...
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How one should live a peaceful life knowing this fact that there is no meaning of life? [closed]
So I am going through the philosophical path and I think I am deep into it nowadays.
That old question "What is the purpose of living when we are going to die one day" was eating my mind but ...
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Buddhism in Phaedo
At the end of Phaedo, Socrates proves, in his own manner, that the soul is immortal and goes through an endless cycle of metempsychosis and, "if deemed to have lived an extremely pious life are freed ...
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How would the Sophists challenge Socrates' solution to the problem of justification?
Confused about the question. What is it trying to say? Would the sophists argue with Socrates on justification?
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Plato's Meno - the other paradox?
One paradox in the Meno is familiar :
A person cannot look for (zitein) what he knows or for what he
doesn't know. He would not look for what he knows, for he knows it
already and one who has the ...
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Meno's paradox of knowledge - how is knowledge possible?
In Plato's Meno, it is talked about how knowledge is neither gained nor searched for. I am confused on this particular question. What does is entail?
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The Orphic Socrates
Short introduction
Reading about Socrates I found he was more or less Orphic in his beliefs.
He believed in the indestructibility of mind or life after dead. Also in certain ascetic life. On the ...
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Did Socrates believe all madness to be good?
In "Phaedro", it seems that Socrates argues that love is a form of divine madness. He then claims that lots of divine things are committed by those who are "not in their right mind ". He also states ...
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Socrates condemnation,King, unknown name
What was the full name of the king archon from Euthyphro, who condemned Socrates to death?
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Book to start studying ethics and Socrates especially
As far as I know Socrates is one of the first philosophers who started thinking about ethics and morals. So what book would you recommend me to read as a beginner in this topic.
I recently read Early ...
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Remind you of anybody?
Referring to http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-croatia-slobadan-praljak-20171129-story.html (and many similar stories you can google about this incident). This may be somewhat off-topic, but can't ...
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In Plato's Symposium, what are the similarities and differences between Phaedrus's speech and Socrates's/Diotima's?
I feel like these two speeches have some things in common like how they're both striving for something in the name of love but I'm not too sure. What are the similarities and differences between the ...
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Name of style of argumentation through questions?
I typically construct my arguments in a procedure, where one argument leads to the next. Like so;
Conclusion It should not be illegal to be a racist.
a. The problem with racists, is that they ...
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When the Oracle called Socrates the wisest of the Greeks he at first rejected the label then accepted it. What caused Socrates to change his mind?
And in what sense could he be called wise?
Can you please help me in this essay assignment?
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Does Socrates fear Euthyphro?
In Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates in dialogue with Euthyphro is asked to clarify his questions "is all which is just pious? or, is that which is pious all just" and attempts to clarify his wording by ...
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"The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms." - Socrates?
Did Socrates actually say, "The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms"?
The aphorism, "The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms" is often attributed to Socrates, but I could not ...
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What would Socrates' approach be towards Darwinism?
So Socrates was pretty fond of the idea of reincarnation, the soul, the inferior material objects and bodily matter around us. Would his idea of the soul fit into the theory of evolution, a theory ...
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Where's the story with "...not in this generation, no; but in 2 or 3 generations, yes" located?
There's an episode in Plato's writings (I'm not sure) which I can't find and I'd appreciate any help. Socrates (I'm not sure), advances a theory through a fable which is hard to believe. An ...
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Socrates as a foot soldier and his political philosophy
Socrates is well known for his participation of several wars during his life span (for almost 30 years). It is believed that he was 48 at his final participation in a war. As an armed foot soldier, ...
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'you cannot refute the truth; for Socrates is easily refuted': How does this rebut disagreeing disputatiously?
Source: How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading (Revised 1972 ed.), p. 145 Bottom - 146 Top.
The second general maxim of critical reading is as obvious as the first, but it ...
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Did Jesus try to copy Socrates? [closed]
The life of Jesus is largely the same as that of Socrates. I'm looking at the possibility that Jesus was affected by Socrates' life to such an extent that he tried to copy him. Are there any ...
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Socrates and The Republic
Why does Socrates think that right conduct cannot be defined as "telling the truth and restoring anything we have been trusted with"?
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Aristophanes’ Clouds - What's the Significance of 3ʳᵈ Place?
After 20 years, I've circled back to reevaluate the Clouds (motivated primarily by a learned hatred of lawyers, and government in general). I think Wikipedia does a fine job of presenting the work ...
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Is the Phaedo relevant to a materialist?
I've just finished reading the Phaedo, and I'm wondering if one does not buy into the mind/body dualism arguments that Socrates advances in the dialogue, is there still anything to learned from it? Is ...
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Who is Plato and Socrates' God?
I'm reading the Phaedo, as translated by Benjamin Jowett. The characters alternately mention "God" (As a monotheist would spell it with a capital "G"), for example, at one point, Socrates says:
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What evils does Socrates refer to when discussing his State and the origins of war?
In Book II of The Republic (373e), as part of the discussion between Socrates and Glaucon, Socrates states the following (quote taken from Benjamin Jowett's translation):
Then without determining ...
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What is the difference between dialectic and logic?
What is the difference between dialectic and logic? By dialectic, I mean what Plato employs in dialogues.
Thanks in advance!
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Does Nietzsche's rejection of Socrates mean that he is a relativist about ethics?
In Twilight of Idols (passage 10 in Problem of Socrates section) Nietzsche asserts that Socrates's equating Reason, Virtue and Happiness is a sign of decadence.
Does it follow from this that ...
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How applicable is the craft analogy for discussing the virtues, like justice?
In Book I of The Republic, Socrates uses a craft analogy (CA) as part of his argument against Thrasymachus to convince him that justice is not the advantage of the stronger. To do so he equates ruling ...
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Are people inherently good according to Plato?
Are people inherently good according to Plato? Are Gods subject to forms, in the sense that they are good because they are subject to the form of good, or are they independent of the forms? Because I ...
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A courageous philosopher?
I have to write a high school essay where the prompt is roughly centered around writing about someone who is courageous. With my interest in philosophy I would like to write my paper on a philosopher, ...
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In the Gorgias, does Plato make a contradiction about perfect people?
1.) The temperate man does what is just and holy.
2.) The temperate man, since he does just and holy things, is necessarily just and holy.
3.) The temperate man is completely a good man.
This ...
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Socratic thought on Greek deities as metaphor
"To be a master of metaphor," Aristotle wrote in his Poetics, "is the greatest thing by far." Not, as we know from Plato, to be "used" as a form of rhetoric (which, as far as I know, he and the ...
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Possible Logical Error in Euthyphro?
There is an argument near the beginning of Euthyphro that Socrates tries to make to Euthyphro in which I believe that Socrates makes a logical mistake. It's a pretty basic mistake, so rather than ...
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How do I compose a paper analyzing a philosophical work?
I am thoroughly analyzing Plato's Symposium.I would like advice on how to compose an essay/paper on what I have read. I have written notes from many times I have gone and reread the dialogues. I have ...
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Please expose how Socrates subtly Appeals to Pity
Source: pp 235-236, With Good Reason, An Introduction to Informal Fallacies (2000 6 ed) by York U. Prof. S. Morris Engel
This fallacy [Appeal to Pity, abbreviated to AtP] is very common. It is ...
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Socrates question on god
What was Socrates idea of God? What does Socrates say about the idea of the good in the republic? How did he act on this idea? Also, how would you know that his idea of God is correct?
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Why does Socrates think that you can master something without wisdom or knowing what one is talking about?
Source: p 3, A Little History of Philosophy (2011 ed; but Reprint ed, 2012 extant) by PhD in Philosophy (Cambridge)
[...] ‘How can I be the wisest man in
Athens when I know so little?’ he [...
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Was Socrates of the belief that knowledge was attainable after death?
I've begun reading The Phaedo, wherein Socrates argues against the case of suicide. He begins by assuming that since we as men are possessions of the gods, they would be angered were one of their ...
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Did Plato record actual conversations in his dialogues?
For example, Did Socrates really meet Zeno in Parmenides as a young man and the conversation that took place between them was recorded by Plato?
Are ANY of Plato's dialogues recordings of actual ...
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Since Socrates mentioned that God can never perish, then why he spoke about gods?
Phaedo 106d goes like that:
"But,” he said, “it is not needed, so far as that is concerned; for surely nothing would escape destruction, if the immortal, which is everlasting, is perishable.”
“...
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Is "the mind" in Phaedo the same as "Nous" in Neoplatonic philosophy?
Phaedo 97c speaks about Anaxagoras that he says "that it is the mind that arranges and causes all things. I was pleased with this theory of cause, and it seemed to me to be somehow right that the mind ...
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Who is the charmer in Socrates' dialogue in Phaedo?
In Phaedo, Socrates was speaking to Cebes and Simmias saying that they are afraid of death that when the soul leaves the body, the wind will scatter her away (in their opinion). And later he says "Let ...
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What did Socrates mean by "idea of equality" in the abstract?
In Plato's book "Phaedus", Socrates go further saying "Did we not see equalities of material things, such as pieces of wood and stones, and gather from them the idea of an equality which is different ...
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Was Socrates a monotheist?
I know my question seems weird, but in Plato's books Apology, Crito, and Phaedo (and probably in other books since I've read only these three and I am in the middle of the third one), when Socrates ...
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What did Socrates mean by " there is no more fitting reward than maintenance in the prytaneum"?
According to wikipedia:
"In general in ancient Greece, each state, city or village possessed its own central hearth and sacred fire, representing the unity and vitality of the community. The fire was ...
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