Greco-Roman Philosophers

Socrates-Plato-Aristotle
Socrates
Primary concern of the Socrates (469-399 BC) was “How
should we live?” He tried to sort out:
• What is good?
• What is right?
• What is just?
Socrates ethics assume that:
‘Education’ is the key to living ethical life.
No one desires evil.
No one errs or does wrong willingly or knowingly.”
 Socrates…..Cont.
All virtue is knowledge.
Positive moral behavior is virtue.
Sayings of Socrates:
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.
Know thyself.
Highest form of human excellence is the to question oneself and
others.
Education is not filling of vessel but the lighting of a flame.
Strong minds discuss idea, average minds discuss events, weak
minds discuss people.
Socrates….Contd.
Socrates encouraged his students to examine their beliefs.
He asked them a series of leading questions to show that
people hold many contradictory opinions and notions. This
method of teaching by question-answer approach is known
as the Socratic method. He devoted his life to gaining self-
knowledge.
He once said, “There is only one good, knowledge and one
evil, ignorance”.
To him, the unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates…..Contd.
Socrates was accused by the notables of Athens and convicted by
majority of them, of corrupting the youth.
His only real crime was embarrassing and irritiating a number of
important people.
He was given an opportunity to flee but he opted for his death as
his punishment by hemlock.
Plato, who preserved his teaching in the form of a dialogue, was
his pupil who left Athens in anguish and came back to Athens
after quite sometime to review and revive the tradition of
Socrates in quest of knowledge.
Plato/Aristocles
Plato is the first western philosopher whose writings have survived
through times. Most of what we know about Socrates comes from
Plato’s books.
He is the one who agreed with Pythagoras that Mathematics were
essential in understanding the world. Plato once stated that
philosophy begins in wonders like his mentor Socrates.
Plato (427-347BC), was born to a wealthy family of Athens. His real
name was Aristocles. He found the ‘Academy’ in 387 BC which is
considered to be the first institution of higher learning in the world
history. This school lasted for nine hundred years.
Plato…..Contd.
Ethics:
Humans are made of three conflicting elements;
(1) Passion (2) Intellect (3) Will
Most of the people live their life allowing the passion, intellect and will
to be in conflict with one another.
Ideal living is when the intellect controls the passion through the will.
Metaphysics:
Reality can be divided into two realms;
1. The visible world 2. Forms and ideas
Plato…..Contd.
The physical world is lower and imperfect. It is the world which is made of
our own experiences through our senses. Our gifted senses are; touch, taste,
sight, smell, hear. This world is physical in nature which is bound by space
and time. This world is always changing and becoming.
The realm of forms and ideas such as equality, justice is higher and perfect
world. It is the ultimate reality. It is not accessible to our senses as it is non-
physical. It is not bound by time and space. It is never changing. It is always
“is”.
Plato’s concept of ‘Cave’ contains fire, roadway and puppets in which
puppets perform with prisoners and shadows of physical things cast on its
walls.
The allegory of the cave was presented by Plato in his book ‘Republic’ to
compare “the effect of education and lack of it on nature.”
It is written as a dialogue between Plato’s brother Glanion and his mentor
Socrates narrated by the later.
Plato…..Contd.
In his allegory of cave Plato is trying to make us understand that we
see shadows and we think, they are the real thing. Thus the main
theme of the allegory is that we are ignorant of the true nature of
reality.

Politics:
The ideal republic should have philosophically aware rulers i.e.
governing class with police class i.e. protective class and off course
general population which is the working class.
Plato’s ‘Republic’ presents a critical view of democracy through the
narration of Socrates. Democracy which seems to be charming form of
government is a full of diversities and disorders. It is supposed to be
dispensing equality to equals and un-equals alike.
Aristotle
Aristotle(384-322 BC) was the first philosopher who classified areas of
human knowledge into distinct disciplines such as Mathematics, Biology
and Ethics.
He was the first to devise a formal system for reasoning, whereby the
validity of an argument is determined by its structure rather than its
content.
Aristotle was the founder of the Lyceum, the first scientific institute
based at Athens, Greece. Aristotle once said, “he who studies how
things originated and came into being, … will achieve the clearest view
of them”.
Aristotle…..Contd.
Key theme in Aristotle’s thought is that happiness is the goal of life. He
was a good deal lesser otherworldly than Plato.
One of his best known idea was his concept of the “The Golden
Mean”. He believed in ‘avoiding extremes’ with counselling and
moderation in all things.