Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Flashcards
What was the primary focus of Socrates’ philosophy?
Ethics
What were Socrates’ dates?
c.470-399 BCE
Where was Socrates from?
Athens
On what charges was Socrates condemned to death?
Impiety and corrupting the youth
Other than Plato, which of Socrates’ pupils wrote dialogues which contribute to our picture of him?
Xenophon
What were the title and author of the famous satirical play about Socrates?
‘The Clouds’ by Aristophanes
Which handsome statesman claimed to be in love with Socrates?
Alcibiades
Who was the wife of Socrates?
Xantippe
Who was told by the oracle at Delphi that Socrates was the wisest man living?
Chaerephon
Why did Socrates think the oracle at Delphi called him the wisest man living?
Because he knew that he knew nothing
Which famous playwright was a friend of Socrates?
Euripides
What is the ‘Socratic method’ or ‘elenchus’?
Ask an interlocutor for the definition for a concept then demonstrate that this definition is inconsistent with the interlocutor’s other beliefs
What is ‘arete’?
Virtue or excellence
What was virtue a kind of, according to Socrates?
Knowledge
Socrates believed in the ‘unity of the virtues’. What is this?
If a person has one of the virtues, he has all of them
All the early dialogues end in aporia. What is this?
Inconclusiveness, no definition being found
What four virtues did Socrates consider to be most important?
1) Courage
2) Justice
3) Temperance
4) Wisdom
What were Plato’s dates?
c.425-347 BCE
Where was Plato from?
Athens
What is thought to have been Plato’s real name?
Aristocles
In what year was Athens defeated by Sparta?
404 BCE
According to Plato, what is the inevitable result of political turmoil?
A tyrant stepping in to restore order
Which Greek city did Plato advise and influence with his political ideas?
Syracuse (Sicily)
Which important dialogue marks Plato’s move away from concluding in aporia?
The Meno
What were the two realms, according to Plato?
The Realm of Being and the Realm of Becoming
What are three characteristics of Plato’s Forms?
1) Eternal
2) Perfect
3) Unchanging
What does anamnesis mean?
Unforgetting
What is Plato’s ‘theory of recollection’?
Knowledge is obtained by remembering things from ones soul’s disembodied state in the Realm of Being
What does the sun represent in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave?
The form of the Good
What distinguishes knowledge from true belief according to Plato?
Satisfactory justification
What virtue, in individuals and states, is the subject of Plato’s Republic?
Justice
What are the three groups in Plato’s ideal society?
1) Guardians
2) Warriors
3) The rest
In the Republic, what is justice according to Thrasymachus?
Whatever the strong wish to do
According to Plato, what are the three parts of the soul?
1) Reason
2) Spirit
3) Appetite
What is the degenerative sequence of forms of government according to Plato?
1) Aristocracy (meritocratic)
2) Epistocracy
3) Timocracy
4) Oligarchy (plutocratic)
5) Democracy
6) Anarchy
7) Tyranny
What is ‘epistocracy’?
Rule by those who know (experts)
What is ‘timocracy’? (In Plato’s sense)
Rule by those who seek honor, status, and military glory
What is ‘oligarchy’? (In Plato’s sense)
Rule by the rich (plutocracy)
What is justice in states and souls according to Plato?
Balance (harmony) between the three parts
What are realism and nominalism?
Realists think universals exist and nominalists don’t
In what dialogue does Plato challenge his own idea of the Forms?
The Parmenides
According to Plato, do things like mud, hair, and dirt have Forms?
No
According to Plato, do things like equality and plurality have forms?
Yes
What is the ‘Third Man’ problem?
1) A man is a man because he resembles the Form of Man
2) But there must be a second Form of Man to explain this first resemblance
3) And a third Form to explain this second resemblance, etc.
In what dialogue does Plato challenge his theory of knowledge as justified true belief?
The Theaetetus
When was the Academy closed by the Roman emperor Justinian?
529 CE
What were Aristotle’s dates?
c.384-322 BCE
Where was Aristotle born?
Stagira (Macedonia)
At what age did Aristotle begin studying under Plato?
Eighteen
To which famous leader was Aristotle a tutor?
Alexander the Great
Where was Aristotle’s school located?
The Lyceum (Athens)
What was Aristotle’s school called?
The Peripatetic school
Why did Alexander call for Aristotle’s arrest?
He though Aristotle was part of a conspiracy to assassinate him
What charge was brought against Aristotle?
Impiety
What was the overarching division in Aristotle’s system of knowledge?
Theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy
What are the three components of theoretical philosophy? (Aristotle)
1) Metaphysics (First philosophy)
2) Mathematics
3) Physics (nature)
What is the focus of practical philosophy? (Aristotle)
Politics (which includes ethics)
What did Aristotle call the science of logic?
Analytics
What is the ‘Organon’? What does the word mean?
Aristotle’s writings on logic. It means ‘instrument’.
What did Aristotle consider to be the fundamental unit of logical interest?
The proposition
What are the two chief components of a proposition? (Aristotle)
The subject and the predicate
What is the subject of a proposition?
That about which something true or false is asserted
What is the predicate of a proposition?
What is asserted about the subject
What are the four main categories? (Aristotle)
1) Substance
2) Quality
3) Quantity
4) Relation
What type of proposition is ‘all As are B’?
Universal affirmative
What type of proposition is ‘no As are B’?
Universal negative
What type of proposition is ‘some As are B’?
Particular affirmative
What type of proposition is ‘some As are not B’?
Particular negative
What are Aristotles ‘five words’? (Ways in which a predicate can relate to a subject)
1) Genus
2) Species (Definition)
3) Difference
4) Property
5) Accident
What are Aristotle’s ‘four causes’?
1) Material
2) Efficient
3) Formal
4) Final
What is the self-caused ‘first mover’ (God) according to Aristotle?
Pure thought thinking about itself
What kind of souls do all animate things have according to Aristotle?
Nutritive souls
What additional aspect do the souls of all animals have according to Aristotle?
A sensitive aspect
What additional aspect do the the souls of human beings have according to Aristotle?
A rational aspect
What is the efficient, formal, and final cause for a living thing?
The soul
What is the highest art according to Aristotle?
Politics
What were Aristotles two ethical treatises?
1) The Eudemian Ethics
2) Nicomachean Ethics
What makes eudaemonia the highest end for Aristotle?
It is desired for its own sake and not as a means to a further end
According to Aristotle, what was the worst fault of Plato’s theory of Forms?
Its inability to explain change in the realm of Becoming
Which philosopher thought there was nothing in the mind that was not first in the senses?
Aristotle
What is sensation for Aristotle?
The body carrying the world’s forms to the soul
What are the fundamental things upon which ‘accidents’ like color supervene? (Aristotle)
Substances
What is eudaemonia for humans? (Aristotle)
Rational activity of the soul in accordance with virtue
What are the two kinds of virtue? (Aristotle)
1) Those of mind
2) Those of character
How does Aristotle define virtue?
The middle path between opposing vices
How does Aristotle define human beings?
Political animals
For Aristotle, what was the ideal size for a state?
Small, where the voice of the town crier can be heard from one end to the other.
What shape is the universe according to Aristotle?
A sphere
What is another word for aether?
Quintessence (fifth essence)
What is the natural motion of the aether? (Aristotle)
Circular
What label did Thomas Aquinas bestow upon Aristotle?
The Philosopher
