The Father of Justice

SOCRATES

HISTORY OF SOCRATES• lived from 469 B.C.E- 399 B.C.E

• During the 500's B.C., the Persian empire expanded rapidly and conquered the Greek city-states in Asia Minor. From 499 to 494 B.C., these city-states rebelled against their Persian rulers.

• The Athenian army was outnumbered by the Persians, but it defeated the Persian army at the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.

• During the 400's B.C., Athens reached its height of power and prosperity and was the center of culture in the Greek world.

• Sparta dominated the Greek world only a short time. Fighting among the city-states resumed, and Thebes defeated Sparta in 371 B.C. The quality of life declined as a result of the continuing warfare. Economic conditions worsened, and violent clashes between rich and poor became frequent. People grew less public-spirited and more self-centered. The city-states lost their vitality.

• He technically never wrote anything down himself, but he is considered on of the most influential philosophers in human history.

• Socrates lived during a period of time where there was a great transition in Greek politics.

• Athens had tp recover from its humiliating defeat and some people of the city began to doubt the thought of democracy. Socrates associated himself with the opponents of the democratic regime. Socrates was sentenced with death by the state for corrupting the youth and interfering with the religion of state.

Positive Law• belief in questioning to

find an answer

• no one desires evil

• innocent until proven guilty

• no one does wrong willingly or knowingly

SOCRATES’ VIEWS:

Contributions:• Virtue—all virtue—is knowledge • Socratic MethodViewpoints:• Socrates refuted superficial notions, multiple godsInfluences:• Plato, XenophonRole in Society:• refute the normal/ law in society

CONTRIBUTIONS

• Socrates was a very impressive thinker and for many years after his death philosophers wrote about him, used his ideas as guidelines.

• Socrates argues here that knowledge and virtue are so closely related

• Perhaps his most important contribution to Western thought is his dialect method of inquiry, known as the Socratic Method

VIEWPOINTS

• virtue is unteachable• No one desires evil.• No one does wrong willingly or knowingly

INFLUENCES

PLATO XENOPHON

ROLES IN SOCIETY

Destroying the illusion that we already comprehend the world perfectly and honestly accepting the fact of our own ignorance, Socrates believed, are vital steps toward our acquisition of genuine knowledge, by discovering universal definitions of the key concepts governing human life.The goal is to learn how to analyze legal problems, to reason by analogy, to think critically about one's own arguments and those put forth by others, and to understand the effect of the law on those subject to it. Socratic discourse requires participants to articulate, develop and defend positions that may at first be imperfectly defined intuitions. The law will change over the course of our lifetimes, and the problems we confront will vary tremendously, Socratic Law supports this change.

Situation?

THE SOCRATIC METHOD

1. Locate a statement confidently described as common sense.

2. Imagine for a moment that, despite the confidence of the person proposing it, the statement is false. Search for situations or contexts where the statement would not be true.

3. If an exception if found, the definition must be false or at least imprecise.

4. The initial statement must be nuanced to take the exception into account.

5. If one subsequently finds exceptions to the improved statements, the process should be repeated. The truth, in so far as a human being is able to attain such a thing, lies in a statement which it seems impossible to disprove. It is by finding out what something is not that one comes closest to understanding what it is.

6. The product of thought is, whatever Aristophanes insinuated, superior to the product of intuition.

CHILL QUTES:

“I know you won't believe me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others. “

“Death may be the greatest of all human blessings”

“I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.”

“Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.”