Philosophy, like all areas of study, has a history. Better put, it has histories. That is because philosophical thought developed independently in many different societies at different times in their history. Today much of what we study as philosophy can be traced to Ancient Athens in Greece where the now globally famous philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle raised fundamental questions about the nature of reality and what it is to know. They did this in order to answer the basic question asked by Socrates: How should one live one’s life?

This Socratic question, like most philosophy, is asked because in Ancient Greece, people began to question the mythological and religious assumptions on which Greek society had been built. Philosophy calls into question the assumption that tradition, that what previous generations thought to be true is true, is authoritative. Most philosophical questioning begins in this way whether was in ancient China, South Asia or the contemporary United States. People ask, should I believe what you tell me to believe simply because you tell me it is true? Should I live my life that way you tell me to live my life simply because you tell me that is how I should live it? This leads to what Socrates called “the examined life.”

One tool philosophers use in the examination of life, in the examination of traditional assumptions about the way the world is — and it is important to note that in the world of the 21^st century C.E. traditional assumptions now include the assumption of the veracity of the scientific worldview — is took look at what past philosophers have written. The philosophers of the past were extraordinary thinkers. Their thought created the world we live in. Their thoughts are now interwoven into the fabric of our fundamental assumptions about the world. Notions such as the right of the individual to just treatment, the utility of the hypothetical empirical method of science, and the view that the earth and the universe have a deep history that goes back billions of years are the result of our coming to accept the arguments of past philosophers. This book makes extensive use of that tool we will examine philosophical issues by examining the arguments makes by different philosophers in different historical and societal context. In doing this we will begin with the great philosophers of ancient Greece, Socrates and Plato. Then we will go to the other end of Eurasia and encounter the Confucian and Daoist traditions by reading selected chapters of the extraordinary Daoist work Zhuangzi. After that we will jump forward 1500 years to Rene Descartes and then more contemporary thinkers.

This book contains both extensive passages of primary philosophical text paired with introductions and commentaries. It important that you read everything and read it carefully. The book will call to your attention important passages claims and arguments and will try to help you understand what will sometimes be challenging reading. Part of the reason, though, for having you read contemporary texts, is so that you can make your own discoveries and so that you can learn and think for yourself. Such discovery learning is an important part of this class. It is okay that you sometimes are confused and sometimes ask yourself, “What the heck does this mean?” All I ask is that you try to find your way out of the confusion and answer the “What the heck?” question yourself. By doing this you should become a better reader, a more accomplished thinker. You should learn a great deal of philosophy and begin to become somewhat of a philosopher yourself. Perhaps, even, through this treading, thinking, learning about philosophy and coming to philosophize, this course will change your fundamental assumptions and the way your live your life. That is what, ultimately, what philosophy is about.

In the remainder of this chapter, I will briefly introduce you to the Ancient Greek and Chinese philosophical traditions, elucidate the relation between philosophy and philosophizing, and give an overview of the chief areas of philosophical examination. After this you will read your first philosophical work, The Defense of Socrates better know as Plato’s Apology.

1. Ancient Greece

The term “Philosophy” comes from the Ancient Greek, “ϕιλοσοϕία” or “philosophia.”^[1] This is a compound word consisting of “Φιλο” or “Philo,” which is one of the Ancient Greek words for love, and “Σοϕία” or “Sophia,” which is usually translated as “wisdom.” Thus, philosophy is the love of wisdom.

Due to these Ancient Greek roots, in the European philosophical tradition, it is sometimes claimed that philosophy begins with the Athenian thinkers Socrates (470-399 BCE) and Plato (428-348 BCE). Other times, the advent of philosophy is attributed to an assortment of earlier thinkers called “Presocratics.” The term “Presocratic” applies to early Greek cosmologists (cosmologist: a thinker who attempts to understand the basic nature of cosmos), mathematical and geometric theorists, and natural philosophers (thinkers who attempt to explain the natural world without the benefit of the scientific method) who lived before the end of the fifth century BC. Another assortment “pre-philosophical” theorists not considered Presocratics are called “Sophists.” The sophists were itinerant teachers who charged for lesions. The Sophists claimed to be able to teach “Sophia” or wisdom. For the most part the Sophists were concerned with the teaching of rhetoric, or persuasive speaking. Those who claim that philosophy originates in with Socrates and Plato attribute the beginning of philosophy to the attacks of Socrates and his follower Plato against the Sophists. The contrast between Socrates claim to be a philosopher in contrast with the Sophists is presented in Plato’s Apology. However, many of his contemporaries considered Socrates to be a Sophist.

Perhaps the earliest Presocratic thinker is Thales of Miletus^[2] (c. 624-546 BC) who is considered the founder of the Milesian School. Better known than Thales is Pythagoras of Samos (c. 550-500) who came from southern Italy and is a figure shrouded in myth. There are many legends about Pythagoras, but what he actually did, and thought is subject to a great deal of dispute. The earliest accounts of Pythagoras portray him as a sort of shaman who believed in “metempsychosis,” the doctrine of the repeated incarnation of a soul over many lives. He is considered the founder of Pythagorianism. The Pythagoreans were much respected by Plato. They believed in metempsychosis, strict rules of diet and conduct, including sexual abstinence, and that mathematics were crucial in understanding the nature of the universe. They were said to have sworn oaths to the “tetraktys of the dekad” which portrays the number 10 as a triangle of four and is a graphic representation of the fact that 4 3 2 1 = 10.

Heraclitus of Ephesus (fl. c. 500) is one of the best known the Pre-Socratics, even though nothing is known of his life. Heraclitus’ book has been famous for its obscurity since antiquity. About 100 sentences of this book survive. Heraclitus refers to the logos, or word, as the ultimate reflection of reason and order in the universe. Perhaps his most famous saying is: “We step and do not step into the same rivers; we are and we are not.” This epigram is often cited to support the conclusion that Heraclitus viewed the universe as a place of constant change or flux. In the terminology of Plato this means that the universe was a place of becoming rather than of being.

For the most part the Pre-Socratics were concerned with studying the nature of reality (metaphysics) and of knowledge (epistemology). Reflection on ethical values begins to become intellectually sophisticated with the Sophists and Socrates. Protagoras (c. 490-420 BC) was the most celebrated Sophist. He traveled widely in the Mediterranean world and visited Athens, where he was a revered figure, on a number of occasions. He was famous for his agnosticism regarding the existence of the gods and for the aphorism: “Man is the measure of all things.” This position is the belief that the truth is what is true to any person who believes it is true. This position comes to be called “subjectivist relativism.” It is claimed that this view is self-refuting (in other words, if it is true, then it must be false) because it would mean that if someone believes there is objective truth then it is true there is objective truth and false that there is no objective truth. Relativists throughout history have tried to find a way out of this dilemma.

2. Other Philosophical Traditions

While the term “Philosophy” is Greek in origin and there is a continuous philosophical tradition that stretches back to Ancient Greece, philosophical thinking is a worldwide phenomenon and there are continuous philosophical traditions in other linguistic and civilizational histories. Important examples include South Asia where you have Vedic texts such as the Upanishads that introduce the key distinction between Brahman which is the ultimate reality and the Atman which is individual self (soul) that is both part of and divided from Brahman. The compositional history of the Upanishads is uncertain, but the earliest parts are approximately 7th to 6th centuries BCE. This South Asian tradition includes both Hindu and Buddhist philosophy.

In this class we will look at another important philosophical tradition, that of Chinese Philosophy. Chinese Philosophy is typically traced to the thinker Confucius and the Mythical figure of Laozi. Both Confucianism and Taoism are living philosophies as well as ritualistic and religious practices. The core concern of the Chinese philosophical system is finding the Dao (道) to De (德).^[3] Dao is usually translated as “way” or “path.” De is usually translated as “power” or “virtue.” In this sense the famous Dào Dé Jīng (Tao Te Ching) of Laozi (Lao Tzu) can be translated as The Book of the Way and of Power.

More generally, Chinese philosophy is concerned with finding the right conduct or right way to live a virtuous life. One commonality that ties Ancient Greek, South Asian and Chinese Philosophy together is their concern for the relationship between the fundamental nature of the universe, the way things are on the most basic level, and the correct way to live a human life. In all of these traditions there is a sense that there is a gap between the way things appear to be (appearance) and the way things are (reality). This appearance-reality gap leads to human beings basing their lives on false beliefs on the way things are. Due to this they live lives based on illusions.

In this class we will study the “inner chapters” of the Zhuangzi a fascinating work of Taoist philosophy.

End this section by watching one more video. The subject of this video is Plato’s famous “Allegory of the Cave.” The thesis of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is that our day-to-day lives are lived in an illusory world were what we believe to be real is just shadows cast on the wall of a cave. The true reality is outside of the cave where the light of the sun shows us reality in all its vivid colors.

This notion, that what you see in your day-to-day life is just a shadow of the real, may seem silly. However, if you accept the legitimacy of science, contemporary physics tells us just that. The reality described by quantum mechanics and by relativity theory is profoundly different from what our five senses seem to inform us of. If contemporary physics is correct, than we are indeed living in a cave.

Here’s the video: