6.3 Flashcards
When was socrates born?
c.470
When did Socrates die?
399
Who was Socrates?
a philosopher
Where was Socrates from?
Athens
Who said Socrates was executed on two charges?
In what?
Xenophon
Memorabilia 1.1
What were to two charges Socrates was executed on?
Not honouring the gods and bringing in strange deities
Corrupting the youth
How much can we say for certain about Socrates’ ideas?
little
How many writings did Socrates leave?
none
Who do we rely on for ideas about Socrates? (2)
years?
Plato and Xenophon
P: 427-347, X: 430-370
How did Plato use socrates?
as a character to express his own ideas
What was a comedy that mocked Socrates?
By who?
Year?
Clouds
Aristophanes
432
What does Aristophanes’ play indicate?
But what does it not show?
popular hostile attitudes
his real views
Who argues that Socrates believed in traditional religion?
Mcpherran (2010)
What else does Mcpherran argue?
That despite believing in traditional religion, Socrates would modify it where he felt it conflicted with reason
What is demonstrated in one of Plato’s dialogues?
Which dialogue?
Socrates’ ‘rationality principle’
Crito
What is the quote from Crito?
“I am persuaded by nothing excpet the argument that seems best to me when I reason about a matter”
What could Socrates be more than most?
When?
According to who?
An example?
more superstitious
when his reason made no objection
McPherran
He believed in oracles
Which play implies that belief in oracles was not common?
By?
why?
Birds
Aristophanes
people were expected to laugh at jokes about them
Gods - Olympian and otherwise:
Did S agree?
How does he refer to gods?
example?
from?
by?
Revolutionary?
Yes
without hinting at disbelief
accepts philosophising as a mission from Apollo
Apology 28-9
Plato
N/A
Gods can communicate with us directly:
Did S agree?
What did he believe about his philosophical mission?
Called?
evidenced by?
by?
Revolutionary?
Yes
it was guided by a spirit
the daimonion
Apology 31
Plato
N/A
Gods can be worshipped in cult actions (like sacrifice):
Did S agree?
When does Socrates pray?
What does Xenophon say?
In what?
Revolutionary?
Yes
in Plato’s republic
S was the most visible of men in cult service to the gods
Memorabilia
N/A
The gods can be morally corrupt / are not models for moral behaviour:
Did S agree?
What does S insist against?
What did he argue?
In what?
What are the same?
so?
Revolutionary?
What did McPherran say?
No
Homeric evidence
the gods are all-good
Plato’s Republic
Goodness and wisdom
to be wise we must imitate the gods
Yes
S is a ‘moral revolutionary’ because of this idea
All gods are limited:
Did S agree?
What did S believe in?
how powerful?
according to?
What was S?
Revolutionary?
Who had been a henoist?
What were these ideas to everyone else?
No
Demiurge
omniscient
Xenophon’s Memorabilia
henoist
No
Xenophanes
radical
Piety meaning
service of the gods
what mean good for good, evil for evil
lex talionis
Piety involves honouring the gods to get good things:
Did S agree?
What does S argue?
According to?
What does S think sacrifice helps us to do?
according to?
Revolutionary?
S was the first to say what? (2)
No
Doing philosophy to improve the human mind was an act of piety and justice
Plato’s Euthyphro
understand our place as inferiors
Plato’s Phaedrus
Yes
piety is gaining wisdom and the gods had no use for sacrifice
What does Plato think?
Why?
What coroborates this?
Socrates was misunderstood
He was wrongly grouped with sophists
Clouds by Aristophanes
Who was Socrates’ ‘strange deities’?
As supported by who? (2)
daimonion
Plato (Apology 31), Xenophon (Memorabilia 1 and Apology 12
What did new deities have to be?
lisenced by the state
How was Socrates corrupting the young?
he taught others his ideas
Why was socrates really put on trial?
As stated in?
What also supports this?
prejudice
Plato’s Apology 28
Clouds - he was misunderstood
Who suggests politics were involved?
Adamson (2014)
Who ended up serving Sparta? (2)
How were they related to Socrates?
Alcibiades and Critias
They were his friends
What may Athenians have suspected about Socrates?
that he was secretly pro-spartan
