Philo: The Value of Philosophical Reflection

The Reflective Life

Socratic Legacy

Plato’s Apology

• Genre: Philosophical defense speech (not a dialogue in the usual sense)

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

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

• _______ Socrates’ defense against charges of corrupting the youth and impiety (lack of respect).

• He defends his method of elenchus (cross-examination) and claims wisdom lies in knowing one’s own ignorance.

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

Socrates

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Plato & Protagoras

• Genre: Philosophical dialogue

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

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

• "Protagoras," Socrates debates the famous sophist Protagoras about whether virtue can be taught.

• Socrates questions the unity of the virtues

• Protagoras argues that virtue is teachable

Agora in ancient Athens

Socrates philosophize in the public place ____, compelled people to:

• think

• defend their views

• account for what they know and do not know

He asked people series of questions, engaged them to answer

Socratic Method/Philosophical Reflection

• Effective method of education

• We are compelled to reflect on what we believe or claim to know

• What we believe to be true becomes the basis of our action

Lao Tzu

Watch your THOUGHTS

They become WORDS

Watch your WORDS

They become ACTIONS

Watch your ACTIONS

They become HABITS

Watch your HABITS

They become CHARACTER

Watch your CHARACTER

It becomes your DESTINY

A Philosophical reflection is indispensable because…

we do not realize what we truly believe until we are challenged to defend them.

most common self-image identifications

• worldly possession, social/cultural standing and the level of acceptance.

  • academic education, physical characteristics, social and intimate relationships, family history, belief systems and other political, gender,& race.

Sometimes we define ourselves by

• how we feel

• in response to the outcomes that we had at some points in our past.

Aristotle

defined virtue as a mean between excess and deficiency, a balance of character traits and behaviors achieved through habit and rational choice. He believed virtues are developed through practice, leading to moral excellence and a fulfilling life.

Philosopo as a Social Critic

• one with skill in evading/avoiding arguments.

Fallacy

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

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

Sophists (Relativism)

• Group of people in Greece who are teaching - ARETE - excellence (poetry, science, mathematics...)

• uses argument to win and not to find the truth - Plato & Aristotle

Protagoras, (Sophists)

• Uses argument to appear the weak appear stronger

• Man is the measure of all things

• Every individual has a measure of his own truth

• law of society is relative

Gorgias’ view

• emphasized that society’s laws (nomos) often oppose natural order (physis).

• nature (physis): the strong have power over the weak. In society (nomos): laws are created to protect the weak and restrain the strong.

Callicles

• the strong dominate the weak. This is not “unjust” — it is simply the way reality works.

• in natural order, might makes right

Social Law (Nomos)

• Callicles argued that laws (justice, equality, fairness) are inventions of the weak majority to protect themselves from the strong minority

• these laws go against nature because they restrict the natural superiority of the strong.

Lycophron

• in natural order, all humans are equal

• Slavery is unjust in the law of nature

• Societies create hierarchy not found in nature

Protagoras

• “One every issue there are two arguments opposed to one another“

• on any single question there are at least two side of argument

Sophism

• a term used to describe a particular style of argumentation and reasoning that is often associated with deception and trickery

• type of rhetoric that aims to persuade rather than inform, and that it relies on clever wordplay and logical fallacies to make its point.

Fallacy

• mistake in reasoning that makes an argument invalid or weak

• may sound persuasive, but it does not logically prove the point.

• Philosophers, logicians, and debaters study _____ to avoid being misled.

Ad hominem

• instead of attacking the argument, someone attacks the person making the argument.

• fallacious argumentative strategy whereby genuine discussion of the topic at hand is avoided by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself

• “to the person“

Appeal to ignorance

• aka Argumentum ad Ignorantiam.

• when someone claims that something is true because it hasn’t been proven false, or false because it hasn’t been proven true.

• “We don’t know, so my claim must be correct.”

Hasty Generalization

• A fallacy in which conclusion is not logically supported by sufficient evidence.

• evidence is insufficient or biased

Equivocation fallacy

• defined as a logical fallacy in which a term or phrase is used multiple times to convey different meanings, making the argument it is used illogically.

• An argument in an ambiguous way, with one meaning in the other side of the argument and another meaning in the other portion of the argument, making the argument misleading.

• “The sign said ‘fine for parking here,’ so I thought it was fine to park.”

Appeal to Pity

• aka Ad Misericordiam fallacy

• someone tries to win support an argument or idea by exploiting the opponent's feelings, pity or guilt.

Bandwagon

• when a proposition is claimed to be true or good solely because many people believe it to be so.

Post Hoc

• aka Ergo Propter Hoc (Superstitions)

• occur when it is assumed that, because one thing happened after another, it must have occurred as a result of it.

Appeal to Force

• aka argumentum ad baculum

• When force, coercion, or even a threat of force is used in place of a reason in an attempt to justify a conclusion.

Pamimilosopo

• The true philosopher, observes, thinks and sees clearly with the mind, and speaks the truth.

• We need the pilosopo to engage others to see the truth and live by it.