socrates, plato, and aristole

them mfs who be thinking and thinking

sophists

relativists and skeptics who taught rhetoric for money

protagoras

believed justice is a social construct; politics can be taught

thrasymachus

claimed injustice benefits the individual more than justice

antiphon

expressed further doubts about justice and law

relativism

no objective truth; truth depends on perspective

socrates

claimed to know nothing; known through plato’s writings

elenchus

socratic method of questioning to expose ignorance

socratic paradoxes

virtue is knowledge, no one does wrong voluntarily, unity of virtues

socrates' trial

accused of impiety and corrupting the youth

death of socrates

executed by drinking hemlock at age 71

republic

plato’s work exploring justice, politics, and the ideal state

cephalus

defined justice as paying debts and obligations

polemarchus

justice is helping friends and harming enemies

glaucon

justice is a compromise to avoid worse consequences

ring of gyges

illustrates people are unjust when unaccountable

tripartite soul

appetitive, spirited, and rational desires

kallipolis

ideal city ruled by those with natural aptitude

specialization

each person should do the job best suited to them

plato's view on democracy

criticized for excessive freedom and risk of tyranny

education

should be exclusive for future rulers

public vs private life

rulers own no private property

invalids and infants

should be judged based on social usefulness

slavery

accepted by plato without issue

allegory of the cave

ignorance is like prisoners watching shadows; only philosophers see truth

theory of forms

intelligible, eternal truths understood by reason

form of the good

highest form illuminating all others

aristotle

student of plato, tutor of alexander the great, founded the lyceum

political animal

humans are naturally political and fulfill themselves in a polis

eudaimonia

human flourishing through virtue in political life

doctrine of the mean

virtue lies between extremes of excess and deficiency

teleology

everything has a purpose; justice is linked to fulfilling function

realism

focus on what is possible and attainable, not ideal forms

constitutions

monarchy, aristocracy, polity (ideal); tyranny, oligarchy, democracy (corrupt)

middle class

seen as stabilizing force for a virtuous state

polis

highest form of association aiming at the good life

ethics and politics

inseparable; politics is the master science