Before proceeding to the content of Ancient Greek Philosophy, it is necessary to reiterate a point made by RKT in class. One must remember that Socrates left no written record of his philosophy and we have no written work to which we can assuredly affix his name. However, it is widely accepted that Plato wrote down the vast majority of Socrates' philosophy in his earlier works. In these pieces, he deliberately portrays Socrates as the teacher and various others as pupils. It is my belief, as well as that of many others, that these works actually represent the philosophy of Socrates (though this was probably very similar to Plato's own beliefs) and that The Republic exemplifies Plato's new theories. However, given the ambiguity in ownership of the philosophy, some works will be discussed with both Socrates and Plato and I ask that some of the liberties I have taken with authorship be viewed with a grain of salt in light of the larger picture.

Click here for an alternative look into Plato and Aristotle's relationship.

Last updated 04.03.06