This document provides an overview of the key ideas of several ancient Greek philosophers, including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. It summarizes Socrates' views that wisdom comes from recognizing one's own ignorance, an unexamined life is not worth living, and virtue is the only thing that matters. It then discusses Plato's allegory of the cave and how Plato founded his Academy. Finally, it outlines Aristotle's views on ethics, politics, and beauty being related to an entity's proper function and order.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DA2M
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4. Socrates 470-
399 B.C.E.
Human wisdom begins with a recognition of one’s own
ignorance.
An unexamined life is not worth living.
Ethical virtue is the only thing that matters.
A virtuous person can never be harmed because even in death
his virtue remains intact.
Once a person has given sufficient thought to a matter, one’s
emotions will follow suit and thus fear is dispelled by
knowledge.

5. Socrates and Virtue
Once one knows what virtue is, it is impossible to act in an
unvirtuous manner.
If a person fails to act virtuously, it is because he incorrectly
identifies virtue with something it is not.
Thus, virtue is a form of knowledge
Virtues include: courage; piety; justice
Can one know one virtue and incorrectly identify another virtue?
Socrates “NO”
Les Miserables as an example of contrary opinion

6. Socrates and Religion
Socrates, according to Plato, did not practice the usual religious
rituals (offering sacrifice, visiting temples, participating in
festivals).
Athenians, like other peoples believed that if citizens did not
honor the gods, the gods would visit their wrath on the city.
Socrates believed that one honored the gods by being a
virtuous man and continually reexamining his assumptions
about virtue rather than participating in public observances. His
ideas about piety were contrary to the conventional wisdom.

7. Socratic Method
In the marketplace, Socrates asked other citizens
questions about abstract virtues such as piety. He
continued to ask questions in response to answers
given by students and others until they admitted, or it
became obvious to everyone that the person who
answered needed to reevaluate their answers.
What is piety?

8. Socratic Method II
What is virtue?
If you cannot identify piety or virtue and you do not
examine these virtues further, how can you call
yourself a pious or virtuous citizen?

9. Peloponnesian War
Athenian democracy and golden age fueled by Athenian empire
Delian League members not permitted to withdraw and any attempt to do
so was brutally put down by Athens
Corinthians threatened by Athenian naval control of Aegean Sea
allied with Sparta
By 431 B.C.E. Athens and Sparta fighting a stalemate
Athens could not defeat Sparta by land
Sparta could not defeat Athens by sea

10. The Peloponnesian War

11. Plague of Athens
429 B.C.E.
Killed over 1/3 of population of Athens
Killed Pericles
Bubonic plague? Anthrax?
1999 Conference at University of Maryland: Plague of
Athens was caused by “Epidemic Typhus Fever”

12. Religious Scandal
Before the expedition to Syracuse many hermai were
defaced.
Hermai were statues to the god, Hermes, who
protected travelers.
Some of those accused of the destruction were
alleged students or associates of Socrates

14. Disaster at Syracuse
415 B.C.E. Athenians debated attacking Syracuse. The hawks won by a narrow margin
Naval Attack on Syracuse without hoplite support. Led by Alcibiades + 2 others.
The night before the fleet departed many hermai defaced—a bad omen blamed on associates or students of Socrates
Hermai were markers with the head of Hermes, the god who protected travelers
At Syracuse, all ships were destroyed and thousands killed
Democracy overthrown in Athens and an oligarchy of 400 were installed
404 B.C.E. Lysander of Sparta attacked Athens and set up an oligarchy of 40—many were associated with Socrates
Democracy restored in 403 B.C.E.
Socrates tried in 399 B.C.E. on charges of impiety and corrupting the young.
Socrates found guilty and sentenced to death

15. Socrates and Democracy
Socrates criticized democracy arguing that the
demos included not only the virtues of the people but
also the vices of the people.
Socrates argued that most people were not
interested in examining their assumptions of virtue or
piety and therefore were neither virtuous or pious.

16. The Death of Socrates (1787) by Jean-Louis David. Oil on Canvas, Metropolitan
Museum of Art

18. Plato who?
427-327 B.C.E. Wealthy student of Socrates
Groomed to enter politics by his family
Following execution of Socrates, Plato rejected politics and became a
teacher focused on philosophy.
Plato founded an Academy in Athens that lasted from 387 B.C.E. until
529 A.D. when it was destroyed by Justinian
“Know thyself”
World of Ideals vs human experience

19. Ideal vs. Human Perception
• The Allegory of the Cave
- The world we experience without thought is not the real world,
just shadows; the real world must be approached intellectually
- Knowledge can't be transferred from teacher to student;
teachers must direct students' minds towards what is real, and
allow them to make their own decisions regarding what is real.
• The ideal republic
- Enlightened individuals have an obligation to society
- A good society must be one where the wise are the rulers (i.e.
Philosopher-Kings)

20. Questions raised by Allegory
of the Cave
What is the cave?
Is acquiring knowledge easy?
What is knowledge?
How do we know that what is outside the cave is more real
than the shadows inside the cave?
What is the meaning of representation?
Can abstract ideas be represented by concrete things?

21. More questions
Is the Allegory of the Cave a challenge? If so, what is it
challenging us to do?
Can the people inside the cave be blamed for refusing to
exit the cave?
What is freedom?
What if people cannot agree on virtue?
Who has the right to say what virtue is?

23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutgWj
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25. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
Student of Plato
Teacher of Alexander the Great
Rejected Platonism
Embraced empiricism, arguing that knowledge is
ultimately based on perception

26. Aristotle & Ethics
Virtue is related to the proper function of a thing.
The proper function of an eye is to see therefore an eye
has virtue to the extent that it can see.

27. Aristotle and Politics
The aim of the city is not just to avoid injustice or for
economic stability, but rather to allow at least some
citizens the possibility to live a good life, and to
perform beautiful acts: "The political partnership
must be regarded, therefore, as being for the sake of
noble actions, not for the sake of living together."

28. Aristotle and Beauty
“to be beautiful, a living creature, and every whole made
up of parts, must … present a certain order in its
arrangement of parts”
“The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and
definiteness, which the mathematical sciences
demonstrate in a special degree”
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauty/#ClaCon