Introducing Plato (A)

(Originally written November 10, 2016 in Book 26)

Introducing Plato
Dave Robinson & Judy Groves

- Born in 427 in Athens, "Probably the most civilized place in the world" (Robinson, 4). The actual city of Athens was small enough for everyone to know everyone.

"Socrates maintained that philosophy couldn't be taught, because it was really an attitude of mind rather than a body of knowledge" (Robinson, 8).

Plato left Athens in disgust when Socrates was executed, traveling around the Mediterranean before settling in Sicily where he met Dion. Dion would eventually get Plato locked up in Syracuse for being his advocate. After Dion was assassinated during a coup attempt Plato gave up actual politics.

Ancient Greeks laid the foundations for Western society; but, were very different to modern Westerners in a few aspects:
1) They were much more tribal than individualistic
2) Teleological viewpoint: "Everything in the world aimed towards an ultimate purpose or design" (Robinson, 15).
3) Religion - the Greek gods were not very worship worthy. Sacrifices were made to appease them. Ethics and political values were held from outside sources rather than religious ones.

What makes the ancient Greeks modern is that they had a critical and investigative mind.

Plato was worried about the survival of Athens as an independent city-state in the post-Peloponnesian War system. Of course, there were the outside threats (Sparta and Persia). But there was an internal threat as well - the Sophists. Plato's Republic was a warning against this danger.

Plato was primarily influenced by Pythagoras, Socrates and Heraclitus.

Pythagoras was a monist of sorts, only his underlying substance was mathematics: everything was numbers.

Pythagoras was responsible for the Greek belief that knowledge had to be universal, permanent, obtained by reason and uncorrupted by the senses.

Heraclitus stated everything changes. The world is in eternal process. Heraclitus' skepticism about empirical knowledge reinforced the rationalism of Pythagoras.

Socrates was different though. He was more interested in how man should act rather than the heady investigations of the underlying stuffs of the natural world.

For Socrates, "the teleological purpose of human beings is to question everything and join in debate with others, in order to get as close as possible to the truth" (Robinson, 23).

Socrates was cautious, but not a skeptic.

For Socrates, "goodness was a kind of knowledge somehow encoded into the structure of the universe itself - there were moral facts. Once these were known, it would be impossible for anyone to do bad things. This means that a wicked man is merely one who is ignorant" (Robinson, 25).

The difference between the acutal Socrates and the Platonic Socrates is difficult to know because Socrates didn't write. It is assumed that the early Platonic dialogues were Socrates' actual thoughts while the middle and later dialogues were more of Plato's individual ideas.

The Euthyphro:

A discussion in the distinction between morality based on religious belief and morality based on philosophical reasoning.

"Only when people turn away from the dogmatism and irrationality of religion can true moral philosophy begin" (Robinson, 29).

The Apology:

An account of Socrates' speeches at his trial.

Socrates claims it is his duty as a man to consider what he is doing, is he acting rightly or wrongly; is he behaving morally?

The Crito:

An account of Socrates' refusal to escape his death sentence for ethical/political reasons.

The Phaedo:

An account of Socrates' death.

Arguments for the immortality of the soul.

"He ironically points out that philosophers have always been an ascetic bunch, uninterested in bodily pleasures, and so, 'half-dead' anyway. Philosophical thinking is a process of freeing the soul from the body: death is merely further separation" (Robinson, 34).

Death comes from life; thus, life must come from death.

Knowledge, for Plato, had to be stable like mathematics to evade the Heraclitian flux and the relativism of the skeptic. Plato acknowledged that truth existed, but knew it was hard to get as humans.