Quiz 2 Part 3 Socrates and Axial age

Sophists:

• Taught rhetoric and persuasion.

• Focused on winning arguments rather than finding truth.

Socrates:

• Sought truth through questioning.

• Believed living a virtuous, examined life is most important.

The Socratic Method (Elenchus)

• rocess of asking questions to expose contradictions and move closer to truth.

• Not about debating to “win,” but about seeking wisdom.

• Encourages critical thinking and challenges assumptions.

The Socratic Method (Elenchus)

• Socrates claimed:

• “I know that I know nothing.”

• True wisdom =

• recognizing your own ignorance.

Sophrosyne

(know thyself, balance, moderation).

• Core to Socrates’ philosophy — self-awareness and moderation lead to wisdom.

Sophrosyne

Definition of the Axial Age

• Period (c. 800–200 BCE) when major philosophical and religious traditions emerged across the world.

• Marked by a shift from Mythos to Logos — from mythological explanations to rational, ethical, and spiritual inquiry.

Definition of the Axial Age

( Axial Age ) Mythos:

Explains reality through gods and myths.

• Example: “Zeus throws lightning bolts.”

(Axial Age) Logos:

Seeks natural explanations through reason.

• Example: Lightning explained as an electrical discharge when opposite charges build up.

. Lower Reality

Human existence is flawed, imperfect, or bound by illusion.

Buddha → Samsara; Judeo-Christian → The Fall; Plato → The Cave; Stoics → Realm of Pathos

Lower reality

Higher/Transcendent Reality

There exists a perfect, higher order beyond our current state.

Transformation/Arrival

By practice, one enters the higher realm — enlightenment, salvation, truth, or peace.

Liberation, redemption, knowledge of the Forms, ataraxia (inner peace)

Transformation/Arrival

What is the Axial Age about

Human Awakening

moving from living passively under myth and tradition → to actively seeking truth, justice, and meaning through reason, ethics, and spiritual discipline.

The Axial Age