Socrates and the Nature of Philosophy

Study Notes

"The unexamined life is not worth living" - Socrates
Socrates taught Western civilization about questioning through the Socratic Method (Elenchus)
True learning is dialogical, meaning you question and don't blindly accept
"Know Thyself" - Socrates believed true knowing is "docta ignorantia" or the knowledge that you don't know
Humans are not just products of nature but define themselves through wisdom
Socrates died teaching the importance of an ethical life, which stems from true knowledge
True knowledge leads to real virtue, called "arete," which encompasses both intellectual and moral wisdom
Education is the perfection of the human person

Early Greek thinkers called themselves wise, but Pythagoras coined the term "philosopher"
Philosophy is the eternal quest for truth
Asking a question means you have already begun philosophizing
To philosophize, you must understand "being" and its connection to human life
Philosophy involves questioning, critical analysis, reflection, and rational argumentation

Philosophy as a holistic perspective is the unity of thought and experience; it values the meaning of being a human
Philosophy as a partial perspective explores human reality from specific vantage points and addresses problems using specific methods

True education trains both body and soul, with the goal of educating the whole person
Our desire for knowledge should lead to a lifelong process of seeking practical wisdom (phronesis)
Plato believed that wisdom leads to a life of virtue and happiness (eudaimonia)
The truth humans seek answers the question of what it means to be human and how to act more freely

"Everything has been figured out, except how to live" - Jean Paul Sartre
An insight is a way of seeing with the mind
Insights emerge when we are thrown into a situation
Abstraction is the process of arriving at an insight through the analysis of concepts
Insights can be so rich that they cannot be fully exhausted by our efforts to clarify them