green numbers give full details.
|
back to list of philosophers
|
expand these ideas
Ideas of Socrates, by Text
[Greek, 469 - 399 BCE, Athenian. Lived as unpaid teacher. Executed for "impiety and corrupting the young". Taught Plato, Archelaus, Antisthenes. Never wrote.]
|
|
p.
|
4323
|
Socrates is torn between intellectual virtue, which is united and teachable, and natural virtue, which isn't [PG]
|
|
|
p.6
|
5867
|
For Socrates, virtues are forms of knowledge, so knowing justice produces justice [Aristotle]
|
|
|
p.9
|
4111
|
Socrates believed that basically there is only one virtue, the power of right judgement [Williams,B]
|
|
|
p.10
|
1646
|
Socrates was the first to put 'eudaimonia' at the centre of ethics [Vlastos]
|
|
|
p.14
|
1647
|
In Socratic dialogue you must say what you believe, so unasserted premises are not debated [Vlastos]
|
|
|
p.17
|
7808
|
Socrates made the civic values of justice and friendship paramount [Grayling]
|
|
|
p.18
|
1649
|
Socrates opened philosophy to all, but Plato confined moral enquiry to a tiny elite [Vlastos]
|
|
|
p.19
|
23252
|
Socrates first proposed that we are run by mind or reason [Frede,M]
|
|
|
p.21
|
115
|
Socrates was pleased if his mistakes were proved wrong
|
|
|
p.21
|
8003
|
Socrates agrees that virtue is teachable, but then denies that there are teachers [MacIntyre]
|
|
|
p.45
|
5069
|
Socrates was the first to base ethics upon reason, and use reason to explain it [Taylor,R]
|
|
|
p.46
|
5070
|
Socrates conservatively assumed that Athenian conventions were natural and true [Taylor,R]
|
|
|
p.55
|
1650
|
For Socrates our soul, though hard to define, is our self [Vlastos]
|
|
|
p.68
|
3017
|
The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance [Diog. Laertius]
|
|
|
p.72
|
126
|
We should ask what sort of people we want to be
|
|
|
p.80
|
195
|
No one willingly commits an evil or base act
|
|
|
p.89
|
199
|
The common belief is that people can know the best without acting on it
|
|
|
p.92
|
1652
|
Socrates did not consider universals or definitions as having separate existence, but Plato made Forms of them [Aristotle]
|
|
|
p.93
|
164
|
It is legitimate to play the devil's advocate
|
|
|
p.102
|
1653
|
Socrates did not accept the tripartite soul (which permits akrasia) [Vlastos]
|
|
|
p.102
|
13773
|
For the truth you need Prodicus's fifty-drachma course, not his one-drachma course
|
|
|
p.103
|
185
|
Socrates despised good looks [Plato]
|
|
|
p.127
|
5836
|
All human virtues are increased by study and practice [Xenophon]
|
|
|
p.137
|
22099
|
The method of Socrates shows the student is discovering the truth within himself [Carlisle]
|
|
|
p.159
|
5837
|
Things are both good and fine by the same standard [Xenophon]
|
|
|
p.159
|
5838
|
A well-made dung basket is fine, and a badly-made gold shield is base, because of function [Xenophon]
|
|
|
p.161
|
5840
|
The wise perform good actions, and people fail to be good without wisdom [Xenophon]
|
|
|
p.161
|
5839
|
For Socrates, wisdom and prudence were the same thing [Xenophon]
|
|
|
p.164
|
1657
|
Socrates holds that right reason entails virtue, and this must also apply to the gods [Vlastos]
|
|
|
p.190
|
1661
|
Socrates was the first to grasp that a cruelty is not justified by another cruelty [Vlastos]
|
|
|
p.197
|
1662
|
A new concept of God as unswerving goodness emerges from Socrates' commitment to virtue [Vlastos]
|
|
|
p.199
|
5841
|
Obedience to the law gives the best life, and success in war [Xenophon]
|
|
|
p.200
|
1663
|
By 'areté' Socrates means just what we mean by moral virtue [Vlastos]
|
|
|
p.205
|
5842
|
Philosophical discussion involves dividing subject-matter into categories [Xenophon]
|
|
|
p.207
|
5843
|
People do what they think they should do, and only ever do what they think they should do [Xenophon]
|
|
|
p.211
|
5844
|
Socrates always proceeded in argument by general agreement at each stage [Xenophon]
|
|
|
p.217
|
7585
|
Socrates emphasises that the knower is an existing individual, with existence his main task [Kierkegaard]
|
|
|
p.228
|
5253
|
Socrates was shocked by the idea of akrasia, but observation shows that it happens [Aristotle]
|
|
|
p.260
|
5846
|
A lover using force is a villain, but a seducer is much worse, because he corrupts character [Xenophon]
|
|
|
p.287
|
7421
|
A philosopher is one who cares about what other people care about [Foucault]
|
|
|
p.402
|
11389
|
Socrates sought essences, which are the basis of formal logic [Aristotle]
|
|
|
p.402
|
639
|
Socrates developed definitions as the basis of syllogisms, and also inductive arguments [Aristotle]
|
|
|
p.425
|
648
|
Socrates began the quest for something universal with his definitions, but he didn't make them separate [Aristotle]
|
|
399BCE
|
reports of last days
|
|
|
p.25
|
338
|
Socrates is accused of denying the gods, saying sun is stone and moon is earth [Plato]
|
|
|
p.27
|
339
|
Men fear death as a great evil when it may be a great blessing
|
|
|
p.28
|
341
|
Wealth is good if it is accompanied by virtue
|
|
|
p.33
|
343
|
The unexamined life is not worth living for men
|
|
|
p.35
|
344
|
If death is like a night of dreamless sleep, such nights are very pleasant
|
|
|
p.36
|
345
|
A good man cannot be harmed, either in life or in death
|
|
|
p.88
|
346
|
One ought not to return a wrong or injury to any person, whatever the provocation
|
|
|
p.88
|
2
|
We should not even harm someone who harms us
|
|
|
p.90
|
347
|
Will I stand up against the law, simply because I have been unjustly judged?
|