PHILOSOPHY 12: The Value of Philosophical Reflection

Who Am I?

The most common self-image identifications people make are related to their worldly possession, social/cultural standing, and the level of acceptance. Sometimes, people define themselves by how they feel or in response to the outcomes that they had at some points in their past. Some suggestions in defining this are as follows:

• Define yourself in a positive way.

• Let room for improvement and growth.

• Define yourself through constants.

• Raise your standards for becoming better.

• Develop self-honesty, honesty will bring you clarity.

• Admit we all are imperfect.

• Be focused to improve yourself day by day.

Johari’s Window

It is a psychological model created by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in 1955 to help people improve self-awareness and interpersonal communication.

Open (Known to self & Known to others)

Information, traits, behaviors, and feelings that you know about yourself and that others also know.

Blind Spot (Not known to self & Known to others)

Things that others notice about you, but you are not yet aware of. This can include personal habits, strengths, or communication flaws.

Hidden Area (Known to self & Not known to others)

Private information, secrets, or feelings that you keep to yourself.

Unknown (Not known to self & Not known to others)

Subconscious traits, untapped talents, or early childhood experiences that neither you nor anyone else currently recognizes.

Plato’s Apology

A philosophical defense speech.

• Setting: Socrates’ trial in 399 BCE (Before Common Era).

• Main Characters: Socrates (speaking to the Athenian jury).

• Charges: Corrupting the youth and impiety (lack of respect).

• Socrates’ Defense: He argues that he is not guilty, but rather a social and moral gadfly sent by the gods.

• Method of Elenchus: He defends his method of cross-examination and claims wisdom lies in knowing one’s own ignorance.

• Famous Quote: “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

• Conclusion: He is sentenced to death but remains defiant, confident that a just life is more important than survival.

Elenchus

Cross-examination

Plato’s Protagoras

A philosophical dialogue.

• Setting: A conversation at the house of Callias in Athens.

• Main Characters: Socrates, Protagoras (a famous sophist), and others.

• Main Discussion: Socrates debates Protagoras about whether virtue can be taught.

• Protagoras’ Argument: Virtue is teachable, and society educates people in moral values.

• Socrates’ Questions: The unity of the virtues (e.g., is courage separate from wisdom?) and whether anyone knowingly does evil.

• Conclusion: The dialogue ends inconclusively, but Socrates seems to get Protagoras to contradict himself.

Agora

A public place in ancient Athens where Socrates philosophized and asked people a series of questions, compelling them to think, defend their views, and account for what they know and do not know. This approach is known as the Socratic Method or Philosophical Reflection.

Socratic Method/Philosophical Reflection

An effective method of education that compels us to reflect on what we believe or claim to know. What we believe to be true becomes the basis of our actions.

Virtue according to Aristotle

Virtue is a mean between excess and deficiency, balancing character traits and behaviors through habit and rational choice. Virtues develop through practice, leading to moral excellence and a fulfilling life.

Virtue

It is knowledge of what is truly good and truly bad. To truly know what is good necessarily leads to doing what is good. A person who only pretends to know what is good reveals their ignorance through their actions. What we think we know is reflected in our life decisions.

Philosopo

One with skill in evading/avoiding arguments.

Logical Fallacy

• It is an argument that may sound convincing or true but is actually flawed.

• These are lapses of logic that lead us to an unsupported conclusion.

Sophism

It is a term used to describe a particular style of argumentation and reasoning that is often associated with deception and trickery. It is a type of rhetoric that aims to persuade rather than inform, and that it relies on clever wordplay and logical fallacies to make its point.

Sophists (Relativism)

A group of people in Greece who taught arete (excellence) in areas such as poetry, science, and mathematics. According to Plato and Aristotle, they used arguments to win rather than to find the truth.

Protagoras

• Man is the measure of all things

• Every individual has a measure of his own truth

• On any single question, there are at least two sides of an argument

Gorgias

Nomos (law of society) is opposed to physis (natural order)

Nomos

Society’s laws created to protect the weak and restrain the strong.

Physis

The natural order in which the strong have power over the weak.

Callicles

In natural order, might makes right.

• This is not considered unjust but simply the way reality works. For example, lions hunt weaker animals, and stronger humans can rule over weaker ones.

Lycophron

In natural order, all humans are equal.

• No one is born a master or slave by nature. Differences between people, such as a king and a farmer, are created by law and society, not by nature.