Philosophy Club

Transcription

1 Philosophy Club

2 Plato - Quote 1 Our ethical goal in life is resemblance to God, to come closer to the pure world of ideas and ideal, to liberate ourselves from matter, time, and space, and to become more real in this deeper sense. Our goal is, in other words, self-realization.

3 What do I agree/disagree With? Agree: Most people s goal is to be god-like, or perfect. I agree that most people try to perfect themselves by acting in ways that they think are better, or what a perfect person would be like. Disagree: I disagree that liberating ourselves from matter, time, and space is necessarily an ideal or that it makes us more real. I think that living in a specific time and place makes us more real, while I think Plato thinks our rational mind is infinite and separate from our real body.

4 Plato - Quote 2 Near the end of the Apology, Socrates famously says: " the greatest good for a man [is] to discuss virtue [excellence] every day and those other things about which you hear me conversing and testing myself and others, for the unexamined life is not worth living for men " 38a. This suggests a second image of wisdom: the examined life. This is how the philosopher cares for his/her soul (cf. 29d). Socrates' point is that the unexamined life is a barely human life, it is incomplete life, even dysfunctional. Thinking without examining that thought ignores our deepest human need.

5 What do I agree/disagree With? Agree: I think discussing virtue and excellence is very important. Part of being alive is interacting with people and forming beliefs about what is virtuous or excellent. This happens through discussion. By doing this, we can expand our minds and become more of what we already are. Disagree: To say that an unexamined life is not worth living would not necessarily be true for me. I think that people can have useful qualities without examining their own personal life. They have worth on a community level. For example, someone who farms to provide food for a community may not necessarily examine his own life, but the work he does in his life is useful to his community because it allows them to eat.

6 Plato - quote 3 The soul (mind) itself is divided into 3 parts: reason; appetite (physical urges); and emotion/passion/ spirit/will...a well-ordered, harmonious, or just society is one in which each kind of person plays their proper role. Thus there is a parallel between proper functioning individuals and proper functioning societies. Good societies help produce good people who in turn help produce good societies, while bad societies tend to produce bad individuals who in turn help produce bad societies.

7 What do I agree/disagree With? I agree that our personal behaviors have an affect on society. The society will act the way the people in it act I think that good societies may produce good or bad people. In other words, I don t think the converse of the previous statement is necessarily true. The society may help set a belief system for people, but they might break away from that belief system in support of a better system.

8 What are We and WHy?

9 Where Do We Come From?

10 Where Are We Most Likely To Be Headed?

11 For NExt Week: Ask a philosopher: Pick one question/answer from the link below: Copy and paste the question/answer into a word document Underneath the comment, write paragraph explaining why you agree/disagree with what the philosopher said Write down a question you want to ask a philosopher.