PHIL 008 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Irony, Moe Williams, Socratic Method
29 Oct 2020
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Document Summary
We know about socrates" life and thought only second hand; it"s not always clear when we"re getting plato"s thought or socrates" thought in platonic dialogues. The intellectual context of plato"s dialogues: natural philosophers/proto-scientists e. g. thales (624-546 bce), anaxagoras (500-428. Bce), democritus (460-370 bce: sophists: itinerant teachers of virtue . Protagoras (490-420 bce): man is the measure of all things. we decide what is right and true. Thrasymachus (459-400 bce): justice is the advantage of the stronger. i. e. The method associated with socrates is called the elenchus. The historical socrates claims not to know anything. Socrates asks his interlocutor various questions until it becomes clear that the interlocutor. In effect, socrates is getting his interlocutors to refute themselves. The typical result of the elenchus is puzzlement and often anger. Socrates was sentenced to death in 399 bce. Most overtly, the dialogue deals with the question can virtue be taught, which leads to. Meno"s different definitions of virtue and their flaws.
