Biography of Socrates

Socrates was born in 469 B.C. in Athens. He was the son of Sophroniscus the sculptor and of the midwife Phaenarete. Socrates grew up having a great education in geometry and astronomy. He had a hunger for learning and thinking and he knew at a young age that he was going to be a very intelligent person.

There are no paintings of Socrates, but the people of his time wrote down that he was not a very good looking man. In other words, he was very ugly. Socrates had a big, wide nose, eyes that bugged out of his head, and a rather huge mouth. But Socrates thought that he looked rather unique because of these features. Also, he did not care what people thought of his looks because he could out-think any of these people anyday, and the people knew he was a smart man, so they did not really care about what he looked like, but they thought that he was "all glorious within." (source)

When Socrates was about forty years old, he started really using his mind. He would ask the people in Athens questions such as "What is beauty?", "What is the right thing to do?", "What is virtue?" and so on. He knew that these questions were very difficult questions to answer, but he knew that these questions would make the people get deep into thought and challenge their knowledge. He would go around getting other peoples opinions on the questions and he would challenge them to use their minds.

There is actually no writings left behind from Socrates because he never wrote down anything or wrote any books. I find this strange because Socrates had so many great ideas and he was so smart, but he enver wrote down any of these ideas of stories. Also, some philosophers today don't even believe that Socrates even ever lived. Some of these philosophers believe that he was justa character made up by Plato for his story, Plato's Meno.

Socrates was sentenced to jail for "corrupting" the people's minds of Athens. He did not think that this was fair at all because he knew that he was one of the few people who challenged the people to use their minds and look for answers. They were going to execute him for this, but Socrates did not want this, so he killed himself with a dangerous poison called Hemlock. Socrates died in 399 B.C. and is still known today as one of the most intelligetn philosophers in the history of the world. He is known by many today and is still known for being a man who was both liked and disliked by many.


BOOKS

Wiggers,Friedrich,Gustav. A Life of Socrates. Taylor and Walton. 1940.

I used notes from the movie and from what we have been talking about in class...so i used the notes!

Plato's Meno

Plato's Meno is a written dialogue between Menon and Socrates. Meno was written in 380 B.C. by Plato. It is the dialogue about a very in depth discussion about Virtue, discussing, what is virtue and where does it come from? Plato's Meno gives thoughts about what Socrates thought about life and how he thought that everything started with first, knowing yourself. (source)

Socrates was different from all the other people in his city. He was very dirty and smelly. He really did not care what people thought about him, but he cared about how smart he was and how he could improve on his thinking abilities. Socrates would challenge people with Logical Thinking. Socrates would question peoples ideas and where they got them from and make them think about their answer. Socrates believed that everything starts with knowing yourself and realizing that you don't know everything, so you can improve on your thinking skills. Socrates was born in the 5th century B.C. and he died in 399 B.C.

In Plato's Meno, Socrates challenges Menon with the question what is virtue? There are many different views concerning the word virtue. The dictionary definition for the word virtue is moral excellence, goodness, righteousness, etc. So this definition basically means that anybody in the world can achieve virtue. But then again, what is excellence, goodness, and righteousness? This is a question that socrates would have asked. He would dig deeper and deeper until you could just not dig anymore and then you have the answer.

Another question between Socrates and Menon is how do we get virtue? Meno asked, "Can you tell me, Socrates, whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice; or if neither by teaching nor practice, then whether it comes to man by nature, or in what other way?" Socrates teaches that virtue is only knowledge but then it goes to the direction of ones thinking and then it goes back to just knowledge. So basically, Socrates is saying that virtue is knowledge, and because of this, it cannot be explained. (source)

Socrates was one of history's most brilliant people. From his gift of thinking to his knowing that he knew little, he helped shape society in many, many ways. He taught that virtue comes from knowledge in a person, and that cannot be explained. In the end of Plato's Meno, Socrates says that virtue cannot be taught. Even though Socrates did not have a biblical standars to what virtue is, he went into depth and came out with many different answers.

BOOK SOURCES

source http://www.philosophytalk.org/Virtue.htm

source podcast from class (?)

source http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/meno.html

Architectural Advances of the Greeks

The Greeks have unfluenced how we live and how we build things very much in today's culture. They have invented so many different varieties of buildings that people use today. (ONLINE BOOK 1: wikipedia!)


When the Greeks first started building houses, they were very simple and small. Most of the houses that they built were shaped circular, oval, apsidal, or rectangular. To put together the house, they used mud bricks or stones in the mud with reeds or brush to help. Most of the houses, being small, had only one or two small rooms.


During the classical architectural period for the Greeks, they built in only three orders. These three orders were Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. These different styles consisted of mostly the columns on the buildings and temples. The Doric style was the simplest one of the three. The comumn is very sturdy and the peak or top of the column is very plain and simple. It is also the widest column of the three. This style was used in mainland Greece and the colonies in southern Italy and Sicily. The Ionic column is the skinniest column of the three. It is a very elegant column that was skinny. The peak was shaped more like a scroll than anything else. The Ionic style column was used mostly in eastern Greece and the islands. The Corinthian style column was the most decorated column of the three. The column in general was very fancy and decorated. The peak of this column was very elaborate and decorated with acanthus leaves. The Corinthian style column was used in the Greek world, but often seen on Roman temples.


"The Parthenon was one of the worlds greatest buildings. Its position is part of its splendor, It has 3 qualities that make it of high quality. It was made from the finest marble, the portions were subtly modified to give an illusion of lightness. The steps were slightly thicker that others and the columns leaned slightly inwards. It was the most richly carved temple ever built. Its sculptures represented the climax of classical revolution in art."(Freeman,Charles.P.258) The Parthenon in Athens is the most famous surviving temples in Ancient Greece. It is also one of the most famous buildings/temples in the world. The Parthenon has been on the Acropolis of Athens for about 2,500 years and was built by the Greeks to give thanks to the city's goddess, Athena. They built the Parthenon to give thanks to Athena for the salvation of Athens and Greece in the Persian Wars. (BOOK SOURCE 2 Freeman, Charles. P. 258)


Some of the buildings and temples that were built by the Greeks were made out of mud and reed, so not many of those stand today. They were not sturdy enough to stand, but today, we have some ground plans that have helped us today to visualize what the temples and buildings looked like before they fell. We have an idea today of what the buildings looked like when they were build of mud and reed.

Book Sources

Book Source 1: Wikipedia
Book Source 2: Freeman, Charles. Egypt,Greece,and Rome.Civilizations of the Ancient Mediteranean. New York. Oxford University Press. 2004