Founders of Western Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle - Essay Sample

Introduction

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are widely known as the founders of western philosophy as it is known, is from ancient Greece and also credited as the first moral philosopher of thought and western ethics. So Phaedrus was commonly written in 370 B.C.E, but the dialogue was probably set in 410 B.C.E, and it was ten years before Socrates was killed. This conversation is a direct dialogue, and when Plato retells the tale he does not use a narrator but tells it as it is, the setting is unusual because of a scene containing Socrates as he is taking a walk and settles at a shady spot. There are only two characters in this story, Phaedrus and Socrates. There are several themes of the story, one of which is 'love' which is contained in all three sets of speeches but it does not mean it is the primary subject of the story (Griswold, 2010).

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The other two are philosophy and rhetoric, where rhetoric is tested and disparaged in which proposals are made for rhetoric which is capable and reformed for means of serving philosophy. Philosophy is perhaps the primary theme of the conversation and Socrates need to justify the effort made by viewpoint as the most life commendable claim of the soul. The core aims of writing this paper are by summarizing the meeting of the dialogue, with the contents found in the text as one character persuades the other and also talking about the analysis of the rhetorical techniques used in the conversation.

The Synopsis of the Dialogue

Phaedrus and Socrates meet up in Athens after Phaedrus have listened to a speech about love delivered by a person known as Lysias because he wants to take a walk outside the city he lures Socrates to come with him. For Socrates who desires to hear the subject of the speech agrees and follows Phaedrus to the countryside, and he has a copy of Lysias speech, he reads it to Socrates. The statement talks about a 'pederastic relationship' a young man or boy should hand in favors to an old man who is not in love rather than whom he loves. Lysias argues that the lover who is said to be mad will give the young man unhealthy tendencies that cannot benefit him, but a non-lover will provide the boy with an educational and stable relationship (Rowe, 105-125). The speech which Phaedrus sees as extensive work in the topic is as excellent as the topic itself, but Socrates hears none of it by arguing that Lysias was more interested in the style than the substance wit Socrates claiming he can do a better job than Lysias.

Socrates First Speech

This" Socrates first speech" acts as a counterpart to Lysias speech, he concentrates on reflecting on negative influences of the lover rather than displaying the advantages of the non-lover. Socrates talks about love (Eros) which he says is a form of madness in which the beauty's desire that is inborn and overwhelms the sense of one's control and morality, the madness will harm the boy's body and soul and bring him challenges. Phaedrus is unsatisfied with Socrates speech, because of not presenting the benefits of the lover, Socrates defends his text by stating that the 'Nymphs' inspired him. On the thought of returning to Athens Socrates witnesses a divine sign that warns him on his return, interpreting this as a symbol of offending the gods he sets out to improve the situation with another speech.

Socrates Great Speech

The second speech that is also called "Socrates Great Speech" introduces the critical importance of love in the life of a person, having existed four types of 'divine madness' that has been derived from "Dionysus, Aphrodite (Eros), Apollo and the Muses". For Phaedrus to understand that Eros is a beneficial and divine madness, he compares the soul as a chariot with a charioteer and two horses. The soul needs the greatest gift of growing wings and flying with the gods in heaven, and if the soul is bold, it can control its horses and catch sight of self-knowledge and beauty (Curran, 66-72). However, the souls on men always have a wrong horse that drags them back down, when the soul sees a young boy they're reminded of the beauty that they once saw in the heavens. This yearning is Eros, and whichever soul controls this will be given the early return to heaven rather than ten thousand years it will be three thousand years.

The Argument on Rhetoric

Once Socrates finishes his speech, the conversation change s to an argument of writing and rhetoric, Phaedrus who is already impressed by the rhetoric's view says that influence beats truth always in the art of rhetoric. Socrates states that talking without knowing the truth is harmful to its influences, the soul is directed by rhetoric, stating rhetoricians must know the souls of different people and speak consequently. Real rhetoric involves dialectic, which is concerned about dividing and collecting knowledge of a known topic; the dialectic art can be found by systematically philosophizing the nature of the soul and life. The real art of talk is reserved for philosophers, according to Socrates.

The Summary of the Dialogue

The final piece in the dialogue is the argument between Socrates and Lysias that looks at the technology of writing, Socrates relays the myth about the god Theuth who introduced writing and gave it to the Egyptians. the god Theuth displayed the art of writing to the Egyptian King Thamus and presented it as a commodity that would be used to increase memory and wisdom, but the king Thamus disagreed stating that it would raise the level of vagueness rather than that of memory. The argument was for students instead of understanding and internalizing information they would depend on writing to remind themselves of various things taught to them.

Additionally, these students would have many notions that they would not have the correct manner of having thought, Socrates criticizes the art of writing because of the sole reason of it not being spoken. Adding that written text cannot discern with audiences and cannot have the ability to respond to questions or being criticized, on that note a philosopher is only allowed to use dialectic writing and only using it for his amusement. After the lengthy discussion on the benefits of philosophy for written and spoken works, Socrates and his friend Phaedrus goes back to the city from where they came.The Analysis of the Dialogue

Having summarized the entire dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus, now it's the reflection of the topics and themes found in the text, with the first topic being that of love Phaedrus has consumed the morning heeding to a speech by Lysias on the topic of love. Research has often found that the sincerity of the speech delivered by Lysias to a be a lie told by Plato, scholars argue whether if the text was actually written by Lysias or cleverly modeled by Plato in an attempt to illustrate criticism on the Sophists' rhetoric (Hackforth, 1972). The dialogue relies based on one own self-interest showing benefits of a person who does not love rather than someone who loves unconditionally, Socrates begins his speech with the definition of love because he believes that definition must be followed by deliberation. According to Socrates, love is an irrational desire that can be directed towards physical beauty like how gluttony is the irrational desire focused on the love of food.

Focusing on rhetoric, Phaedrus praises Socrates speech by agreeing with him by stating that there is unknown wrong in inscription a speech, the minor sin is writing a corrupt speech. Socrates believes that for someone to write a good speech, one requires knowledge, with Phaedrus interjecting that it instead has what the audience believe to be the real knowledge than genuine knowledge. Socrates argues that for rhetoric to be a device of persuasion and the ability to misrepresent things and successfully mislead one's audience, the rhetorician must himself know.

Conclusion

Lysias speech is riddled with lack of information from him and the failure to establish a speech correctly, while Socrates discovers the use of dialectic a philosophical method popularly used by the Sophists in his two speeches. Another topic mainly discussed is that of the soul where Plato compares the soul to a flying chariot having two horses and a charioteer, the comparison of the chariots with the souls of the gods that are pure - also having another pair of horses that relies one good horse with one bad one signifying human soul while human souls fly through the heavens and losing flight by falling to earth forming bodies that make up lib=ving beings (Nichols, 2009). The three parts of the human souls have likened to one the flying chariot is the reason, two the moral horse corresponds to the spirit or will with the last one the evil horse is likened to desires or passions.

Works Cited

Curran, Jane V. "The Rhetorical Technique of Plato's" Phaedrus"." Philosophy & rhetoric (1986): 66-72. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40237463

Nichols, Mary P. Socrates on Friendship and Community: Reflections on Plato's Symposium, Phaedrus, and Lysis. Cambridge University Press, 2009. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9EkjeQazezsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=socrates+and+phaedrus&ots=88hfLuM1fh&sig=L5ikT1AsI_urai8CpifUzsH4fYg

Griswold Jr, Charles L., ed. Self-knowledge in Plato's Phaedrus. Penn State Press, 2010. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=GvtthyjB4JoC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=socrates+and+phaedrus&ots=pz4-Ld7VDS&sig=9tOiw_u9LHzuo3vv-zEE0zhHvCI

Rowe, Christopher J. "The argument and structure of Plato's Phaedrus." The Cambridge Classical Journal 32 (1986): 106-125. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-classical-journal/article/argument-and-structure-of-platos-phaedrus1/8D5666B2342BD79D895FD22AC665EC4D

Hackforth, Reginald, ed. Plato: Phaedrus. No. 119. Cambridge University Press, 1972. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=N6HRTHXlrE0C&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=socrates+and+phaedrus&ots=juNZ1R6HxS&sig=cdoHtpaG-DLqUiCHTNVa00iEgoU