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Single Idea 7421

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined ]

Full Idea

Socrates asks people 'Are you caring for yourself?' He is the man who cares about the care of others; this is the particular position of the philosopher.

Gist of Idea

A philosopher is one who cares about what other people care about

Source

report of Socrates (reports of career [c.420 BCE]) by Michel Foucault - Ethics of the Concern for Self as Freedom p.287

Book Ref

Foucault,Michel: 'Essential Works 1954-1984 I: Ethics', ed/tr. Rabinow,Paul [Penguin 1994], p.287

A Reaction

Priests, politicians and psychiatrists also care quite intensely about the concerns of other people. Someone who was intensely self-absorbed with the critical task of getting their own beliefs right would count for me as a philosopher.

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]