Wednesday, September 3, 2008
From 9/3: The Pre-Socratics & The Sophists
In our first meeting, we talked about the different branches of philosophy, Pre-Socratic philosophy, and the sophists who lived and taught during Socrates's time. What do you make of the beginnings of Western Philosophy, its early development, or perhaps its place in society today?
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After Wednesday’s class discussion I was surprised to see how dissimilar Socrates life was to that of the character Socrates in Aristophanes’ Clouds and even further perplexed when I learned that Socrates and Aristophanes were friendly towards one another; why would you make “fun” of your friend? Clouds makes Socrates out to be both a pre-Socratic and a Sophist of which he was neither and it further helped convict Socrates of bogus crimes. Another interesting piece from Wednesday’s lecture was the discussion of the pre-Socratic’s and the sophists. What I found intriguing about the pre-Socratics was how most of them believed everything in the world was made of an element (fire, water, air) and that one philosopher in particular, Democritus, was able to come up with the correct theory that everything was made of particles (which he called atoms). This theory would later be rediscovered and the particles would be named atoms in honor of Democritus who first discovered them. I found the sophists to be somewhat of an ironic group though; for teachers they didn’t seem well respected like teachers today and rather then being associated with good things the sophists were only concerned with winning and doing anything necessary to win.
During last class we began to learn about what Philosophy is on the most basic stage, "The love of Wisdom". But before we can get into what people have generally related philosophy to (Socrates and so on) we most learn where philosophy began. What really caught my attention was the Philosopher Zeno. He presented what we know as Zeno's Paradox. Which is for example if you were in a room and you were walking to the door the door is your destination and to get there you most pass the half way point and when you get to the half way point you must then pass the new half way point that has appeared,etc. So Zeno was saying that we never actually making to our destination because there is an infinite number of half way points between you and the door. But we can clearly see ourselves reach the door. This is where i believe he is still right because once you reach the door that now becomes a new halfway point to our new destination. so wouldn't that mean that we never make it to our destination and just live by making it to one halfway point after another never truly making it to the finish. That's why i believe that Zeno was on to something. What do you guys think of that? Any ideas?
In the class discussion, i took notice of the oh so common philosophical quips and puns that we all hear so frequently. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and other sayings that make us all pause for just a moment to think about. When for the second that i paused to think about that saying it made me completely break away from discussion. (Bear in mind, i shouldn't announce that i wasn't paying attention, but technically i was pondering philosophical thought.) As i broke away for a brief few minutes, i actually took the proverb into a whole new dimension of thought. It seems i have tripped into my true understanding of what certain things mean. Thinking about what the proverb meant really reinvigorated my thought process that i had apparently lost in the course of the summer. The foundation of which Prof Condella granted me more than just a basic understanding of who the philosophers were in the ancient earth, i now understand how i am to go about and understand this class.
In response to wednesdays introduction it is easy to see how a man like Socrates was put to trial and blamed for, among many accusations, atheism. His reasoning challenges the foundations of each of his jurors knowledge and makes his weaker argument stronger, while also occasionally and subtely ridiculing his accusers. Along with Zeno's paradox, there is another that plagues the philosophical world in challenging the coexistance of religion and reason; are we truly free if god knows our every move? Examples such as these are what drives philosophers into deeper knowledge and understanding of the world around them. While many refuse to believe this newly stemmed reason because it contradicts their previous opinions, others follow it and hold it true to their future learning.
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