Question
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- From Philosophy: General-Philosophy , Philosophy: General-Philosophy
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- Due on Oct. 24, 2009
- Asked on Oct 21, 2009 at 2:34:16PM
Q:
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are often called the “fathers of philosophy.” Detail the differences and consistencies of their ethical philosophies. Whose moral views do you agree with more, why?
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A+ Answer for all three philosophers
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- Posted on Oct 21, 2009 at 5:57:52PM
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The full tutorial is about 18 words long plus attachments.
Ethical beliefs of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.docx (16K) $15.00
The Fathers of Philosophy
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Preview: ... 7-347) was Socrates’ prized student. From a wealthy and powerful family, his actual name was Aristocles -- Plato was a nickname, referring to his broad physique. When he was about twenty, he came under Socrates’ spell and decided to devote himself to philosophy. Devastated by Socrates’ death, he wandered around Greece and the Mediterranean and was taken by pirates. His friends raised money to ransom him from slavery, but when he was released without it, they bought him a small property called Academus to start a school -- the Academy, founded in 386. The Academy was more like Pythagorus’ community -- a sort of quasi-religious fraternity, where rich young men studied mathematics, astronomy, law, and, of course, philosophy. It was free, depending entirely on donations. True to his ideals, Plato also permitted women to attend! The Academy would become the center of Greek learning for almost a millennium. Plato can be understood as idealistic and rationalistic, much like Pythagorus but much less mystical. He divides reality into two: On the one hand we have ontos, idea or ideal. This is ultimate reality, permanent, eternal, spiritual. On the other hand, there’s phenomena, which is a manifestation of the ideal. Phenomena are appearances -- things as they seem to us -- and are associated with matter, time, and space. Phenomena are illusions which decay and die. Ideals are unchanging, perfect. Phenomena are definitely inferior to Ideals! The idea of a triangle -- the defining mathematics of it, the form or essence of it -- is eternal. Any individual triangle, the triangles of the day-to-day experiential world, are never quite perfect: They may be a little crooked, or the lines a little thick, or the angles not quite right.... They only approximate that perfect triangle, the ideal triangle. If it seems strange to talk about ideas or ideals as somehow more real than the world of our experiences, consider science. The law of gravity, 1 1=2, “magnets attract iron,” E=mc2, and so on -- these are universals, not true for one day in one small location, but true forever and everywhere! If you believe that there is order in the universe, that nature has laws, you believe in ideas! Ideas are available to us through thought, while phenomena are available to us through our senses. So, naturally, thought is a vastly superior means to get to the truth. This is what makes Plato a rationalist, as opposed to an empiricist, in epistemology. Senses can only give you information about the ever-changing and imperfect world of phenomena, and so can only provide you with implications about ultimate reality, not reality itself. Reason goes straight to the idea. You “remember,” or intuitively recognize the truth, as Socrates suggested in the dialog Meno. According to Plato, the phenomenal world strives to become ideal, perfect, complete. Ideals are, in that sense, a motivating force. In fact, he identifies the ideal with God and perfect goodness. God creates the world out of materia (raw material, matter) and shapes it according to his “plan” or “blueprint” -- ideas or the ideal. If the world is not perfect, it is not because of God or the ideals, but because the raw materials were not perfect. I think you can see why the early Christian church made Plato an honorary Christian, e ...
The full tutorial is about 2814 words long .
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Classical Greek Ethics in a Nutshell
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Preview: ... sion to be true. In philosophy, Dr. Diefenbeck was often warning me and others, "Not to operate under the illusion."
Let's go on to Aristotle's Ethics now. For Aristotle, pleasure was a condition for happiness and the best man was the happiest. He talks about the great-spirited man, MegaloPsychus.
Here, I must digress a moment to talk about the Greek idea of Psyche, which we translate as Soul or Spirit. There is also the idea of Eudaemon, which modern religions might think of as a kind of devilish spirt, but it is the inner drive all life has to be spontaneous and flourish, doing whatever its instincts tell it to do, to survive. Without this instinct for survival, we would not fight if cornered, or for our families and land, and so would not survive.
When a Greek soldier died on the battlefield, the last breath leaving his body was thought to be his soul (or Psyche). This is how Psyche got associated with the Head. And so that Now, people think that Psychology is the study of what goes on in our heads, or how we think.
But Logic and Ethics are the sciences of the Mind! Not psychology, which is a science of feeling.
For details of this, read Robin George Collingwood's books. Also, for a different kind of logic, read his Autobiography and his Essays on Metaphysics. For a comparison of Socrates' philosophy, Plato's, Descartes and Kant's, read his Essays on Philosophical Method.
In his autobiography, Collingwood talks about a Science of Question and Answer. In it he says that every statement that anyone ever makes is made in answer to a question. And that every question involves a presumption. He calls presumptions, pre-suppositions.
Presumptions can be either relative or absolute. An absolute presumption is one which you don't question. I call them Immaculate Presumptions. Presumptions you question are called Relative Presumptions.
When two people argue, it is usually about the past or future, what existed in the past, or what will exist in the future. But the past and the future do not exist in the present.
In reality, all that exists in the present is the Universe that is constantly changing at an inconceivable pace. Since we cannot conceptualize it, we cannot predict it.
Western thought wants to be able to predict the future, but to predict people is impossible. Why? because we are spontaneous. Freedom is based on spontaneity.
Plato was trying to find the Pure Form of the Good, the Pure, Eternal Form of Beauty, and the Pure Eternal Form of The Absolute Truth.
Later, Christianity, especially Orthodox Christianity, took this Platonic search for the Permanent Truth, and the hierarchy of forms that leads to this Truth, as the basis for its idea of God. You can see it in its architecture and in its art.
Whereas, for Aristotle, moderation in all things was his idea of Virtue. Plato speaks of many kinds of virtues in his works: Temperance or Sophrosyne, Wisdom, Courage and Fortitude or Strength. These are the four virtues mentioned in the film, The Gladiator, which the son of the Roman Empe ...
The full tutorial is about 2568 words long .