...Was Socrates the first coach? The ancient Greek philosophers and coaching Flourishing life (eudaimonia) Excellence (aristia) –Prudence (phronesis) – Morals (ethos) This original article (a shorter one) written by Barbara Asimakopoulou was first published in International Coaching Federation’s blog The ancient Greek philosophers, motivated by their love of knowledge (the actual word “philosopher” derives from the Greek words “filos” and “Sophia” which mean “friend” and “wisdom” respectively) have been preoccupied with the investigation of the reasons for human existence and the way men should live, so as to be consistent with their reason for being. Their views widely appealed to the western world and formed the foundation for western philosophy and psychology, influencing the philosophers who followed, from the oldest to the most contemporary ones and inspiring passionate support but not without also being questioned. Today, most of their views seem to have lost nothing of their lustre and stand out like shining beacons, especially now that the western world is desperately seeking answers in order to relight its fires!!! In the text below, I refer to Aristotle and Socrates, the principles and practices they bequeathed us, so as to prove that these have a lot in common with the principles and practices of coaching. In addition, I will attempt to prove that Socrates is the first ever coach!!! Aristotle, a student of Socrates and Plato, the most important philosopher...
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...A REVIEW ON THE PHILOSOPHIES OF SOCRATES AND PLATO The book ‘A Brief History of Philosophy: From Socrates to Derrida’ is written by Derek Johnston who is now a retired teacher and has also written ‘A Brief History of Theology: From the New Testament to Feminist Theology’. This book, A Brief History of Philosophy, of 211 pages, was first published in Great Britain by Continuum International Publishing Group in 2006 and then published in India by Bloomsbury Publishing India in 2014. More about the author Derek Johnston is now a retired teacher. He used to be the Vice Principal of Midleton College, Co Cork, Ireland, where he taught for over 30 years. He has mainly written on topics such as Historical Theology, Philosophy, History of Western Philosophy, and Introductory Philosophy. Introduction Johnston has simplified the most complex, essential concepts of philosophies ranging from 18 key philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to David Hume, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Jacques Derrida exploring their ideas in relation to each other and to their historical and cultural contexts. He uses clear and accessible language to present an engaging chronological picture of these philosophies. However, this review has been concentrated on the first chapter of this book – ‘Socrates and Plato: the Fire and the Sun’. Before diving deep into reviewing this chapter, we must understand what philosophy in itself is. Philosophy is a discipline mainly concerned with thinking. Derek Johnston...
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...Crito’s reasons for trying to convince Socrates to escape from prison. Crito wants Socrates to think about whom all will be impacted by his death. Crito fears that all whom are impacted by him (socrates’s) will make his friends look bad. People will believe that they did nothing to try to save him, which would mean that they failed to save him. Also, Socrates should not worry about the risk or the financial cost to his friends. They are willing to pay, and they had made arrangements to find Socrates a life a good in exile. On a more moral/ethical ground Cirto tries to press Socrates with is if he stayed, and conformed to the unjust punishment he he would be aiding his enemies in wronging him unjustly, and as well as he (Socrates)...
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...Apology of Socrates by Plato Socrates was an orator and philosopher whose primary interests were logic, ethics and epistemology. In Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Plato recounts the speech that Socrates gave shortly before his death, during the trial in 399 BC in which he was charged with "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, also being a busybody and intervene gods business". The name of the work itself is not mean what it is appeared; here, Socrates is not apologizing, but merely speaking in defense of his beliefs and actions – the word apology is used in the context of its original meaning. During this apology, Socrates attempts to explain himself and the decisions that led to his action, educating his audience in the philosophical questions he chooses to pose. Socrates does not try to avoid death in the trial; instead, his goal is to enlighten the public for the last time before his own passing. Socrates was always fascinated with the solving of questions, both big and small; his approach was to use the Socratic method of inquiry, wherein he would break the problem down into several questions, and then systematically find the answers to each question in order to find the larger answer. It was a methodical and practical approach to show his ultimate quest for seeking the true knowledge. He says, "His wisdom is truly worthless"; this is indicative of his unending search for more and more knowledge (Apology 23b). According to him, philosophy...
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...Throughout history western and eastern philosophies have developed a vast segregation from one another. The geographical and cultural distance between eastern and western civilization determined massive differences between the two. On the other hand, the works of ancient Greek philosophers like Socrates, and some eastern philosophies like Taoism have many of the same or common ideas and concepts. Both eastern and western philosophies regardless of having similarities have distinctive differences when examining the view of the conception of the good. In this rgard, each philosophy is noticed to have beliefs that strive for followers to improve their lives and to be on a path of self-purification. This essay will primarily focus on understanding the basics of the conception of good in Taoist philosophy as well as the basic conception of good according to Socrates. While analyzing we will also determine if the Taoist conception of good is more reasonable than that of Socrates. In Taoism, the Tao is worshiped as the first-cause of the universe and is a developed philosophy, which promotes self-purification of an individual to meet Taoist ideals. Taoists believe that nature and the earth is constantly in flux. Simply, the only constant in the world is change. An essential element of the Tao is a term P’u or the un-carved block. P'u is translated to the words "uncarved wood" or "uncarved block." This is a metaphor that implies that each living being is given our personality at birth...
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...In Gorgias both Socrates and Callicles believes that they are the true statesman. Socrates thinks that you should be respected and respect your people, while Callicles thinks that the strong should rule and the weak do not matter because they are weak. It comes down to selfish or selfless ideas of statesmanship. Throughout the years there have been many debates between those who practice different forms of statesmanship. Many of these debates have been between those who practice philosophy and those who are rhetoricians. One such debate between a philosopher and a rhetorician may be found in the Gorgias in which a debate between Socrates represents the philosopher and Callicles represents the rhetorician. Now it has been said that most, if not all of the what is believed to be radical thinking in the ways of politics, is instead merely the same things which philosophers were speaking of in the past. It seems that all political thought is just a case of the politician stealing the good ideas of change from the philosopher. A career in politics requires the use of the principles, categories, and metaphors of political philosophy. By acknowledging this it is understood that to be a successful politician one must also use the ideas of political philosophy. One may attempt to attain political power without the aid of political philosophy however; it is likely that this attempt will fail. In Gorgias Socrates is engaged in a debate, which begins in the streets and eventually...
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...In the discussions about Socrates in Plato’s Apology, a controversial issue has been whether or not Socrates should be considered Man Thinking, a term coined by Emerson. On one hand, some argue that since Socrates was unable to convert his ideas to actions and become powerful, he cannot be described as Man Thinking. From this perspective, Socrates is not Man Thinking because he only thought, but was not dexterous with his hands, being too much like a scholar than Man Thinking. On the other hand, others argue that Socrates was Man Thinking because he stood by his ideas even upon punishment of death. According to this view, the fact that Socrates stood up for his ideas is action enough for him to be described as Man Thinking. In sum, the issue is whether...
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...disputed about what the Sin is. Azatbek Alibaev American university in Central Asia The existence of philosophical sin during long centuries would be a great debate for each individual. Literally the comprehensions of the sin divine people’s min into two sides. But there is never pro or con side because every person explains according to his own life and private examples. Also it did not pass along our one of the most famous historic of philosophy Socrates and St. Augustine in their latest compositions. They say that the “Sin” is a thing that harms one’s life in abstract way. Basically Socrates in the “Apology” understands Sin just like an abandon during your self-development therefore he used to say “If you ever do not know anything about knowledge and afterwards just forget it and let it go” so this is a sin. On the other hand the Sin in Confessions by Saint Augustine is a new attempt, he proposes as sin, things which makes you proud. Since both characters have their own thoughts on something, and this understanding makes them really different. For example they both say about sins however they understand different things as a sin. These most incredible Greek philosophers such as St. Augustine and Socrates with ambiguous ideas disputed about what the Sin is. Moreover they have different views on how to look to Sin with different directions. St. Augustine’s book which is called Confession is autobiographic since it was written according his life, and after...
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...1-5 1. When Socrates is on trial he initiates his defense by comparing his manner of speaking to that of his prosecutors. He discusses his force of eloquence because his accusers use this topic to say that you should not be mislead by this. Socrates goes on to agree with them by saying he does speak with the force of eloquence but only if that is a force of truth. He compares the eloquence mainly by agreeing with the prosecutors, but getting more specific with that of what he speaks and saying that he speaks only the truth in an elegant and persuasive manner. He also goes on to compare the words spoken and informs everyone that the accusers have only spoken false things about him, and everything that they will hear from his mouth will be nothing but the truth. Socrates mainly compares the eloquence to prove his point that these people accusing him are liars and that everyone should open their minds up a it believe him because he speaks truthfully. He asks his jury to...
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...Writing Prompt : Socrates and “True Knowledge” With the notion of philosophy and the studying of philosophy it is well known that it is powerful and dangerous. Philosophy has many reasons for its importance such as how to understand your ideas, the origin of your ideas, how to contrast arguments. Philosophy can also help you defend arguments, read it, build your position and understand it. Philosophy is used for the betterment of the world, gender, race, civilization, town, state, country, etc. But in order to practice philosophy you need parrhesia and you need philosophy to practice parrhesia, they come hand in hand with each other. There have been many imperative philosophers that gave us the knowledge and foundation for our study of philosophy today, such as Plato, Aristotle, and among them Socrates. Socrates was an interesting philosopher and his main focus before his death was to find true knowledge and he believed that there was only certain acts of statements that qualified as such. In Socrates work, parrhesia worked as a big role in his work as parrhesia is also known as fearless speech. This form is merged with the courage to face danger in circumstances of life or death. Parrhesia consists of the individual to speak the truth courageously in spite of danger and in its extreme form in life or death. It creates the chance to take the form of criticism to another or oneself, but always in a situation where the speaker is in a position of inferiority. Socrates fits the character...
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...In Book II of the Plato’s Republic, Glaucon and Adeimantus challenge Socrates’ claim that justice belongs in the class of goods which are valued for their own sake as well as for the sake of what comes from them (Rep. 357 b- 358 a). Unconvinced by Socrates’ refutation of Thrasymachus, Glaucon renews Thrasymachus’ argument that the life of the unjust person is better than that of the just person. As part of his case, Glaucon states what he claims most people consider the nature of justice to be and what its origins are. He proceeds to present a version of the social contract theory: They say that to do injustice is naturally good and to suffer injustice bad, but that the badness of suffering it so far exceeds the goodness of doing it that those who have done and suffered injustice and tasted both, but who lack the power to do it and avoid suffering it, decide that it is profitable to come to an agreement with each other neither to do injustice nor to suffer it. As a result, they begin to make laws and covenants, and what the law commands they call lawful and just. This, they say, is the origin and essence of justice. It is intermediate between the best and the worst. The best is to do injustice without paying the penalty; the worst is to suffer it without being able to take revenge. Justice is a mean between these two extremes. People value it not because it is a good but because they are too weak to do injustice with impunity. Someone who has the power to do this...
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...garner much credit. It is necessary to go beyond what the questions are asking – remember the quizzes are open for a full two weeks. This allows plenty of time for deep thought and contemplation. Consider the – how, why, where, when , what, etc., Here is a sampling of quiz questions and detailed answers that did receive full credit, and a few examples that did not: |Explain what Socrates means in Plato's "Phaedo" when he says that philosophy is the practice of death. | |Student response: |Philosophy is the practice of the separation of the soul form the body and in that it is like death. | |Score: |[pic] | Notice here how there is no development at all to the answer. The term ‘explain’ indicates much more than a one or two sentence answer. |Student response: |"I want to make my argument before you my judges, as to why I think that a man who has truly spent his life in | | |philosophy is probably right to be of good cheer in the face of death and to be very hopeful that after death he | | |will attain the greatest blessings yonder." These are Socrates famous words to his judges explains a little of what| | |he means by saying philosophy is...
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...Botton a writer, philosopher, and television presenter, explores contemporary subjects and themes to highlight philosophy in everyday life. In De Botton’s book “The Consolations of Philosophy” he uses several philosophers to help the reader interpret everyday life. In the chapter “Consolation for Unpopularity” De Botton (2000) describes how Socrates born some 2500 years ago is one of the most influential Greek Athenian philosophers, attributing Socrates with producing one of the most inspiring gifts to western philosophy. De Botton (2000, 7) describes this gift as the logic of philosophy, the art of applying logical thinking to popular ideas to produce an informed opinion and independence of mind in the face of unpopularity. De Botton (2000) poses the key question why do we follow popular thought, especially ideas posed by influential people? De Botton asserts that it is because questioning the status quo often leads to one becoming a social pariah. De Botton’s (2000) argument is that the ability to think critically is grounded in philosophy; this allows one to confidently arrive at a logical position whilst acknowledging other arguments, which is supported by sound judgement. Thus, according to De Botton (2000, 7) the “Consolation for Unpopularity” is the self-confidence to challenge accepted norms through logical thought. The line of logic used by De Botton is that Socrates became a symbol of someone that stood up to the status quo using his intellect to challenge accepted ideas...
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...methods of philosophy. Starting how the pre-Socratic cosmologists launched a Western tradition of philosophy, that was mark off the traditional division of the philosophical thought. The Metaphysics is the ones to consider what is real through cosmologists. And then you have Epistemology, and what they do is explore the source of knowledge, and they focus on how we know what we think that we know. However, the Axiology focus on the values, mostly on ethics and emphasis on morals and rules for conduct. Philosophy in the western part, it all started with the Thales. It says that the Thales and his fellow Milesians were the first people in the...
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...Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were important philosophers in classical Greece (Matthews, Noble, Platt, 2014). Plato was one of Socrates followers. Plato was recognized for his most famous doctrine known as the Doctrine of Forms, even though there was never a clear explanation for its existence; but his student Aristotle did offer various arguments for it. Plato knew that his doctrine never made sense; however, he created an analogy and called it the Allegory of the Cave which supports what he stood for in regard to common sense as well as embodying his doctrine. Socrates was an intelligent man, who loved philosophy and challenging the people who he lived around. His main goal was to achieve understanding. The citizens were not actually fond of Socrates because he made them feel as if they did not know anything. He was happy to prove others wrong, in which made him...
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