Transcript Socrates and the Sophists

Socrates and the
Sophists
Ideas and Methodology
Greek Education at the time of
Socrates
Education (two parts)
1. Curriculum (the ‘what’)
2. Methodology (the ‘how’)
Curriculum for the Greeks in Athens
Quadrivium: Arithmetic
Geometry
Astronomy
Music
Trivium:
Grammar (language)
Rhetoric (oral argument)
Dialectic (logic)
The Quadrivium and Trivium
comprised the Liberal Arts
Sophists: the ‘Wise Guys’
Protagoras: Relativist
Gorgias: Skeptic
Thrasymachus: Reductionist
None are Athenian
Context of Greece:
1. Geography
2.Political Organization
These Sophists consider themselves
Well-traveled, Broadminded, aware of
Diversity
They notice:
1. Laws differ in different City-States
2. Customs differ
3. Mores differ
Question: Is truth knowable or is everything
only convention and therefore arbitrary?
The Sophists:
1. Protagoras - “Truth varies from person
to person, place to place, time to time.”
Relativism: There is no absolute truth.
(The natural consequence of the thinking
of Heraclitus – ‘can’t step in the same….’)
“De gustibus non est disputandum”
(In matters of taste, there can be no dispute)
For the relativist, everything is a matter of
taste.
The initial Relativistic statement is selfcontradictory.
Weakness of Relativism becomes
Apparent in ethical situations.
Leads to tyranny of the individual
Gorgias
The natural consequence of relativism
Is Skepticism
(Both are epistemological positions)
Skepticism: “Truth is unknowable”
(Also self-contradictory and
inconsistently applied)
A society that is heavily influenced by
Relativism and Skepticism will be
chaotic: Every individual is the master
of their own ship, so there is no coherent
Society.
Leads to the teaching of Thrasymachus:
Reductionism….”Might makes Right”
The one with the most power decides
what is true/false, right/wrong.
Reductionism incorporates the beauty of
Simplicity……The problem is it sidesteps the
Richness of Reality.
Everything is NOT one thing.
Reductionism is Simplistic
Reduces chaos through literal tyranny.
Nietzsche/Stalin/Hitler
The Sophists act/teach out of a point of view
(Climate of Opinion)
Educational expectations of the Athenians:
1. Teach for financial/social/political success
2. All success is measured in worldly terms
3. Most important subject is Rhetoric
(Persuasive Speech)
Note: Truth is not an issue for the Sophists
Success in Rhetoric is measured in how
persuasive you are……not whether you’re
leading the listener to the truth or not.
Education for a used-car salesman!
Religion becomes Religiosity
(Outward appearance is most important;
actual belief in the truth of the religion
is not even a consideration.
The gods: manipulatable devices for
propping up the status quo or
explaining desired changes
Anthropology of the Sophists
1. Earthly life is all there is.
2. The senses are the only means for
knowing (engaging) reality –
Empiricism
3. Education is for developing cleverness
in this world
4. Man is just an evolved animal: more
clever than the others
Sophistic elements in U.S. thinking:
Pragmatism: Peirce, James, Dewey
(Ivy League)
No religious connections
Teach for secular success
What is the ‘cash value’ of an idea?
Common Core
Disintegration of Catholic Colleges
Socrates’ Argument
There is truth and it is knowable and we
have an obligation to respond to it.
Context for Socrates in Athens:
470 BC Peak of Athenian culture and power
Aeschylus
Euripedes
Sophokles
Pericles
Parthenon/Phidias/Elgin Marbles
399 BC
He is offered exile or hemlock
He dies at age 71
So what happened?
He has to answer the Sophists
1. All ideas are known through others
2. Socratic Methodologydisciplined conversation
Socrates’ Task:
1.
Overcome relativism, skepticism,
reductionism
2. Find an immovable foundation on which
to base all knowledge (Sophists don’t have
this or want it).
3. Explicate a true anthropology.
4. Provide an effective methodology.
1.
Socrates’ Anthropology:
Man has an interior life where a unique activity
takes place. Knowing leads to Doing.
(Epistemology leads to Ethics)
2. Man has a soul: psyche
(A capacity for intelligence/character)
3. One’s greatest concern is care of the soul
accomplished through proper behavior in
accordance with TRUE moral values.
4. His anthropology is demonstrated and
revealed through his methodology:
Socratic Dialogue reveals a man to be what
he actually is.
Sure and reliable knowledge is gained
through disciplined conversation
(intellectual midwifery)
1. State the obvious aspects of a problem
2. Clarify the problem through dialogue
3. Come to a clearer statement
4. Not game playing. Not a win or loss
situation
Looking for Clear and Fixed concepts:
definitions (what is ESSENTIAL)
Essence is described by definition
Particulars vary/Essence remains
Search for permanent meaning
Essence words are capitalized:
Justice, Wisdom, Beauty, etc.
Particulars pass away – essence remains
No particular exhausts an essence i.e no single
rose is the essence of Beauty
1. The rose dies
2. The rose changes
3. The rose may be scentless/not your favorite
color
BEAUTY REMAINS
4. True Knowledge is NOT an inspection of
facts.
Knowledge: the power of the mind to discover
in particular facts the ABIDING ELEMENTS.
(Inductive Reasoning)
5. The problem with the Sophists –
They never go beyond the facts (particulars)
Cultures do differ, laws differ, but Justice, Law,
Goodness still abide
The Sophists do not use Inductive Reasoning
properly…they emphasize Deduction or
Analysis
i.e. They have no concept of seeing the forest,
because they are too close to the trees.
Socrates has a TELEOLOGICAL conception of
things – that is, things have a purpose or
function.
Examples:
Stapler, fork, knife, spoon, horse, MAN
For Socrates: MAN has a definable nature
with appropriate activities
A. Man IS RATIONAL
B. ACTING RATIONALLY is appro. to man
C. Man OUGHT to act RATIONALLY
OUGHT is an IMPERATIVE!!!!
Moral Thought of Socrates
1. Knowledge and Virtue are the same
thing –
“To know the good is to do the good.”
2. The opposite of Virtue is Vice (lack of
knowledge: Ignorance)
3. No one ever committed an act of evil
knowingly. Wrongdoing results from
ignorance.
4. People commit evil acts thinking that
they will do some good.
Man is Rational
Has a desire for happiness
This happiness is achieved through
proper modes of behavior
Man confuses appearance with reality.
Thief: confuses money/things
w/happiness.
Ignorance , then, is a lack of knowledge of
what brings true happiness
(long term happiness)
Wrongdoing is an inaccurate estimate of
the proper modes of behavior, which
results in unhappiness.
No one ever deliberately chooses to
damage his human nature in any way.
The fundamental nature of man is
constant.
Socrates was tolerated while Athens was
On top. His defense is in Plato’s
Apology
Milesians: What constitutes physical
Nature?
Eleatics: Changeless, single reality
Appearance/Reality
Opinion/Truth
Pythagoreans: Multiplicity of things
Rational Universe
Forms
Sophists/Socrates:
Epistemology/Ethics
Plato will cover the whole range
of issues initiated by his
philosophical predecessors.
Discussion Questions:
1. Explain Socratic Methodology.
2. Compare/contrast the Sophists
with Socrates
3. Write a Socratic Dialogue.