february 21

Today in class we took more notes on a new topic

Socrates

• looked to science and logic (not the mythological gods) for explanations of how the world worked
• the Socratic Method fostered critical thinking
• “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
• Socrates was charged with serious crime

                   - impiety (disrespecting the gods)
- corrupting the youth of Athens

• at his trial, he described himself as a stinging gadfly, and Athens as a lazy old horse
• did not deny what he had done; asked for free dinners
• found guilty by an Athenian jury, and sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock

Plato

• Plato was a student and follower of Socrates
• he wrote out Socrates’ teachings, and described his trial in Apology

Republic was Socrates’ discussion of justice and the ideal state - one of the most influential books on philosophy ever written

Aristotle

• Aristotle was a student of Plato
• he helped foster the idea of Athens as an intellectual destination
• his school - the Lyceum - focused on cooperative research - building on knowledge gathered from all over the world
• not exactly, but he did dream of having the sum of mankind’s knowledge easily accessed in one location
• he wrote extensively on such topics as…
• logic -- physics -- biology
• ethics -- politics -- rhetoric
• motion -- theatre -- poetry
• metaphysics -- psychology -- dreams
• he also tutored Alexander the Great