Religion and Philosophy

Question 1

Presocratic philosophers

Answer 1

lived before Socrates (born 469BC)

discussed traditional Greek gods and sometimes criticised them (normally criticised traditional conceptions of the gods)

Question 2

Xenophanes

Answer 2

6th century BC

Colophon

from Asia Minor

first to suggest one ‘cosmic’ god

Question 3

Evidence from philosophers

Answer 3

theological texts of philiosophers from before Plato have come to us in fragments

Question 4

Plato

Answer 4

429-437 BC

Athenian

follower of Socrates

Question 5

Aristotle

Answer 5

384 - 322 BC

from northern Greece

student at Plato’s academy

Question 6

Views of Presocratic philosophers

Answer 6

in 6th and 5th century BC there was no clear division between science and philosophy

Aristotle names Thales as first Presocratic (looked at world from scientific approach and therefore questioned traditional ideas of the gods as presented in Homer and Hesiod)

Question 7

Who was the most outspoken of the Presocratics?

Answer 7

Xenophanes

Question 8

How do we have Xenophanes’ work?

Answer 8

in fragmented form, often taken from sources that were critical of him

he wrote in various metres and genres

Question 9

How do we have Xenophanes’ work?

Answer 9

in fragmented form, often taken from sources that were critical of him

he wrote in various metres and genres

Question 10

Xenophanes’ cosmology

Answer 10

suggests that the origin of everything is to be found in water and earth alone “we all came from earth and water”

stars were to be explained by clouds originating in the sea

he undermined supernatural interpretations of natural phenomena

Question 11

Xenophanes on Homer and Hesiod

Answer 11

some sources suggest he criticised them for portraying the gods as behaving in ways that mortals would be blamed for

-> sources are fragmentary and come from times much later than Xenophanes (do not accurately discribe what he was trying to express - probable that he was not criticising H&H and polytheism as a whole)

Question 12

Xenophanes and anthropomorphism

Answer 12

“each after its own kind”

-> the reason the gods are like humans is because humans are human-like (if horses had gods they would look like horses)

Question 13

Xenophanes and gods

Answer 13

one god who is greatest among gods and men

single and eternal

does not resemble humans and is able to effect anything by mind alone

Question 14

Scholars on Xenophanes’ views

Answer 14

henotheistic (religious system in which there exists one almighty god but the existance of other divine being is acknowledged

Question 15

Stoics

Answer 15

followers of philosophical school founded in late 4th century that advocated belief in one cosmic god

Question 16

Socrates

Answer 16

469 - 399 BC

Athenian philosopher

charged by state for impiety (irreverence to the gods of the polis)

to prosecute impiety was to act in the public interest of Athens as Athenian law forbade impiety

charge against Socrates was then specified to argue that he did not believe in the right dieties and that he introduced new ones

charged with corruption of the youth

Question 17

Plato’s defence of Socrates (Apology)

Answer 17

Plato makes it clear that Socrates was not an atheist but was engaged in theological thinking

Question 18

Socrates’ life

Answer 18

local man born in Athens and lived there most his life

did not leave any written work but we can reconstruct his philosphy from various sources (e.g Plato and Xenophon - both pupils who wrote diff things- and Aristophanes)
-> all knew him personally

Question 19

Aristophanes and Socrates

Answer 19

likened him to the sophists (teachers and philosophers who charged for their services and many of whom specialised in rhetorical argument)

Question 20

Xenophon and Plato

Answer 20

distinguished Socrates from the sophists

their Socrates engaged in dialectical arguement using Socratic method (question-and-answer cross-examination) but he refused to take money for his teaching.

share same goal in refuting formal charges under which Socrates was tried but their portraits of him differ

Question 21

Plato’s Socrates

Answer 21

ambivalent about own views and never sees himself as a teacher of anything

tend to turn to Plato’s Socrates for info about his character and thought

Question 22

What to remember when looking at Socrates’ ideas about the divine

Answer 22

he respected the gods and believed in their existance

aware that they were superior to humans in wisedom and power

Question 23

What was Socrates looking at?

Answer 23

through Plato, Socrates’ was assuming the existance of the gods but never felt the need to prove their existance and never needed to specify his ideas of the divine as it appears to have been a given

To Socrates, the gods help those who are virtuous which is in line with his philosophical thinking
-> a most pious act is rational self-examination leading to the acknowledgement of the power and wisdom of the divine

Question 24

Socrates’ through Plato

Answer 24

religiously pious

obeys god Apollo at the oracle at Delphi (fact that he acknoewledged he knew ‘nothing’ made him wisest among men) and ordered him to practise philosophy

Question 25

What are Socrates’ actions influenced by?

Answer 25

divine intervention

refers to a daimonion (divine sign that prevents Socrates from doing certain things)

instead of following reason, he follows his daimonion (‘a sort of vocie’ - Socrates)

Question 26

Socrates view on the gods

Answer 26

refers to gods ‘of whom we have been speaking’ (Plato) meaning the Athenian civic dieties like Zeus and Athena

swears oaths by these gods

views must have been novel

gave much more moral highground to gods than Homer and Hesiod

Question 27

Socrates and justice

Answer 27

assumes it is a virtue and tries to show that acting in accordance with justice is always intrinsically better than acting contray to justice (better to obey rules than not)

clear during trial - depsite fact that charges may have been unjust, he never tries to leave Athens or escape his fate. Instead he willingly accepted his execution as preferred death from abstinence of philosophy

Question 28

How radical was Socrates?

Answer 28

never explicitly criticises the civic deities or appears impious, let alone denies their existance
-> never particually radical or controversial

but he discusses the gods in a way according to his moral philosophy and principles
-> some believe that the threat to the Athenian authorities was the probability of a spread of this questioning of the traditional attitude towards the gods

Question 29

Why was Socrates charged with impiety?

Answer 29

possibility of trend spreading = threat to authorities

others argue that all he did was not believe in the ‘correct gods’

political circle he moved in may have been important (surronded by people who turned against democracy in Athens - Critias (one of 30 tyrants) and Alcibiades (due to be charged for religious charges in 414 that were interpreted equally as anti-democratic sentiments, unlike Socrates, but managed to flee before his trial))

Question 30

Socrates’ charges

Answer 30

impiety
-> included introduction of new gods as well as corruption of young men - may be explained by image of Socrates from Aristophanes

Question 31

Impact of questioning the gods

Answer 31

only well-educated able to read and understand such writings

only very few risked wanting to be called a criminal

Aristophanes and Thucydides both mocked gods - Socrates not only one considering alt options

impacted very few and most honoured Olympian gods (almost entire millenium following the Presocratics) - marginal impact