PHIL 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Political Philosophy, Sophist, Chocolate Cake
14 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Philosophy 1000
Midterm Review Guide
Domains of Philosophy
● Ethics -- how we act
● Metaphysics -- what is real
● Epistemology -- science of knowing
● Aesthetics -- beauty/feelings
● Political philosophy -- how should we live? What is the best regime?
Protagoras
★ Sophist -- rhetoricians or a person who is skilled in speaking
○ “Goods” that nourish the soul
★ Sophists shape the soul or lead the soul
★ Politically efficacious -- convince other people to do things
What does Socrates think about this?
1. Ethical and civic know-how on being good
2. Being good cannot be passed on because a father can be good but that doesn’t necessarily
mean that his son will be.
What does Protagoras think?
1. Why would we punish people unless we thought we could correct them?
2. Some people are more ethically gifted than others
Ethical and Civic Knowhow
● Socrates arguments:
○ Parents don’t send their sons off to learn these things because they are not
teachable
■ Sons aren’t as good as fathers
■ Fathers don’t send sons to teachers = they must not think it was teachable.
● Protagoras response:
○ Everyone has a share of know-how
■ Punishment must exist to in order to teach
■ We all have an obligation
■ Everyone claims to know the good and to be good -- relative to each
individual. “Man is a measure of all things”
Soul/Character
● Soul is an individual -- but can be shaped
● 3 features of the soul: logos, thymos, and appetitive (and sometimes vegetative)
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○ Logos = reasoning
○ Thymos = will/spiritual/pleasure and pain
○ Appetitive = hunger and desire
○ (Vegetative) = metabolism
● We make choices which allow is to act in certain ways
● Soul can be shaped -- teachable
Being Good
● Parts of a face: distinct and each part has different functions
○ Piety, righteousness, respect for what’s right, bravery, knowledge
● Being good is different names for the same thing
○ Piety = righteousness = bravery etc…
● Knowledge -- act well? Basis for doing good. Knowledge is always condition for being a
good person
● Know-how = techne which means art and skill
● Intelligence = higher level cognitive function
● Judgement
● Sense of right and wrong
Doctrine of the Forms:
● Form must be capable of thinking about all possibilities or particulars
● Cannot be forms of natural things
● Forms are universal and allows particulars to be. Metaphysical cause and
epistemological
Is the good teachable?
● Protagoras: Yes - parents are always teaching their children, everyone has some share of
goodness, discipline implies good teachability.
● Socrates: No - there are no experts, therefore there is no such knowledge which means
it's not teachable
Virtues
● Sophia -- wisdom
● Sophrosyne -- moderation/temperance
● Andreis -- courage
● Ditasyne -- righteousness/justice
● Hosiotes -- piety
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● Individual virtues are part of being good -- part of a face so they can’t be confused with
one another (protagoras) whereas they could also all be different names for the same
thing (socrates).
● We have to be taught to remember our virtues
○ Knowledge is recollected -- recollection is a part of socrates argument in Meno.
○ We start to know what the triangle is once we know what the particulares are
○ Different types of knowledge
● We are always concerned with making our children a certain way
● NO simple answers -- only conditional answers
○ Teachable because we can remind people but not teachable because we can’t give
someone something they don’t have.
● Are the virtues teachable?
○ Protagoras -- YES
○ Socrates -- NO
● Socrates = being good should be a type of knowledge so it’s NOT teachable
● Protagoras = all people have a share of that knowledge
● Socrates believes that if they are all distinct parts then this view contradicts itself but they
end up being contrary then they can’t be part of a whole
● Akrasia = know what is good but my desires overcome my knowledge and do worse
● Protagoras still argues that there is bravery and that can only be with knowledge in order
to act virtuously
● Socrates says that no one will pursue the bad
○ Pain = real pleasure
○ Pleasure = real pain
● People don’t really know what they think they know
Meno
● “Being good”
○ The Christian answer: don’t sin, be pious. God is doing good
○ A question of values, but according to Greeks it's a question of character
● What is a good character?
○ Character = practice or habit -- this is how aristotle describes it
● Ethics
○ Virtue ethics -- concerned with character
○ Deontology -- duty, actions
○ Utilitarian -- actions you can’t be a good person based on your action
○ One of these conditions of good actions is being free. You cannot act out of
compulsion
○ Character ethics = what makes you into a good person = your character is like
fate
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Sophist -- rhetoricians or a person who is skilled in speaking. Sophists shape the soul or lead the soul. Politically efficacious -- convince other people to do things. What does socrates think about this: ethical and civic know-how on being good, being good cannot be passed on because a father can be good but that doesn"t necessarily mean that his son will be. What does protagoras think: why would we punish people unless we thought we could correct them, some people are more ethically gifted than others. Parents don"t send their sons off to learn these things because they are not teachable. Fathers don"t send sons to teachers = they must not think it was teachable. Punishment must exist to in order to teach. Everyone claims to know the good and to be good -- relative to each individual. Soul is an individual -- but can be shaped. 3 features of the soul: logos, thymos, and appetitive (and sometimes vegetative)
