Learning Objects

Ancient Greek Moral Philosophy: Socrates

Today? (WHEN?) we are going to talk about ancient Greek moral philosophy. Of course, Greek philosophy, throughout its development, has reflected about many topics. For example, questions about the world that surrounds us: the essence of matter, the principles that govern the universe… One concern was especially remarkable: is there an order in reality? We observe that things change but, is there any pattern for that change or is the universe just a chaos? What kind of order is there? The first Greek philosophers (pre-socratic) worked on those questions by using reason (logos). They develop their ideas by reflecting on what they can observe empirically, instead of only relying in mithological explanations. If you recall, this is considered the birth of philosophy, the turn from myths to reason.

So, what is moral philosophy? Morality is a broad notion that includes, mainly, our actions in relation to oneself and also to the others, the good and the evil and life in general. Moral philosophy is, then, a reflection on these issues. Many Greek philosophers started to pay more attention to the human reality as opposed to the cosmological reality. The major figure representing this turn is Socrates. However, do you think there is such a big opposition between the way in which the presocratics addressed their enquiries with the one used by Socrates?

What did Socrates do? He asked everyone that he would meet with what they think about, justice, courage, temperance, happiness, pleasure... In that manner, he is also using observation… He uses a lot of questions to build a clear definition of these topics together with his interlocutor. Particularly, he was very concerned that definitions should be very accurate, and that, to be so, they had to be developed after a sustained discussion with the aid of intelligence, reason, in dialogue with the others. Therefore, he is seeking for some common ground, for a definition that can be accepted by different people. As you know, every person has, sometimes, different opinions on what is, for example, a good or a bad act. This can lead to some chaotic situations. ¿Is there any pattern underlying all those differences that could be discovered with more careful reflection? Socrates answer was affirmative, indeed.

One of the most important ideas of Socrates’ philosophy is “moral intellectualism”, meaning that, if one acts in a bad way, that is because he didn’t know that to be bad. In other words, knowledge is tha guarantee for good actions. This applies also to oneself, and that’s why Socrates famous phrase says: “Know yourself”. For example, if you know that chocolate is not good for you, you won’t eat it. What is the common ground here? Maybe for another person chocalete is good, but what is more importantly good for both is that they can know themselves and act accordingly. Therefore, virtue (to act in a good way) is constituted by knowledge. That’s why it is important to develop clear definitions, because they would constitute knowledge and would serve as a guide to our conduct.

Greek philosophers noted that every person is willing to attain happiness. However, it is very difficult to say what happiness is, as every one seems to find it in different things. What would Socrates say? Well, he would observe that people engage in different activities and focus in different goods to find happiness. However, all of them need knowledge to use the goods in a correct way or to succed in their activities. Therefore, wisdom (knowledge) is what most importantly constitutes happiness. For example, it can introduce order in our life controlling our desires of eating too much chocolate because we know this will be bad for us. Check as well this video on the life of Socrates