Socrates (470-399 BC) "The unexamined life is not worth living." —Socrates e@ Credited as one of the founders of western philosophy. e The first Moral Philosopher, known to people mainly through the work of his disciples Plato and Xenophone. e@ His five most important works are: i) Euthypro ii) Apology iii) Crito iv) Pheedo v) Symposium Generally accepted statement » Hypothesis which needs to be proved » Elaboration of the hypothesis » Consequences of the hypothesis » Contradiction (Aporia) » Hypothesis modified e Amethod of hypothesis elimination. e Adialectical method involving a discussion in the manner of questions and answers. e Hypothesis are eliminated by finding contradictions, basic definitions are also questioned. e The essence of this method is to convince somebody that though he thought he knew something he did not. Hence, there is a debate as to whether it is a positivemethod leading to knowledge or a negative method leading to refutation of false claim of knowledge. e@ Socrates believed that his awareness about his ignorance made him more knowledgeable than the people who though ignorant claimed knowledge. The care of the soul (tripartite soul). The unexamined life. All virtue is knowledge. Errors are never intentional (Weak Will- Akrecia) All desire is for good. Eudaimonism (Virtue = Happiness) The Theory of Forms is a philosophical viewpoint which maintains that non physical ideas derived from rationality represent the most accurate reality these forms are discussed in Plato's dialogue Pheedo, Republic and Phaedrus. The Problem of Universals refers to the metaphysical dilemma as to whether properties exist and if they do, what are they. The debate is whether these Universals exist in reality or do they exist only in thought and speech, some such universals are circularity, justice, duty etc. The Theory of Forms is said to be a classical solution to the Problem of Oo CEUniversals. Every object or quality has an ideal form which is not sensory in nature, what our senses experience is a manifestation of that ideal form in various circumstances. What is it whose appearance is changing? —Substance Form Real things * Timeless and unchanging + Constantly changing + Unqualified perfection + Qualified and conditional + Extrasensory in nature + Comprehended by the senses 7 4 Thus a form is the essence of any object. rue knowledge is the ability to grasp the world of forms with one's mind. Following the logic of The Socratic Dialectic one can say that as the forms do not exist in the physical world the evidence of the existence of form also cannot be found in the physical world, we have to rely upon human perception and perfection. Though we may not have seen different objects having different shades of blue the idea of blueness does exist in our mind (this is because of perception)Though we may not have seen a perfect geometric form we all know that they exist. According to Plato forms exist as mental constructs in a non-sensible world, this makes it very difficult to determine the relationship between a form and its particulars. There is no clear idea as to how many things in the world have a form. Like Plato, Aristotle also rejects the idea that knowledge is perception but his reasons are different. Plato says that perception is relative, illusory and full of contradictions however, Aristotle says that Plato's view on perception have resulted from an unsatisfactory analysis of perception. Plato says, Sense data is perception. Aristotle says, Sense data + Meaning we give to sense data is perception. According to Plato idea is a substance which can exist ina intelligible world without any representation in the sensible world but according to Aristotle an idea must exist only in the object.e Plato's theory of innate knowledge is incomplate though a person may know of geometry shapes he would not know about geometric principles till he learns them. e@ Noessence of anything can be outside but Plato's idea exist in the non sensible world whereas the things in which the ideas exist are in the real world. This is an absurdity. The Allegory of the Cave was written by Plato in republic. It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and Socrates. This allegory is often used to explain the importance of knowledge and the perils of seeking knowledge. e Agroup of people have been chained in a cave in such a way that they cannot move they are facing a blank wall on this wall they see some objects. e@ These objects are shadows projected on a wall from actual objects passing in front of a fire behind them. e For the prisoners the shadows are the reality. e@ Suppose one prisoner is freed the prisoner would look around and see the fire which would hurt his eyes. He would prefer to go back to his original position. e@ Suppose he is dragged out into the light of the Sun theprisoner would be angry and in pain. However his eyes would slowly adjust to the light of the Sun and he would be able to ultimately look at the Sun. Now the freed prisoner would start thinking that the world outside was superior to the world he experienced when he was inside the cave. He wants to drag out his friends(other prisoners) so that they can also become knowledgeable. But when he returns to the cave he is blinded by the darkness, the other prisoners would conclude that the freed prisoner's journey out of the cave had actually harmed him and they should not undertake this journey.