Plato, Ethics Notes and Summary

Plato lived from 428-347 B.C.E.

• One of the most influential early philosophers
• before Plato:
  • Socrates – not as much a teacher as a guy the aristocratic youth hung out with
    • often asked very annoying questions, he was a questioner
    • stone cutter by trade
    • symposium – hang out session where people get drunk and shoot the shit, talk about philosophy
    • a friend of Socrates went to the Oracle at Delphi
      • oracle said “the wisest of men is Socrates”
      • went about finding someone who was wiser than he, from which he could learn
    • wisdom was his goal
      • the path to wisdom involves recognizing ignorance
      • we are all in this quest together and learn from one another
      • “I know” → Q → Q → find ignorance → Q → Q → knowledge/wisdom/truth
    • wisdom is a virtue, a way of being
      • a head of truths doesn't make you wise, a wise person has a truth seeking disposition
      • wisdom is part of character
    • Socratic method/Socratic dialectic – start with a claim of knowledge, encounter its opposite, then out comes wisdom, even if it is about something completely unrelated to the primary subject
    • Socrates was charged with corrupting the youth – really corrupting the aristocratic youth who ended up committing treason
    • Greek aristocracy (free men – the elite)
• Plato
  • kept his distance from Athenian policy, against family
  • founded a school, like a university
  • Aristotle was a student at this school
    • Aristotle then founded his own school
    • Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great
    • encouraged Alexander the Great to not destroy the conquered people's institutions

Euthyphro

• Plato's voice comes through in Euthyphro
• Plato's first crack at answering the big questions
• careful – Socrates in Plato's writings may not always hold the same position as the actual Socrates
• Euthyphro tries to resort to higher authority to show morality – that Zeus killed his father (Euthyphro is putting his father on trial)
• Socrates (in the story) points out that the Gods fight and argue
• discussion of the law turns quickly into a discussion on morality
• Plato attempts to establish right and wrong
  • the law does not necessarily show morality → legal or not legal, not moral or not moral
  • the law can require us to do something that is not moral
• Does one model the Gods?
• Relation between Law and Morality
  • Euthyphro's obligation under law vs. moral obligation
    • the law says that any crime must be reported
    • morality often is such that one is obligated to act for one's family
    • Socrates is surprised that Euthyphro is bringing charges against his father
  • moral position of particularity - “My brother counts more to me than my neighbor”
    • position of Socrates in the story
    • a lot of people are particular about their children – demonstrate favoritism, discretion – your kid led mine astray! Little jonny is a good kid
  • moral position of universality
    • position of Euthyphro
    • if it is right to bring the guilty to justice, then it does not matter who the guilty is, even if it is his own father
  • injustice must be remedied – immediately
    • a just person cannot tolerate injustice
    • this implies that morality is not personal
    • Euthyphro – my father killed somebody; he must be punished
  • Central Problems
    • the objectivity of moral value
    • relativity – dependent on culture, time, place
    • piety, justice → virtue
      • if what is true of piety is true, then it applies to other virtues
    • leads to question of the unity of virtue
      • meta-ethical idea
    • virtue – an excellence of character, a demonstrative property
      • the more one's character is aligned with the 'good', the 'right', the 'true', then the more virtuous one is
      • is it possible to have one virtue without the rest?
      • Is it possible to be just and not be pious? Is it possible to be happy and not just?
      • If you have one, then you have them all
  • For Plato – one must find out what is right and good and then do it; one one has wisdom: knowledge of the truth – and one will not therefore act in a bad way
    • once one has knowledge of the good (knowledge stems from a search for the truth)
    • when one does evil, it is only out of ignorance of what is good
  • in Euthyphro, Socrates wants Euthyphro to be absolutely certain that his actions are
  • creating injustice occurs when a person is ignorant
  • at the end of Plato's books, the good person with their knowledge of justice can do injustice
  • in Euthyphro, Plato is looking for a measure to judge piety – how do we know that this is big and this is small;
    • in this dialogue, he fails
    • if there is no measure for justice, then all you have left are 'the many' (who are troublesome) or the gods (who represent power)
• Central Problem of the Euthyphro
  • X is good
    • b/c it is loved by the gods
  • X is loved by the gods
    • b/c it is good
• Reality understood via senses: known as 'knowledge'
  • for Plato, truth is required for it to be knowledge
    • the senses do not provide access to the truth, because they are not the right tools
    • senses tell us about what is fleeting and temporary
    • Plato says truth is permanent, cannot change
      • so even if I see a barking dog, it is not truth, the best that can be is opinion
• Plato says we can also truly understand reality using out intellect (reason)
  • using reason, we can access Truth
  • there are fundamental properties, forms, that make reality possible
    • ex. go to an art museum, and say, “ah beauty” - Plato says you are not seeing beauty, you are perceiving it by the intellect
    • beautiful things are beautiful because they possess this property of beauty
  • the good is the form that gives meaning to virtues, such as justice, piety
    • ex. somebody saves a baby, one thinks 'good!' - however what you are seeing, your senses, are sensing action; good is deeper, it is a form
  • then Plato believes this:
    X is loved by the gods
    b/c it is good
    • when the good person realizes what they have done, out of ignorance, they respond appropriately
    • anything good is good independently of whether it is loved by anybody or not

Crito

• Crito tries to convince Plato to escape because
  • your a father with children – responsibility, raising children in wisdom
  • you will ruin my reputation – owe it to our friendship, people will think I was too cheap to bribe the guards, have pity/compassion on the reputation of your friends
  • who else will teach the world? - you are one of the only truth seekers in the world
    • his God given purpose of seeking truth will end
  • this conviction is unjust – sure it was legally acceptable (if the law is considered a representation of justice), but the overall thing is unjust, regardless of what the many think
    • Crito things justice is not measured simply by the will of the jury
    • a legal procedure does not guarantee true justice – unjust laws must be resisted by the just person
    • a person concerned with the good has no obligation to comply with unjust laws
      • 'the many' may include
  • Deliberation isn't necessary because if each person is given the same information, there isn't anything else
    • disagreement occurs when some know what justice requires and some have opinions
    • in the Athenian justice system, tried by one's peers (in intelligence) – on the basis of what does being born Athenian make you a peer, that is chance, luck, random according to Plato
• the definition of justice is what determines whether Socrates will escape
• Socrates: p1: ought not to harm parents
  p2: city is like parents
  c: ought not to harm parents
  • p1: city lives by its laws
  • p2: to violate laws is to harm city
  • ought not to violate laws

• p1: escape is a violation of law
• p2: escape would harm city
• c: ought not escape
• the Truth is motivating – once you know it, you wish to do it
  • the real Truth is greater than all doubt, really needs no defense
  • Socrates, in The Apology, hopes this will be what convinces the jury
  • to know something is wrong is to be moved not to do it
  • the laws speak to Socrates – if the laws knew what justice was then the laws would change
  • the jury convicts Socrates out of ignorance
• Socrates: don't blame the jury for the injustice, for they know not what they do
• difference between Socrates and MLK Jr.
  • MLK Jr. does not settle for injustice – he is in a similar position – locked up in an Alabama jail