PHL 3000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Critical Thinking, Egocentrism, Sentenced
Lecture 1.1
What is Critical Thinking?
• Critical thinking is that mode of thinking—about any subject, content, or problem—in
which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing,
assessing, and reconstructing it… It entails effective communication and problem-solving
abilities, as well as a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.
o A general definition – applies to any subject
o Reflective – requires you to think about how you think
o Critical – it questions whether the way you think is good or bad
o Overcoming obstacles – you are often your own worst enemy when it comes to
critical thinking
▪ If you want to think critically you have to overcome your own bias
• Another way of understanding critical thinking is to focus on an example of a critical
thinker
o What character traits are required for a person to be a critical thinker
Socrates (470-399 BCE) – the father of western philosophy
• Prosecuted for “corrupting the youth” among other charges
o Sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock
o Socrates was never afraid or upset by his own demise
• Historical context
o Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BCE)
▪ Persian empire vs. Greek city-states
▪ Persia was by far the strongest with larger forces
▪ Greek city-states still prevailed
• Strong naval forces
o Golden Age of Athens
▪ Powerful, rich, and cultural center
▪ Having repelled the Persian forces, new trade routes were opened, making
Athens extremely prosperous
▪ Became the artistic, economic, and cultural center of the ancient West
▪ Economic prosperity allowed the new discipline of philosophy to occur.
• Philosophers spend time asking questions that don’t need to be
answered right away/abstract concepts
• They can only exist in a prosperous society, because they have to
be able to have time to think about things other than survival.
▪ Many philosophers at the time
o Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE)
▪ Greek city-states had been united, but they fought each other
▪ Athens vs. Sparta
▪ Athens was one of the strongest greatest cities. However Sparta had only
the basic necessities.
▪ Sparta destroys the entire naval fleet of Athens
▪ Athens surrenders to Spartan rule
o Aftermath of loss to Sparta
▪ Athens was a democracy before the war, while Sparta was an oligarchy
• Athens was a place where what people wanted mattered
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▪ Sparta imposed the “Thirty Tyrants” to rule over Athens. They killed and
banished many Athenians during their rule
• Many of the Tyrants were Athenians
• Anyone who had “done something wrong” had to come before the
Tyrants and were banished or killed
• Forced people to bring people before them
▪ In 403 BCE, Athens reclaimed its democracy, but never again achieved its
former status
o Not long after democracy was restored to Athens, an Athenian named Meletus
brought Socrates in front of a jury of his peers, accusing him of various crimes
▪ Socrates defended himself, as was customary, but lost and was sentenced
to death
▪ Plato recounts Socrates’ defense in the “Apology”
• Apology
o Socratic Irony: Socrates often says the exact opposite of what he means. If he
compliments someone for his wisdom, he really means to say that the person is
not wise.
o Dramatic Cues: If Socrates tells the audience to be calm or to stop yelling, that
indicates that he said something to rile them up.
Lecture 1.2 Part 1
The Apology of Socrates: Part 1 – the “older” charges
• Socrates (470-399 BCE) lived an unusually long life
o Never wrote any philosophical texts
• Philosophy = love (philo) of wisdom (Sophia)
o Philosophy is a way of life, not a subject
o It can be defined the same way critical thinking is
o The attempt to become a better thinker
Plato and Socrates
• Plato (428-348 BCE), a follower of Socrates, write many dialogues in which Socrates is
the protagonist.
• Dialogues written as texts for use in Plato’s school, The Academy (first university)
o Most are not accounts of actual events, but created as lessons
o The “Apology” however, is an actual event and may be accurate
▪ Plato was recording the events and he references others who were there
o The Socrates of the dialogues may not be the historical Socrates
Socrates’ Reputation
• Sought knowledge of truth, beauty, justice, virtue, and other big questions
o Wasn’t interested in anything other than these “most important” questions
• Questioned powerful people about these topics in the agora (big open area)
o Socrates would prove that they did not know what they thought they know
• Gained a reputation for tricking people with obtuse arguments meant to confuse
o Angry with Socrates
• Many of the sons of these powerful Athenians became followers of Socrates
o Began to emulate him
o Plato was one of these people
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▪ If Plato had not met Socrates he would have likely become an incredibly
powerful politician.
Socrates Reputation: “Apology” (20C-24B)
• Apology came from the word Apologia and it doesn’t mean sorry, it means defense
o Even the title of defense is ironic. Socrates is on the offense.
• Socrates begins his defense by addressing the older accusations against him before the
formal charges of Meletus
o His “reputation” for deliberately confusing people while talking about sensitive
subjects like what is good, pious, etc., and teaching these things to the youth who
follow him
• Socrates tells the story of the Oracle of Delphi
o The oracle was a religious figure who claimed to be able to predict the future
▪ The gods spoke to them
▪ Had a reputation for giving misleading predictions
• General before a battle asks if the battle will be victories. The
oracle says yes. Everyone is killed. The Oracle says you never
asked who will be victorious
▪ The oracle doesn’t like hubris
o One of Socrates followers asked the oracle if anyone is wiser than Socrates. The
oracle says “none are wiser” than Socrates
▪ Socrates is confused by this because he believes he knows nothing about
the most important things in life. How can he be the wisest?
o Most important things being the nature of justice, truth,
beauty, etc. How do things become just
• Socrates conflates “none being wiser” with “being the wisest”
• Could mean that everyone is equally wise, but not necessarily the
case.
o Socrates believes this statement by the Oracle is a mission from the gods to
understand this riddle. He begins to question anyone who claims to know
anything about these big questions
▪ Politicians
• Claim to know about the most important things in life
• Socrates questions them using the method of elenchus (questioning
someone in order to reveal that they hold a set of inconsistent
beliefs) thus proving that they actually know nothing about the
most important things
• Example of one of these beliefs is justice is giving to each what is
their due
o Both just and unjust to return something to someone
▪ Poets
• Have an ability to write great things, so in one respect better than
the politicians (who have no abilities or knowledge)
o Able to write beautiful things without knowing what beauty
is
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Document Summary
They killed and banished many athenians during their rule: many of the tyrants were athenians, anyone who had done something wrong had to come before the. Tyrants and were banished or killed: forced people to bring people before them. If plato had not met socrates he would have likely become an incredibly powerful politician. Socrates reputation: apology (20c-24b: apology came from the word apologia and it doesn"t mean sorry, it means defense, even the title of defense is ironic. The oracle says you never asked who will be victorious: the oracle doesn"t like hubris, one of socrates followers asked the oracle if anyone is wiser than socrates. The oracle says none are wiser than socrates: socrates is confused by this because he believes he knows nothing about the most important things in life. How can he be the wisest: most important things being the nature of justice, truth, beauty, etc.
