Cup Show: What makes it a cup?
Because you can drink out of them, doesn’t mean it’s a cup
We’ve been taught they are cups
Plato’s magic show things that seem to change back and forth and become something else.
Plato’s Theory of Forms
This explains reality and knowledge; he wants to know, ‘how do we know what we know?’
Most of the time we know what we know, but most of the time we don’t know HOW we know they are cups.
So… What makes a cup a cup?
What was Plato reacting to? He reacts against 2 philosophers:
1. Protagoras said “Man is the measure of all things”
No capital T Truth because individuals determine reality, knowledge
We are talking about little t truth with Protagoras; it’s only a matter of opinion or preference
There is no matter of fact
Knowledge according to Protagoras is subjective (ultimately dependent upon individual experience and perception) - No capital T Truth Plato did not like this
2. Heraclitus said “You cannot step into the same river twice”
Reality is always changing (it is always in flux)
This also means that in knowledge is subjective and even more so that knowledge is ultimately unreliable for Heraclitus – there is no such thing as certainty
3. Both of these men were very extreme & Plato rejected both of these theories
Plato has 3 metaphysical objectives (Metaphysical=Study of things immaterial & Objective=goals) 3 things P wanted his theory to do…Reality should be:
1. Objective – Reality exists outside of our minds
2. Independent – Not dependent on anything else for its existence
3. Absolute – Meaning unchanging
All these 3 things/characteristics describe God, BUT PLATO IS NOT TALKING ABOUT GOD!! But, very similar to western religion.
According to Plato, knowledge should be certain, reliable, universal (available to everybody – Capital T Truth)s
Plato divides reality into 2 categories (Plato calls them 2 worlds):
1. The World of Becoming – This is populated with material (physical) objects which we will refer to as “Particulars” (ex: cup, people, birds, bees, etc.); Also, they are spatio-temporal meaning they are temporary or limited by time and space as all physical objects are; They are changing or more importantly, they are changeable
2. The World of Being – immaterial, non-physical “Forms” rather than “Particulars”; They are eternal meaning timeless; They are not limited by time and space; They are unchanging meaning they are absolute
For Plato, we are completely dependent upon the Forms for our knowledge – ex: if the ‘cupness Form’ didn’t come down and immanate the cup, we wouldn’t know what it was
Knowledge and certainty are not from 5 senses We knew what the cup was because the Form of cupness emanated
Why do the Forms do what they do? Why does cupness only go to cups? Plato suggests The Form of the Good
February 23, 2011
The Forms always “behave themselves” – meaning cupness doesn’t get into or emanate into rattlesnakes, and we may say “that’s a good thing”….but Why do the forms “behave themselves”?
The Forms are (=) impersonal…they have no mind. Think of it like an impersonal force like Gravity.
ANSWER Plato says the Forms “behave themselves” because of The Form of the Good.
The Form of the Good = that form above all other forms which makes them “behave themselves”.
The Form of the Good is impersonal also and yet it governs all other forms.
Why is it called The Form of the Good? Because “That’s a good thing” – It’s a good thing we know a cup from a rattlesnake.
This is as close as Plato gets to “God”
Now, the Question is: How do you ‘see’ an immaterial form with the material eye?
1. The physical eye sees physical Particulars
2. We need something immaterial to see something immaterial
3. Plato suggests the immaterial soul is seeing the immaterial form Your non-physical or (immaterial) soul sees non-physical (immaterial) forms
4. ANSWER: According to Plato, the soul is eternal in the strictness sense of the word meaning no beginning (no one made it) and no end
Plato says the soul always recognizes the forms, and the soul never makes a mistake…HOW?
1. Plato’s answer to How? The soul has seen the Forms before in a previous life NOT reincarnation because in transmigration of the soul…
1. There are no specific memories from previous lives, only knowledge of the Forms
2. The human soul (Form) can only emanate into human bodies (Particular)
3. What you emanate into has nothing to do with virtue
2. Its transmigration of the soul from one body to the next; The only thing the soul remembers are the Forms
3. When soul recognizes, it re-cognizing (recollecting it from memory) or re-collecting
Plato thought Beauty to be a Form; Beauty = symmetry
Allegory of the Cave & Analogy of the Sun
1. All people are born shackled (prisoners) – He can only look straight ahead to wall in front of him where there are shadows
a. What about the philosopher? Isn’t he shackled? Believes there are few people who can ask themselves questions and free themselves and Socrates was one of these
2. The prisoner thinks the shadow is the real thing because that’s all he has ever seen.
3. Philosopher (the hero) shows up; through questioning makes the prisoner free to stand up
4. Prisoner sees the rest of the cave, the fire(unnatural & artificial light), and prisoner realizes he was wrong about the shadows
a. Shadows are your prejudices and based on your upbringings, religious beliefs. If you believed something growing up, those are your shadows.
b. Plato doesn’t know who the guy is holding the cup. Who could it be?
i. Society/media
ii. Government
iii. Parents
iv. Teachers
v. Illuminati
vi. Peers/Colleague
vii. Church
5. Prisoner concludes that the Particular object (the cup) is the most real thing
6. Led up to world of light (sunshine) by more questioning & Prisoner now stands out of the cave
7. Sunlight (capital T Truth) hurts his eyes and Plato says at this point the prisoner has 2 choices:
a. Go back in the cave where its comfortable and familiar most people choose to do this because the Truth is too much for them even though they know there are shadows.
b. Stay and allow their eyes to get used to sunlight & prisoner realizes the existence of ‘cupness’
The Sun is The Form of the Good; FG is like the sun for 2 reasons:
1. The sun makes all life possible
2. It is by the sun that we see all things
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Trial & Death of Socrates
The Trial & Death of Socrates
• 399 BCE in Athens
• During this time, Athens is a democracy; But, no judges or juries. There was a mass audience of citizens who decided Socrates fate
• 3 accusations:
1. Corrupting the youth of Athens – making the young people doubt their parents, the laws of Athens, and the Greek religion
2. Worshipping strange gods; Basically, not worshipping the gods of Athens – Zeus
3. Atheism; Accused of being atheist
• Socrates was a celebrity at this point and this was the trial of the century
• 3 accusers (prosecutors) –
1. All 3 were all humiliated by Socrates at one point in time in different dialogues so the trial was a type of revenge
2. They all wanted the death penalty
• Aristaphanes wrote a playwright called “Clouds” that basically made fun of Socrates; idea that Socrates always had his head up in the clouds This influenced the opinion of the masses who watched and voted on Socrates’ fate
1. Irony is that Socrates was portrayed as a Sophist!
2. In the play, Socrates had a school which he charged money
• Sophists (philosophers) were enemies of the Socrates
1. The Sophists charged money to teach philosophy & Socrates considered this practice to be IMMORAL!
2. Sophists claimed that they could teach the youth to be virtuous – Socrates thought that you couldn’t ‘teach’ virtue
• It’s time for Socrates to give a defense for himself
1. Socrates does not really address the inconsistency between accusations 2 and 3.
2. He claims that all he has done was ask questions and never gave alternatives
3. So the prosecutors asked why are you asking so many questions? Why don’t you just stay home?
Socrates mentions the Oracle at Delphi which was a cave just outside of Athens. In ancient Greece, they considered that a God lived inside this cave. The God would tell you the answer, and would always tell you the truth and would never lie.
Socrates says his ‘friend’ asked Delphi who was the wisest person in the world, and the god said ‘Socrates’ so Socrates’ says he went everywhere asking questions trying to find someone wiser than him, but he said he couldn’t find anyone.
Socrates claims that he is on a mission from the god (oracle) to prove the god wrong and find someone wiser than him
The 2 things Socrates does: He mocks Oracle at Delphi which is very ancient; and he basically tells everyone there that they are not wiser than Socrates.
4. Socrates warns the people of Athens that by putting him to death, he is going to use their hypocrisy to teach all of history a lesson. But what is the lesson?
5. Socrates says, “If you kill me, if I die, I’m not afraid” – he didn’t think anyone should be afraid to die. His reason was that he was going to one of two places, which he doesn’t reeallly believe in but it’s the last final middle finger to religion:
Elysian Fields – Heaven for the Greeks; it was one big party (feast and orgy) – Only 2 types of people went there:
1. Soldiers who die in battle
2. The great poets: Homer, Hesiod, Simonides
Hades – big dark, wet cave in center of Earth – walk around bored because If I go to Hades, it’ll be fun because I’ll get to walk around and ask questions for eternity.
6. Now they take a vote & Socrates is condemned by a mere 30 votes. Plato was there watching as well.
7. But, they didn’t want to put him to death; there was a Greek tradition written into their laws saying that they condemned could decide their own punishment only in cases where the people thought the prosecutors were asking for too much.
8. Socrates makes suggestions for possible punishments (he continues to piss everyone off)
1. Pay a fine, but he was homeless so he suggested that everyone pitches in $5 to help pay his fine
2. Exile me – This was a big deal because honor was a HUGE deal, and exilement was a huge punishment
• But he said he would go around the world and keeping asking questions and give Athens a bad reputation
3. Can’t fine or exile me, so all that is left is death
9. So he is taken to prison and his disciples are allowed to visit him; Plato and others paid off the guards and trying to get him to escape, but Socrates refuses. Socrates says he has never broken a law and he is not a criminal and he wasn’t going to start now. “I’ve never broken a law, and I’m not about to start now”
10. Two dialogues were written 20 years after the trial
Apology
Phaedo This is where Socrates actually talks about his views on the afterlife during his last hours
11. The method of death was hemlock strong herbal poison relaxant mixed with wine
12. Socrates’ Famous Last Words: Takes goblet, raises it up, and says, “Don’t fear death, because when you die, one of two things is going to happen (neither of them aren’t that bad). Either:
1. Death is a dreamless sleep (meaning no afterlife)
2. What’s more likely to happen is that your soul survives the body & it goes on to have more adventures
He favors the idea that there is life after death & says either option isn’t that bad
13. The questions:
What is the lesson you think Socrates was trying to teach all of us?
1. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and tell the truth
2. Stand up for what you believe in
3. Don’t fear death
4. Capital T truth will triumph in the end – he dies, but we’re still talking about him
Be willing to die for what you believe in (combo of 2 & 3)
• 399 BCE in Athens
• During this time, Athens is a democracy; But, no judges or juries. There was a mass audience of citizens who decided Socrates fate
• 3 accusations:
1. Corrupting the youth of Athens – making the young people doubt their parents, the laws of Athens, and the Greek religion
2. Worshipping strange gods; Basically, not worshipping the gods of Athens – Zeus
3. Atheism; Accused of being atheist
• Socrates was a celebrity at this point and this was the trial of the century
• 3 accusers (prosecutors) –
1. All 3 were all humiliated by Socrates at one point in time in different dialogues so the trial was a type of revenge
2. They all wanted the death penalty
• Aristaphanes wrote a playwright called “Clouds” that basically made fun of Socrates; idea that Socrates always had his head up in the clouds This influenced the opinion of the masses who watched and voted on Socrates’ fate
1. Irony is that Socrates was portrayed as a Sophist!
2. In the play, Socrates had a school which he charged money
• Sophists (philosophers) were enemies of the Socrates
1. The Sophists charged money to teach philosophy & Socrates considered this practice to be IMMORAL!
2. Sophists claimed that they could teach the youth to be virtuous – Socrates thought that you couldn’t ‘teach’ virtue
• It’s time for Socrates to give a defense for himself
1. Socrates does not really address the inconsistency between accusations 2 and 3.
2. He claims that all he has done was ask questions and never gave alternatives
3. So the prosecutors asked why are you asking so many questions? Why don’t you just stay home?
Socrates mentions the Oracle at Delphi which was a cave just outside of Athens. In ancient Greece, they considered that a God lived inside this cave. The God would tell you the answer, and would always tell you the truth and would never lie.
Socrates says his ‘friend’ asked Delphi who was the wisest person in the world, and the god said ‘Socrates’ so Socrates’ says he went everywhere asking questions trying to find someone wiser than him, but he said he couldn’t find anyone.
Socrates claims that he is on a mission from the god (oracle) to prove the god wrong and find someone wiser than him
The 2 things Socrates does: He mocks Oracle at Delphi which is very ancient; and he basically tells everyone there that they are not wiser than Socrates.
4. Socrates warns the people of Athens that by putting him to death, he is going to use their hypocrisy to teach all of history a lesson. But what is the lesson?
5. Socrates says, “If you kill me, if I die, I’m not afraid” – he didn’t think anyone should be afraid to die. His reason was that he was going to one of two places, which he doesn’t reeallly believe in but it’s the last final middle finger to religion:
Elysian Fields – Heaven for the Greeks; it was one big party (feast and orgy) – Only 2 types of people went there:
1. Soldiers who die in battle
2. The great poets: Homer, Hesiod, Simonides
Hades – big dark, wet cave in center of Earth – walk around bored because If I go to Hades, it’ll be fun because I’ll get to walk around and ask questions for eternity.
6. Now they take a vote & Socrates is condemned by a mere 30 votes. Plato was there watching as well.
7. But, they didn’t want to put him to death; there was a Greek tradition written into their laws saying that they condemned could decide their own punishment only in cases where the people thought the prosecutors were asking for too much.
8. Socrates makes suggestions for possible punishments (he continues to piss everyone off)
1. Pay a fine, but he was homeless so he suggested that everyone pitches in $5 to help pay his fine
2. Exile me – This was a big deal because honor was a HUGE deal, and exilement was a huge punishment
• But he said he would go around the world and keeping asking questions and give Athens a bad reputation
3. Can’t fine or exile me, so all that is left is death
9. So he is taken to prison and his disciples are allowed to visit him; Plato and others paid off the guards and trying to get him to escape, but Socrates refuses. Socrates says he has never broken a law and he is not a criminal and he wasn’t going to start now. “I’ve never broken a law, and I’m not about to start now”
10. Two dialogues were written 20 years after the trial
Apology
Phaedo This is where Socrates actually talks about his views on the afterlife during his last hours
11. The method of death was hemlock strong herbal poison relaxant mixed with wine
12. Socrates’ Famous Last Words: Takes goblet, raises it up, and says, “Don’t fear death, because when you die, one of two things is going to happen (neither of them aren’t that bad). Either:
1. Death is a dreamless sleep (meaning no afterlife)
2. What’s more likely to happen is that your soul survives the body & it goes on to have more adventures
He favors the idea that there is life after death & says either option isn’t that bad
13. The questions:
What is the lesson you think Socrates was trying to teach all of us?
1. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and tell the truth
2. Stand up for what you believe in
3. Don’t fear death
4. Capital T truth will triumph in the end – he dies, but we’re still talking about him
Be willing to die for what you believe in (combo of 2 & 3)
Pre-Socratic Philosophy
Pre-Socratic Philosophers
• First to express discontent with Greek religion on these questions:
1. What is the true nature of reality?
2. What is its origin?
3. What is out place in it?
4. How are we related to the powers that govern it?
5. What is the best way to live?
• Hesiod “Thoegony”-
o “Chaos was first of all but next appeared Broad bosomed Earth”
o They will seek instead rational, natural explanations vs. supernatural or poetic explanations
o Proto-scientist Pre-Socratic philosophers that would observe and then speculate
Their mantra – “Explain what you see & touch by what you can see and touch”
o Problem of the one and the many
Q: If reality is in some sense one, what accounts for the many different individual things that we experience? In other words:
1. What is the ultimate reality? (the One) Is it God, matter, elements, etc.? How does this or it manifest itself into so many different ways? (rocks, trees, birds, etc.)
2. How is everything else (the Many) related to each other?
• Thales (considered 1st philosopher)
o Lived in Miletus which is currently Turkey
o He was considered “Mr. H2O” He believed that water is “the One” This answered #1 from above
He said:
1. “The cause & element of all things is water”
2. “All things are filled with gods” (Poetic part)
Reasons to suggest water was “the One”
1. Water nourishes all things; all of life dependent on water
2. Water is the only naturally occurring substance to change forms (solid, liquid, gas)
3. Water is all around us (rivers, streams, ponds, etc.) This answered #2 from above
4. Miletus is on the coast so this explains where his philosophy possibly originated from
o He believed water behaved like gods because water was everywhere (a poetic thing to say)
• Xenophanes
o First to explicitly criticize the Greek religion (Thales implicitly critiqued – subtly explained the water idea)
o Xenophanes said that the Greek gods/goddesses were unworthy of worship (because of the way they behave – this was Xenophanes’ ‘clue’)
o According to Homer & Hesiod, gods stole, lied, cheated, raped, murdered so Xenophanes said if we don’t act like this, why do we worship gods that behave like this?
o Conclusion: Homer & Hesiod are fiction & made up stories
o “God does not make us in his image, rather we make god/goddesses in our image”
o First person to suggest “…one god, greatest amongst gods, in no way similar to mortals in mind or body”
o He is suggesting an immaterial (non-physical), no gender & not similar to our minds and above negative emotions (like anger, temper, jealousy) of humans. They may have positive emotions like love, justice, etc.
o He says god:
1. “sees all over”
2. “thinks all over” (knows everything)
3. “hears all over”
4. Remains the same (gods not limited, god does not change)
5. God sets all things in motion with the power of his mind
o He suggest god has a mind & therefore, god is personal & one of the FIRST to suggest monotheism
January 31, 2011
The Problem of the One & the Many:
1. What is the Ultimate Reality (the One)
2. How is everything else (the Many) related to it?
• Democrates
Side Note: Parmenides denies the existence of “the Many” and suggests rather that all reality is “the One” we can compare this to Eastern philosophy like Buddhism (no separation between god and everything else…he IS everything or all “the Many” is the Ultimate Reality)
o Democrates REJECTS Parmenides ideas & reacts against him with a kind of compromise.
o Democrates asks the Q: If everything (the Many) is really just ‘the One’, then how do you explain movement? Democrates speculated that things, i.e. the Many, move. He says that if everything was ‘the One’, then everything would sit still.
He compromises and says ‘the One’ is both ‘atamos’ and ‘the Void’. ‘the Void’ is the empty space between atamos. This ‘Void’ was necessary to explain emotion.
He says ‘atamos; (the physical stuff) was the Ultimate Element meaning physical
• He said the ‘atamos’ were tiny particles like dust motes except smaller, but he said that they are so tiny that you can’t see them; however he says “let me describe them to you”.
• 6 characteristics of atamos:
1. They are Invisible to us or the naked eye (physically; he didn’t mean like a ghost)
2. They are Indivisible or “Unsplittable” This is why he named it ‘atamos’ which literally means unsplittable or uncuttable. (He was wrong on this one – His reasoning was that they are the Ultimate Reality or Ultimate physical stuff to which everything is made so you shouldn’t be able to split it)
3. He said because they are Indivisible, they are indestructible. He was wrong about the ‘because’, but he was right that they are indestructible. (atoms are like legos – you can build, tear apart and rebuild, but the legos do not change)
4. He said they are in constant motion. The tiny motion was made possible because of ‘the Void’. The tiny movement makes all movement possible.
5. Such motion is made possible by ‘the Void’
6. It is their nature to move meaning they do not require an external force of motion (cause & effect). He’s implying that they don’t need god.
He suggests that ‘atamos’ are internally homogenous meaning it is all the same on the inside; however, externally, they are different in:
1. Shape & Size A differs in shape & size from N
2. Arrangement AN differs in arrangement from NA
3. Position A differs in position in the alphabet from N
He asks, how do atoms stick together? He says that each atamos has tiny little hooks and come together with other little atamos with hooks and stick together. (This was clearly not true)
He asks the Q: Why is a rock harder to cut with a knife than an apple?
• He thought you were cutting in between the atamos and cutting the hooks in the Void. You weren’t cutting the atamos itself. He was partly right because he anticipated DENSITY, but wrong about the hooks. – These were typical type questions that Pre-Socratic philosophers asked themselves from observing & speculating.
o Democrates has an implicit critique of Greek religion. He leaves no room for god. In his theory of the universe, there is no need for God/goddesses because the atamos explain and do everything.
o One of the first Naturalistic philosophers meaning there is no connection to a supernatural force (god) – everything was a naturalistic explanation.
o Democrates did believe in the existence of a soul (seems contradictory because the soul is immaterial or non-physical) Traditionally, the soul was immaterial, but Democrates was the only person in western philosophy to suggest a material soul. Remember that he said atamos can be different shapes and sizes…so Democrates said that there are other atamos which are even smaller than the original and that they were spherical. He said these spherical atamos would fit in between the other atamos with the hooks and Void still being there. These spherical atamos in between the other atamos were responsible for intelligence. The bigger atamos were not intelligent. The amount of spherical atamos determined the level of intelligence so for example, a rock had no spherical atamos, but a plant, which is alive, had a few of the spherical atamos. Humans had the most spherical atamos. So he meant that the material soul was a conglomeration or concentration of spherical atoms.
o Democrates says that at the moment of death, the spherical atamos go away and form something else, and they don’t carry any memory.
• First to express discontent with Greek religion on these questions:
1. What is the true nature of reality?
2. What is its origin?
3. What is out place in it?
4. How are we related to the powers that govern it?
5. What is the best way to live?
• Hesiod “Thoegony”-
o “Chaos was first of all but next appeared Broad bosomed Earth”
o They will seek instead rational, natural explanations vs. supernatural or poetic explanations
o Proto-scientist Pre-Socratic philosophers that would observe and then speculate
Their mantra – “Explain what you see & touch by what you can see and touch”
o Problem of the one and the many
Q: If reality is in some sense one, what accounts for the many different individual things that we experience? In other words:
1. What is the ultimate reality? (the One) Is it God, matter, elements, etc.? How does this or it manifest itself into so many different ways? (rocks, trees, birds, etc.)
2. How is everything else (the Many) related to each other?
• Thales (considered 1st philosopher)
o Lived in Miletus which is currently Turkey
o He was considered “Mr. H2O” He believed that water is “the One” This answered #1 from above
He said:
1. “The cause & element of all things is water”
2. “All things are filled with gods” (Poetic part)
Reasons to suggest water was “the One”
1. Water nourishes all things; all of life dependent on water
2. Water is the only naturally occurring substance to change forms (solid, liquid, gas)
3. Water is all around us (rivers, streams, ponds, etc.) This answered #2 from above
4. Miletus is on the coast so this explains where his philosophy possibly originated from
o He believed water behaved like gods because water was everywhere (a poetic thing to say)
• Xenophanes
o First to explicitly criticize the Greek religion (Thales implicitly critiqued – subtly explained the water idea)
o Xenophanes said that the Greek gods/goddesses were unworthy of worship (because of the way they behave – this was Xenophanes’ ‘clue’)
o According to Homer & Hesiod, gods stole, lied, cheated, raped, murdered so Xenophanes said if we don’t act like this, why do we worship gods that behave like this?
o Conclusion: Homer & Hesiod are fiction & made up stories
o “God does not make us in his image, rather we make god/goddesses in our image”
o First person to suggest “…one god, greatest amongst gods, in no way similar to mortals in mind or body”
o He is suggesting an immaterial (non-physical), no gender & not similar to our minds and above negative emotions (like anger, temper, jealousy) of humans. They may have positive emotions like love, justice, etc.
o He says god:
1. “sees all over”
2. “thinks all over” (knows everything)
3. “hears all over”
4. Remains the same (gods not limited, god does not change)
5. God sets all things in motion with the power of his mind
o He suggest god has a mind & therefore, god is personal & one of the FIRST to suggest monotheism
January 31, 2011
The Problem of the One & the Many:
1. What is the Ultimate Reality (the One)
2. How is everything else (the Many) related to it?
• Democrates
Side Note: Parmenides denies the existence of “the Many” and suggests rather that all reality is “the One” we can compare this to Eastern philosophy like Buddhism (no separation between god and everything else…he IS everything or all “the Many” is the Ultimate Reality)
o Democrates REJECTS Parmenides ideas & reacts against him with a kind of compromise.
o Democrates asks the Q: If everything (the Many) is really just ‘the One’, then how do you explain movement? Democrates speculated that things, i.e. the Many, move. He says that if everything was ‘the One’, then everything would sit still.
He compromises and says ‘the One’ is both ‘atamos’ and ‘the Void’. ‘the Void’ is the empty space between atamos. This ‘Void’ was necessary to explain emotion.
He says ‘atamos; (the physical stuff) was the Ultimate Element meaning physical
• He said the ‘atamos’ were tiny particles like dust motes except smaller, but he said that they are so tiny that you can’t see them; however he says “let me describe them to you”.
• 6 characteristics of atamos:
1. They are Invisible to us or the naked eye (physically; he didn’t mean like a ghost)
2. They are Indivisible or “Unsplittable” This is why he named it ‘atamos’ which literally means unsplittable or uncuttable. (He was wrong on this one – His reasoning was that they are the Ultimate Reality or Ultimate physical stuff to which everything is made so you shouldn’t be able to split it)
3. He said because they are Indivisible, they are indestructible. He was wrong about the ‘because’, but he was right that they are indestructible. (atoms are like legos – you can build, tear apart and rebuild, but the legos do not change)
4. He said they are in constant motion. The tiny motion was made possible because of ‘the Void’. The tiny movement makes all movement possible.
5. Such motion is made possible by ‘the Void’
6. It is their nature to move meaning they do not require an external force of motion (cause & effect). He’s implying that they don’t need god.
He suggests that ‘atamos’ are internally homogenous meaning it is all the same on the inside; however, externally, they are different in:
1. Shape & Size A differs in shape & size from N
2. Arrangement AN differs in arrangement from NA
3. Position A differs in position in the alphabet from N
He asks, how do atoms stick together? He says that each atamos has tiny little hooks and come together with other little atamos with hooks and stick together. (This was clearly not true)
He asks the Q: Why is a rock harder to cut with a knife than an apple?
• He thought you were cutting in between the atamos and cutting the hooks in the Void. You weren’t cutting the atamos itself. He was partly right because he anticipated DENSITY, but wrong about the hooks. – These were typical type questions that Pre-Socratic philosophers asked themselves from observing & speculating.
o Democrates has an implicit critique of Greek religion. He leaves no room for god. In his theory of the universe, there is no need for God/goddesses because the atamos explain and do everything.
o One of the first Naturalistic philosophers meaning there is no connection to a supernatural force (god) – everything was a naturalistic explanation.
o Democrates did believe in the existence of a soul (seems contradictory because the soul is immaterial or non-physical) Traditionally, the soul was immaterial, but Democrates was the only person in western philosophy to suggest a material soul. Remember that he said atamos can be different shapes and sizes…so Democrates said that there are other atamos which are even smaller than the original and that they were spherical. He said these spherical atamos would fit in between the other atamos with the hooks and Void still being there. These spherical atamos in between the other atamos were responsible for intelligence. The bigger atamos were not intelligent. The amount of spherical atamos determined the level of intelligence so for example, a rock had no spherical atamos, but a plant, which is alive, had a few of the spherical atamos. Humans had the most spherical atamos. So he meant that the material soul was a conglomeration or concentration of spherical atoms.
o Democrates says that at the moment of death, the spherical atamos go away and form something else, and they don’t carry any memory.
Ancient Greece - Cradle of Western Civilization
Ancient Greece “The Cradle of Western Civilization” (500-323 BCE) for a brief 150 years in/around a single city, Athens, our modern society was anticipated/influenced by ancient Greeks.
• Grouping (polis) of city states around the Mediterranean – Turkey – Italy
• Each city state had a government and an army
• Most of our ideas started from Ancient Greece
• BCE = Before Common Era
• After the 150 years all this knowledge & advancement wouldn’t show up again for another 2000 years.
• City states shared 3 things:
o Language
o Money
o Religion (Greek mythology)
• Around 500 BCE Persian army invades Ancient Greece
o 2 city states, Sparta & Athens join forces and defeat the large Persians @ the Battle of Marathon (Socrates fought at this Battle)
o After this victory begins the 150 years and Athens now becomes the 1st democracy in the western world – Remember: only lasted 150 years
Major developments by the Greeks
1. Politics
a. Every citizen counts as 1 Egalitarianism (Democracy was about citizen’s (men) rights, not humans (women)
b. Athens was a pure democracy meaning no representatives of any kind. (we have a representative democracy) If a law was proposed, the citizens vote on it directly with each having one vote a piece.
i. As a result, there were no judges/juries citizens could come and watch proceedings and vote
c. “King for a day” – Once a year, one person got to be kind of Athens. They could let people out of prison or pass laws they liked, and this reminded people how good a democracy was and showed how too much power from one person or king would be.
2. Literature (Greeks held these books like the bible)
a. Homer (Iliad & Odyssey)
i. Iliad Trojan War fought over Helen of Troy. The Greeks won by tricking them with the Trojan Horse
ii. Odyssey Odyssey (Greek hero) & his travels around the Mediterranean Sea. It included Cyclops that Odysseus fought. The Sirens were women who sang & seduced sailors.
b. Hesiod
i. Theogony Series of creation stories Zeus’ father – Kronos created universe (polytheism many gods/goddesses)
Side Note: Plutarch’s Lives & King James Bible used to teach European & US kids how to read.
3. Drama
a. Aeschylus (play writer)
i. Usually, characters wearing masks & chorus (choir)- The chorus “spoke” the lines through the singing, but Aeschylus was the first to have characters that actually spoke to each other without the Greek chorus.
4. Genres
a. Greeks were the first to distinguish genres of Tragedy & Comedy
5. Math & Science (Note: Father means the first to put ideas into writing)
a. Father of Math was Pythagoras
i. Pythagorean theorem
ii. ∏ = 3.14…. infinite # he created suggested infinity (now it is called “irrational” number)
iii. Pythagoras believed that numbers were divine because only infinite things are divine so he began a “Math religion” – He thought working out math problems was like praying or meditating & the more you worked out a problem, the closer you got to the divine.
iv. His symbol is the pentagram which was worn for the “Math religion”
b. Father of Geometry was Euclid
i. His books are the only ones that have survived
c. Father of Medicine was Hippocrates
i. Hippocratic Oath
ii. Theurgy movement of the gods/divine
1. Idea that medicine & religion were mixed
2. They never sought a natural cure, they always looked for a supernatural cure EX: Pretty woman who had a stomach ache was because Athena was jealous
iii. Hippocrates was the 1st to DENY theurgy and 1st to suggest natural cures rather than supernatural
iv. He invented the open-air hospital he put the hospitals on a hill with lots of sunshine. The people got better, but NOT because of their knowledge of germs
v. As a result of open-air hospital, the life expectancy rose from mid 30s 80s, but only for this brief period of 150 years. The Roman empire came around for approximately 1000 years and the life expectancy went back down to 50s
• Grouping (polis) of city states around the Mediterranean – Turkey – Italy
• Each city state had a government and an army
• Most of our ideas started from Ancient Greece
• BCE = Before Common Era
• After the 150 years all this knowledge & advancement wouldn’t show up again for another 2000 years.
• City states shared 3 things:
o Language
o Money
o Religion (Greek mythology)
• Around 500 BCE Persian army invades Ancient Greece
o 2 city states, Sparta & Athens join forces and defeat the large Persians @ the Battle of Marathon (Socrates fought at this Battle)
o After this victory begins the 150 years and Athens now becomes the 1st democracy in the western world – Remember: only lasted 150 years
Major developments by the Greeks
1. Politics
a. Every citizen counts as 1 Egalitarianism (Democracy was about citizen’s (men) rights, not humans (women)
b. Athens was a pure democracy meaning no representatives of any kind. (we have a representative democracy) If a law was proposed, the citizens vote on it directly with each having one vote a piece.
i. As a result, there were no judges/juries citizens could come and watch proceedings and vote
c. “King for a day” – Once a year, one person got to be kind of Athens. They could let people out of prison or pass laws they liked, and this reminded people how good a democracy was and showed how too much power from one person or king would be.
2. Literature (Greeks held these books like the bible)
a. Homer (Iliad & Odyssey)
i. Iliad Trojan War fought over Helen of Troy. The Greeks won by tricking them with the Trojan Horse
ii. Odyssey Odyssey (Greek hero) & his travels around the Mediterranean Sea. It included Cyclops that Odysseus fought. The Sirens were women who sang & seduced sailors.
b. Hesiod
i. Theogony Series of creation stories Zeus’ father – Kronos created universe (polytheism many gods/goddesses)
Side Note: Plutarch’s Lives & King James Bible used to teach European & US kids how to read.
3. Drama
a. Aeschylus (play writer)
i. Usually, characters wearing masks & chorus (choir)- The chorus “spoke” the lines through the singing, but Aeschylus was the first to have characters that actually spoke to each other without the Greek chorus.
4. Genres
a. Greeks were the first to distinguish genres of Tragedy & Comedy
5. Math & Science (Note: Father means the first to put ideas into writing)
a. Father of Math was Pythagoras
i. Pythagorean theorem
ii. ∏ = 3.14…. infinite # he created suggested infinity (now it is called “irrational” number)
iii. Pythagoras believed that numbers were divine because only infinite things are divine so he began a “Math religion” – He thought working out math problems was like praying or meditating & the more you worked out a problem, the closer you got to the divine.
iv. His symbol is the pentagram which was worn for the “Math religion”
b. Father of Geometry was Euclid
i. His books are the only ones that have survived
c. Father of Medicine was Hippocrates
i. Hippocratic Oath
ii. Theurgy movement of the gods/divine
1. Idea that medicine & religion were mixed
2. They never sought a natural cure, they always looked for a supernatural cure EX: Pretty woman who had a stomach ache was because Athena was jealous
iii. Hippocrates was the 1st to DENY theurgy and 1st to suggest natural cures rather than supernatural
iv. He invented the open-air hospital he put the hospitals on a hill with lots of sunshine. The people got better, but NOT because of their knowledge of germs
v. As a result of open-air hospital, the life expectancy rose from mid 30s 80s, but only for this brief period of 150 years. The Roman empire came around for approximately 1000 years and the life expectancy went back down to 50s
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)