Philosophical Wisdom from Socrates to Marx

Introduction

Is there a reason why the cosmos exists?

What about life?

Is there an alternative order in the universe, one that is not the same as the one that the human mind has placed there?

What, in its most fundamental sense, is the self?

Is the human body composed of more parts than what meets the naked eye?

Do we truly have the ability to choose what we do? 

These are some of the most perplexing questions we face as a species. Since the beginning of history, several philosophers have pondered these problems in an attempt to discover solutions. Only a few have been successful.

In this gripping article, you will witness some of the philosophers whose thought has helped us discover solutions to some of life’s most pressing questions and dilemmas. One of the early philosophers whose ideas have helped us understand life is

Socrates.

 

Socrates, who was recognized for being a philosopher with an acute intellect and a strong physique, did  not produce any written work.

However, he was the inspiration for the Socratic method, also known as the dialectic method, which is considered to be one of the most prominent ways of understanding the nature of knowledge.

All of the information we have about Socrates comes from the conversations that he had with one of his most renowned student, Plato.

More than 20 centuries after the dramatic events surrounding Socrates’ death, the dialectic method is still the most prominent instrument in the field of philosophy.

In philosophy, the quest for an accurate definition of a component is at the heart of what is known as the dialectic approach.

When you make a submission in support of or in opposition to an argument using this approach, you are not implying that you have a deep understanding of the nature of knowledge.

Instead, it means that you are capable of highlighting deliberate misconceptions on the subject in question. By using the dialectic method, you will be able to identify misunderstandings and develop the ability to acknowledge ignorance. Socrates passionately opposed injustice in all its forms at a huge personal cost.

His trial and subsequent death by drinking hemlock after his conviction (for “corrupting” young men and not believing in the city’s gods), are reported by Plato in the gripping dialogues Apology, Crito, and Phaedo.

Through his dialogues with Plato (including Apology, Crito, and Phaedo), Socrates comes across as an individual of formidable character and charisma. The second philosopher whose thinking has greatly benefited humanity is:

Plato.

 

There are few thinkers whose ideas have influenced Western philosophy more than Plato’s. Plato believed that mathematics was an important introduction to philosophy. It is rumoured that he even expelled students who had a challenge with comprehending mathematical concepts from his academy.

Plato founded Western civilization’s first multi-subject institution of higher learning. Known simply as

“The Academy”

The Academy continued to function for another nine centuries till Emperor Justinian  issued an order to have it shut down, ostensibly to safeguard Christian truth.

Plato’s understanding of the form and extent of knowledge, also known as the “Theory of Forms“, was used as the official model of Christian theology until the 13th century when European philosophers and theologians rediscovered translations of Aristotle’s works.

While Aristotle’s metaphysics came to define Christian thinking throughout history, the Church is still Platonic in numerous ways.

Plato argues through his Theory of Forms that everything that is indeed real is definitely not the objects we interact with in sensory experience but are actually “Forms” which can only be grasped intellectually.

For you to understand the Theory of Forms and its essentials, you first have to identify what exactly  Plato’s Forms and essentials are. The third philosopher whose thinking has helped us understand how to navigate life is:

Aristotle.

 

Plato’s most famous student, Aristotle, was a sharp thinker and careful observer whose ideas had a profound effect on the development of philosophy. Aristotle was the most decorated student of Plato.

Around 15 centuries after his death, Aristotle was regarded as the definitive authority on all topics other than religion.

This general perception may have hampered the progression of science more than it helped it, given that science cannot assume that something is a fact simply because some authority says that it is a fact, even if the authority in question is Aristotle.

Aristotle mainstreamed practically everything that was known during his time period and made great extensions to the frontiers of  knowledge across a variety of fields, including physics, biology, zoology,  psychology, and astronomy.

For the sake of developing a theory, he emphasized that one must get this knowledge by direct observation in order to be successful.

He went on to say that one needs an in-depth explanation and description to have a complete understanding of the natural world.

This perspective eventually evolved into the modern scientific view. The fourth philosopher whose thinking has shaped the course of humanity, particularly on the question  of faith, is:

St. Augustine.

 

St. Augustine transferred Platonic and Neo-platonic themes to Christianity. Passed down through the ages to us today, these themes continue to affect the structures of both Christian and non-Christian.

In his role as bishop, Augustine made full use of his abilities as a rhetorician to launch vehement attacks against what he saw as the many heresies that were prevalent during his day.

His thoughts were preoccupied with two primary ideas: first, the sinfulness of human nature, and second, the inscrutability of God. St. Augustine believed Plotinus

Plato prepared him for Christianity by exposing him to important Christian teachings and principles. St. Augustine had a deep inclination toward skepticism and was at one point tempted to believe that “nothing could be known.

” Through the influence of Plato and Plotinus, St. Augustine came to believe that faith is a distinct immaterial reality and not the mysterious thing that it might seem.

It’s through St. Augustine’s thought that the Christian belief in a nonmaterial, omnipresent God got a philosophical justification.

Augustine accepted the Platonic view that “there are two realms, an intelligible realm where truth itself dwells, and this sensible world which we perceive by sight and touch.” Like Plato before him.

St. Augustine thought that the capacity of the human mind to grasp eternal truths meant the existence of something infinite and eternal apart from the world of sensible objects, an essence that in some sense represented the source or ground of all reality and of all truth.

There is a school of thought that holds that, St. Augustine was the founder of Christian theology.

Certainly his influence on Christian thought was second to none, with the exception of St. Paul, who  formulated a fundamental deal of Christian doctrine.

One very important aspect of  St. Augustine’s thought was his concept of evil, in which the influence of Plato and Plotinus is again evident. The fourth philosopher whose thinking has served humanity particularly is:

René Descartes.

 

People often point to René Descartes as the person who launched modern philosophy. Descartes was a  prominent figure in the fields of mathematics, science, and philosophy. It is impossible to overstate the significance of his contributions to the intellectual history of the West.

It’s thanks to Descartes that students now study analytic geometry, which he introduced to the world.

Descartes, a devout Catholic, nonetheless felt that the Church’s authority was insufficient for discovering some essential truths. Truths about the fundamental nature of the universe and everything in it fall into this category.

Descartes pondered the criteria by which we determine whether we have attained knowledge and whether or not we are telling the truth.

He asked the question, “What should be the standard that one may differentiate definite knowledge concerning issues of reality, from inferior findings such as simple belief?”

Descartes was vitally concerned with sceptical questions as to the possibility of knowledge, but he was no sceptic himself.

His interest in mathematics strongly affected his philosophical reflections, and it was his more or less lifelong intention to formulate a unified science of nature that was as entirely certain as arithmetic.

He did, however, employ scepticism as a method of achieving certainty.

Then I will consider what it is about this certainty (if there is one) that places it beyond doubt, and that will provide me with a criterion of truth and knowledge,

A yardstick against which I can measure all other purported truths to see if they, too, are beyond doubt. The fifth philosopher whose thinking has  helped us find answers to some of life’s most pressing questions is:

Friedrich Nietzsche.

 

Friedrich Nietzsche studied the famous German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and became convinced that the universe was governed by cosmic will rather than reason.

However, he disagreed with philosophers such as Friedrich Hegel, whose metaphysics was based on rational idealism. However, he disagreed with Arthur Schopenhauer about the nature of cosmic will.

For Nietzsche, the world moves and is determined by force.

According to Nietzsche, Western society had undergone worrying levels of moral decay.

People had come to lead lives largely  devoid of joy and principle. They were enslaved by a morality that says “no” to life and to all that affirms it, Nietzsche argued.

They had become part of a herd, part of a mass that is only too willing to do what it is told. The herd animal, Nietzsche held, is cowardly, reactionary, fearful, desultory, and vengeful.

The mediocrity of Western civilization, Nietzsche believed, was a reflection of these qualities. Only the rare and isolated individual, the “Superman”, can escape the triviality of society.

He also believed we have no access to absolute truths— such things as Plato’s Forms and Emmanuel  Kant’s, priori principles of knowing. Indeed, he believed there are no facts, only interpretations.

After studying at the universities of Bonn and Leipzig, Nietzsche, whose genius was evident from the beginning, was appointed associate professor of classical philology at the University of Basel,

At the unheard-of young age of twenty-four without even having written a doctoral thesis. Within two years, he had become a full professor.

In 1879, however, he was forced by ill health to resign his chair, and by 1889, he, like his father earlier,  had become irretrievably insane.

Two of the principal intellectual influences on Nietzsche’s life were the writings of Schopenhauer and the music of Richard Wagner, which Nietzsche compared to hashish in its ability to relieve mental pressure.

Nietzsche saw himself as an active nihilist whose role was to tear down the old “slave morality” of Christian civilization.

The last but not least philosopher whose thinking has helped us find answers to some of life’s most important questions is:

Karl Marx.

It is important to keep in mind, that Marx did not think of his work as philosophy.

Considered one of the four most important figures in history alongside Einstein, Freud and Jesus, Marx offered a description and analysis of the human social and political condition, but he did not present this understanding as the absolute and final truth.

Marx reached original economic insights in the middle of 19th century. It was based on these insights that he predicted an increasingly violent confrontation between the haves and the haves-not.

In other words, he foresaw a conflict between the proletariats and the capitalists.

The conflict, according to Marx’s prophesy, would end with the inevitable victory of the proletariats and the collapse of the ultimate capitalist system.

Marx was certain that the revolution would begin in the nations that had started the Industrial Revolution, namely Britain, France, and the United States, and then spread like wildfire to the rest of the globe.

His prediction turned out to be accurate. Throughout the course of the twentieth century, people from all walks of life, from ordinary citizens living on the streets to rulers of states, adopted a Marxist  perspective on economics and history.

In conclusion, it is quite easy to go through life without ever stopping to think about the nature of time or any of the other questions raised at the beginning of this article.

This is particularly true if one doesn’t have a particularly inquisitive mind. However, philosophy invites us to think about these questions and examine the influence that they have on our daily lives as well as our society.

I hope that this article helped you learn about how knowledge has changed over time and about the philosophers who have helped shape our world, and find answers to some of the ethical questions that influence our lives.