Unit 1 - Socrates
Plato, Euthyphro
Why does Socrates think Euthyphro must have knowledge of piety?
Why does Socrates press Euthyphro to give a definition of piety?
What definitions does Euthyphro offer?
How does Socrates get Euthyphro to abandon the various definitions? Describe his general method, and show how it works for each definition.
What can we learn from the Euthyphro about Socrates’ religious views?
Why do Socrates and Euthyphro reject the definition of piety as “what all the gods love” (starting at 9d)? What assumptions do they make?
Does Socrates reject the definition of piety as “what all the gods love” because there are pious actions that not all the gods love, because there are non-pious actions that not all the gods love, or for neither reason?
What’s so great about having a definition of piety? Why wouldn’t it be enough, for Euthyphro’s purposes, to have a feature common to all and only cases of piety? (It might be helpful here to look at Meno 97a–98a.)
Plato, Apology
What are the official charges against Socrates?
To what extent is he guilty of these charges? Are they entirely trumped up, or is there some truth in them?
What are the “old accusations” Socrates says lie behind the new ones?
How does Socrates explain his peculiar way of living? How does he explain the slanders and accusations against him?
Compare the portrayal of Socrates in Aristophanes’ Clouds with that in Plato’s Apology. Are there any common elements?
Socrates claims not to know anything worth while. Can you find anywhere in the dialogue where he says he knows something?
(*) How can Socrates’ disavowals of knowledge be reconciled with his confident action and bold moral assertions?
How does Socrates defend himself against the charge of corrupting the youth? Is the defense adequate?
Plato, Crito
What arguments does Crito use to try to convince Socrates to escape?
Why does Socrates think he should pay no heed to what the majority think in this case?
Why does Socrates think he should pay no heed to prudential (non-moral) considerations, like his life and the well-being of his children?
Why does Socrates think it doesn’t matter (in deciding whether to escape) whether the jury’s verdict was just or unjust?
What is the only thing Socrates thinks he needs to determine in order to figure out whether he should escape from prison?
Socrates argues that if he escaped, he would harm Athens and its laws? In what way?
Socrates argues that if he escaped, he would be breaking a just agreement he has with Athens and its laws. What is the agreement? Given that it’s not an explicit agreement (no one ever asked Socrates, “do you agree to…”), what are Socrates’ reasons for saying he has this agreement? Are they good ones?
Does Socrates’ argument (assuming it is sound) show that civil disobedience is wrong? Under what conditions, if any, would Socrates’ argument permit disobedience to the law?
(*) Some people have found a tension between Socrates’ distrust of the majority (his claim in the Crito that one shouldn’t pay attention to what the majority thinks, and his claim in the Apology that if he had participated in politics in Athens, he would have been killed) and his apparent preference for the Athenian constitution over others (the fact that he did not leave for Sparta or another non-democratic state). Is there a tension here? If so, how would you resolve it?
Plato, Protagoras
What are Socrates’ reasons (at the beginning of the dialogue) for doubting that virtue can be taught?
How does Protagoras reply to Socrates’ arguments that virtue cannot be taught?
What does Protagoras’ speech tell us about (a) how he thinks virtue is taught, and (b) what virtue is?
What “small” question does Socrates have after Protagoras’ speech? Why does he ask it?
How does Protagoras answer Socrates’ question? Why does he answer the way he does?
What argument does Socrates give to show that justice is the same kind of thing as piety (330c)? Is his argument cogent? What are some possible problems with it? How does Protagoras object to it?
What argument does Socrates give to show that wisdom is the same as temperance (332a)? Is it persuasive? Why or why not?
(*) At 333b, Socrates begins to argue that one cannot be temperate without being just. Protagoras breaks off the argument in frustration. Can you reconstruct it? Can you figure out where Socrates was going with it?
What argument does Socrates give to show that courage is the same as wisdom (349d–351a)? Is his argument cogent? Why or why not? How does Protagoras object to it? Is his objection cogent?
Explain how Socrates argues for hedonism, the view that “pleasure and the good are the same” (351e).
What is incontinence (a.k.a. akrasia, weakness of the will, or “being overcome by pleasure”)?
Explain how Socrates uses hedonism to show that incontinence is impossible. Is the argument cogent, or can you think of objections to it? How might Socrates respond to these objections?
How does Socrates explain apparent cases of incontinence, e.g. smoking a cigarette though you know it’s bad for you?
What account of virtue is suggested by Socrates’ rejection of incontinence? What does Socrates think we need in order to avoid “being overcome by pleasure”?
How does Socrates define fear (358d)? Why does his account of incontinence, together with this definition of fear, imply that courage is neither standing up to what you fear nor not having fear? What does he think courage is?