A History of Western Philosophy
Plato proceeds to an interesting sketch of the education proper to a young man who is to be a guardian. The young man chosen for these merits will spend the years from twenty to thirty on the four Pythagorean studies: arithmetic, geometry plane and solid, astronomy, and harmony. These studies are not to be pursued in any utilitarian spirit, but in order to prepare his mind for the vision of eternal things. In astronomy, for example, he is not to trouble himself too much about the actual heavenly bodies, but rather with the mathematics of motion of ideal heavenly bodies. This may seem absurd to modern ears, but, strange to say, it proved to be a fruitful point of view in connection with empirical astronomy.p. 130. — A History of Western Philosophy education Death, says Socrates, is the separation of the soul from the body. Here we come upon Platos dualism: between reality and appearance, ideas and sensible objects, reason and sense perception, soul and body. These pairs are connected: the first in each pair is superior to the second both in reality and in goodness. An ascetic morality was the natural consequence of this dualism. Christianity adopted this doctrine in part, but never wholly. There were two obstacles. The first was that the creation of the visible world, if Plato was right, must have been an evil deed, and therefore the Creator could not be good. The second was that orthodox Christianity could never bring itself to condemn marriage, though it held celibacy to be nobler. The Manichaeans were more consistent in both respects.p. 134. — A History of Western Philosophy death Socrates, in the Phaedo, proceeds to develop the ascetic implications of his doctrine, but his asceticism is of the moderate and gentlemanly sort. He does not say that the philosopher should wholly abstain from ordinary pleasures, but only that he should not be a slave to them. he should eat as much as is necessary; there is no suggestion of fasting. It was not drinking that he condemned, but the pleasure of drinking. In like manner, the philosopher must not care for the pleasures of love, or for costly raiment, or sandals, or other adornments of the person. He must be entirely concerned with the soul and not with the body It is obvious that this doctrine, popularized, would become ascetic, but in intention it is not, properly speaking, ascetic.p. 134. — A History of Western Philosophy love We come to the intellectual aspect of the religion which Plato rightly or wrongly attributes to Socrates. We are told that the body is a hindrance in the acquisition of knowledge, and that sight and hearing are inaccurate witnesses: true existence, if revealed to the soul at all, is revealed in thought, not in sense. the true philosopher ignores sight and hearing. What then is left to him? First, logic and mathematics; but these are hypothetical, and do not justify the categorical assertion about the real world. The next step - and this is critical - depends upon the idea of the good. Later philosophers had arguments to prove the identity of the real and the good, but Plato seems to have assumed it as self-evident. If we wish to understand him, we must, hypothetically, suppose this assumption justified.p. 136. — A History of Western Philosophy religion The Platonic Socrates was a pattern to subsequent philosophers for many ages. He is indifferent to worldly success, so devoid of fear that he remains calm and urbane and humorous to the last moment, caring more for what he believes to be the truth than for anything else whatever. He has, however, some very grave defects. He is dishonest and sophistical in argument, and in his private thinking he uses intellect to prove conclusions that are to him agreeable, rather than in a disinterested search for knowledge. Unlike some of his predecessors, he was not scientific in his thinking, but was determined to prove the universe agreeable to his ethical standards. This is treachery to truth, and the worst of philosophic sins. As a man, we may believe him admitted to the communion of saints; but as a philosopher he needs a long residence in a scientific purgatory.p. 142. — A History of Western Philosophy humor Platos cosmogony is set forth in the Timaeus, which was translated into Latin by Cicero, and was, in consequence, the only one of the dialogues that was known in the West in the Middle Ages. Both then, and earlier in Neoplatonism, it had more influence than anything else in Plato, which is curious, as it certainly contains more that is simply silly than is to be found in his other writings. As philosophy, it is unimportant, but historically it was so influential that it must be considered in some detail.p. 143. — A History of Western Philosophy philosophy Timaeus proceeds to explain the two souls in a man, one immortal, the other immortal, one created by God, the other created by the gods. The mortal soul is subject to terrible and irresistible affections - first of all, pleasure, the greatest incitement to evil; then pain, which deters from good; also rashness and fear, two foolish counselors, anger hard to be appeased, and hope easily led astray; these they the gods mingled with irrational sense and with all-daring love according to necessary laws and so framed men.p. 147. — A History of Western Philosophy love As for the argument that, if each man is the measure of all things, one man is as wise as another, Socrates suggests, on behalf of Protagoras, a very interesting answer, namely that, while one judgement cannot be truer than another, it can be better, in the sense of having better consequences. This suggests pragmatism. It is presumably this passage that first suggested to F.C.S. Schiller his admiration of Protagoras. He urges, for example, that when a doctor foretells the course of my illness, he actually knows more of my future than I do. And when men differ as to what is wise for the State to decree, the issue shows that some men had a greater knowledge as to the future than others had. Thus we cannot escape the conclusion that a wise man is a better measure of things than a fool.p. 151. — A History of Western Philosophy knowledge Numbers are in a certain precise sense, formal. The relation of the symbol two to the meaning of a proposition in which it occurs is far more complicated than the relation of the symbol red to the meaning of a proposition in which it occurs. We may say, in a certain sense, that the symbol two means nothing, for, when it occurs in a true statement, there is no corresponding constituent in the meaning of the statement. We may continue, if we like, to say that numbers are eternal, immutable, and so on, but we must add that they are also logical fictions.p. 156. — A History of Western Philosophy fiction The fame of Antisthenes was surpassed by that of his disciple, Diogenes He decided to live like a dog, and was therefore called a cynic, which means canine. He rejected all conventions - whether of religion, of manners of dress, of housing, of food, or of decency. One is told that he lived in a tub it was a large pitcher, of the sort used in primitive times for burials. He lived like an Indian fakir, by begging. Everyone knows how Alexander visited him, and asked if he desired any favor; only to stand out of my light, he replied.p. 231. — A History of Western Philosophy religion
Share your thoughts on A History of Western Philosophy quotes with the community:
Maybe you are looking for A History of Western Philosophy quotes, A History of Western Philosophy sayings?
Here are quotes most suitable for various topics.
In the web you can find use by keywords:
quotes A History of Western Philosophy
A History of Western Philosophy quotes
A History of Western Philosophy sayings
A History of Western Philosophy famous quotes
A History of Western Philosophy best quotes