Lecture notes for Philosophy 2010 Fall, 2010

Two paradoxes to start with:

1) This course is, and isn't, about “Liberal Arts” “Cultural Heritage” or “Literaes Humaniores” ("Humanities")

2) The best way to try to get a good grade is: try not to try to get a good grade.

[How to read a book, some simple pointers:

1) Who wrote it?, To Whom?, When? Why? (Plato "wrote" for 4^th Century BCE graduate students.)

2) What Interpretations, influences, etc.? (Plato's Republic influenced Christianity's St. Paul; also many teachers and aristocrats of Modern Europe; many heads of religious orders and modern dictators; 20^th Century cognitive science)

3) Check the structure, and particularly in philosophy the arguments and proofs -- chapters, index; look up terms, people.

4) read, summarize, reread; discuss.]

[Introductory note: Aristotle, who founded the first university dedicated to empirical research, divided sciences, technologies, arts, and inquiries into theoretical and practical.

Theoretical sciences (such as astronomy, physics, chemistry, mathematics, etc.) aim to understand what sorts of things there are in the world and how they relate to each other causally.

Practical sciences, technologies, and arts aim to understand how we should act, what choices we should or should not make, when confronted with a variety of practical problems (these would include medicine, navigation, animal husbandry, agriculture, engineering, playwriting, sculpture (since aim at a particular kind of making, he also called them practical "productive" sciences)).

Logic is the most general of the sciences for Aristotle because logical reasoning is employed in all sciences and all inquiries in general. Aristotle and others put together what was known about logic in ancient Greece and this knowledge can down to us virtually unchanged until it was further formalized and systematized in the later nineteen century.

Logic. Patterns of reasoning common to all the sciences (syncategorical).

1)Statements, descriptions, theories, and equations are true or false (not “valid” or “invalid”).

2)Arguments and proofs are valid or invalid (not “true” or “false”). Arguments and proofs have premises (which are statements) and conclusions (which are also statements).

A valid argument is one whose conclusion has to be true if its premises are true. A sound argument is one that has true premises and is valid, so the conclusion of a sound argument has to be true. “If A, then B. A; therefore B” is a famous argument form called “modus ponens” (MP): for example “If this liquid smells of burnt almonds, it is cyanide. And the liquid does smell of burnt almonds; therefore, this liquid is cyanide.”

Another distinction very basic to logic is between using and mentioning a word. In Philosophy is a long word I am mentioning the word “Philosophy.” In Philosophy is a central subject I am using the word “Philosophy.” It can be really important to distinguish whether you or someone else is talking about a word or about what the word stands for. Here's another big distinction:

1) Formal Truths (and contradictions). (2+2=4, I am I, You aren't me, All bachelors are unmarried males; 2+2=5) Formal truths concern what is necessary, possible, impossible, what has to, might, or can't be. Formal statements can be true, false, or (occasionally) indeterminate/indeterminable. (e.g., "There is no highest twin prime number). Formal systems & languages & computer programs abound in formal truths (and formal falsehoods).

1) Natural languages have formal properties too (phonology, syntax, semantics). Just as a computer has a built in and programmed language, so human's have natural languages (mind - cognitive science). (Are there a lot of such truths built into us (at least as part of normal biological maturation)? Note that human's got far with sciences of the formal sort before they did well with empirical sciences whose truths summarize experiments and observations. See Leiber's intellectual squeeze, Noam Chomsky. For a shorter intro to Chomsky

2) Empirical Truths (and false statements). (Earth is a sphere, salt dissolves in water; 1 pint water added to 1 pint alcohol will amount to or equals 2 pints liquid)

These truths concern what is, happens to be, has happened, the actual facts, etc. History collects such facts. Empirical sciences, particularly at the descriptive level: geography, archeology, anthropology, geology, botany & zoology, molecular biology, much of chemistry & physics. Each of us exists as a formal (rational) and an empirical being.

Empirical statements can be true, false, or (often) indeterminate.

Now back to:

What is PHILOSOPHY and "PHILOSOPHY"? Classical Greek (circa 800BC)

Let's talk about a word (mention):

"philo": "love" as in Anglophile, pedophile, etc.

"sophy": "knowledge" as in sophisticated, sophistry

"Philosophy" = the systematic pursuit of general knowledge. (from ?800BC or 800BCE)

Today, philosophy (use) is the inquiry into the most general, interdisciplinary, issues in the sciences and other disciplines. In particular:

1) Human nature & cognition (mind). (e.g., Is the mind just the brain?; what do I really know?)

2) Scope & limits of formal, empirical science. (e.g., Does life have a meaning?)

3) What is justice and happiness? How should we live?, What are we?, What's the world like and

What should we do?

GREEKS. Greeks dominated the Mediterranean from about 1000-200BCE; Alexander (356-323BCE) and the Romans (200BC-600AD), Islam, and Europe, spread Greek philosophy & culture to the world.

1) Universal items: alphabet, logic, arithmetic, geometry, physics, biology, research institutes & universities, political & ethical science, democracy, history, etc. Plato (427-347BC). Aristotle (384-322BC). What is common to the world's cultures is Greek or human nature. It only happened once. (possible exception: China)

2) Cultural peculiarities: Tragic plays as central to culture (the equivalent of superbowl/world series); realistic, perspectival painting and statuary; public, athletic nudity; Olympic Games; openness about sexuality (tolerance of homosexuality); religious tolerance, polytheistic tradition, coupled with monotheism and materialism. Agrobusiness in olive oil & wine, traded for wheat and other raw materials. Seagoers, explorers, technologists, and professional warriors. (Xenophon, Anabasis) Here's a sampler:

“Homer”’s Iliad & Odessey ??900BCE. (“Greek Bible”; We'll see what Plato has to say about it)

Sappho's Poems. ??600BC

Sophocles' Oedipus Rex ?425BCE. (Killed his father and married his mother. Both Plato (and Freud) say much about this.)

Aristophanes's Lysistrata 411BCE. (Old Comedy. Still fresh today.

Thales (624-546BCE). First philosopher/scientist. Deductive mathematics. Predicted eclipses.Magnetism.

Pythagoras (582-497BC). Pythagorian theorem (for right triangles, the

sum of the squares of the two shorter sides is equal to the square of the

hypotenuse). Square root of 2 is an irrational number. Earth is a

sphere. Plato’s dialogue Meno.

Zeno (5th century BC). The Liar Paradox. Why the tortoise always outruns Achilles. The Heap.

Democritus(?480-?400BC). Milky Way a galaxy of stars. Atoms & void. Materialism and ethical naturalism.

Hippocrates, Archimedes, Hero, Euclid, etc. (the first fifty names in Asimov's historical list of

scientists are Greeks).

Parthenon post offices/statehouses/Monticello. Secret of the Parthenon.

Secret of Salamis.

So let's move on to one of the deepest, smartest, most beautifully written, and most influential books ever written: Plato's Republic:

Scene setting: When and why did Republic get written?

Events leading up to (bold face key words):

Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) between Athens and its democratic allies and Sparta and its aristocratic allies. Although Greece almost alone had eliminated monarchy by 800 BCE, the many Greek city states were now ruled in the interest of either aristocrats ("the few") or democrats ("the many" or hoi poloi).

This class warfare arose when cash crops (wine and olive oil) led the Greeks away from subsistence farming, bringing money, sea trade (Greece imported wheat), and a variety of trades, professions, arts, and luxuries (Marxian economic theory explains this). In these centuries, the Persian empires attempted several invasions of Greece and the shores of the Agean, which were beaten off in a long series of wars (Thermoployae, Salamis, Delian League, etc.). (Note: Wealthy Athens started the Peloponnesian War and Sparta eventually won it).

A few years after the war ended, Socrates (?470-399) was executed. Probably because he was regarded as an ally of the aristocrats who supported the "Thirty Tyrants" government that the Spartans installed after Athens defeat. See Plato's Apology for Socrates' trial and Plato's Phaedo for Socrates’ last day (during which Socrates discusses the nature of mind and body, the "forms" and mathematical truth, and the possibility of immortality).

Note that Plato's dialogues were written and presented dramatically beginning two decades after Socrates death and, with the exception of Apology and Phaedo, they present Socrates as he supposedly was years before Plato's birth; the thirty odd dialogues present Plato's views - Plato probably read the part of Socrates in semi-public presentations. The dialogue form derived from oral debates that Athenians practiced a century before Plato wrote them
From 450BC?? on the Sophists trained aristocratic young Greeks in political/legal debate through elenchus (demolition) contests. These oral contests were supposed to train young men for real legal and political contests. Elenchus:

1)One contestant was assigned a thesis.

(examples: "Justice is the interest of the stronger". "Virtue can be taught.")
2) The other contestant can just ask questions and he strives to lead the other into contradiction.

(Republic, Bk. I is an example of elenchus. Law schools call them “moots.”)

Plato (427-347BC). Aristotle (384-322BC). Plato presents what we now call Platonism (a form of Rationalism) and Aristotle presents a form of Empiricism.

Plato knew Socrates but did not begin writing dialogues until twenty years after his death. Plato turned the elenchus into an art/educational form that could reach positive conclusions (dialectic). Wrote Symposium, Republic, Meno, etc., with Socrates as mouthpiece. Founded the Academy (370-529AD), the first university (Republic apparently was intended to instruct Academy students and lay out its rationale and its curriculum. After Plato's death, Aristotle created the Lycium, the second university, and one centrally devoted to empirical research (Darwin on Aristotle's biology)).

Instructions: Answer four and no more of the following questions. Do not waste time writing out the questions, just give the number. While most of your writing should consist of sentences, you can also give lists. Don’t repeat yourself. When possible give details or examples. You can write on both sides of the paper. You have 60 minutes.

1) Distinguish true/false from valid/invalid. What is a sound argument? Distinguish empirical truths from necessary/logical truths. Distinguish Empiricism from Rationalism.

2) What features of ancient Greek civilization are our universal heritage? What features were, largely, peculiar to their culture? What features of Greek history give support to Plato's characterization of the minimal and luxurious state?
3) In Bk 2 Socrates switches from the just man to talking about the just state. How does he describe and how does he justify this switch (both explicitly & implicitly)? What is the general strategy of the argument that begins with the question as to whether the just man (with bad reputation, etc.) will be happy? In general how reasonable is it to make an analogy between the individual and the state? How does Thomas Hobbes make this analogy?
4) Explain Socrates' plans for the education of the general populace of his kallipolis including at least the following: food & drink, music, the form and content of story-telling, drama, & religion.  Also indicate and give Plato's justification for the unusual features of kallipolis respecting gender, eugenics, euthanasia, and parenting.
4) Describe the first, minimal state (including its basic principle). Why does it evolve into the luxurious state? What problem does this state face & how might dealing with this problem lead to the kallipolis? Explain what moderation, courage, wisdom, and justice amount to in the kallipolis, indicating the place the "myth of the metals" plays in the ideal state.
5) How does Plato argue that individual humans have a tripart soul (with what entity is each part metaphorically linked? Compare and contrast his version with Freud in as much detail as you can manage (to remind you of Freud's terminology, he speaks of "ego," "id," and "superego").
6) What class, occupation, and viewpoint do the various characters – Cephalus, Polemarchus, Trasymachus, Socrates, Glaucon and Ademantus -- represent? How does Socrates deal with the three definitions of justice that are offered in Book I? How does the dialogue form, rather than the monologue, fit Plato's views about human minds and higher education?

7) Recapitulate Sophocles’ Oepidus Rex. How does Aristotle explain the play’s force and utility. How does Plato explain the underlying force of the play; why would he ban it from public performance in the Kallipolis?