Card №9

a) Ancient Roman philosophy.

The Romans found out that Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had been doing a lot of thinking about philosophy just recently. Some Romans got interested, and by about 50 BC these Romans were even beginning to write philosophy themselves, though most of it was pretty much just translating Greek philosophy into Latin. One of the first Roman men (Men wouldn't let women study philosophy) who wrote about philosophy was Lucretius. Lucretius followed Greek Epicurean philosophy. He left us a long poem, called On the Nature of Things, explaining Epicurean philosophy in Latin for men who couldn't read Greek. Cicero was another man who wrote about philosophy at just about the same time as Lucretius. Cicero was mostly a Skeptic philosopher. Like other Skeptics, Cicero thought that you should question any ideas or facts you heard about, and always ask "How do they know that?" or "How can they be sure?" or "What about this other thing?". Cicero tried to use philosophy to make men more logical thinkers, so that they would make better decisions about how to run the government. But Cicero also held some Stoic ideas, especially that men should try to be as good as possible.

About a hundred years later, in the time of the emperors Claudius and Nero, another philosopher called Seneca wrote another set of essays about Stoicphilosophy. Seneca thought that men should not waste time on things that really didn't matter. Instead, they should use their time well, to help improve the world, and to improve their own minds by studying philosophy.

Soon after Claudius, many men and women began to look for a closer, more direct relationship to the gods or to God. Some people, like the ChristianGnostics, tried to use magic spells and secret knowledge to get closer to God. The Christian followers of Montanus thought you could get closer to God through prayer. Pagan Neo-Platonists used philosophical ideas that came from Plato's ideas about the perfect form to try to perfect themselves and get closer to God that way.

Later Christians developed their own philosophical ideas. St. Augustineand St. Ambrose both studied earlier philosophers and tried to create a Christian philosophy that would include both Christian ideas and Greek and Roman philosophy, including both Aristotle and Neo-Platonism.

The fall of the Roman Empire did not stop men (or a few women) from thinking about these ideas. In both the Islamic Empire and medieval Europe, men like al Tusi and Maimonides and Thomas Aquinascontinued to try to make religion agree with philosophy, and to try to get closer to God through philosophy.

b) Philosophy of Socrates.

По своему облику Сократ скорее был народным мудрецом, целью которого являлась борьба с абсолютным скептицизмом софистов (Протагора и Горгия). Поворотным пунктом в философии здесь стало то, что сократовское учение заключало в себе обоснование необходимости понятийного знания.

Сократ совершил поворот в древнегреческой философии от Космоса к Человеку, считая главными проблемами вопросы человеческой жизни и смерти, смысла существования, предназначения человека.

Новым в учении Сократа являлось то, что диалектику он понимал как искусство ведения такого рода беседы, диалога, при котором собеседники достигают истины, обнаруживая противоречия в рассуждениях друг друга, сталкивая противоположные мнения и преодолевая соответствующие противоречия. Этот момент диалектики был, безусловно, шагом вперед.

c) How do you appreciate the role of Socrates’ philosophy in Greek culture?

Socrates , an Athenian philosopher, became one of the most important icons of the Western philosophical tradition. He made his most important contribution to Western thought through his method of enquiry. In addition, he also taught many famous Greek philosophers. His most famous pupil was Plato. However, since Socrates discussed ideas that upset many people (some in high positions), he was sentenced to death by drinking the poison hemlock. Most of what we know about Socrates came from Plato as Socrates wrote nothing down..

Socrates asserted that an individual must know himself in order to be wise. A life that has not been examined is not worth living. His philosophy can be learned through the writings of Plato. Socrates spoke that he was like a midwife. However, he attended the souls of men when they were in trouble. His art won when he could profoundly assess whether the thoughts that arose in the minds of the youth were false icons or true and noble. He had the opinion that just like midwives he was also barren. He was blamed that he asked questions for which he himself had no answer. He replied that he was not astute or had nothing to demonstrate that was the invention of his soul. However, those who would converse with him would necessarily gain something. Socrates also said that the youth belonging to the richer class accosted him of their own sweet will. They tried to ape him by examining others. There were many such rich youth who assumed that they knew some facts, but in fact knew very less or nothing. It so happened that the people examined by such rich youth rather than being angry with themselves showered their wrath on Socrates. So, he was titled as the "villainous misleader of the youth". These people could not tell precisely how he was wrong. Only as they were large in number, they could affect loud slander.