...Great dialogues of Plato—Crito In this chapter, Plato talked about the dialogues between Socrates and Criton, Socrates’ best friend in his whole life. In this time, Socrates had already been put into prison by the unfair adjudgement in the court and he was waiting for the death penalty. When a Greek ship from Delos came back, he needed to get the death penalty. Before this time, Criton had visited Socrates for a few times, and tried to persuade him escape from this prison, but it was not worked. In the beginning of this dialogue, Socrates asked Criton, “Why have you come at this time of day”? He was sleeping and even forgot the time. Criton wanted to convince him leave the prison, and he had already found someone to help Socrates if he could escape. It must be the last time to get out from this prison, because the ship would come soon. However, Socrates refused his suggestion depending on his own opinion about moral and law. Then they began to debate by several aspects. Criton thought that he should leave the prison because he was guiltless. And he used a few ways to persuade him, just like, he let Socrates think of his sons and said “It is your power to bring them up and educate them, and now you will go off and leave them, and so far as you are concerned, they must take their life as they find it”. And they would be in orphan, if you leave them. He appealed by emotion to persuade him not giving up his life. On the other hand, Criton illustrated their friendship. If Socrates...
Words: 359 - Pages: 2
...“Socrates, the Man of Many Colors” The Last Days of Socrates contains a series of dialogues with Socrates in the run- up to his trial, where he is sentenced to death. Plato, the author, was inspired by Socrates. Plato was a student of his and went on to teach many famous people such as Aristotle, who wrote treatises on everything from poetry to biology, and even Alexander the Great. Plato was born into a wealthy family around the last days of the Athenian Empire (427-347 B.C.). Plato was also an advisor to the king of Syracuse. Plato had great influence throughout the history of philosophy, often being called the father of Western philosophy. He wrote over twenty philosophical dialogues and thirteen letters ( oregonstate.edu/…/Philosophers/Plato/). Most of what we know about the life of Socrates was written down by Plato. This book of Plato’s, The Last Days of Socrates, includes four works or dialogues. The first three are written very close in time to one another. The last was written years later. All have been translated into modern English from ancient Greek. All works relate to Socrates’ trial and subsequent death. The One major theme of the dialogues is justice. Justice has a direct effect upon Socrates’ behavior. He insists to Crito in the third dialog that his beliefs pertaining to what “just” means is the very reason why he has accepted the sentence he is given. This very question, “What is just?” is just the kind of thing that got him into trouble in...
Words: 1132 - Pages: 5
...Plato's Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology 1.0. The Background to Plato’s Metaphysics The author Silverman, Allan (2014) of this article titled Plato’s Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology wrote about how Plato first began to annotate his own points on metaphysics and epistemology. As we all knew, Plato’s definition of things are heavily influenced by his teachers Heraclitus (c.540 B.C.-480-70) Parmenides (c.515 B.C.-449-40) and especially Socrates (470 B.C-399). However only remnants of the writings of Heraclitus and Parmenides and also nothing left of Socrates. The only evidence that we ever had is Plato’s depiction of his teacher that is the dialog he wrote in his writings about Socrates’s views. Sometimes, it is as if it was Socrates’s writing not Plato because of the many things about Socrates he wrote. Some had said that it was his own views but instead he used Socrates as the speaker. This article also wrote about Plato’s predecessors’ views of the concept that influences his definition of Metaphysics and Epistemology which are Being and Forms. Firstly, Parmenides which he said there is one and only in this world and that is being. The truth is it never change and will never be. Sadly, there is not much we could conclude from Parmenides’s point of view. His concept of being has become Plato’s based of doctrine of Forms. As contrast to Parmenides’s definition of physical world, Heraclitus is the advocate of change. He said that the ordinary objects...
Words: 4378 - Pages: 18
...Research Paper on a Philosopher Plato Valerie Jenter Centenary College April 24, 2012 Abstract Many Philosophers made a difference in society but Plato is perhaps recognized as the most famous. His writings have had a profound effect on people, politics, and the philosophy throughout the centuries. He was a public figure and he made major contributions to society. Plato helped to lay the philosophical foundations of modern culture through his ideas and writings. One of the most philosophical thinkers of Western civilization, Plato is the only author from ancient Greek times whose writings survive intact. His collection consists of thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters, though the authorship of some is contested. Plato was born in Athens, into a prosperous aristocratic family. His Father’s name was Ariston and his Mother’s name was Perictione. His relative named Glaucon was one of the best-known members of the Athenian nobility. Plato's name was Aristocles, his nickname Plato originates from wrestling circles, Plato means broad, and it probably refers either to his physical appearance or his wrestling style. “Plato is, by any reckoning, one of the most dazzling writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wide-ranging, and influential authors in the history of philosophy,” (Kraut, 2009). Plato was born during the Golden Age of Athens’s...
Words: 1881 - Pages: 8
...background” Born: 469 BC, Athens, Greece Died:399 BC, Athens, Greece Full name: Socrates Nationality: Greek Era: Ancient philosophy Region: Western philosophy School: Classical Greek Main interests: Epistemology, ethics Notable idea: SocraticMethod, Socratic irony Influenced: Most subsequent Western philosophy; more specifically, Plato, Aristotle, Aristippus, Antisthenes Spouse:Xanthippe Children:Menexenus, Lamprocles, Sophroniscus Aristotle Philosopher Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great “Personal background” Born: 384 BC Stagira, Chalcidice Died: 322 BC (aged 61 or 62) Euboea Nationality: Greek Era: Ancient philosophy Region: Western philosophy School: Peripatetic schoolAristotelianism Main interests: Physics, Metaphysics, Poetry, Theatre, Music, Rhetoric, Politics, Government, Ethics, Biology, and Zoology Notable ideas: Golden mean, Aristotelian logic, syllogism, hexis, homomorphism, Aristotle's theory of soul Plato Philosopher Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece. He was also a mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. “Personal background” Born: c. 428–427 BC Athens Died: c. 348–347 BC (aged c. 80)Athens Nationality: Greek Era: Ancient philosophy Region: Western philosophy School: Platonism Main interests: Rhetoric...
Words: 3769 - Pages: 16
...Ancient Greece. In the period of the Fifth Century BCE, particularly in Athens, an incredible number of remarkable thinkers, artists, politicians, etc., participated in the life of the city-state. Their accomplishments have guided and inspired the entire development of Western culture. It’s pretty obvious then, that we ought to know something of their philosopher’s ideas. The most famous are, of course, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Prior to these are the so-called Pre-Socratics. The Pre-Socratic philosophers include: the Ionians who attempted to formulate materialist explanations of reality, the Eleatics, who proposed various intellectual conundrums about the nature of being and thought and the Sophists, who taught rhetoric and were an important social force (as their contemporary intellectual descendants are today). Socrates, Plato and Aristotle represent almost a school of thought. Socrates taught Plato, though he did not write down his teachings. After he was executed, Plato did write down what Socrates had taught, in the forms of dialogues, as well as much more which Plato probably thought he might have taught had he lived. Aristotle studied in Plato’s school, the Academy, until after many years he left to form his own. One might characterize all of their philosophizing as the attempt to solve a number of problems left to them by their predecessors in a systematic way. Western philosophy is traditionally held to have begun with Thales. Thales is said to have taught that water...
Words: 8366 - Pages: 34
...The Project Gutenberg EBook of Phaedo, by Plato This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Phaedo The Last Hours Of Socrates Author: Plato Translator: Benjamin Jowett Release Date: October 29, 2008 [EBook #1658] Last Updated: January 15, 2013 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHAEDO *** Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger PHAEDO By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION.PHAEDO | INTRODUCTION. After an interval of some months or years, and at Phlius, a town of Peloponnesus, the tale of the last hours of Socrates is narrated to Echecrates and other Phliasians by Phaedo the 'beloved disciple.' The Dialogue necessarily takes the form of a narrative, because Socrates...
Words: 46205 - Pages: 185
...made enemies, three of whom brought charges against him. Socrates was tried for his life in 399 BC, found guilty, and put to death by drinking hemlock. The story of his trial and death is the subject of a tract by Plato which is called the Apologia. Most of what we know about Socrates comes from the works of Plato, who was his pupil. Socrates lived in the Greek city of Athens. His method of teaching was to have a dialogue with individual students. They would propose some point of view, and Socrates would question them, asking what they meant. He would pretend "I don't know anything; I'm just trying to understand what it is you are saying", or words to that effect. This is now called the Socratic method of teaching. Socrates is sometimes called the "father of Western philosophy". This is because in the discussions he uncovered some of the most basic questions in philosophy, questions which are still discussed today. Also some of the people he taught were important and successful, like Plato and Alcibiades. Socrates never wrote anything. All of what we know about Socrates is from what other people wrote about him. Our main source of what we know about Socrates is from the writings of his student, Plato. Some of Plato's dialogues, such as the Crito and the Phaedo, are loosely based on fact. They are not written records, but artistic re-creation of Socrates in action. Another of Socrates' students,...
Words: 1476 - Pages: 6
...Running Head: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOCRATES 1 The Philosophy of Socrates: A Lover of Wisdom (2052 Words) THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOCRATES 2 The lessons of life that are delivered by Socrates act as a basis for Western philosophy. Plato, the writer of The Apology, significantly respects Socrates and his dialogues act as a framework for our understanding in the passages. Our only record of his life comes from his associates, as Socrates never documented his opinions. A clear expression of Socrates’ philosophy is represented in The Apology. The purpose of this paper is to establish a clear demonstration of Socrates’ philosophy using The Apology as reference, and also explain my personal view on philosophy. In the first section of this paper, the famous statement from Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living”, will be connected when explaining three principle components of his philosophy: Irony, Method and Ethos. The second section of this paper will reveal my personal view on philosophy. Rahut’s claim on philosophy being the study of “open questions” will be supported by examples and descriptions. In the case that a question cannot be accurately answered or proven with our existing knowledge, I demonstrate that it should be classified as an ‘open question’. Throughout section 17-18 of The...
Words: 2042 - Pages: 9
...cultural history, and these features contributed to both its limitations and advantages. The homeland of Ancient Greece can be found at the tip of the Balkan Peninsula with over 1,000 islands in Southwestern Europe. It is surrounded by the Aegean Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the west, which both branch into the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Isthmus of Corinth connects the separate region of the Peloponnesus, on the very southern tip of the peninsula. This area was a crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greeks also colonized the coast of Asia Minor, the large islands of Crete and Cyprus, and founded cities around North Africa, Southern Europe, and the Black Sea. The Greeks surrounded these seas, living, to repeat Plato (Phaedo), “like frogs around a pond”. Landscape Rugged Mountains and islands covered more than three-fourths of Ancient Greece. Mountains divided the land into a number of different regions. The mountain range like the Pindus ran mostly from northwest to southeast along the Balkan Peninsula. Extensions of these mountain ranges spread across the Peloponnese and underwater across the Aegean, forming many of the over 1,000 Aegean islands. The area is also very unstable where volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are common. This is the result of tectonic movements, especially where the African tectonic plate moves north and meets the European plate. During the Bronze Age on, much of this mountainous area was deforested. Lumber was needed to...
Words: 1828 - Pages: 8
...previous paragraph are true, then 5th century Greece was in a philosophical crisis. It was a crisis in morality. In our culture we think of morality as being concerned with rules. Here are some rules – You should not kill. – You should not steal. – Don’t hit people. – Lying is wrong. – It’s wrong to promise to do something and then not do it. – You should not covet your neighbors wife, or his ox or his ass or his male or female slave, or anything that is your neighbor’s. – You should not lie with a man as with a woman. – Thou should not wear fabric woven of wool one way and linen the other. – Do (imperative) unto others as you would have them do unto you. – Help (imperative) other people who are in need when you can do so at no great risk or cost to yourself. Why do we think of morality as consisting of rules? This question is important because rule-morality has one bad consequence. (This does not mean that rule-based morality is false or misguided.) The bad effect is that people who break rules sometimes advantage themselves by doing so. We say that “cheaters never prosper.” But is that a credible induction from your experience? Rule morality can make morality appear to be an irksome restriction on pursuit of our...
Words: 28769 - Pages: 116
...Apology Plato Published: -400 Categorie(s): Non-Fiction, Philosophy Source: http://en.wikisource.org 1 About Plato: Plato (Greek: Plátōn, "wide, broad-shouldered") (428/427 BC – 348/ 347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, the second of the great trio of ancient Greeks –Socrates, Plato, originally named Aristocles, and Aris- totle– who between them laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Plato was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dia- logues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world. Plato is widely believed to have been a student of Socrates and to have been deeply influenced by his teacher's unjust death. Plato's brilliance as a writer and thinker can be witnessed by reading his Socratic dialogues. Some of the dialogues, let- ters, and other works that are ascribed to him are considered spurious. Plato is thought to have lectured at the Academy, although the pedago- gical function of his dialogues, if any, is not known with certainty. They have historically been used to teach philosophy, logic, rhetoric, mathem- atics, and other subjects about which he wrote. Source: Wikipedia Also available on Feedbooks for Plato: • The Complete Plato (-347) • The Republic (-380) • Symposium(-400) • Charmides(-400) • Protagoras(-400) • Statesman(-400) • Ion(-400) • Crito(-400) • Meno(-400) • Phaedo(-400) Note: This book is brought to you by Feedbooks http://www.feedbooks.com Strictly...
Words: 12654 - Pages: 51
...In Conjunction with History of Ethics Instructor: Robert Cavalier Teaching Professor Robert Cavalier received his BA from New York University and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Duquesne University. In 1987 he joined the staff at Carnegie Mellon's Center for Design of Educational Computing (CDEC), where he became Executive Director in 1991. While at CDEC, he was also co-principal in the 1989 EDUCOM award winner for Best Humanities Software (published in 1996 by Routledge as A Right to Die? The Dax Cowart Case). He also coauthored the CD-ROM The Issue of Abortion in America (Rountledge, 1998) Dr. Cavalier was Director of CMU's Center for the Advancement of Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy from 2005-2007. He currently directs the Center's Digital Media Lab which houses Project PICOLA (Public Informed Citizen Online Assembly), and is also co-Director of Southwestern Pennsylvania Program for Deliberative Democracy. Co-Editor of Ethics in the History of Western Philosophy (St. Martin's/Macmillan, England, 1990), Editor of The Impact of the Internet on Our Moral Lives (SUNY, 2003) and other works in ethics as well as articles in educational computing, Dr. Cavalier is internationally recognized for his work in education and interactive multimedia. He was President of the "International Association for Computing and Philosophy" (2001 - 2004) and Chair of the APA Committee on Philosophy and Computers (2000-2003). Dr. Cavalier has given numerous addresses and...
Words: 14800 - Pages: 60
...of New Africa (Numidia). Upon his return to Rome he narrowly escaped conviction for malfeasance in office, retired from public life, and took up historiography. Sallust’s two extant monographs take as their theme the moral and political decline of Rome, one on the conspiracy of Catiline and the other on the war with Jugurtha. For this edition, J. C. Rolfe’s text and translation of the Catiline and Jugurtha have been thoroughly revised in line with the most recent scholarship. Vol. I. ISBN 978-0-674-99684-7 LCL TRANSLATED BY E. C. MARCHANT O. J. TODD REVISED BY JEFFREY HENDERSON This volume collects Xenophon’s (c. 430 to c. 354 BC) portrayals of his associate, Socrates. In Memorabilia (or Memoirs of Socrates) and in Oeconomicus, a dialogue about household management, we see the philosopher through Xenophon’s eyes. Here, as in the accompanying Symposium, we also obtain insight on life in Athens. The volume concludes with Xenophon’s Apology, an interesting complement to Plato’s account of Socrates’ defense at his trial. All volumes in the Loeb Xenophon Vol. I. ISBN 978-0-674-99098-2 Vol. II. ISBN 978-0-674-99099-9 Vol. III. ISBN 978-0-674-99101-9 Vol. IV. ISBN 978-0-674-99695-3 Vol. V. ISBN 978-0-674-99057-9 Vol. VI. ISBN 978-0-674-99058-6 Vol. VII. ISBN...
Words: 11934 - Pages: 48
...leading to transfer of knowledge from a person or an organization to others. Whereas this invariably leads to faster development, it also impacts the competitive advantage held by the innovators of processes or technology. It has therefore become strategically important for one and all in business to understand the knowledge, processes and controls to effectively manage the system of sharing and transferring the information in the most beneficial fashion. This paper dwells upon definition, types, scope, technology and modeling of knowledge and Knowledge Management while examining its strategic importance for retaining the competitive advantage by the organizations. What is knowledge? Plato first defined the concept of knowledge as justified true belief'' in his Meno, Phaedo and Theaetetus. Although not very accurate in terms of logic, this definition has been predominant in Western philosophy (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). Davenport et al. (1998) define knowledge as ``information combined with experience, context, interpretation and reflection''. The terms knowledge'' and information'' are often used inter-changeably in the literature and praxis but a distinction is helpful. The chain of knowledge flow is data-information-knowledge. Information is data to which meaning has been added by being categorized, classified, corrected, and condensed. Information and experience, key components of definitions of knowledge, are put into categories through the process of...
Words: 6564 - Pages: 27