Day 16

Today in class we took notes. My notes consisted of,

·      looked to science and logic (not the mythological gods) for explanations of how the world worked

·       the Socratic Method fostered critical thinking

·       “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

·       Socrates was charged with serious crimes

-       impiety (disrespecting the gods)

-       corrupting the youth of Athens

·       at his trial, he described himself as a stinging gadfly, and Athens as a lazy old horse

·       did not deny what he had done; asked for free dinners

·       found guilty by an Athenian jury, and sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock (nasty way to go)

• Plato was a student and follower of Socrates
• he wrote out Socrates’ teachings, and described his trial in Apology

Republic was Socrates’ discussion of justice and the ideal state - one of the most influential books on philosophy ever written

·       Aristotle was a student of Plato

·       he helped foster the idea of Athens as an intellectual destination

·       his school - the Lyceum - focused on cooperative research - building on knowledge gathered from all over the world

• not exactly, but he did dream of having the sum of mankind’s knowledge easily accessed in one location

• he wrote extensively on such topics as…

-       logic -- physics -- biology

-       ethics -- politics – rhetoric

-       motion -- theatre – poetry

-       metaphysics -- psychology -- dreams… and on and on...

• he also tutored Alexander the Great