so crates plato aristotle

8/4/2019 So Crates Plato Aristotle

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The Beginning of What we know

today as SCIENCE

Socrates, Plato and

Aristotlea little about the

Sophists


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Socratesis to many, the father of Westernphilosophy.

Though he never wrote anything, he is attributed tohave spoken these words. Some you might have

heard.

-Know thyself

-The unexamined life is not worth living.

- I know nothing except the fact that I know nothing.-- The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our

ways -- I to die, and you to live. Which is better God

only knows.

ToPl

ato, Socrates was like a father, a great leader and thebravest of them all. In his writings, he gives Socrates aneternal voice and reveals the true conflict between Socrates

and his accusers.


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Socrates was accused of impiety of not believing in the gods- and of corrupting

minds of the young Athenian men. Meletus&Lycon were his accusers


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Socrates was a model citizen.

He served in two wars and

was noted for his bravery.

He also stood up for hisprinciples and refused to do

harm to an innocent man

(Leon of Salamis affair)

when the 30 tyrantsthreatened him with death

if he didnt comply.


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He was a teacher who

turned away no student. He

didnt charge a fee and

claimed that he wasntactually teaching but

showing how to question

more deeply in search of

the truth.(Socratic method)


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Who i he er?

The Sophists yone ith

reput ti on for being ise


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The Or cle t Delphi

Socr tes is the isestof the

mort ls.


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He setout to prove her rong

but inste


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proved her prophecy right and

angered every wise man he spokewith by revealing the truth

Those ho cl ime t o be ise

re not. Wis om begins iththe re liz ti onof not knowing.


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The Sophists

Attacked the traditional Greek beliefs that laws came from

the gods and argued that

goodness = pleasure

right = mighttruth is subject to experience, an objective reality.

They taught the Athenian youth for a FEE and were said to

easily argue and convince, with theirrhetoric, both sides of

the argument.Rhetoric: effective use of l ngu ge


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The Sophists didnt care about the gods and Greek

cosmologies. Their theory of knowledge stopped at senseexperiences.

Subjective phenomena of our sensations become judges ofreality. There is no reality of itself, but only reality as it appears

to us. Reality is reduced to the subjectivism of experience.

"Man is the measure of what

exists."


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Plato denounced the sophists in his

writings and today this word is usedto mean- someone who is clever at

argument but also deceptive.

Sophists: ncient rel ti vists & he onists


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For Socrates.Principles must be eternal and

absolute, according to

Socrates. The concepts of

justice, goodness and truth

must not be contingent uponperception, taste and

subjective realities such as

opinion. Through reason we

can discover the universalcharacteristics of such ideas.

Reason is open to all for free.


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Through the Socratic Method, Socrates was

able to demonstrate that it is possible to

arrive at the Truth through the use of the

(logos) reason devoid of the gods.

However, to be able to do this WHATEVER

MEN DISCUSS, THEY FIRST MUST BE CLEAR

AND LOGICAL IN THEIR DEFINITIONS ANDCLASSIFICATIONS.


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Socratess contribution to Science is

The quest for universal definition

The attempt to establish a firm and commongrounding in reason rather than opinion

The unending act of questioning to be able toarrive at answers.


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Socrates speaks of CONCEPTS,

or Principles without

establishing their origins.

Platos theory of forms takesSocrates concept to the

realm of the eternal a

metaphysical realm where

these FORMS exist.


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Contrary to theSophists, Plato arguedthat knowledge may be

accessed throughreason because theperfect form of theconcept exists in themetaphysical (beyond

the physical) realm.

Artists muse example.


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Allegory of the Cave

In the cave, theprisoners believe theshadows to be realbecause that is theirexperience. Socrates

and Plato taught thatexperience isinsufficient for realknowledge and truth:we must use reasontoo. Plato believedthat all were born withan innate knowledgeof these forms.


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Socrates lived on in Plato

Both were opposed to

the relativism of the

sophists and wanted to

restore the values of amorality sacred and

inviolable, based upon

reason and not unruly

passions.


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Platos contribution to the history of scienceoriginated from an ethical basis in whichknowledge was not only the foundation of

technical skill, but also awareness of how toact virtuously.

His main preoccupation was.H

ow does oneseparate true knowledge from opinion and thealteration of material instances?


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Platos answer was to separate the IDEA (theuniversal concept which is perfect andunchanging) from the SENSE OBJECTS (the

object in the material world which is oftensubject to change

Science (and knowledge in general) is agrasping of the universal Idea or Form which ischangeless and eternal through its variousmanifestations in physical things. DOD1


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Slide 21

DOD1 The world of these forms is the true realilty, supersensate and divine, and the Forms are only imperfectly contained in the changing

material world. A person tied exclusively to the physical world gains only opinion -at times illusion - from the senses. Knowledge on

the other hand, is of universal ideas and gained through pure reason.Darlene Demandante-Lacan, 11/29/2010


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Platos Theory ofF

orms


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Platonic Ideas:

Platonic Forms: The forms are fundamental, perfect ideas. For everyphysical object, there is a perfect idea of that object. All our knowledge isproperly knowledge of the forms, and only secondarily knowledge of theobjects that participate in these forms.

Plato has Semantic, Epistemic, and Metaphysical arguments that supporthis theory of forms. We will only look, for now, at the semantic argument.

The general question: What is the relationship between ideas, andconcrete objects, and creations of our imagination? Are 'ideas' of theimagination like ideas of mathematics and geometry, or like our ideas ofconcrete objects like cups?


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Example:

1) This is a philosophy class.2) This is a philosophy class.

Question: Is there one sentence above, or are

there two?


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Problem of Universals and Properties:

Example: Cups and Ideas of Cups.Question: What is the relationship between the thing we drink from and the idea?

Example 2: Triangles and Ideas of Triangles:Question: What is the relationship between actual triangles and the ideas we work withwhen we do geometry?

Triangles First:Idea is more perfect, since actual triangles inherit the errors of those who draw them.Our true understanding of triangles is understanding of the idea, not the concrete.In this sense, the idea is "more real" than the instantiation. (What can this mean?)

Cups Second:Idea is more perfect (?) since actual cups leak...Understanding of cups is not about particular indivuals

Idea (Plato thinks) is 'more real' than the instantiation. Actual cups are identifiable as cupsonly by virtue of their participation in the idea.


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Plato's Theory of Ideas:

Ideas are real things. They are, in fact, more real than thevisible things they describe. Wise people understand theideas, not just the concrete individuals. We can see ideasonly with they eye of the intellect.

In fact, Plato believed that all our knowledge of particularthings is really knowledge of their ideas or forms. Knowledgeof particular things isn't true knowledge, since these thingschange all the time. Ideas, on the other hand, are timeless

and enduring. The same geometry that Plato knew is studiedin High School classrooms worldwide.


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Recall Heraclitus and Parmenides, who influenced Plato's views:Heraclitus claimed that knowledge is impossible, since things are alwayschanging. Parmenides claimed that change is illusion, and that true reality,which can be perceived only by the intellect, is enduring, perfect, andunchanging. We will see that Plato's view represents a kind of synthesis ofthese two.

THE FORMS: What is the knowledge that guides the intelligent and wiseperson?

It is knowledge of the ideas that lie behind the world of appearancespresented to us by the eye. This kind of knowledge is knowledge of a

higher, unchanging reality, and without it we will have a confused sense ofpriorities.


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Platonic Forms:

1) The forms are separate from (prior to) the empirical world, since in orderto understand the names of empirical objects, we need to have (implicitly)the concept of the form that gives meaning to these names.

2) The forms are more real than empirical objects, because it is only throughparticipation in the forms that empirical things have the properties theyhave.

3) The forms can be perceived only by the intellect. The philosopher is incontact with a different reality because of this connection to the heaven inwhich these abstract entities exist.

On the Reality of the Forms, and on Degrees of Reality: Which is more real,ideas, or the things ideas represent?" (What can the second questionmean? Can some things be 'more real' than others? Is reality like pregnancyand death, or like wisdom and height?)


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PARABLE OF THE LINE: 510a-511e in the text.

THE LINE:

The Intelligible: Higher Forms: [Noesis = understanding] Illumine" and make intelligible the lower forms.The form of the good is highest, and like the sun it illumines other forms and makes them intelligible.Other exalted forms like the true and the just lie at this highest level.

Lower forms: [Dianoia = Reasoning] Those "illuminated" by the higher forms. Forms of 'mere things' likehorses and cups are illumined, by the form of the good.

The Visible [pstis = opinion] Things that are visible get their qualities, their identity and their reality fromparticipation in the forms, which are more general and pure. Just as actual geometric figures are lessperfect than those we understand with reason, the forms in which things participate are more perfect(and more real-- here we have an origin of the notion that "reality" is a form of perfection-- a confusionthat gave rise to the Ontological Argument, which we will see later.)

The Imaginary: [eikasia = image making] Shadows, Images, Imaginary ideas, and Art.


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The Form of the Good: The knowledge guiding the just person is knowledge of the good,which is a kind of super-form which gives meaning to all the others. Knowledge of the good isthe highest and most important knowledge. Nothing has any value at all unless it participatesin the form of the good, so the form of the Good is prior to and more important than anyother thing that has importance or value.

As light shines on things we see with our eyes, the Good 'shines' on things which we perceive

with our minds. It 'illuminates' truth and value in all cases. It lies behind beauty, and science,and truth, and strength, and pleasure, and virtue, and justice.

Only by contemplating this form with our intellect can we know how to guide our lives. Thejust person is the person who can do this, she is a person who is guided by Good in all itsguises, and who is not misled by passion, or by desire, or by falsehood. Such a person doesnot need worldly or empirical success in order to be happy. A truly just person needs none ofthese external goods, because she can appreciate the form of the Good with her intellect.


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MYTH OF THE CAVE REVISITED:

[517b] p. 169. Allegory explained.

HYPOTHESES AS STEPPING STONES: [511b] p.

167.


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E


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Knowledge

OpinionPerceptible

Realm

Intelligible

Realm

The Good &

Other Forms

Philosophical

Wisdom

Mathematical &

Scientific Objects

Perceptible

Objects

Images

A

B

C

D

E

Scientific

Knowledge

Delusion

Informed

Opinion

States of Consciousness Objects of Consciousness


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ARISTOTLE (384322)

He was a pupil at Plato'sAcademy

Before going to Athens,we lived in Macedonia

Son ofthefamousphysician Nicomachus

Last great GreekPhilosopher, butfirstgreat biologist ofEurope


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ARISTOTLE (384322)

Unlike Plato, he waspreoccupied with naturalprocesses (world ofthings)and not with the world of

ideas. He was "the great

organizer."

He tutored (342c.339 )

Alexander the Great

In 335 he opened a schoolin the Lyceum; somedistinguishedmembers of

the Academyfollowed him.


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NATURE IS THEREALWORLD...

The "idea" of something is simply a conceptthat we humans formed afterseeing acertain number of that thing.

Ideas are just the "common characteristics"of things belonging into a certain group.

Ideas are just reflections of natural objects.


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NATURE IS THEREALWORLD...

For Aristotle, "Nothing exists in the mindthat has not first been experienced by thesenses."

Simply, "There is no such thing as aseparate world of ideas."


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CAUSALITY IN NATURE

Modern/popular notion of cause: howsomething came to be

example:

RAIN

- the moisture in the clouds cools and

condenses into raindrops that are drawn to the

earth by the force of gravity.

For Aristotle, this is incomplete.


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CAUSALITY IN NATURE

THERE ARE ALWAYS 4 CAUSES OF ATHING:

1. Material Cause - material component

2. Efficient Cause - that which makes thething (external agent)

3. Formal Cause - that which makes a thing

what it is4. Final cause - purpose for which the thing is

made.


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CAUSALITY IN NATURE

Example: RAIN1. Material Cause - moisture

2. Efficient Cause - cooling air

3. Formal Cause - form or nature of water - tofall to the earth

4. Final Cause - its purpose is to nourish theearth and its dwellers.*

In modern thought theefficient cause isgenerallyconsidered the centralexplanation ofa thing, butfor Aristotle the

final cause had primacy.


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EVERYTHINGCANBECATEGORIZED

Every object falls under a broader category and acertain subcategory

This also applies in the sciences

Science is divided into different branches and that suchbranches are parts of one coherent whole.

Physics

Biology

Psychology

Logic

Ethics

Politics

Metaphysics


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LOGIC

One ofAristotle's major contribution to humanknowledge

Found in his Organon

Logic is an instrument usedfor organizing ourthoughts

based on correlation ofterms


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LOGIC

ex. (Syllogism)

All creatures aremortals

Gloria is a creature

Gloria is a mortal

Clear thinking that leads to a definitelytrueconclusion.


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Plato & Aristotle in General

True

Knowledge

is found

above, inthe world

of ideas.

TrueTrueKnowledgeKnowledgeis foundis found

here, inhere, inthe worldthe worldof things.of things.


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Questions to Ponder

What are the contributions of the two great

philosophers to science?

How can we use their philosophies in our

practical daily living?

A i t tl


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Aristotle (c. 350 B.C.) From Macedonia; father a

counselor to Philip

Student in Platos School (the

Lyceum) in Athens

Diplomatic mission to Lesbos

Tutor of Alexander the Great

Returned to Athens and founded

Peripatetic School

Wrote many books: Rhetoric, On

Generation and Corruption, etc.

About 1/3 of works survive, mostly

lecture notes


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Aristotle on

Materials

Materials consist of a primal

substance (Hyle) which takes

various forms (Morphe):hylomorphism

Two principles determine the

forms: Hotness vs. coldness

and dryness vs. wetness

Fire is dry and hot, earth is

dry and cold, air is wet and

hot, and water is wet and

cold

Although Hyle is permanent,

the Morphe can change and

elements can transmute into

each other


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Aristotle on Motion

Two forces control motion Gravity is the tendency of

heavy things to sink

Levity is the tendency of lightthings to rise

Elements move because theytry to regain their original

positions: rocks sink in water,air bubbles rise in water, rainfalls from the sky, and firerises through air


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Aristotle on the Heavens

The elements are arrangedby gravity into perfectspheres: earth, then water,air, and fire

A fifth element(quintessence) is found inthe heavens: the aether

Heavenly bodies travel

through the ether inperfect spheres

World divided into animal,vegetable, and mineral

Five elements (stoichea) are


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Aristotle on the

Elements

Five elements (stoichea) are

continuous substances, althought

they do have a natura minima

(minimal size); anything else would

be cuttable

No such thing as a void (no space

between):

Objects must travel through a

medium or they would move

infinitely fast

A void is a logical impossibility (since

we can speak of it, it must be

something, not nothing)

Metals are made of sulfur and

mercury and can age in the earth and

transmute into gold

so crates plato aristotle

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