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Single Idea 648

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 2. Analysis by Division ]

Full Idea

Socrates began the quest for something universal in addition to the radical flux of perceptible particulars, with his definitions. But he rightly understood that universals cannot be separated from particulars.

Clarification

Plato made definitions separate, with his 'Forms'

Gist of Idea

Socrates began the quest for something universal with his definitions, but he didn't make them separate

Source

report of Socrates (reports of career [c.420 BCE]) by Aristotle - Metaphysics 1086b

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'Metaphysics', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,Hugh [Penguin 1998], p.425

The 53 ideas from Socrates

13773 For the truth you need Prodicus's fifty-drachma course, not his one-drachma course [Socrates]
343 The unexamined life is not worth living for men [Socrates]
7421 A philosopher is one who cares about what other people care about [Socrates, by Foucault]
1649 Socrates opened philosophy to all, but Plato confined moral enquiry to a tiny elite [Vlastos on Socrates]
5842 Philosophical discussion involves dividing subject-matter into categories [Socrates, by Xenophon]
648 Socrates began the quest for something universal with his definitions, but he didn't make them separate [Socrates, by Aristotle]
164 It is legitimate to play the devil's advocate [Socrates]
1647 In Socratic dialogue you must say what you believe, so unasserted premises are not debated [Vlastos on Socrates]
115 Socrates was pleased if his mistakes were proved wrong [Socrates]
22099 The method of Socrates shows the student is discovering the truth within himself [Socrates, by Carlisle]
5844 Socrates always proceeded in argument by general agreement at each stage [Socrates, by Xenophon]
11389 Socrates sought essences, which are the basis of formal logic [Socrates, by Aristotle]
639 Socrates developed definitions as the basis of syllogisms, and also inductive arguments [Socrates, by Aristotle]
1652 Socrates did not consider universals or definitions as having separate existence, but Plato made Forms of them [Socrates, by Aristotle]
199 The common belief is that people can know the best without acting on it [Socrates]
339 Men fear death as a great evil when it may be a great blessing [Socrates]
3017 The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance [Socrates, by Diog. Laertius]
23907 Courage is scientific knowledge [Socrates, by Aristotle]
347 Will I stand up against the law, simply because I have been unjustly judged? [Socrates]
1650 For Socrates our soul, though hard to define, is our self [Vlastos on Socrates]
23252 Socrates first proposed that we are run by mind or reason [Socrates, by Frede,M]
5839 For Socrates, wisdom and prudence were the same thing [Socrates, by Xenophon]
195 No one willingly commits an evil or base act [Socrates]
1653 Socrates did not accept the tripartite soul (which permits akrasia) [Vlastos on Socrates]
5843 People do what they think they should do, and only ever do what they think they should do [Socrates, by Xenophon]
5253 Socrates was shocked by the idea of akrasia, but observation shows that it happens [Aristotle on Socrates]
5867 For Socrates, virtues are forms of knowledge, so knowing justice produces justice [Socrates, by Aristotle]
5069 Socrates was the first to base ethics upon reason, and use reason to explain it [Taylor,R on Socrates]
5836 All human virtues are increased by study and practice [Socrates, by Xenophon]
5840 The wise perform good actions, and people fail to be good without wisdom [Socrates, by Xenophon]
185 Socrates despised good looks [Socrates, by Plato]
5070 Socrates conservatively assumed that Athenian conventions were natural and true [Taylor,R on Socrates]
5838 A well-made dung basket is fine, and a badly-made gold shield is base, because of function [Socrates, by Xenophon]
344 If death is like a night of dreamless sleep, such nights are very pleasant [Socrates]
5837 Things are both good and fine by the same standard [Socrates, by Xenophon]
1646 Socrates was the first to put 'eudaimonia' at the centre of ethics [Socrates, by Vlastos]
2 We should not even harm someone who harms us [Socrates]
1663 By 'areté' Socrates means just what we mean by moral virtue [Vlastos on Socrates]
126 We should ask what sort of people we want to be [Socrates]
345 A good man cannot be harmed, either in life or in death [Socrates]
4323 Socrates is torn between intellectual virtue, which is united and teachable, and natural virtue, which isn't [PG on Socrates]
8003 Socrates agrees that virtue is teachable, but then denies that there are teachers [Socrates, by MacIntyre]
4111 Socrates believed that basically there is only one virtue, the power of right judgement [Socrates, by Williams,B]
7808 Socrates made the civic values of justice and friendship paramount [Socrates, by Grayling]
346 One ought not to return a wrong or injury to any person, whatever the provocation [Socrates]
341 Wealth is good if it is accompanied by virtue [Socrates]
7585 Socrates emphasises that the knower is an existing individual, with existence his main task [Socrates, by Kierkegaard]
1657 Socrates holds that right reason entails virtue, and this must also apply to the gods [Vlastos on Socrates]
5841 Obedience to the law gives the best life, and success in war [Socrates, by Xenophon]
1661 Socrates was the first to grasp that a cruelty is not justified by another cruelty [Vlastos on Socrates]
5846 A lover using force is a villain, but a seducer is much worse, because he corrupts character [Socrates, by Xenophon]
1662 A new concept of God as unswerving goodness emerges from Socrates' commitment to virtue [Vlastos on Socrates]
338 Socrates is accused of denying the gods, saying sun is stone and moon is earth [Socrates, by Plato]