Term
| 1~Why is it significant that Socrates addresses his hearers as “men of Athens” rather than “jurymen”? |
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Definition
| He does not want to give them the honor of being called jurymen until he knows how they will vote. |
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| 2~What does the Delphic oracle say? |
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Definition
| That Socrates was the wisest of all men. |
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| 3~Why is Socrates perplexed by this? |
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Definition
| Because he doesn’t think that he is the wisest. |
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Term
| 4~How does he come to interpret the oracle? |
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Definition
| He is wisest by knowing his limitations. (That I do not think I know what I know) |
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Term
| 5~What does Socrates mean when he says that a worse man cannot harm a better man? |
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Definition
| The better man is not affected by the worse man’s lies because he knows the truth. |
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| 6~What does Socrates suggest he deserves? |
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Definition
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Term
| 7~What is more difficult to avoid than death? |
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Definition
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Term
| 8~What is the question that initiates this dialogue? |
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Definition
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Term
| 9~What is wrong with the first two definitions of justice? |
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Definition
Definition 1 = Speaking the truth and giving back what one takes. (Line 331d)
Error = When someone of unsound mind demands what is owed it is unjust to give them what they ask for. Knife example…
Definition 2 = Helping friends and harm to enemies. (Line 332d)
Error = Friends/enemies are subjective.
It’s never just to harm anyone. Hunan beings that have harmed necessarily become unjust.
Harming is not the work of the good and the just man is the one who’s good |
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Term
| 10~How does Thrasymachus define justice? |
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Definition
| Advantage of the stronger. |
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Term
| 11~What motivates the true ruler, according to Socrates? |
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Definition
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Term
| 12~What are the three kinds of goods? |
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Definition
Desirable for their own sake, without concern for a desirable outcome.
Desire for its own sake and for its results.
Desirable only for its outcome, but not for its own sake. |
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Term
| 13~According to Glaucon's challenge, what is the origin/genesis of justice? |
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Definition
| It is a mean between what is best-doing injustice without paying the penalty-and what is worst-suffering injustice without being able to avenge ourselves. |
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Term
| 14~What is the point of the myth of Gyges? |
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Definition
| That people only do justice because they’re scared of the consequences. |
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Term
| 15~How does Adeimantus deepen Glaucon's challenge regarding the practice of justice? |
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Definition
| By saying-they don’t praise justice by itself, but the good reputations that come from it. |
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Term
| 16~Why does Socrates propose to talk about the ideally just city? |
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Definition
| To illustrate the ideally just soul It is easier to study something that is larger. Perhaps there would be more justice in the bigger and it would be easier to observe closely (Line 369a) |
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Term
| 17~In order to educate the guardians well, Socrates proposes two main branches of education. What are they? |
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Definition
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Term
| 18~Why are both branches important? |
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Definition
| Music helps the mind and helps a person choose their likes and dislikes. Gymnastic helps keep the body healthy. |
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Term
| 19~Which has priority, or "most sovereign"? |
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Definition
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Term
| 20~What happens if there is an imbalance toward one or the other? |
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Definition
| You either become a sissy or a carnal person. |
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Term
| 21~What is "misology" or a "misologist"? |
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Definition
| Distrust and fear of logic. A person that hates logic or debate. |
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Term
| 22~What is wrong with the stories of Hesiod, Homer, and most of the other poets? |
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Definition
| They tell falsehoods about the gods. They teach us to fear death. They teach that injustice is normal. |
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Term
| 23~What are Socrates’ reasons for proposing that the poets should be censored? |
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Definition
| Because what they teach is wrong and it is harmful to the youth. |
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Term
| 24~Is there a problem with Socrates proposing a noble lie for the ordering of the city? |
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Definition
| Earlier Socrates stated that lies are evil, but now he is proposing to use a lie, even though it is a noble lie. (Yes and no) |
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Term
| 25~Does this contradict his criticism of the poets? |
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Definition
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Term
| 26~Is there a difference between his lie and their lies? |
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Definition
| Yes, his lie is for the benefit of the city (guardians), while the poets lies are not beneficial, they are detrimental. |
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Term
| 27~What is the point of Socrates’ myth of the metals? |
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Definition
| It is to convince or persuade them (the city or people) was created to do a specific task or job in life. Also gives them a sense of brotherhood |
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Term
| 28~Note the four virtues Socrates describes in the city founded according to nature. |
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Definition
| Wisdom, Courage, Moderation, and Justice. |
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Term
| 29~How does he define each of them? |
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Definition
Wisdom= prudence and guardianship present in the rulers.
Moderation=the unity of opinion between the ruled and rulers.
Courage=the coming into being in the soldiers of that preserving of the lawful opinion as to which things are terrible, and which are not.
Justice=each one minding his own business and not being a busybody. |
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Term
| 30~What does it mean to be “stronger than oneself”? |
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Definition
| That which is better by nature is master over that which is worse. |
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Term
| 31~What are the three parts of the soul? |
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Definition
| The rational part(logos/wisdom), the spirited part (honor), appetites (desire). |
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Term
| 32~What are their analogues in the city? |
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Definition
Rational part=guardian
Spirited part=auxiliary
Appetites=the workers |
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Term
| 33~Following the analogy of the city to the soul, what do justice and injustice look like in the individual soul? |
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Definition
| Justice is the mastering and being mastered by one another according to nature. Injustice is the ruling and being ruled by one another contrary to nature. |
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Term
| 34~Note what Socrates says on lines 472d-473a about their “city in speech” being ideal. Why is this republic ideal? |
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Definition
| It is ideal because the philosophers are in political power. |
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Term
| 35~Why does Socrates think philosophers are best suited to rule the city? |
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Definition
| Their interest is in accord with nature, thus the city would be in accord with nature. |
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Term
| 36~Review what Socrates says about the “one” and the “many”? |
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Definition
| The One: is the form that transcends all other forms/ideas. It is being “what is” The Many: An opinion, what “is not”. Things that pass in and out, manifests themselves in many ways, and participates in “the One”. |
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Term
| 37~Socrates describes a group of prisoners bound in the cave. What do you think this initial condition represents? |
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Definition
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Term
| 38~Why does the prisoner need to be “compelled” to stand up and looked around, and “dragged” up the incline out of the cave? |
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Definition
| He is comfortable with what he knows. |
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Term
| 39~What would ultimately happen if someone were to return to the cave after having left it? |
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Definition
| He would be mocked because he could no longer see what the prisoners saw. Killed? |
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Term
| 40~How do the different levels in the cave allegory map onto the divided line (Book VI)? *Be sure to review the diagram of the cave and the chart of the divided line. |
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Definition
| Being bound in the cave is illusion. Unbound in the cave and viewing the props is belief and practical activity. Seeing the reflection of things in a pond is the calculating and reasoning. See the things themselves and the sun is pure thought. |
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Term
| 41~What are the five regimes that Socrates describes? |
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Definition
| Aristocracy, Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy, Tyranny. |
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Term
| 42~How does he characterize each one? |
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Definition
| Aristocracy(ruled by the elite), Timocracy(ruled by honor and victory), Oligarchy(ruled by the wealthy), Democracy( ruled by the majority), Tyranny(rule by an oppressive ruler). |
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Definition
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Definition
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Term
| 45~How does Socrates characterize the soul of the tyrant? |
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Definition
| A man that is controlled by his desires. |
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Term
| 46~Why does the idea of being a tyrant appeal to people? |
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Definition
| A tyrant seems to be a powerful, fearless man who’s every desire is gratified. |
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Term
| 47~Why is the life of the tyrant actually the most wretched? |
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Definition
| He is a slave to his desires and his appetites are never satisfied; He is full of fear and pain. |
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Term
| 48~What are the three loves/desires, and the three classes of human beings devoted to these desires? |
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Definition
| The lovers of Wisdom (understands honor, gain and wisdom for its own sake). The lovers of Honor (the maintenance of integrity). The lovers of Gain (pleasure and make money). |
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Term
| 49~What does Socrates demonstrate with his image of the multi-headed beast? |
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Definition
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Term
| 50~What value does the ideal republic have, even if we can’t expect to find it anywhere on earth? |
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Definition
| It allows the individual to pursue justice in his soul. |
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Term
| 51~What is the difference between sense-perception, experience, and craft/art? |
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Definition
| Sense-perception gives us knowledge and clarifies differences in things. Experience results from memory and according to Polus has produced craft. A craft arises when many thoughts that arise from experience result in one universal view about similar things. |
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Term
| 52~In what way is craft better than experience, and in what way is experience better than craft? |
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Definition
| Craft is better than experience in the way that craft is knowledge of universals based on the assumption that every case knowledge, rather than experience, implies wisdom. If someone were sick, the knowledge of particulars would be better at healing him than knowledge of universals for not everyone is the same, and there is no universal healing method. |
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Term
| 53~Philosophy begins with _________? |
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Definition
| Philosophy begins first with wonder at the strange things in front of them, and later because advancing little by little they found greater things puzzling. |
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Term
| 54~Why is metaphysics the most divine science? |
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Definition
| It’s the science of divine things. The one the god would be expected to know. |
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Term
| 55~What are the four causes? |
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Definition
1) The being in essence
2) matter and subject
3) source of the principle motions
4) what something is for/ goal |
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Term
| 56~What in general was the problem with the pre-Socratic philosophers and their investigations of causes/principles? |
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Definition
| They were too lazy to investigate further into the causes. |
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Term
| 57~What does Aristotle criticize in Plato? |
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Definition
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Definition
| Aristotle believes Plato is wrong about eternal forms and we need to prefer the truth over our friends. |
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Term
| 59~According to Aristotle, every craft, inquiry, action and decision seems to seek _____. |
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Definition
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Term
| 60~Why does Aristotle argue that political science is the ruling science in matters of practical inquiry? |
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Definition
| It is the one that prescribes which of the sciences ought to be studied in cities, and which ones each class in the city should learn, and how far; indeed we see that even the most honored capacities-generalship, household management, and rhetoric, for instance- are subordinate to it. |
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Term
| 61~Why are the young not well-suited to study political science? |
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Definition
| The youth lacks experience of the actions in life which are the subject premises of our arguments. |
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Term
| 62~What is the highest good, and the end at which all intermediate ends aim? |
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Definition
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Term
| 63~Aristotle considers three competing views regarding the best life. What are these, and what is wrong with the first two? |
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Definition
| The lives of gratification, of political activity, and study. The first is a slavish life. The second seeks honor, but it seems to depend more on those who honor than on the one honored. Whereas we believe that the good is something of our own and hard to take from us. |
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Term
| 64~What is the difference between the souls of plants, animals, and human beings? |
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Definition
| The soul of the plant is nutritive, the soul of the animal is sensitive and nutritive, and the soul of a human being is nutritive, sensitive, and rational. |
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Term
| 65~How is this discussion of the soul relevant to a book on ethics? |
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Definition
| Ethics is political science that which studies happiness. Happiness is the pursuit of the soul. |
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Term
| 66~What does Aristotle object to in Plato’s thought? |
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Definition
| He says there are no Ideas or Forms. The good is not something common corresponding to a single Idea. |
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Term
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Definition
| Prudence or practical wisdom |
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Term
| 68~How are virtues of character acquired? |
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Definition
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Term
| 69~Why are pleasure and pain important considerations regarding virtue? |
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Definition
| Virtues are concerned with actions and feelings; but every feeling and every action implies pleasure or pain; hence virtue is about pleasures and pains. |
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Term
| 70~What does Aristotle mean when he describes virtue as a “mean”? |
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Definition
| Virtue is the mean between two vices, the vice of excess and the vice of deficiency. |
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Term
| 71~What is the difference between continence and incontinence, temperance and intemperance? |
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Definition
| The continent man has base desires and recognizes them as such but chooses the real good. The incontinent man has base desires and recognizes them as such but still acts on them. The temperate man does not have base desires therefore his apparent good is the real good. The intemperate man has base desires but does not recognize them as such. |
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Definition
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Term
| 73~Why do we need friends? |
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Definition
| For refuge, for holding the cities together, and to care for each other (to support the old and to keep the young from error/harm) |
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Term
| 74~What are the three “causes” or conditions of friendship? |
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Definition
a.) To reciprocate, in other words to share goodwill for one another.
b.) To wish/want good for their sake.
c.) Having an awareness of that friendship. |
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Term
| 75~What are the three types of friendship? |
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Definition
a.) Utility
b.) Pleasure
c.) Complete friendship |
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Term
| 76~What is complete friendship? |
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Definition
The friendship of good people similar in virtue.
They wish the goods in the same way to each other insofar as they are good and they are good in themselves…. |
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Term
| 77~According to Aristotle, should one love oneself? Why or why not? Do you agree? |
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Definition
| The good person must be a self-lover since he will both help himself and benefit others by doing fine actions. Yes. |
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Term
| 78~How many friends is it possible to have? |
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Definition
| Not a great, exceeding amount, but as many as you can live with. |
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| 79~What is the highest activity, which brings the truest happiness, for the human being? |
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Definition
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| 80~How does this connect with what Aristotle says in the opening pages in the Metaphysics? |
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Definition
| Since understanding is the supreme element in us, and the objects of understanding are the supreme objects of knowledge. We desire to know. We need to know. We are wondering creatures. |
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Term
| 81~Why does Aristotle identify this activity as the highest? |
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Definition
| Study is the highest activity because we pursue it for its own sake. |
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Term
| Why is this definition much more of a challenge for Socrates and his companions? |
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Definition
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Term
| Why does the distinction between the voluntary and the involuntary matter for ethics? |
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