Social Studies | The Sophists and Socrates

human beings

where philosophy shifted to

pre-socratics failure to define the world

the trigger of the philosophical shift

sophists

• believe that there may not be an absolute truth

• they are travelling teachers of rhetoric, grammar, and writing

protagoras

believes that knowledge is subjective and that our perceptions may vary

thrasymachus

• believe that the stronger and the more powerful determine the truth

• injustice is preferred to a life of justice

the oracle of delphi

dictated that the wisest of all men is socrates

sleepwalkers

are people who simply obey and do not think for themselves

the socratic method

• emphasizes asking questions

• intellectual analysis to draw answers out of people

• gives birth to ideas and truth

concept of self

• metaphysics

• the soul as immortal or imperishable; thus death shouldn’t be feared

happiness

this is the purpose of the soul

moral thought

• ethics

• making the soul good by means of attaining knowledge

knowledge

what is virtue?

ignorance

what is vice?