Socrates: Life, Wisdom, and Trial

• Plato was Socrates' student and Aristotle's teacher.
• Socrates was known for questioning as a method of teaching.
• Plato's philosophical ideas were significantly influenced by Socrates.
• Socrates did not leave behind any writings, meaning we know of him through the writings of contemporaries like Plato.

Socrates' Crimes

• Socrates was found guilty of corrupting the youth.
• Socrates was found guilty of teaching about new gods.

Socrates' Defense

• Socrates defended himself by questioning his accuser.
• Socrates' preferred means of defense was the Socratic method.

Socratic Wisdom

• Socrates does not consider himself wise.
• Socrates thought his wisdom came from the knowledge of his own ignorance.

Socrates on the Fear of Death

• Socrates believed death was either an afterlife or a state of nothingness.
• Socrates believed neither option justifies fear.

The Delphic Oracle

• The Delphic Oracle was an elderly woman in Delphi through whom Apollo spoke.
• The oracle proclaimed that no one is wiser than Socrates.

The Cave Allegory

• The Cave Allegory describes ignorance as darkness and enlightenment as the transition to lightness.
• Senses can deceive us about reality according to the Allegory.
• Knowledgeable individuals can transcend the deception of the senses.
• Socrates thought humans can work towards enlightenment, even if they cannot fully attain it.

Story of Gyges

• The story of Gyges argues that justice has value beyond external protection.
• Justice is a compromise, the lesser of two evils.

Crito and Socrates

• Crito was a wealthy friend who tried to persuade Socrates to go into exile.
• Friends can be bought so Socrates could escape.
• Crito thought Socrates should escape to take care of his family.
• Crito thought the death sentence was unjust, and escaping would be an embrace of justice.

Crito's Definition of Justice

• Crito thought justice meant obeying the law, so Socrates had to face his sentence.

Hedonism

• Epicurus considered pleasure to be morally good.
• Epicurus believed pain to be morally evil.
• Epicurus thought a happy life was the same as a pleasant one.
• Epicurus believed in prudence, or being wise about which pleasures to seek and avoid.

Epicurus and Aristotle on Happiness

• Epicurus was a hedonist: happiness is pleasure and avoiding pain.
• Aristotle did not think life should be built around pleasure and avoiding pain.

Aristotle on Happiness

• Aristotle believed true happiness is a life built on virtue.
• Aristotle lists bravery, temperance, generosity, being magnanimous, being mild-tempered, being personable, being rightly modest, and having a sense of humor as virtues.

Epicurean View of the Soul

• Epicurus thought we cease to exist when we die.
• Epicurus thought people have souls, but believed the soul was made of material atoms.
• Epicurus thought soul atoms get distributed throughout the body.
• Epicurus thought the soul atoms dispersed when we die, leaving only the atoms that compose the inert body.

Epicurus on the Fear of Death

• Epicurus claimed we should not fear death because we no longer exist.
• Epicurus claimed there is no afterlife.
• Epicurus was a materialist: he did not believe in immaterial existence.

Epicurus' Recommended Life

• Epicurus thought people should live a life of happiness built on pleasure.
• Epicurus thought people should use prudence to decide which pleasures to pursue.
• Moving pleasures, like food and sex, quickly stimulate.
• Static pleasures are enjoyable in the pursuit and the getting.
• Epicurus thought Platonic friendship was the best static pleasure.
• Epicurus taught to acknowledge your own mortality, but to not fear it.
• Epicurus believed the simple pleasures that are easy to acquire and hard to lose lead to a happy life.
• These simple pleasures include friendship, community, study, and freedom from extreme poverty or want.

Aristotle's Recommended Life

• Aristotle thought people should build a life built on virtue.
• He believed if you're virtuous, one can never be miserable.
• Aristotle wrote a book on ethics as a guide to character.
• Human happiness is the outcome of developing specific virtues of character.
• Virtues of character include bravery, temperance, generosity, being magnanimous, being mild-tempered, being personable, being rightly modest, and having a sense of humor.

Aristotle on Virtue

• Aristotle believed virtue is the mean between two extremes.
• The mean of the extremes are the virtues of character.

John Stuart Mill's Theory of Well-Being

• Mill's theory of well-being is an account of "the good life."
• Mill's theory includes hedonism.
• Mill thought what matters most in life is happiness.
• Mill thought happiness and pleasure are interchangeable.
• Mill uses hedonism to connect his theories to ethical norms.

John Stuart Mill's Moral Theory

• Mill's moral theory is consequentialism: actions are based on consequences.
• Mill's moral theory offers guidance on normative questions.
• Consequentialism states what matters most are the consequences of actions.

Mill's Greatest Happiness Principle

• John Stuart Mill's moral theory of consequentialism considers the happiness or well-being of all individuals equally.
• No particular group or individual's interests take precedence in being impartial.
• A proponent of utilitarianism, Mill, thought the morally right thing is the one that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
• Because one has to strive to be impartial, utilitarianism requires its adherents to be "as strictly impartial as a disinterested and benevolent spectator."
• Mill believed everyone's interests should be counted equally.
• Mill linked impartiality to justice.