9. Difine dialectic
dialectic – from the Greek word “discourse”
originally the method of philosophical inquiry perfected by Socrates, later developed as the basis of the philosophies of Hegel and Marx. In all cases, dialectic works through contradiction.
10. Virtue in Greek philosophy. Explain the meaning of knowledge in Socrate’s ethics
The highest state is arête (virtue) or excellence, a moral knowledge that sees clearly the best course of action in any situation.
The way to arête is self-knowledge; as Socrates says in the Apology, “The unexamined life is not worth of living”.
Socrates’ supposed impiety was based on his perception that the gods of mythology no longer provided the basis of a viable ethic; instead a morality based on knowledge was necessary.
Eutyphro is almost entirely devoted to that topic
11. Explain the ‘’Euthyfro dilemma”
The ancient Greek philosopher Euthyphro developed a theory of moral correctness stating that, “what is pleasing to the gods is holy, and what is not pleasing to them is unholy.” In other words, “what God approves of is morally right, and what God disapproves of is morally wrong.” This form of thought, known as the Divine Command Theory, is perhaps among the most basic of theories relating morality and religion.
12. Plato’s theory of ideas: ideas and sensual objects – differences and similarities
In his theory of ideas, Plato sought to resolve a dichotomy that vexed the Greek mind, the opposition between Change and Being.
He said that the world we experience, the world of change, the world of sense experience and impressions is only an imperfect outcropping, a shadow of the pristine, unchanging, universal World of forms, that is World of Ideas.
That world, not this, is the real world. In it are conatined the ideal forms of everything. The world of Ideas is eternal, the world of sensual objects is temporary and illusory.
A beatiful rose we admire is merely a flawed approximation of the ideal rose and of the ideal standard of beauty – an illusion in fact.
This illusion (which according to Plato is only a reflection of the real thing, that is the idea) “participates” only partially in its ideal form. Hence there are thousands and thousnads of roses which are different but somehow alike, yet there is only one ideal that is the ideal rose and all the roses in the world (past, present and future) participate in the one ideal
individual objects take on the characters of the Forms (Ideas)
13. Plato’s theory of ideas: the conception of participation
individual objects take on the characters of the Forms (Ideas)
14. Plato’s theory of ideas: the allegory of the cave
Plato’s theory of knowledge (which has a lot do with his ideas about politics and state) is exemplified by the allegory of the cave described by Socrates in book 7 of the Republic.
We are asked to imagine a group of people chained from birth inside a cave. All they can see is the wall in front of them and the flickering shadows cast upon it. To these people the shadows are reality, even though they are merely illusions or imperfect copies of the real objects that exist outside the cave.
Our world is like this cave: We humans are shackled (spętani) by our ignorance of the true nature of reality, which for Plato consists in his ideal forms. If we wish to see the world aright we must struggle out of the cave into the sunlight. It will at first dazzle and blind us but if we are strong enough we will begin to see the real world instead of shadows. Only the philosopher who is carefully educated as well as thoughtful and persistent will be able to attain anything close to this true knowledge; the rest will be content to stay in the cave and watch the shadows dance.
