Socrates: Western Political Thought

 


SOCRATES:-

Known as Father of Philosophy.
  • There are different branches in philosophy, ETHICS as a branch of philosophy is said to have originated with Socrates.
  • Ethics--> social morality(correct / right way of living in society.)
Pre-socratic thinking & evolution of Philosophy 
Physical--> Matter--> Observation--> Physics
Spiritual-->Idea-->Logic--> Philosophy
Pre-Socratic philosophers were trying to understand physical, chemical & biological properties of universe but Socrates was not in favour of that.

Socrates held that there is very limited amount of utility of understanding the physical or material aspects of life.The bigger questions are not what constitutes life but what constitutes a good life.
According to Socrates purpose of life is Happiness

How to be happy?
We have to make distinction between real happiness and illusion of happiness.


Socrates theory of knowledge:-

Two types of knowledge:-

(1) Real knowledge (Philosophy): it is fundamental and conceptual.
Doesn't change,it is eternal
(2) Knowledge which appears to be knowledge but is just the 'illusion of knowledge'
Not fundamental, superficial and can easily be challenged.

The True Knowledge by nature does NOT change, hence it is permanent (eternal)

Socrates made a distinction b/w Matter and Idea:-
Matter is changing, we can NOT have permanent knowledge about the material things.
We can only have knowledge about the things which are permanent.According to him 'Idea is permanent'.Idea can also be called as concept. No one can see concept,but one can not deny that concept exists.

He believes matter can be understood by Observation but understanding of idea requires LOGIC. And Real Logic is the result of Dialectics.

Dialectics(Dialogue/Debate): Process of reasoning by which one believes get converted to true knowledge.

Kind of an argument-->starts with initial Argument -->Some contradiction emerge for the initial Argument-->We modify the initial argument-->The Process continues until no Contradiction is Left-->Finally, we arrive at the Truth or Knowledge

i.e. No one can attain Knowledge individually Cauz we need someone for dialectics.

In short : Thesis--> Antithesis--> Synthesis

Thesis is an argument. Antithesis is a counter-arguement.Synthesis is the argument to which both the parties in the debate agree. (A sort of a conclusion). 
Note: Conclusion means a perfect idea which results into the end of the debate. It need not to be balanced. Conclusion does NOT mean compromise.
Thus dialectics is a logical reasoning by which our beliefs filtered & emerge as a true knowledge.

Sophists:

Both Socrates & Sophists were philosophers different from the physicists. Both were philosophers but had a different philosophy of life.

Features of the Sophists philosophy:- Individualism, materialism money & power is source of good life. 

Sophists can be considered as political educationist. They were teaching the the first political class. They were teaching that power is a Source of happiness. Hence inspiring the youth to join politics. They also taught how to come to power. According to them Oratory is the skill needed to come to power. 

Why Socrates invented dialectics?

(1)He believed that sophists are misguiding the youth.
2) He wanted youth to know the truth.
(3) According to Socrates the role of teacher is not to tell what is right or wrong.
People will believe only when they are convinced. Hence by engaging Students in the process of dialectics, a teacher can help the Students to understand the truth.

Conclusion:-

Socrates is known as the "father of ethics". Scholars before Socrates were attempting to understand the physical properties of life. but socrates believed that it is more imp. to know, what constitutes a to a good life and how to lead a good life. 
Socrates believed that knowledge is Virtue. Virtue is a Source of happiness.If we want virtuous life, we should have knowledge of what constitutes a  good life.He even gave a the method to gain the knowledge of what constitutes life--> Dialectics. 

In his theory of knowledge he makes a distinction b/w true knowledge & the illusion of knowledge. He proposed dialectics as a method to understand the true knowledge. Dialectics will to examine our believes, values and the way we have been leading our lives. Dialectics will help in understanding the difference between how we live & how we ought to live . It is through this process we can comprehend the meaning of good life & we can lead our lives an accordingly.

Socrates theory of knowledge becomes the basis for Plato's Theory of Ideal State, ruled by the philosopher King. If Athens has to become the ideal state or virtuous state it should be lead by the person who has knowledge of ideal state.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Israel Palestine conflict

Image
Israel- Palestine conflict In this article we will discuss about the Israel-Palestine conflict that has been going around for nearly 70 years. We will discuss How it started? , different events that took place, current situation, wars etc. In the above map you can see different countries; this whole region is known as Middle East because from the western civilization point of view this is the area that lies in the middle on the path to the East(India, China etc. ). It is also considered as one of the most unstable region of the world. ISRAEL  :    It is often known as  The Holy Land, Canaan, Al Sham, Levant, Palestine, The Promised Land. These all are the names of Israel. In the map you can see Israel shares its border with Egypt, Jordan and Syria as well. Now in the above detailed map of Israel you can see some important geographical regions. ·          Golan Heights: It is a mountainous region between Syria and Israel. ·          West Bank: It is actual
Read more

KASHMIR CONFLICT

Image
KAS HMIR  CONFLICT In this article we will discuss about the Kashmir Conflict. No doubt its a sensitive issue but a really important one. Everyone should have a complete factual knowledge on this issue, so we will discuss about :  What   is the issue?, What happened in past? The Wars fought between India and Pakistan, United Nation’s role in all this, Article 370 etc. This article is completely based on facts gathered from different authentic sources. INDIA PAKISTAN HISTORY :   Kashmir region was a part of Mauryan Emp ire. After Mauryan empire Kushans ruled the region. Kushans were Buddhist thats why Kashmir also became the centre of learning for Buddhism. The 4 th  Buddhist Council was also organised in Kashmir by Kanishka. After Kushans various Hindu Dynasties ruled Kashmir(around 5 th  – 14 th  century).The famous sun temple of Kashmir known as  Martand Sun Temple  was also built in this period. Around 14 th  -16 th  century Islam came into Kashmir; a lot of
Read more

Where are we going & What can be done?

Image
Where are we going & What can be done? Once I read somewhere, "In a society where the majority choose charisma over character, democracy does more harm than good to the actual progress of that society" . Now when I read it again, it makes more sense to me. We as a country are going through a phase where we really need to inspect the ground reality, our agendas, goals, issues and the direction in which we want to go. First let us talk about the elephant in the room i.e. Politics & Role of Media in our country. No doubt that election is a major exercise in a democracy but we have to understand that it is "just" an exercise. The media and the politicians have made it such a big event that it has become every household's common topic of discussion. During election season it seems like there is nothing else going on in the country other than election. Winning an election doesn't mean that the public is happy about all your policies, it just shows that t
Read more