Greek Philosophers Flashcards
About Plato
Plato was born in 428 bce in Athens to a family of long aristocratic lineage,
At the age of 20, he became a pupil of Socrates.
found an Academy (together with the mathematician Thaetetus) in Athens.
He died in 348 BC
influences on Plato
His thought was influenced by a pre-Socratic thinkers
They rejected the physical world known through our senses as mere “appearance.”
He mostly wrote in a DIALOGUE FORM, where Socrates was the main speaker.
The work of Plato includes thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters.
The major dialogues of Plato’s middle period – Gorgias, Meno, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium,
Summary of Forms?
Reacting against the poets who had disordered and mythical vision of the world, skeptics like Democritus and Protagoras who rejected the idea of an objective world outside the human mind
PHAEDO and REPUBLIC
According to Plato, the WORLD which is surrounding us and can be felt by our senses is NOT SELF-DEPENDENT OR REAL.
It is dependent on another world where we have pure forms or ideas.
These forms or ideas are the “Real” and the objects that we see in the world are IMPERFECT COPIES of these forms
For Ex- there is an ideal bed, and what the carpenter makes is an imperfect copy of that bed
The ideal form can only be seen though our reason and not senses.
It is a concept and not a physical object
He believed that the world of forms is CHANGELESS and ETERNAL- it is characterized by ESSENCE, UNITY and UNIVERSALITY
On the other hand, the physical world is characterized by change and decay and mere existence.
He gives reality an objective foundation which transcends subjectivity.
Summary of Ion?
Socrates argues with a RHAPSODE named Ion, who is a singer and a musician.
Socrates said in Ion that, A rhapsode has two components in his art.
First, LEARNING THE LINES OF THE SONG and second the THOUGHT
Plato discusses the critical function rather than its musical and emotional power.
In the end Plato’s Ion concludes that
1. Poetry is considered to be containing popular wisdom concerning justice
- But is only concerned about SELF-INTEREST and desires of the individuals and not of the state
- Such wisdom is incoherent and it gives an unjust man prosperity
- It only gives an appearance of justice and not the real justice.
what He actually wanted was
Popular wisdom as well as ethics and desires of individuals should be controlled by the state in state’s interest.
Promotion of the idea that justice is more profitable than injustice
And Gods should be shown as just
Therefore, poetry should be subjected to vigilance or it will undermine all the political, economic, or legal structures because it is subversive
Summary of Republic?
One of Plato’s most famous works isThe Republic(inGreek,Politeia,or ‘city’). It was finished in390 BC. There were 10 books in The Republic.
In this book he describes Socrates’s vision of an “ideal”state. The method of questioning in this dialogue, called theSocratic method, is as important as the content.The Republiccontains ideas of Socrates: “Socrates said it, Plato wrote it.”
In Republic Plato continues his criticism of Poetry
In book X he says that
Poetry has a vicious constitution- where emotion rules over reason.
That is why he advocates strict censorship over poetry
He criticises Poetry on three accounts.
(1) the FALSITY of its claims and representations regarding both gods and men;
(2) its CORRUPTIVE effect on character; and
(3) its “DISORDERLY” complexity and ENCOURAGEMENT OF INDIVIDUALISM n the sphere of sensibility and feeling.
“the young are not able to distinguish what is and what is not allegory”
Poetry also spread FALSEHOOD about men who are great in nature.
They portray unjust men as happy and just men as sad.
Such portrayals of gods and men will inculcate false and corruptive ideals into the guardians
Plato believes that not just knowledge but language also is controlled in order to get the desired political end.
Therefore, it is a FIGHT between philosophy and poetry to control language
In Book X again he writes that
Poetry appeals to inferior parts of soul and encourages variety and multiplicity.
A city has several types of having SPECIALIZED functions in order to contribute to the welfare of the state as a whole
But poetry is RESISITING this specialization itself.
Poetry has no definable function in a state which is hierarchal in nature. It actually destroys hierarchies
What did Plato say about Imitation?
Poetry imitates the appearance and not the reality or what is produced copying the ideal form
So forwarding the example of the bed, he says
If the ideal Bed created by God is the reality,
The bed made by the carpenter is the imitation of the ideal bed and it is once removed from reality.
The work of the painter or the poet is the imitation of the imitation and hence twice removed from reality
“Come then, consider this point. The maker of the image , the imitator, on our view, knows nothing of the reality, but only the appearance.”
What did Plato say about Philosophy?
Next he talks about why philosophy is greater than poetry by comparing both
A poet’s work, maintains Plato, narrates “past, present, or future things”
It is concerned with bodily appetites, emotion, particulars, and multiplicities.
In contrast, the philosopher, far from “wandering between the two poles of generation and decay,” is concerned with ETERNAL ESSENCES, with the soul, reason, and with knowledge as a whole (VI, 485a–c).
Philosophy, the medium through which the form of justice “in itself”
Poetry, is an enemy which has to be removed in order to create a just state.
As Socrates said the construction of the state by a “political artist” was done by imitating a “heavenly model.”
So the constitution Socrates has in mind “will be realized when this philosophical Muse wins over the poetic Muse, who should be throne out of the state.
It is because of this that he doesn’t want the poets to be a part of his ideal Republic.
He is in favour of a kind of poetry which is beneficial for the state. He therefore wants poets to have these qualities
Poetry should CONTRIBUTE to the knowledge of virtue
So that it moulds characters in the interest of the state
Pleasure should NOT be the motive of the poets, as it has the least value.
A poet is good artist only if he is a good TEACHER.
Therefore he only allows poets who write HYMNS to the gods and encomia(high praise) to good men.
What did Plato say about Drama?
Drama, for Plato appeal to the baser instincts of people because they portray quarrels and lamentations
Drama also has actors portraying evil characters which according to him ends in affecting the nature of the actors in reality
Although, he is in favour of the portrayal of men of virtue, who are courageous and noble and which will affect the actors positively.
About Aristotle?
ARISTOTLE (384–322 BC)
The most brilliant student at Plato’s Academy was Aristotle,
Came to Athens in 367 BC from Stageira in Macedonia to study with Plato.
He was Born in 384, and was the son of Nicomachus, court physician to Amyntas II,
In 343 King Philip of Macedon invited Aristotle to become the teacher to his son Alexander at his court. He was there for four years
He was then commissioned by Philip to oversee the restoration of Stageira, and establish a legal code for the city.
Aristotle returned to Athens to open his own school of rhetoric and philosophy.
The school was called the LYCEUM.
Aristotle wrote twenty-seven dialogues
Unfortunately, none of them has survived.
We only know his lecture notes which represent only one-quarter of his actual output. They were composed by himself and his students, These were published by Andronicus of Rhodes in the first century bc.
About Particular and universal?
Plato had made a distinction between particular objects, such as a man or a bed, and “universals” or qualities such as goodness or tallness.
And these universals have an independent existence in the world of Forms which somehow transcends the physical world.
Aristotle believes in the connection between Primary substance, which are universal and Secondary substances which are particular.
Without primary substance, says Aristotle, nothing else could even exist
Summary of Poetics?
Poetry and rhetoric had the status of “productive” sciences; these disciplines had their place in a hierarchy of knowledge.
Each element in this hierarchy has its proper place, function, and purpose.
They are rational pursuits, as seeking a knowledge of universals
Poetry is classified in this system along with other branches of human knowledge and activity.
The purpose of art, like that of metaphysics, is to ATTAIN TO A KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSAL.
The Poetics, then, is a theoretical treatise on the nature and functions of poetry
Aristotle criticized Plato’s ideal republic as being confined within strictly utilitarian ends.
His own state was directed toward “the highest good” as its final purpose, and enabling men to live “the good life.”
In politics he says about poetry has the “the power to induce a certain character of the soul . . . , it must be applied to education, and the young must be educated in it.”
That is why children should not watch Comedies.
About Imitation?
For Plato, imitation is removed from truth, since it produced an imperfect copy of the Form and the world is removed from reality.
Aristotle sees it as a BASIC HUMAN INSTINCT and allows it as an avenue toward truth and knowledge.
In Poetics he states that from childhood human beings have an “instinct” for imitation and that what differentiates human beings from other animals is that they indulge in imitation more.
Everyone finds pleasure in learning. They depend on imitation to learn; hence it is both a mode of learning and is associated with pleasure.
He holds that pleasure doesn’t lie in the thing which is imitated but in the PROCESS of imitation itself.
There are three types of imitation in Poetry: in the means used, in the kinds of objects represented, or in the manner of presentation.
The means/ Medium can include colour, shape, sound, rhythm, speech, and harmony.
Object: They imitate men involved in the action
By action he means those which have a significant moral valency.
The actions imitated must either be noble or base since human character conforms to these distinctions.
What lies at the basis of both human action and character is morality: it is this moral which the artist must imitate.
Manner: Manner of imitation:…the poet may imitate by narration- in which case he can either take another personality as Homer does or speak in his own person, unchanged- or he may present all his characters as living and moving before us.
He is talking about the Narrative Voice of the play and our point of view,
About Poet vs Historian?
The poet’s vision has a unity which the historian’s work lacks.
A poet must imitate things that were, things that are now or things that people say and think to be, or things which ought to be.
In his Rhetoric, Aristotle states that “truth is not beyond human nature and men do, for the most part, achieve it”
It is not the function of the poet to narrate events that have actually happened, but rather “events such as might occur . . . in accordance with the laws of probability or necessity”
Poetry yields general truths while history gives us particular facts
About tragedy?
Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete, and whole, and of a certain magnitude; for there may be a whole that is wanting in magnitude. A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Six elements of drama?
plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and song
Two of the parts constitute the medium of imitation, one the manner, and three the objects of imitation
