Philosopher's Poll - #1: Socrates

[k-onmmunist]

i thought it might be interesting to do a series of polls in this board to discuss atlas user opinions of numerous philosophers/theologists, so here's the first one

[DC Al Fine]

Mildly negative. Some of his Socratic dialogues take multi-faceted concepts and turn them into simple binary questions, which grates on me.

What other philosophers do you plan on including? I suggest Aquinas & Nietzsche for very different reasons.

[k-onmmunist]

What other philosophers do you plan on including? I suggest Aquinas & Nietzsche for very different reasons.

both of those were going to be included, plus many others from all the important schools of western philosophy. if anyone has any suggestions, i'll be glad to hear them

[DC Al Fine]

What other philosophers do you plan on including? I suggest Aquinas & Nietzsche for very different reasons.

both of those were going to be included, plus many others from all the important schools of western philosophy. if anyone has any suggestions, i'll be glad to hear them

Oo oo, Leibniz

[angus]

Opinion of Socrates?  Generally favorable.  Back in high school I was a big fan, but I've sort of outgrown him.  Still, he didn't have the shoulders of a million of others to stand on, and in that sense Socrates was like the George Washington of philosophers.  You gotta respect that.  I think therefore I am.  We always credit Descartes with that line, but Socrates was existentialist before it was even cool.  He did piss everybody off, though.  I have had several colleagues, usually Eastern Europeans, who favor the Socratic method of educating.  I Kant say that I don't like Socrates, but my own favorite philosopher is a different one.  


(and it's theologians, by the way.)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Generally favorable as a person, but I think his thought (as relayed through Plato) is highly overrated for the reason DC Al Fine said.

Windis, any and all Doctors of the Church could be interesting, particularly the female ones, John of the Cross, Augustine, and Bonaventure. Kant also, as well as Spinoza, the now-famed Maimonides, and Anscombe.

[DemPGH]

I have to say positive. My impression is that he was trying to figure out ways to think logically about things, which I have to say is good. And moreover, Galileo used the Socratic method so effectively that it brought about his horrifying trial in 1633. And Galileo's use of the method destroyed the geocentric cosmological model (he also used it more than once). A Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which is a beautiful work. And at times tongue-in-cheek and witty.

[The Mikado]

Mildly negative. Some of his Socratic dialogues take multi-faceted concepts and turn them into simple binary questions, which grates on me.

What other philosophers do you plan on including? I suggest Aquinas & Nietzsche for very different reasons.

Plato wrote all of those dialogues, and especially the later ones, it's pretty clear that Plato is just putting his views in Socrates' mouth.  Xenophon's Socratic dialogues reveal a very different Socrates, one outright sympathetic to Sparta.  Xenophon's portrayal of Socrates' trial is far more believable than Plato's, IMO, because Xenophon's portrayal of the jury as furious at Socrates for his admiration of the laws of Sparta seems far more realistic than Plato's bumbling prosecution that seems solely set up for Socrates to make points.

It's basically impossible to judge Socrates because he left nothing to judge him by.  It basically depends on if you buy Xenophon's account or Plato's.

[DC Al Fine]

Mildly negative. Some of his Socratic dialogues take multi-faceted concepts and turn them into simple binary questions, which grates on me.

What other philosophers do you plan on including? I suggest Aquinas & Nietzsche for very different reasons.

Plato wrote all of those dialogues, and especially the later ones, it's pretty clear that Plato is just putting his views in Socrates' mouth.  Xenophon's Socratic dialogues reveal a very different Socrates, one outright sympathetic to Sparta.  Xenophon's portrayal of Socrates' trial is far more believable than Plato's, IMO, because Xenophon's portrayal of the jury as furious at Socrates for his admiration of the laws of Sparta seems far more realistic than Plato's bumbling prosecution that seems solely set up for Socrates to make points.

It's basically impossible to judge Socrates because he left nothing to judge him by.  It basically depends on if you buy Xenophon's account or Plato's.

I can't say I've read Xenophon's accounts. Although to be honest, I was mainly referring to Euphythro.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I'm not familiar with Xenophon's treatment of Socrates, so I'm voting on the character that Plato invented rather than a real person.

Same.  By the end of Plato's Apology, I wanted to kill Socrates myself.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

No real way to know. But I do know that his apprentice Plato was a giant douchebag and a HP of the worst order.