HU Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

Here is a very crude and simple reconstruction of Socrates’ argument for the claim that justice is good for its own sake: 1. If justice is merely good for the sake of something else (merely instrumentally good), then being just without being properly related to that something else has no value. 2. But being just even without being properly related to that something else does have value. 3. Hence, it is false that justice is merely good for the sake of something else 4. Hence, justice is good for its own sake Analysis Premise 1 is simply definitional. If x is merely instrumentally good, then x is good only in relation to some other thing. So, take away that other thing and x ain’t good at all.  Premise 2 is where all the action is. Socrates defends it by attempting to show that it is better to be just even if one is perceived by all as being unjust than it is to be unjust even if one is perceived by as being just. If he can show that, then justice is not good me...

The Phaedo is jam packed with arguments, objections, and replies. The most interesting exchange, according to me, is near the end after Socrates has given what is called his Affinity Argument. Here is my version of his argument  Post-existence of the soul: Affinity Argument 1.      Things that change and are composite are the particulars (the physical/material stuff).    2.      The forms are unchanging and simple (by definition). 3.      The things that change and are composite are perceived with the body.    4.      The things that are unchanging and simple are perceived with the soul.    5.      The body is like the things it perceives—changing and composite.  6.      The soul is like the things it perceives—unchanging and simple.    7.      The forms cannot be destroyed.  ...

The main question of the dialogue is: Is death bad or good? Soc argues that death is good—at least for those who are regularly preparing for death But a worry is immediately raised: Death is only good if the soul continues to exist after death. Questions:  Is this true? Could death be good even if the soul does not continue to exist after death? Is death bad if the soul does not continue to exist after death? In response to the above worry Soc argues that death does not imply cessation of existence of the soul. The rest of the dialogue has the following structure (I have omitted mention of at least one argument):             Argument for Pre-existence of the soul  -from Recollection                                 ...

Most of us think that it is possible for someone to know what the right or good thing to do is and yet fail to do it. Indeed, most of think that we actually find ourselves in that situation fairly often. I know that I should be grading and yet.... I know that I should not lie and yet.... This seemingly common phenomena is called weakness of the will or akrasia. But Socrates denies this (or seems to). According to Socrates it is not possible for someone to know what the right or good thing to do is and fail to do it. If S fails to do the right or good thing, then S does not (or did not) know what the right or good thing is (or was). In other words, Socrates denies akrasia or weakness of the will. Instead, Socrates defends the following: If S knows the good, then S does the good Or, put differently, If S knows that doing A is the good/right thing to do, then S does A Or, put differently, S never knowingly does what S judges to be bad/wrong Soc's Defense Since Socrates...

Here are some of the arguments that show up in the Protagoras Craft Expert Principle: If S studies some craft C with an expert at C, then S is likely to get better at C. Both Soc and Pro seem to endorse the above principle. Think of examples.  Pro claims to be an expert at politics or living well.    Thus, Pro can make his students into good citizens/humans. We can think of the dialogue as centering around two related questions:             -Socrates is obsessed with discovering what constitutes the good human life.  -Since Protagoras claims to be a teacher of virtue, and since virtues are good-making features of whatever has them, Pro is claiming to be able to make his students into good humans. Soc is attempting to discover is that really is true. According to Soc, the following two claims appear to be inconsistent: Everyone can advise on political affairs or things having to do with vi...