The Man Who Asked Questions

Question 1

Patron Saint

Answer 1

the protecting or guiding saint of a person or place.

Question 2

Gadfly

Answer 2

an annoying person, especially one who provokes others into action by criticism.

Question 3

Peloponnesian wars

Answer 3

A book written by Thucydides.

Question 4

Deceitful

Answer 4

guilty of or involving deceit deceiving or misleading others.

Question 5

Disconcerting

Answer 5

causing one to feel unsettled.

Question 6

Sophists

Answer 6

a paid teacher of philosophy and rhetoric in ancient Greece, associated in popular thought with moral skepticism and specious reasoning.

Question 7

Carpentry

Answer 7

the activity or occupation of making or repairing things in wood.

Question 8

Platonic

Answer 8

of or associated with the Greek philosopher Plato or his ideas.

Question 9

Deceptive

Answer 9

giving an appearance or impression different from the true one misleading.

Question 10

Profoundly

Answer 10

to a profound extent extremely.

Question 11

Totalitarian

Answer 11

relating to a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.

Question 12

Deliberately

Answer 12

consciously and intentionally on purpose.

Question 13

Hemlock

Answer 13

a highly poisonous European plant of the parsley family, with a purple-spotted stem, fernlike leaves, small white flowers, and an unpleasant smell.

Question 14

1. To what did Socrates compare himself and why?

Answer 14

Answer not listed: “He saw himself as one of those horseflies that have a nasty bite—a gadfly. They’re irritating, but don’t do serious harm. Not everyone in Athens agreed, though.”

Question 15

2.What was Socrates’ physical appearance like?

Answer 15

Answer not listed: “Snub-nosed, podgy, shabby, and a bit strange, Socrates did not fit in. Although physically ugly and often unwashed, he had great charisma and a brilliant mind.”

Question 16

3.What was the purpose of Socrates’ conversation with Euthydemus?

Answer 16

To demonstrate that moral and immoral actions can be complex: “Socrates by using a clever counter-example has shown that Euthydemus’ general comment that being deceitful is immoral doesn’t apply in every situation.”

Question 17

4.How did Socrates challenge Euthydemus’ views on morality?

Answer 17

By proposing a hypothetical scenario in which deceitful acts could be moral: “But what, Socrates asked, if your friend is feeling very low and might harm himself, and you steal his belongings that could bring him harm? Isn’t that a deceitful act?”

Question 18

5. What was Socrates’ approach to conversation in the marketplace?

Answer 18

To reveal the limits of people’s understanding and question their assumptions: “Socrates loved to reveal the limits of what people genuinely understood, and to question the assumptions on which they built their lives.”

Question 19

6. What did Socrates spend years doing after learning that the Oracle at Delphi declared him the wisest man in Athens?

Answer 19

Answer not listed: “He devoted years to questioning people to see if anyone was wiser than he was.”

Question 20

7.How is the work of modern philosophers different from the work of Socrates?

Answer 20

Modern philosophers have more information to work with than Socrates did: “Unlike Socrates, though, modern philosophers have the benefit of nearly two and a half thousand years of philosophical thinking to build on.”

Question 21

8.What kind of wisdom does the Western tradition in philosophy value?

Answer 21

Wisdom based on argument and reasoning: “The kind of wisdom that it values is based on argument, reasoning, and asking questions, not on believing things simply because someone important has told you they are true.”

Question 22

9.What does Socrates believe about the value of examining one’s existence?

Answer 22

It is essential for human beings: Socrates believed that “Life… is only worth living if you think about what you are doing. An unexamined existence is all right for cattle, but not for human beings.”

Question 23

10.Why did Socrates refuse to write anything down?

Answer 23

He believed face-to-face conversation was superior to writing: “Written words can’t answer back; they can’t explain anything to you when you don’t understand them. Face-to-face conversation was much better, he maintained.”

Question 24

11.What are the Platonic Dialogues?

Answer 24

Answer not listed: “Plato wrote down a series of conversations between Socrates and the people he questioned. These are known as the Platonic Dialogues and are great works of literature as well as philosophy.”

Question 25

12.What is one of the ideas that most people believe is Plato’s, rather than Socrates’?

Answer 25

That the world is not at all as it seems: “One of the ideas that most people believe is Plato’s rather than Socrates’ is that the world is not at all as it seems. There is a significant difference between appearance and reality. Most of us mistake appearances for reality. We think we understand, but we don’t.”

Question 26

13. What is the significance of the cave allegory in Plato’s philosophy?

Answer 26

It highlights the difference between appearance and reality: “Ordinary people have little idea about reality because they are content with looking at what’s in front of them rather than thinking deeply about it. But the appearances are deceptive. What they see are shadows, not reality.”

Question 27

14.How does the man who breaks free from the cave in Plato’s allegory relate to the idea of a philosopher?

Answer 27

He is like a philosopher because he sees beyond appearances: “The man who breaks free is like a philosopher. He sees beyond appearances. Ordinary people have little idea about reality because they are content with looking at what’s in front of them rather than thinking deeply about it.”

Question 28

15. According to Plato, what is the difference between a perfect circle and an actual circle?

Answer 28

An actual circle is a copy of a perfect circle, which exists in a non-physical realm: “Plato would say that the idea of a perfect circle is the Form of a circle. If you want to understand what a circle is, you should focus on the Form of the circle, not actual circles that you can draw and experience through your visual sense, all of which are imperfect in some way.”

Question 29

16. What did Plato think about the role of philosophers in society?

Answer 29

Answer not listed: “Because philosophers are good at thinking about reality, Plato believed they should be in charge and have all the political power.”

Question 30

17. Why did Plato think most art should be banned?

Answer 30

He believed it gave false representations of reality: “He would have banned most art, on the grounds that he thought it gave false representations of reality.”

Question 31

18. What is the political system of fifth-century Athens?

Answer 31

Answer not listed: “Fifth-century Athens was quite different from the society that Plato imagined in The Republic. It was a democracy of sorts.”

Question 32

19. In fifth-century Athens, about ___________ of the population could vote, while ___________ and ___________ were automatically excluded from the democratic process.

Answer 32

Answer not listed: “Fifth-century Athens was quite different from the society that Plato imagined in The Republic. It was a democracy of sorts, though only about ten percent of the population could vote. Women and slaves, for example, were automatically excluded.”

Question 33

20. What was Meletus’ accusation against Socrates?

Answer 33

Socrates was neglecting the Greek gods and introducing new gods of his own: “He claimed that Socrates was neglecting the Athenian gods, introducing new gods of his own.”

Question 34

21. What was the outcome of Socrates’ trial in 399 BC?

Answer 34

Answer not listed: “They voted on whether or not he was guilty. Just over half of the 501 citizens who made up the huge jury thought he was, and sentenced him to death. If he’d wanted to, he could probably have talked his way out of being executed.”

Question 35

22. What method of execution was used to put Socrates to death?

Answer 35

Answer not listed: “He was put to death by being forced to drink poison made from hemlock, a plant that gradually paralyzes the body.”

Question 36

23. Why did Socrates choose to die instead of living quietly?

Answer 36

He had an inner voice that told him to keep questioning everything: “If he had the choice to carry on living quietly, not asking any more difficult questions, he would not take it. He’d rather die than that. He had an inner voice that told him to keep questioning everything, and he could not betray it.”

Question 37

24. “Who was Plato’s most impressive pupil?”

Answer 37

Aristotle: “By far [Plato’s] most impressive pupil was Aristotle, a very different sort of thinker from either of them.”