Ancient Philosophers: From Heraclitus to Plato
The Philosophy of Constant Change
There is movement; this is something apparent. A space cannot be unlimited if traveled within a limited time.
For Heraclitus, Being is Becoming.
Being is always in the process of becoming.
Panta Rei = All flows.
Nobody ever takes a bath in the same river. The philosophical method is all this in motion, and this never ends. Nothing ever ends; you are always doing everything.
Hegel and the Dialectic
Hegel
War is the origin of all things.
Marx and Dictatorships
Dictatorships and Marx.
Descartes and the Importance of Perception
In the 17th century, Descartes stated that the perception of truth depends on the eyes with which one looks. It is defined in man, in the mind.
Socrates Versus the Sophists
Socrates was ‘against’ the Sophists.
The Sophists charged for their teachings, which Socrates refused to do. He believed you cannot trust people who are bad-tempered. He defended what he believed was interested in, rather than nomos (convention) or physis (nature).
Nomos is convention, arbitrariness, a covenant. Everything depended on education. They agreed to have some laws.
The Sophists defend relativism. They are skeptical. Some Sophists include Sextus Empiricus and Montaigne.
Methodical Doubt and Truth
Descartes’s theory of methodical doubt posits that we must doubt everything.
According to Aristotle, truth is the correspondence of the mind to things.
According to Protagoras, truth depends upon man. “Man is the measure of all things, of the things that are, that they are, and of the things that are not, that they are not” (There are no absolute truths).
Socrates: Master of Inquiry
Socrates is the absolute master of profit without interest; he advocates that there are natural laws. He was ugly but strong and very thoughtful.
Socrates’ methods:
- Irony
- Mayeutics (midwife of ideas)
- Universal Definitions
- Induction
Induction is the basis of experimental science.
Socratic Method in Detail
Universal Definition: The oracle at Delphi told his apprentices that Socrates was the wisest. Thus, he began asking for the definition of what something *is*.
Irony and Mayeutics: Contrasting what someone said at one point with the opposite.
Plato and the World of Forms
The Sophists, and later Plato and Aristotle, wanted pure culture and were repulsed by Alexander the Great.
Plato’s Theory
Plato says that when one captures something with the senses, one can think better. This makes you think about what was there before what the senses captured. This is what Plato called the *Idea*. According to Plato, the idea is what truly exists. Sensible things are the shadow or reflection of the idea. He used the myth of the cave to explain this.
The Myth of Plato’s Cave
(The Myth of the Cave is not written here.)
The Realm of Ideas
Reason allows us to grasp true reality because the senses can deceive us; they only show us external stimuli.
Each person has a different expectation of reality. Good, truth, and beauty are the same idea, and everything is involved in that idea. The Hyperuranion is matter beyond; therefore, it is the world of ideas.
The Myth of the Winged Chariot
The soul was a chariot pulled by two horses. One was concupiscence, that is, the desire for material things. The other was irascible, representing nobility, the purity of logic, and courage. The rider represented intelligence. The concupiscent horse was led by desire while pursuing the idea, and the chariot fell, introducing the soul into the human body.
Therefore, it is said that to know is to remember. And effort is reminiscent of ideas (education). Learning is to bring back everything you have saved. Aristotle, however, says otherwise.