Ancient Philosophy

Socrates-469-399 BCE= Plato's mentor

Plato's dialogues:

Apology: talks about Socrates trial

Crito: writes about Socrate in prison

Phaedo: writes about Socrates' last day alive

Republic: thinking like Socrates (perfect society)

Why dialogues?: dramatic ways to talk about philosophy

24/08

A lot of names/words have Greek origins

Review of last class: Biography of Socrates

Where was he born?: Athens, Greece

-Athens is a democracy

-His father was a stonemason--Sophroniscus

-His mother was a midwife--Phainarete (means appearance of the best)

-Socrates wife--Xanthippe

-3 sons--26,3,2

How does he look?:He's ugly (bald, smells bad, weird walk, poor= retired because he got a little money, a little fat)

Famous for never wearing no shoes--play=bare footed in athens (a play about socrates but completely wrong) he is not a democrat

-Socrates talks about abstract virtues (beauty, wisdom, courage)

-challenges arguments (counter-example= where the theory doesn't work)

How did Plato meet Socrates?: Plato's brothers take him to meet Socrates when he's 13

How does socrates dies: excuted= poisoned--hemlock, forced to drink a bowl of poison=death by nerves paralysis=can feel yourself dying--takes a few minutes

Why was he excuted?: corrupting the youth, blasphemy--not respecting the gods

26/08

Greeks have poleis (cities) instead od nations, so all cities are their own countries but they're all Greece

Cows/horse/big animals= symbol of wealth (you need land=wealth)

1.land=wealth=power

2.politics religion

Greece= Hellas

Peleponnesos= Sparta (big land mass at bottom)

above that= Attica

West part of Turkey + all of islands= Greece

Ionia

The histories of Herodatos:

first historian (father of history)

inquiry/investigation

He travels around, wanting to know the causes of the Persain wars

Meets sailors who say they went all around Africa, proof=sun wasn't in the right side of the sky

We now know that they were just below the equator

Not a good historian: just writes down everything without questioning it

Herodatos:

Eetion e Labda e child

-Eetion had murdered a relative of the 10 assassins and his family would kill Edtion which is revenge

-Eetion dies before the victims family can kill him so they kill the child

-10 assassins plan to take the child, throw it on the ground and stomp on it

-but the first assassin found the baby cute so he didn't throw it, he passes it to the next assassin and they pass it around until they pass it back to the mother and they leave

-Herodatos's writing of the story survived 25000 years because of human nature

Greek methodology:

-vary according to time, space and family

Three classes of things in the world:

-immortals (gods, titans)

-hybrids (demigods = Heracules, monsters---cyclops, centaurs, sathres)

-mortals (humans, animals, plants etc.)

Titans:

-Gaia

-Chronos

-Rhea

-Ouranos

04/09

Titians:

Brothers =

Mathein = to learn

-Prometheus = fore knowledge

-Epimetheus = after thought

Gods/Goddesses:

-Zeus, lightning, weather, thunder, sky (king of the gods)

-Hera, marriage, political powers (wife of his Zeus)

-Poseidon, sea, horses, earthquakes

-Hades, underworld

-Hermes, messenger, thieves

-Hephaestus, forge

-Hestia, hearth, home