《大学英语中西方文化第三讲》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《大学英语中西方文化第三讲（24页珍藏版）》请在金锄头文库上搜索。
1、SocratesPlato and his doctrines 3Reading and discussion The Sophists and Socrates The Eleatic philosophers Parmenides and Zeno were interested chiefly in arguing that reality consists of a changeless single reality, the ONE. Heraclitus and the Pythagoreans, on the other hand, described reality as al
2、ways changing, full of flux, and consisting of a multitude of different things. Socrates and the Sophists showed less interest in physical nature and, instead, steered philosophy into the arena of morality: Could there be a universal concept of goodness if people were incapable of knowing any univer
3、sal truth? The sophists were primarily practical people and especially competent in grammar, writing, and public discourse. These skills made them uniquely qualified to address a special social need within Athenian society.The Sophists（智者）The change in the philosophical concerns: Focus on nature-ask
4、ing large cosmic questions moral behavior-asking basic ethical questions universal truth. “ “人是万物的尺度，是存在事人是万物的尺度，是存在事物存在的尺度，也是不存在事物物存在的尺度，也是不存在事物不存在的尺度。不存在的尺度。” ” 普罗泰格拉普罗泰格拉普罗泰格拉普罗泰格拉“ “Man is the measure of all Man is the measure of all things, of the things that are, things, of the things that are
5、, that they are, and of the things that they are, and of the things that are not, that they are not.”that are not, that they are not.”He is the oldest and most influential sophist.Protagoras (about 490-420B.C.)Socrates, Plato, AristotleSocrates (469-399 BC)Socrates (469-399 BC) Socrates was the firs
6、t to call philosophy down Socrates was the first to call philosophy down from the heavens and to place it in cities, and even to from the heavens and to place it in cities, and even to introduce it into homes and compel it to inquire about introduce it into homes and compel it to inquire about life
7、and standards and goods and evils.life and standards and goods and evils. -Cicero -CiceroHis insistence that the grander tasks of philosophy will have to wait until we achieve understanding of what we take for granted courage, justice and other virtues, the idea of living a good life, our claims to
8、understanding. 1. Virtue is knowledge (美德即知识） 2. “The only thing I know is that I know nothing”. 3. Socrates the intellectual midwife （助产婆） 4. Socratic irony （苏格拉底式反讽） 5. An unexamined life is not worth living. 6. I eat to live not live to eat. 7. He compared himself as a “gadfly” on the big strong
9、horse. Socrates quickly became the symbolic figure of the Philosopher, the person devoting their life to philosophical enquiry and willing to die for it.Socrates Pedagogics: Socrates was convinced that the surest way to attain reliable knowledge was through the practice of disciplined conversation,
10、with this conversation acting as an intellectual midwife. He would often expose contradictions lurking beneath the other persons view_ a technique called elenchus_ and thereby force the person to abandon his or her misdirected opinion. 1.“讥讽讥讽”即通过不断追问，使对方自相矛盾，承认对即通过不断追问，使对方自相矛盾，承认对此问题无知；此问题无知；“助产术助产
11、术”即帮助对方抛弃谬见，找即帮助对方抛弃谬见，找到正确普遍的东西，即帮助真理问世；到正确普遍的东西，即帮助真理问世；“归纳归纳”即即从个别事物中找出共性，通过个别的分析比较来寻找一从个别事物中找出共性，通过个别的分析比较来寻找一般规律；般规律；“定义定义”即把单一的概念归到一般中去即把单一的概念归到一般中去In 399 B.C. at the age of 70 Socrates was put on trial on a charge of “injuring the city” by not acknowledging its gods and corrupting the young.
12、This trial was recorded by Plato in the dialogue “The Apology of Socrates(申辩篇).Socrates Trial and Death1.What does the charges brought against Socrates?2. Since Socrates does not believe that he is wise, why does he not reject the oracle as false?3. What was his final interpretation of the meaning o
13、f the oracle? Explain why he adopted this interpretation.4. What reason does Socrates give for his conviction? 5. What prophecy does Socrates make with regard to the effect of his death on the Athenians? Why does Socrates assume that his condemnation is actually something good?6. How does the “gadfl
14、y” analogy help interpret Socrates the man?5. What is Socrates view of death? 6. Why does Socrates especially want to talk to Palamedes and Ajax (son of Telamon) in the afterlife?7. Was Socrates trying to get himself acquitted? If he was not, what effect was he trying to exert on the jury?8. What mo
15、ral values does Socrates uphold? Plato (427-347BC)Plato (427-347BC) The safest characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. -Alfred North Whitehead Plato was profoundly impressed by Socrates insistence on putting enquiry before doctr
16、ines, and the search for understanding before ambitious claims.Platos distinctive ideas1. Form or Idea2. Caveman3. Divided line4. The philosopher-king 5.His aesthetics6. Platonic loveWomens potential and the family Platos theory of the Forms is his most significant philosophical contribution. In a n
17、utshell, the Forms are those changeless, eternal, and nonmaterial essences or patterns of which the actual visible objects we see are only poor copies. There is the Form of the Beauty, and all the beautiful things we see are mere copies of that form.The form柏拉圖的洞穴說指出：人們滿足於地窖裡的燈火與牆上影像，不知道柏拉圖的洞穴說指出：人們
18、滿足於地窖裡的燈火與牆上影像，不知道外邊地面上的陽光才是真實的。外邊地面上的陽光才是真實的。 The cavemen現代的電影院，對影現代的電影院，對影像的依賴是柏拉圖洞像的依賴是柏拉圖洞穴說的翻版。穴說的翻版。後現代的電視及電腦後現代的電視及電腦螢幕之扎頻，資訊影螢幕之扎頻，資訊影像也是如。像也是如。The Divided LineModes of ThoughtThe GoodIntelligible WorldThe GoodFormsMathematical ObjectsThe SunVisible WorldyxobjectsKnowledgeThinkingThingsImage
19、s Belief ImagingKnowledgeopinion Knowledge does not involve simply the passing facts and appearance. Knowledge seeks what truly is: its concern is with Being. There are 4 ways to know the Form: 1. recollection. 2. dialectic: the power of abstracting the essence of things and discovering the relation
20、ships of all divisions of knowledge to each other. 3. desire. 4. Love, which leads people step by step, from the beautiful object to the beautiful thought and then to the very essence of Beauty itself.I. Euthyphro, (The) Apology (of Socrates), Crito, Phaedo II. Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesm
21、an III. Parmenides, Philebus, (The) Symposium, Phaedrus IV. First Alcibiades (1), Second Alcibiades (2), Hipparchus (2), (The) (Rival) Lovers (2) V. Theages (2), Charmides, Laches, Lysis VI. Euthydemus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno VII. (Greater) Hippias (major) (1), (Lesser) Hippias (minor), Ion, Mene
22、xenus VIII. Clitophon (1), (The) Republic, Timaeus, Critias IX. Minos (2), (The) Laws, Epinomis (2), Epistles (1) In the list below, works by Plato are marked (1) if there is no consensus among scholars as to whether Plato is the author, and (2) if most scholars agree that Plato is not the author of
23、 the work. Unmarked works are assumed to have been written by Plato. Quotations From PlatoEither death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another Now if death be of such a nature, I say that to die is to
24、 gain; for eternity is then only a single night. -Apologia,40Man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door of his prison and run away A man should wait, and not take his own life until God summons him. -Phaedo, 62False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.
25、-91Friends have all things in common. -Phaedrus, 279He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden. -The Republic, bk. i, 329d Mankind ensures injustice fearing that they may be the victims of
26、 it, and not because they shrink from committing it. -344c The judge should not be young; he should have learnt to know evil, not from his own soul, but from late and long observation of the nature of evil in others; knowledge should be his guide, not personal experience. -iii, 409bEverything that d
27、eceives may be said to enchant. -413cBodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. -vii, 536eMankind will not get rid of its evils until either the class of those who philosophize in truth and rectitude reach
28、 political power or those most powerful in cities, under some divine dispensation, really get to philosophizing. - VIIth Letter, 326a-bAnd the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beau
29、ty, using these steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is. -211Wealth is the parent of luxur
30、y and indolence, and poverty of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent. -iv, 422aThe direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life. -425bSignificance: Platos comprehensive treatment of knowledge was so powerful that his philosophy became one of the most influenti
31、al strands in the history of Western thought. Unlike his predecessors, who focused upon one single main problems, Plato brought together all the major concerns of human thought into a coherent organization of knowledge. And his great influence stems from the manner in which he brought all these dive
32、rse philosophical concerns into a unified system of thought. Platos comprehensive system of philosophy dealt with, among other things, the problem of how, in the complex, ever-changing world, men were to attain knowledge. The reply he gave was: men have knowledge because of the existence of certain general “ideas” or Form, like beauty, truth, and goodness. His philosophy is called Idealism because in his system of philosophy only such “Forms” as beauty, truth and goodness are regarded as completely real while the physical world is regarded as only relatively real.
