Download or read book Socratic Wisdom written by Hugh H. Benson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2000 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the early Platonic dialogues have often been explored and appreciated for their ethical content, this is the first book devoted solely to the epistemology of Plato's early dialogues. Author Hugh H. Benson argues that the characteristic features of these dialogues--Socrates' method of questions and answers (elenchos), his fascination with definition, his professions of ignorance, and his thesis that virtue is knowledge--are decidedly epistemological. In this thoughtful study, Benson uncovers the model of knowledge that underlies these distinctively Socratic views. What emerges is unfamiliar, yet closer to a contemporary conception of scientific understanding than ordinary knowledge.
Download or read book Pursuits of Wisdom written by John M. Cooper and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-25 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a major reinterpretation of ancient philosophy that recovers the long Greek and Roman tradition of philosophy as a complete way of life--and not simply an intellectual discipline. Distinguished philosopher John Cooper traces how, for many ancient thinkers, philosophy was not just to be studied or even used to solve particular practical problems. Rather, philosophy--not just ethics but even logic and physical theory--was literally to be lived. Yet there was great disagreement about how to live philosophically: philosophy was not one but many, mutually opposed, ways of life. Examining this tradition from its establishment by Socrates in the fifth century BCE through Plotinus in the third century CE and the eclipse of pagan philosophy by Christianity, Pursuits of Wisdom examines six central philosophies of living--Socratic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Epicurean, Skeptic, and the Platonist life of late antiquity. The book describes the shared assumptions that allowed these thinkers to conceive of their philosophies as ways of life, as well as the distinctive ideas that led them to widely different conclusions about the best human life. Clearing up many common misperceptions and simplifications, Cooper explains in detail the Socratic devotion to philosophical discussion about human nature, human life, and human good; the Aristotelian focus on the true place of humans within the total system of the natural world; the Stoic commitment to dutifully accepting Zeus's plans; the Epicurean pursuit of pleasure through tranquil activities that exercise perception, thought, and feeling; the Skeptical eschewal of all critical reasoning in forming their beliefs; and, finally, the late Platonist emphasis on spiritual concerns and the eternal realm of Being. Pursuits of Wisdom is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding what the great philosophers of antiquity thought was the true purpose of philosophy--and of life.
Download or read book Socratic Wisdom The Model of Knowledge in Plato s Early Dialogues written by Hugh H. Benson Professor of Philosophy University of Oklahoma and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2000-01-05 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the early Platonic dialogues have often been explored and appreciated for their ethical content, this is the first book devoted solely to the epistemology of Plato's early dialogues. Author Hugh H. Benson argues that the characteristic features of these dialogues--Socrates' method of questions and answers (elenchos), his fascination with definition, his professions of ignorance, and his thesis that virtue is knowledge--are decidedly epistemological. In this thoughtful study, Benson uncovers the model of knowledge that underlies these distinctively Socratic views. What emerges is unfamiliar, yet closer to a contemporary conception of scientific understanding than ordinary knowledge.
Download or read book Socrates Daimonic Art written by Elizabeth S. Belfiore and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-08 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite increasing interest in the figure of Socrates and in love in ancient Greece, no recent monograph studies these topics in all four of Plato's dialogues on love and friendship. This book provides important new insights into these subjects by examining Plato's characterization of Socrates in Symposium, Phaedrus, Lysis and the often neglected Alcibiades I. It focuses on the specific ways in which the philosopher searches for wisdom together with his young interlocutors, using an art that is 'erotic', not in a narrowly sexual sense, but because it shares characteristics attributed to the daimon Eros in Symposium. In all four dialogues, Socrates' art enables him, like Eros, to search for the beauty and wisdom he recognizes that he lacks and to help others seek these same objects of erôs. Belfiore examines the dialogues as both philosophical and dramatic works, and considers many connections with Greek culture, including poetry and theater.
Download or read book The Tao of Socrates written by Stefan D. Schindler and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book argues that Socrates, Athenian citizen in Classical Greece, was a Taoist sage and Zen master. His life was a work of art, rooted in the art of detached engagement: Taoist Wu-wei and Buddhist Madhyamaka. Socrates was the offspring of a philosophic tradition stretching back a century and a half, spread across the eastern Mediterranean. Schindler introduces these Presocratic thinkers, examines the life and teachings of Socrates, and explores Plato as a mythologizing philosopher. Taoism, Buddhism and Zen are introduced throughout the discourse, showing how Eastern Wisdom is reflected in The Birth of Western Philosophy. The adventure concludes with an exploration of the Greco-Buddhist insight that to be is to inter-be. The recovery of this idea overlaps with the quantum paradigm shift in contemporary physics, ecology and spirituality."--P. [4] of cover.
Download or read book The Stoic Sage written by René Brouwer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-01-09 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first ever book-length study of the influential Stoic concept of wisdom.
Download or read book Apology written by Plato Plato and published by Xist Publishing. This book was released on 2016-03-17 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plato's Guide to the Good Life “The unexamined life is not worth living” -Apology, Plato An original account of the speech Socrates makes at the trial in which he is charged with not recognizing the gods recognized by the state, inventing new deities, and corrupting the youth of Athens. This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This eBook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope you’ll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it. Xist Publishing is a digital-first publisher. Xist Publishing creates books for the touchscreen generation and is dedicated to helping everyone develop a lifetime love of reading, no matter what form it takes
Download or read book Socrates Daimonic Art written by Elizabeth S. Belfiore and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-08 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new approach to Plato's characterization of Socrates, through analysis of erôs and philosophy in four dialogues on love and friendship.
Download or read book Socratic Ignorance and Platonic Knowledge in the Dialogues of Plato written by Sara Ahbel-Rappe and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that Socratess fundamental role in the dialogues is to guide us toward self-inquiry and self-knowledge. In this highly original and provocative book, Sara Ahbel-Rappe argues that the Platonic dialogues contain an esoteric Socrates who signifies a profound commitment to self-knowledge and whose appearances in the dialogues are meant to foster the practice of self-inquiry. According to Ahbel-Rappe, the elenchus, or inner examination, and the thesis that virtue is knowledge, are tools for a contemplative practice that teaches us how to investigate the mind and its objects directly. In other words, the Socratic persona of the dialogues represents wisdom, which is distinct from and serves as the larger space in which Platonic knowledgeethics, epistemology, and metaphysicsis constructed. Ahbel-Rappe offers complete readings of the Apology, Charmides, Alcibiades I, Euthyphro, Lysis, Phaedrus, Theaetetus, and Parmenides, as well as parts of the Republic. Her interpretation challenges two common approaches to the figure of Socrates: the thesis that the dialogues represent an early Plato who later disavows his reliance on Socratic wisdom, and the thesis that Socratic ethics can best be expressed by the construct of eudaimonism or egoism.
Download or read book The Socratic Way of Life written by Thomas L. Pangle and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Socratic Way of Life is the first English-language book-length study of the philosopher Xenophon’s masterwork. In it, Thomas L. Pangle shows that Xenophon depicts more authentically than does Plato the true teachings and way of life of the citizen philosopher Socrates, founder of political philosophy. In the first part of the book, Pangle analyzes Xenophon’s defense of Socrates against the two charges of injustice upon which he was convicted by democratic Athens: impiety and corruption of the youth. In the second part, Pangle analyzes Xenophon’s account of how Socrates’s life as a whole was just, in the sense of helping through his teaching a wide range of people. Socrates taught by never ceasing to raise, and to progress in answering, the fundamental and enduring civic questions: what is pious and impious, noble and ignoble, just and unjust, genuine statesmanship and genuine citizenship. Inspired by Hegel’s and Nietzsche’s assessments of Xenophon as the true voice of Socrates, The Socratic Way of Life establishes the Memorabilia as the groundwork of all subsequent political philosophy.
Download or read book Profound Ignorance written by David Lawrence Levine and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2015-10-30 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Returning from the battle of Potidaea, Socrates reenters the city only to find it changed, with new leadership in the making. Socrates assumes the mask of physician in order to diagnose the city’s condition in the persons of the young and charismatic Charmides and his ambitious and formidable guardian Critias. Beneath the cloak of their self-presentations, Doctor Socrates discovers a profound and communicable disease: their incipient tyranny, “the greatest sickness of the soul.” He thereby is able to “foresee” their future and their role in the oligarchy (The Thirty Tyrants) that overthrows the democracy at the end of the Peloponnesian War. The unusual diagnostic instrument of this physician of the city: the question of sophrosyne (customarily translated as moderation). The analysis of the soul of this popular favorite uncovers a distorted development with little prospect of self-knowledge, and that of the guardian, a profound disabling ignorance, deluded and perverted by his presumed practical wisdom. Alongside on the bench sits Socrates whose ignorance, by contrast, shows itself to be enabling, measured and prospective. In this way, the profound ignorance of the tyrant and the profound ignorance of the philosopher are made to mutually illuminate one another. In the process, Levine brings us to see Plato’s extended apologia or defense of Socrates as “a teacher of tyrants” and his counter-indictment of the city for its unthinking acceptance of its leaders. Moreover, in the face of modern skepticism, we are brought to see how such “value judgments” are possible, how Plato conceives the prospects for practical judgment (phronȇsis). In addition we witness the care with which Plato presents his penetrating diagnoses even amidst compromised circumstances. Levine, further, is at pains to situate the specific dialogic issues in their larger significance for the philosophic tradition. Lastly, the author’s inviting style encourages the reader to think along with Socrates. The question of tyranny is always relevant. The question of our ignorance is always immediate. The conversation about sophrosyne needs to be resumed.
Download or read book Socratic Ignorance and Platonic Knowledge in the Dialogues of Plato written by Sara Ahbel-Rappe and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2018-04-25 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this highly original and provocative book, Sara Ahbel-Rappe argues that the Platonic dialogues contain an esoteric Socrates who signifies a profound commitment to self-knowledge and whose appearances in the dialogues are meant to foster the practice of self-inquiry. According to Ahbel-Rappe, the elenchus, or inner examination, and the thesis that virtue is knowledge, are tools for a contemplative practice that teaches us how to investigate the mind and its objects directly. In other words, the Socratic persona of the dialogues represents wisdom, which is distinct from and serves as the larger space in which Platonic knowledge—ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics—is constructed. Ahbel-Rappe offers complete readings of the Apology, Charmides, Alcibiades I, Euthyphro, Lysis, Phaedrus, Theaetetus, and Parmenides, as well as parts of the Republic. Her interpretation challenges two common approaches to the figure of Socrates: the thesis that the dialogues represent an "early" Plato who later disavows his reliance on Socratic wisdom, and the thesis that Socratic ethics can best be expressed by the construct of eudaimonism or egoism.
Download or read book The Socratic Paradox and Its Enemies written by Roslyn Weiss and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2006-06-20 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Socratic Paradox and Its Enemies, Roslyn Weiss argues that the Socratic paradoxes—no one does wrong willingly, virtue is knowledge, and all the virtues are one—are best understood as Socrates’ way of combating sophistic views: that no one is willingly just, those who are just and temperate are ignorant fools, and only some virtues (courage and wisdom) but not others (justice, temperance, and piety) are marks of true excellence. In Weiss’s view, the paradoxes express Socrates’ belief that wrongdoing fails to yield the happiness that all people want; it is therefore the unjust and immoderate who are the fools. The paradoxes thus emerge as Socrates’ means of championing the cause of justice in the face of those who would impugn it. Her fresh approach—ranging over six of Plato’s dialogues—is sure to spark debate in philosophy, classics, and political theory. “Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with Weiss, it would be hard not to admire her extraordinarily penetrating analysis of the many overlapping and interweaving arguments running through the dialogues.”—Daniel B. Gallagher, Classical Outlook “Many scholars of Socratic philosophy . . . will wish they had written Weiss's book, or at least will wish that they had long ago read it.”—Douglas V. Henry, Review of Politics
Download or read book The Foundations of Socratic Ethics written by Alfonso Gómez-Lobo and published by Hackett Publishing. This book was released on 1994-01-01 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this provocative new work, Alfonso Gomez-Lobo proposes that the earliest Platonic writings, in particular Apology, Crito, and sections of Gorgias, contain an underlying moral philosophy that can be attributed to Socrates with some degree of assurance. His aim is to show that Socratic moral philosophy is a reasonably systematic construction generated by a small number of principles or axioms.
Download or read book The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates written by Xenophon and published by Prabhat Prakashan. This book was released on 2021-01-01 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates by Xenophon: Explore the wisdom and philosophy of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates through the eyes of Xenophon. In The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates, Xenophon presents a collection of Socratic dialogues and teachings, offering profound insights into ethics, virtue, and the pursuit of knowledge. Key Aspects of the Book The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates: Ancient Philosophy: Xenophon's work provides a valuable window into the philosophical ideas of Socrates and the intellectual climate of ancient Greece. Socratic Dialogues: Readers can engage with Socrates' method of questioning and dialogue, which continues to influence philosophical discourse today. Moral Reflection: The book prompts readers to reflect on ethics, virtue, and the nature of wisdom, making it a timeless source of philosophical contemplation. Xenophon was a Greek historian, soldier, and philosopher who lived during the 4th century BCE. He is known for his historical and philosophical writings, including The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates, which serves as an important source for understanding the life and teachings of Socrates.
Download or read book Virtue Is Knowledge written by Lorraine Smith Pangle and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-05-23 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relation between virtue and knowledge is at the heart of the Socratic view of human excellence, but it also points to a central puzzle of the Platonic dialogues: Can Socrates be serious in his claims that human excellence is constituted by one virtue, that vice is merely the result of ignorance, and that the correct response to crime is therefore not punishment but education? Or are these assertions mere rhetorical ploys by a notoriously complex thinker? Lorraine Smith Pangle traces the argument for the primacy of virtue and the power of knowledge throughout the five dialogues that feature them most prominently—the Apology, Gorgias, Protagoras, Meno, and Laws—and reveals the truth at the core of these seemingly strange claims. She argues that Socrates was more aware of the complex causes of human action and of the power of irrational passions than a cursory reading might suggest. Pangle’s perceptive analyses reveal that many of Socrates’s teachings in fact explore the factors that make it difficult for humans to be the rational creatures that he at first seems to claim. Also critical to Pangle’s reading is her emphasis on the political dimensions of the dialogues. Underlying many of the paradoxes, she shows, is a distinction between philosophic and civic virtue that is critical to understanding them. Ultimately, Pangle offers a radically unconventional way of reading Socrates’s views of human excellence: Virtue is not knowledge in any ordinary sense, but true virtue is nothing other than wisdom.
Download or read book Socrates written by George Rudebusch and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Socrates presents a compelling case for some life-changing conclusions that follow from a close reading of Socrates' arguments. Offers a highly original study of Socrates and his thought, accessible to contemporary readers Argues that through studying Socrates we can learn practical wisdom to apply to our lives Lovingly crafted with humour, thought-experiments and literary references (from the Iliad to Harry Potter), and with close reading sof key Socratic arguments Aids readers with diagrams to make clear complex arguments
