DOCSLIB.ORG

Plato: the Great Philosopher

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Plato: the Great Philosopher Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-12, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in Plato: The Great Philosopher Ajaj Ahemad & Mazar Ali Shah Ph.D. Students, Department of Philosophy and Political Science AMU (Aligarh Muslim University) Abstract: Plato is one of the most important named Aristocles after his grandfather, and only Western philosophers, exerting influence on later dubbed "Plato" or "Platon" (meaning "broad") virtually every figure in philosophy after him. His on account of the breadth of his eloquence, or of dialogue The Republic is known as the first his wide forehead, or possibly on account of his comprehensive work on political philosophy. Plato generally robust figure. also contributed foundationally to ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. His student, His father was Ariston (who may have traced his Aristotle, is also an extremely influential descent from Codrus, the last of the philosopher and the tutor of Alexander the Great of legendary kings of Athens); his mother Macedonia. was Perictione (who was descended from the famous Athenian lawmaker and poet Solon, and Key Word: Plato’s life discipleship and the most whose family also boasted prominent figures of the influential philosophical works. oligarchic regime of Athens known as the Thirty Tyrants). He had two INTRODUCTION brothers, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and a sister, Potone. Plato later introduced several of his Plato (c.428-348 B.C.) was a hugely important distinguished relatives into his dialogues, Greek philosopher and mathematician from the indicating considerable family pride. Socratic (or Classical) period. When Ariston died early in Plato's childhood, his He is perhaps the best known, most widely studied mother married her own uncle, Pyrilampes, who and most influential philosopher of all time. was also a friend of Pericles (the leader of the Together with his mentor, Socrates, and his democratic faction in Athens), and who had served student, Aristotle, he provided the main opposition many times as an ambassador to the Persian court. to the Materialist view of the world represented by Together, they had another son, Antiphon, who was Democritus and Epicurus, and he helped to lay the therefore Plato's half-brother. foundations of the whole of Western Philosophy. Coming as he did from one of the wealthiest and In his work, especially his many dialogues, he most politically active families in Athens, Plato blended Ethics, Political Philosophy, must have been instructed Epistemology, Metaphysics and Moral and in grammar, music and gymnastics by the most psychology into an interconnected and systematic distinguished teachers of his time, and certainly his philosophy. In addition to the ideas they contained quickness of mind and modesty were (such as his doctrine Platonic Realism, widely praised. He had also attended courses Essentialism, Idealism, his famous theory of Forms of philosophy and was acquainted with Cratylus, a and ideal of “Platonic love”), many of his writing disciple of Heraclitus, before meeting Socrates. are also considered superb pieces of literature. This life-changing event occurred when Plato was about twenty years old, and Plato was the founder of the the intercourse between master and pupil probably famous Academy in Athens, the first institution of lasted eight or ten years. As a youth he had loved to higher learning in the western world. The write poetry and tragedies, but burnt them all after philosophical school which he developed at the he became a student of Socrates and turned to Academy was known as Platonism (and its later philosophy in earnest. It is plain that off-shoot, Neo-Platonism). no influence on Plato was greater than that of Socrates. Life Sketch Plato was in military service from 409 to 404 B.C. Plato was born in Athens (or possibly in Aegina, and, for a time, he imagined a life in public affairs according to some sources) sometime between 429 for himself. He was even invited to join the and 423 B.C. (most modern scholars use estimate administration of the regime of the Thirty Tyrants of 428 or 427 B.C.) He was possibly originally Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 940 Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-12, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in (through the connected with his uncle, Charmides, authenticity of at least some of these remains in who was himself a member), but he was soon doubt) of superb dialogues, written in the form of repelled by their violent acts and backed out. In conversations, a form which permitted him to 403 B.C., democracy was restored to Athens, and develop the Socratic method of question and Plato had renewed hopes of entering politics again, answer. In his dialogues, Plato discussed every although the excesses of Athenian political life in kind of philosophical idea, including Ethics (with general persuaded him to hold back. The execution discussion of the nature of virtue), Metaphysics of Socrates in 399 B.C. had a profound effort on (where topics include immortality, man, mind, and him, and be decided to have nothing further to do Realism), Political Philosophy (where topics such with politics in Athens. as censorship and the ideal state are discussed), Philosophy of Religion (considering topics such as After Socrates' death, he joined a group of Socratic Atheism, Dualism and Pantheism), Epistemology disciples who had gathered in the Greek city of (where he looked at ideas such as a priori Megara under the leadership of Euclid of Megara, knowledge and Rationalism), the Philosophy of before leaving and travelling quite widely Mathematics and the theory of art (especially in Italy, Sicily, Egypt and Cyrene. During his time dance, music, poetry, architecture and drama). in Italy, he also studied with students of Pythagoras and came to appreciate the value We have no material evidence about of mathematics. exactly when Plato wrote each of his dialogues, nor the extent to which some might have been When he returned to Athens in about 385 or 387 later revised or rewritten, nor even whether all or B.C., Plato founded the Academy (or Academia), part of them were ever "published" or made widely one of the earliest and most famous organized available. In addition to the ideas they contained, schools in western civilization and the prototype though, his writings are also considered superb for later universities, on a plot of land containing a pieces of literature in their own right, in terms of sacred grove just outside the city walls of ancient the mastery of language, the power of Athens, which had once belonged to the Athenian indicating character, the sense of situation, and the hero Akademos. Plato had been bitterly keen eye for both tragic and comic aspects. disappointed with the standards displayed by those in public office, and his intention was to train None of the dialogues contain Plato himself as a young men in philosophy and the science in order character, and so he does not actually declare that to create better statesmen, as well as to continue the anything asserted in them are specifically his own work of his former teacher, Socrates. Among views. The characters in the dialogues are Plato’s more noteworthy students at the Academy generally historical, with Socrates usually as the were Aristotle, Xenocrates (396-314 B.C.). protagonist (particularly in the early dialogues). It is generally thought that the view expressed by the Except for two more rather ill-advised and ill-fated character of Socrates in Plato’s dialogues were trips to Syracuse in Sicily in 367 B.C. and views that Socrates himself actually held, and the 361 B.C. to tutor the young ruler Dionysius II, works had the effect of gradually rehabilitating Plato presided over his Academy from Socrates’ rather tarnished image among Athenians 387 B.C. until his death in 347 B.C., aged about 80. in the wake of his death. As time went on, though, He was supposedly buried in the school grounds, the dialogues began to deal more with subjects that although his grave has never been discovered. interested Plato himself, rather than merely providing a vehicle for the ideas of Socrates. It On Plato’s death, his nephew Speusippus seems likely that Plato's main intention in his succeeded him as head of school (perhaps because dialogues was more to teach his students to think his star pupil Aristotle’s idea had by that time for themselves and to find their own answers to the diverged too far from Plato’s). The school big questions, rather than to blindly follow his own continued to operate for almost 900 years, unit opinions (or those of Socrates). A.D. 529, when it was closed by the Byzantine Emperor Justinial I, who saw it as a threat to the Among the (likely earlier) Socratic dialogues are: propagation of Christianity. “Apology”, “Charmides”, “Crito”, “Euthyphro”, “Ion”, “Laches”, “Lesser Hippias”, “Lysis”, PHILOSOPHICAL WORK Menexenus” and “Protagoras”. The following are often considerd “transitional” dialogues: “Gorgias”, Plato is perhaps the first philosopher whose “Meno” and “Euthydemus”. The middle dialogues complete works are still available to us. He wrote are generally seen as the first appearance of Plato’s no systematic treatises giving his views, but rather own view: “Cratylus”, “Phaedo”, “Phaedrus”, he wrote a number (about 35, although the “Symposium”, Republic”, “Theaetetus” and Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 941 Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-12, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in “Parmenides”. The late dialogues probably indicate This idea was most famously captured and Plato’s more mature thought, including criticism of illustrated in Plato's Allegory of the Cave, from his his own theories: “Sophist”, “Statesman”, best-known work, "The Republic".
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Socratic Dialogue: Teaching Patients to Become Their Own Cognitive Therapist
    National Crime Victims Center > Socratic Method > Socratic Dialogue Print This Page Socratic Dialogue: Teaching Patients to Become Their Own Cognitive Therapist “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC) Socratic dialogue is a foundational skill used by CPT therapists to help patients examine their lives, challenge maladaptive thoughts, address stuckpoints, and develop critical thinking skills. Socratic dialogue is derived from the work of the Greek philosopher, Socrates, who developed what is now called the Socratic method of teaching. In traditional education, the teacher is presumed to know more than the student, and the role of the teacher is to transmit the teacher’s knowledge to the student. In contrast, Socrates believed that the role of the teacher should not be to tell students what the “truth” is but to help them discover the truth themselves through a collaborative process of asking questions. By asking a series of questions designed to get the student to identify logical contradictions in their positions and/or evidence that does not support their thoughts, the Socratic method is designed to help the student discover the “truth” for themselves as opposed to being told what the “truth” is by the teacher. Socrates also thought this teaching method was superior because it teaches students the skill of critical thinking, a skill they can use throughout their lives. Another advantage of this method is that students are more likely to value knowledge if they discover it themselves than if someone tells them about it. In CPT, the purpose of Socratic questioning by the therapist is to prompt the patient to examine the accuracy of maladaptive thoughts that are causing psychological distress.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Freed Athens? J
    Ancient Greek Democracy: Readings and Sources Edited by Eric W. Robinson Copyright © 2004 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd The Beginnings of the Athenian Democracv: Who Freed Athens? J Introduction Though the very earliest democracies lildy took shape elsewhere in Greece, Athens embraced it relatively early and would ultimately become the most famous and powerful democracy the ancient world ever hew. Democracy is usually thought to have taken hold among the Athenians with the constitutional reforms of Cleisthenes, ca. 508/7 BC. The tyrant Peisistratus and later his sons had ruled Athens for decades before they were overthrown; Cleisthenes, rallying the people to his cause, made sweeping changes. These included the creation of a representative council (bode)chosen from among the citizens, new public organizations that more closely tied citizens throughout Attica to the Athenian state, and the populist ostracism law that enabled citizens to exile danger- ous or undesirable politicians by vote. Beginning with these measures, and for the next two centuries or so with only the briefest of interruptions, democracy held sway at Athens. Such is the most common interpretation. But there is, in fact, much room for disagree- ment about when and how democracy came to Athens. Ancient authors sometimes refer to Solon, a lawgiver and mediator of the early sixth century, as the founder of the Athenian constitution. It was also a popular belief among the Athenians that two famous “tyrant-slayers,” Harmodius and Aristogeiton, inaugurated Athenian freedom by assas- sinating one of the sons of Peisistratus a few years before Cleisthenes’ reforms - though ancient writers take pains to point out that only the military intervention of Sparta truly ended the tyranny.
    [Show full text]
  • The Roles of Solon in Plato's Dialogues
    The Roles of Solon in Plato’s Dialogues Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Samuel Ortencio Flores, M.A. Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Bruce Heiden, Advisor Anthony Kaldellis Richard Fletcher Greg Anderson Copyrighy by Samuel Ortencio Flores 2013 Abstract This dissertation is a study of Plato’s use and adaptation of an earlier model and tradition of wisdom based on the thought and legacy of the sixth-century archon, legislator, and poet Solon. Solon is cited and/or quoted thirty-four times in Plato’s dialogues, and alluded to many more times. My study shows that these references and allusions have deeper meaning when contextualized within the reception of Solon in the classical period. For Plato, Solon is a rhetorically powerful figure in advancing the relatively new practice of philosophy in Athens. While Solon himself did not adequately establish justice in the city, his legacy provided a model upon which Platonic philosophy could improve. Chapter One surveys the passing references to Solon in the dialogues as an introduction to my chapters on the dialogues in which Solon is a very prominent figure, Timaeus- Critias, Republic, and Laws. Chapter Two examines Critias’ use of his ancestor Solon to establish his own philosophic credentials. Chapter Three suggests that Socrates re- appropriates the aims and themes of Solon’s political poetry for Socratic philosophy. Chapter Four suggests that Solon provides a legislative model which Plato reconstructs in the Laws for the philosopher to supplant the role of legislator in Greek thought.
    [Show full text]
  • $Ectton of Tbe Ibttorv of Fiebicilne President-Sir STCLAIR THOMSON, M.D
    $ectton of tbe Ibttorv of fIebicilne President-Sir STCLAIR THOMSON, M.D. [Februar?y 7, 1934] William Harvey's Knowledge of Literature-Classical, Mediaval, Renaissance and Contemporary By D. F. FRASER-HARRIS, M.D., D.Sc., F.R.S.E. UNLESS we happen to have considered the subject, we can have no adequate notion of the extent of Harvey's acquaintance with Classical, Renaissance and Contemporary Literature. We are, perhaps, too apt to think of William Harvey as the author of that libellus aureus, the De Motu, and forget that he also wrote the De Generatione, on " Parturition," on the" Uterine Membranes and Humours," and on " Conception," throughout all of which he displayed the most intimate knowledge of the works of many authors who had views on topics of biological interest germane to the matters under discussion,L nor should we forget the lost writings of Harvey *on Medicine, Pathology, Respiration and Insects. Besides the works just mentioned, Harvey composed two "Disquisitions " to -Riolanus, full of references to Galen, and nine letters to contemporaries which have come down to us-one to Caspar Hofmann, of Nuremberg; one to Paul M. Slegel, of Hamburg; three to John Nardi, of Florence; one to R. Morison, of Paris; one to -J. D. Horst, of Hesse-Darmstadt and one to John Vlackveld, of Haarlem. It is in -the letter to Morison that Harvey has so much to say of Pecquet of Dieppe, the discoverer of the Receptaculum Chyli. There seems no room for doubt that Harvey could read in the original the Greek -and Latin authors to whom he refers.
    [Show full text]
  • Meditations the Philosophy Classic
    MEDITATIONS THE PHILOSOPHY CLASSIC MEDITATIONS THE PHILOSOPHY CLASSIC THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER MARCUS AURELIUS WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY DONALD ROBERTSON MEDITATIONS Also available in the same series: Beyond Good and Evil: The Philosophy Classic by Friedrich Nietzsche (ISBN: 978-0-857-08848-2) On the Origin of Species: The Science Classic by Charles Darwin (ISBN: 978-0-857-08847-5) Tao Te Ching: The Ancient Classic by Lao Tzu (ISBN: 978-0-857-08311-1) The Art of War: The Ancient Classic by Sun Tzu (ISBN: 978-0-857-08009-7) The Game of Life and How to Play It: The Self-Help Classic by Florence Scovel Shinn (ISBN: 978-0-857-08840-6) The Interpretation of Dreams: The Psychology Classic by Sigmund Freud (ISBN: 978-0-857-08844-4) The Prince: The Original Classic by Niccolo Machiavelli (ISBN: 978-0-857-08078-3) The Prophet: The Spirituality Classic by Kahlil Gibran (ISBN: 978-0-857-08855-0) The Republic: The Influential Classic by Plato (ISBN: 978-0-857-08313-5) The Science of Getting Rich: The Original Classic by Wallace Wattles (ISBN: 978-0-857-08008-0) The Wealth of Nations: The Economics Classic by Adam Smith (ISBN: 978-0-857-08077-6) Think and Grow Rich: The Original Classic by Napoleon Hill (ISBN: 978-1-906-46559-9) MEDITATIONS The Philosophy Classic MARCUS AURELIUS With an Introduction by DONALD ROBERTSON This edition first published 2020 Introduction copyright © Donald Robertson, 2020 The material for Meditations is based on The Thoughts of the Emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus, translated by George Long, published by Bell & Daldy, London 1862, and is now in the public domain.
    [Show full text]
  • What to Be Realist About in Linguistic Science
    What to be realist about in linguistic science Geoffrey K. Pullum School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences University of Edinburgh This paper was presented at a workshop entitled ‘Foundation of Linguistics: Languages as Abstract Objects’ at the Technische Universitat¨ Carolo-Wilhelmina in Braunschweig, Germany, June 25–28. At the end of his viva, Hilary Putnam asked him, “And tell us, Mr. Boolos, what does the analytical hierarchy have to do with the real world?” Without hesitating Boolos replied, “It’s part of it.” [From the Wikipedia article on the MIT logician George Boolos] Prefatory remarks on realism I need to begin by clarifying what is meant (or at least, what I and others have meant) by ‘realism’. That such clarification is necessary is indicated by the fact that the subtitle of this workshop (‘Lan- guages as Abstract Objects’) clearly pays homage to Katz (1981) (Language and Other Abstract Objects). What the late Jerrold J. Katz meant by the word ‘realism’ does not comport with the usage of most philosophers. Katz shows little interest in defining his terms. He barely even waves a hand in that direc- tion. The third page of Language and Other Abstract Objects book announces that he has had an epiphany: there is “an alternative to both the American structuralists’ and the Chomskian concep- tion of what grammars are theories of, namely, the Platonic realist view that grammars are theories of abstract objects (sentences)” (Katz 1981, 3). Neither ‘Platonic’ nor ‘realist’ are analysed, expli- cated, or even glossed at this point. ‘Platonic realism’ is thereafter abbreviated to ‘Platonism’ and simply assumed to be understood.
    [Show full text]
  • UNDERSTANDING MATHEMATICS to UNDERSTAND PLATO -THEAETEUS (147D-148B Salomon Ofman
    UNDERSTANDING MATHEMATICS TO UNDERSTAND PLATO -THEAETEUS (147d-148b Salomon Ofman To cite this version: Salomon Ofman. UNDERSTANDING MATHEMATICS TO UNDERSTAND PLATO -THEAETEUS (147d-148b. Lato Sensu, revue de la Société de philosophie des sciences, Société de philosophie des sciences, 2014, 1 (1). hal-01305361 HAL Id: hal-01305361 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01305361 Submitted on 20 Apr 2016 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. UNDERSTANDING MATHEMATICS TO UNDERSTAND PLATO - THEAETEUS (147d-148b) COMPRENDRE LES MATHÉMATIQUES POUR COMPRENDRE PLATON - THÉÉTÈTE (147d-148b) Salomon OFMAN Institut mathématique de Jussieu-PRG Histoire des Sciences mathématiques 4 Place Jussieu 75005 Paris [email protected] Abstract. This paper is an updated translation of an article published in French in the Journal Lato Sensu (I, 2014, p. 70-80). We study here the so- called ‘Mathematical part’ of Plato’s Theaetetus. Its subject concerns the incommensurability of certain magnitudes, in modern terms the question of the rationality or irrationality of the square roots of integers. As the most ancient text on the subject, and on Greek mathematics and mathematicians as well, its historical importance is enormous.
    [Show full text]
  • Marathon 2,500 Years Edited by Christopher Carey & Michael Edwards
    MARATHON 2,500 YEARS EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER CAREY & MICHAEL EDWARDS INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON MARATHON – 2,500 YEARS BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SUPPLEMENT 124 DIRECTOR & GENERAL EDITOR: JOHN NORTH DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS: RICHARD SIMPSON MARATHON – 2,500 YEARS PROCEEDINGS OF THE MARATHON CONFERENCE 2010 EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER CAREY & MICHAEL EDWARDS INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 2013 The cover image shows Persian warriors at Ishtar Gate, from before the fourth century BC. Pergamon Museum/Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin. Photo Mohammed Shamma (2003). Used under CC‐BY terms. All rights reserved. This PDF edition published in 2019 First published in print in 2013 This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. More information regarding CC licenses is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Available to download free at http://www.humanities-digital-library.org ISBN: 978-1-905670-81-9 (2019 PDF edition) DOI: 10.14296/1019.9781905670819 ISBN: 978-1-905670-52-9 (2013 paperback edition) ©2013 Institute of Classical Studies, University of London The right of contributors to be identified as the authors of the work published here has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Designed and typeset at the Institute of Classical Studies TABLE OF CONTENTS Introductory note 1 P. J. Rhodes The battle of Marathon and modern scholarship 3 Christopher Pelling Herodotus’ Marathon 23 Peter Krentz Marathon and the development of the exclusive hoplite phalanx 35 Andrej Petrovic The battle of Marathon in pre-Herodotean sources: on Marathon verse-inscriptions (IG I3 503/504; Seg Lvi 430) 45 V.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato Apology of Socrates and Crito
    COLLEGE SERIES OF GREEK AUTHORS EDITED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF JOHN WILLIAMS WHITE, LEWIS R. PACKARD, a n d THOMAS D. SEYMOUR. PLATO A p o l o g y o f S o c r a t e s AND C r i t o EDITED ON THE BASIS OF CRON’S EDITION BY LOUIS DYER A s s i s t a n t ·Ρι;Οχ'ε&^ο^ ι ν ^University. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY. 1902. I P ■ C o p · 3 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by J o h n W il l ia m s W h i t e a n d T h o m a s D. S e y m o u r , In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. J . S. C u s h in g & Co., P r i n t e r s , B o s t o n . PREFACE. T his edition of the Apology of Socrates and the Crito is based upon Dr. Christian Cron’s eighth edition, Leipzig, 1882. The Notes and Introduction here given have in the main been con­ fined within the limits intelligently drawn by Dr. Cron, whose commentaries upon various dialogues of Plato have done and still do so much in Germany to make the study of our author more profitable as well as pleasanter. No scruple has been felt, how­ ever, in making changes. I trust there are few if any of these which Dr. Cron might not himself make if he were preparing his work for an English-thinking and English-speaking public.
    [Show full text]
  • On Moral Understanding
    COMMENTTHE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 147 | MAY 2003 TOM WHIPPS On Moral Understanding DNA pioneers: The surviving members of the King’s team, who worked on the discovery of the structure of DNA 50 years ago, withDavid James Watson, K Levytheir Cambridge ‘rival’ at the time. From left Ray Gosling, Herbert Wilson, DNA at King’s: DepartmentJames Watson and of Maurice Philosophy Wilkins King’s College the continuing story University of London Prize for his contribution – and A day of celebrations their teams, but also to subse- quent generations of scientists at ver 600 guests attended a cant scientific discovery of the King’s. unique day of events celeb- 20th century,’ in the words of Four Nobel Laureates – Mau- Orating King’s role in the 50th Principal Professor Arthur Lucas, rice Wilkins, James Watson, Sid- anniversary of the discovery of the ‘and their research changed ney Altman and Tim Hunt – double helix structure of DNA on the world’. attended the event which was so 22 April. The day paid tribute not only to oversubscribed that the proceed- Scientists at King’s played a King’s DNA pioneers Rosalind ings were relayed by video link to fundamental role in this momen- Franklin and Maurice Wilkins – tous discovery – ‘the most signifi- who went onto win the Nobel continued on page 2 2 Funding news | 3 Peace Operations Review | 5 Widening participation | 8 25 years of Anglo-French law | 11 Margaret Atwood at King’s | 12 Susan Gibson wins Rosalind Franklin Award | 15 Focus: School of Law | 16 Research news | 18 Books | 19 KCLSU election results | 20 Arts abcdef U N I V E R S I T Y O F L O N D O N A C C O M M O D A T I O N O F F I C E ACCOMMODATION INFORMATION - FINDING SOMEWHERE TO LIVE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy WARNING: Under no circumstances inshould the this University document be of taken London as providing legal advice.
    [Show full text]
  • Induction in the Socratic Tradition John P
    Induction in the Socratic Tradition John P. McCaskey Stanford University Abstract: Aristotle said that induction (epagǀgƝ) is a proceeding from particulars to a universal, and the definition has been conventional ever since. But there is an ambiguity here. Induction in the Scholastic and the (so-called) Humean tradition has presumed that Aristotle meant going from particular statements to universal statements. But the alternate view, namely that Aristotle meant going from particular things to universal ideas, prevailed all through antiquity and then again from the time of Francis Bacon until the mid-nineteenth century. Recent scholarship is so steeped in the first-mentioned tradition that we have virtually forgotten the other. In this essay McCaskey seeks to recover that alternate tradition, a tradition whose leading theoreticians were William Whewell, Francis Bacon, Socrates, and in fact Aristotle himself. The examination is both historical and philosophical. The first part of the essay fills out the history. The latter part examines the most mature of the philosophies in the Socratic tradition, specifically Bacon’s and Whewell’s. After tracing out this tradition, McCaskey shows how this alternate view of induction is indeed employed in science, as exemplified by several instances taken from actual scientific practice. In this manner, McCaskey proposes to us that the Humean problem of induction is merely an artifact of a bad conception of induction and that a return to the Socratic conception might be warranted. Introduction Aristotle said that induction (epagǀgƝ) is a proceeding from particulars to a universal, and the definition has been conventional ever since. But there is an ambiguity here.
    [Show full text]
  • Applying the Socratic Method to the Problem Solving Process
    American Journal of Business Education – August 2009 Volume 2, Number 5 Socratic Problem-Solving In The Business World Evan Peterson, University Of Detroit Mercy, USA ABSTRACT Accurate and effective decision-making is one of the most essential skills necessary for organizational success. The problem-solving process provides a systematic means of effectively recognizing, analyzing, and solving a dilemma. The key element in this process is critical analysis of the situation, which can be executed by a taking a Socratic approach to the situation. Applying the Socratic Method to the problem-solving model ensures a well-rounded and versatile analysis. Keywords: Problem-solving process, decision- making, critical analysis, Socratic Method INTRODUCTION he sheer complexity of today’s business organization is rivaled only by the complexity of the business environment in which it operates. The permutation of complexity and exacting time constraints companies and individuals face in making vital decisions involving thousands of people Tand millions of dollars can seem more daunting than storming the beaches of Normandy. However, all hope is not lost. The anxiety, along with the blood, sweat, and tears that come along with difficult decision-making can be reduced by having a clear, time-tested plan of attack that can be applied to the problem situation. The problem-solving model is one such plan of attack, for it provides a framework that an individual decision-maker or group of decision-makers can follow to reach a feasible solution to the problem. Situational analysis is the bread and butter of the problem-solving model, for it goes hand-in-hand with each step of the model.
    [Show full text]