Notes on Plato & Socrates

(Originally written September 8, 2006 in Book 10)

Plato

Life and Times

• "We are all more or less Platonists" (Jones, 108).
• Plato was an Athenian, born in 427 BC
• He witnessed the final years of the Peloponnesian War and lived through the economic, social and moral dissolution of Athens
• He fought in the last years of the defeat
• Plato was very well born. On his mother's side he was a descendant of Solon (a famous Athenian statesman). On his father's side he was a descendant of Poseidon (the god of the sea).
• The decline of the nobility in a political role left Plato with no assured future, despite a fabled past.
• He hated the demagogues of the democracy for their corruption and complete defeat in the war. But, despite his initial trust in the 30 Tyrants (The Spartan set-up oligarchy that ruled post-war Athens), he found them to be equally inept.

Socrates

• Socrates played the biggest part in influencing Plato.
• Socrates was an Athenian, but grew up in the glory days of Athens, not in the days of defeat that Plato grew up in.
• Socrates was a contemporary of Thucydides.
• He fought as a soldier and performed every political duty expected of a democrat, but Socrates was neither a politician nor a leader.
• He held that he knew nothing.
• He went on a campaign that was highly successful, but matched only in its unpopularity, that proved every Athenian to be ignorant 
• He was viewed as a Sophist, but disagreed with Sophism
• "He combined an intensely realistic and down-to-earth common sense with a passionate mysticism, a cool and dispassionate skepticism about ordinary beliefs and opinions with a deep religious sense" (Jones, 110).
• Socrates was idolized by men for his courage, his wisdom, his inhuman like indifference to pain.

Socrates' Trial

• Socrates' ability to trap men in contradictions won him the respect of a few bright men and a large share of enemies in the public masses.

good night. I am no Socrates. I need sleep.

• Socrates' moral convictions were in opposition to the public's moral convictions.
• He was charged with atheism and brought before an Athenian jury.
• The charge went hand-in-hand with political motives. Socrates had befriended the oligarchs.
• "Hatred of the enemies of democracy, as well as religious piety, must have moved his judges to condemn him to death" (Jones, 113).
• Socrates refused to placate to the Athenian jury in his defense. Rather than being for mercy, Socrates condemned the jury for their ignorance and announced that his religious beliefs were far more nobler than theirs.
• He believed that fear of death was nothing more than believing oneself to be wise when they were ignorant. How can one be sure that death is not the greatest blessing to man?
• He held onto his convictions even to his death. He refused to stop philosophizing and stop pointing out truth and ignorance.
• Virtue, Socrates explained, is higher than money and actually the cause of all money and other goods.
• He condemns politics, stating that a good man is one who is private, not public.

Socrates in Prison

• While in Prison, Socrates' friend Crito devises an escape plan for Socrates.
• Socrates states that the emotional appeals Crito makes ought to have no bearing on his decision. Only reason should dictate what is right and what is wrong.
• Socrates convinces Crito to investigate with him to find the right course of action. He states that we cannot repay evil with evil. Yes, the judgment of the Athenians wronged Socrates, but it is not right that Socrates wrong the Athenians by escaping.
• Socrates believes that we ought to follow through on our agreements; thus, he must stay and die.

Socrates' Death and its effect on Plato

• Socrates' last words were, "Crito, we owe a cock to Aesculapius. Pay it and do not neglect it" (Jones, 118).
• Socrates loved life, but he was not afraid of dying. He preferred death rather than weaseling out of it in some ignoble way.
• Socrates felt he could accomplish his aim better in death than in life. This fact shocked Plato into philosophy and thus, accomplished his goal of changing the world.
• Plato was too young to be a close friend of Socrates, but set out to defend his memory.
• Even when Plato becomes mature in philosophy he uses Socrates as a mouthpiece.
• This usage of a real Socrates and a Platonic Socrates makes it impossible for us to know where one begins and the other ends.

Plato's Later Life

• The death of Socrates confirmed Plato's aristocratic contempt for democracy. He believed Athens to be a bad state and no good man could live in a bad state. Thus, Plato withdrew from politics.
• But he still devoted his life to political theory.
• He held that improvement would not occur until philosophers became kings or kings became philosophers. Supreme knowledge had to be combined with supreme power.
• Plato's philosophical writings were done in dialogues between Socrates and a member of Plato's family or some other well known Athenian. Often the dialogues are inconclusive. When they are conclusive they end in a negative conclusion.
• His negative conclusions did however her to eliminate false views.
• When Theatetus and Socrates argue in Plato's Theaters Theatetus admits he is wrong, but acknowledges that Socrates had drawn more out of him than he realized he was capable of and they both decided to meet again tomorrow. The pursuit of truth was a never ending quest for Plato.
• Plato was in a sense a mystic, but he was a rationalist and a mathematician.
• The deepest truths to Plato were not expressible in language that is rational and explicit, but the lower truths were necessarily able to be formulated so that one can experience the vision that can't be put into words.
• He founded the Academy which trained both philosophers and statesmen. Through his school Plato exacted the political influence he had hoped to.
• Plato did attempt to actualize his philosopher - king theory in Syracuse, but the Syracuse regent was dethroned as Plato was training the would-be king.

Theory of Knowledge 

• Plato's primary concern was to discover the basis for a good state so that a good man could be happy in that state.
• Before proving any of this though he had to debunk the Sophist denial of objective truth.

The puzzle about change

• Change is a difficult puzzle. How can one thing be something and something else? i.e. How can I be an adult when years ago I was a baby?
• Plato stated that philosophy has to give a rational account of change.
• Since change occurs, in spite of the contradiction it seems to create, and this is precisely the reason why change is a puzzle.
• Plato had to solve these puzzles before he could counteract the Sophist's skepticism.