Who is the Philosopher?

2. Who is the Philosopher?

3. [1] LOVE OF WISDOM
[2] PHILOSOPHY AS EDUCATION
[3] THE ASCENT TO ETERNAL IDEAS
[4] REFUTATION AND PERPLEXITY
[5] POLITICAL CONFLICT
[6] THE HUMAN TENSION

4. Philosophy = philo sophia
philo = love of
sophia = wisdom
Philosophy = the love of wisdom
[1] LOVE OF WISDOM

5. PYTHAGORAS
(570-495 BC)
“But Pythagoras
was the first to
call himself a
philosopher; for,
said he, no one is
wise but God.”

6. [2] PHILOSOPHY AS EDUCATION
“So education wouldn’t appear to be a
matter of flipping a coin, but of turning
around a soul out of a day more like
night to a true day, namely an ascent to
what is, which is exactly what we’re
going to claim true philosophy is.”
(Republic, 521c)

7. The Allegory of the Cave
Turning away from the human
realm and human knowledge
towards the divine realm and
divine knowledge.
The human realm is a
shadowy imitation of the
divine realm.
The divine is more real.
The life outside of the cave is
more real.
Knowledge is not just useful;
it changes our very being.

8. [3] THE ASCENT TO ETERNAL IDEAS
“Bear in mind then that I did not bid
you tell me one or two of the many
pious actions but that form itself that
makes all pious actions pious . . . . Tell
me then what this form itself is, so that I
may look upon it and, [use] it as a
model . . . .”
(Euthyphro, 6d-e)

9. Diotima’s Ladder of Love
“Starting from individual
beauties, the quest for
universal beauty must find
him ever mounting the
heavenly ladder, stepping
from rung to rung . . . until
at last he comes to know
what beauty is.”
(Symposium, 211c)

13. [4] REFUTATION AND PERPLEXITY
“But Socrates, I have no way of saying
what I mean, for whatever proposition
we put forwards goes around and
refuses to stay put where we establish
it.”
(Euthyphro, 11b)

14. “I would rather have
your statements to me
remain unmoved than
possess the wealth of
Tantalus as well as the
cleverness of
Daedalus.”
(Euthyphro, 11e)

15. [5] POLITICAL CONFLICT
“And as for anyone who attempted to
release [the prisoners] and lead them up,
if they had the power in any way to get
him into their hands and kill him,
wouldn’t they kill him?”
(Republic, 517a)

17. [6] THE HUMAN TENSION