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Central Idea: I plan on telling the audience what Philosophy is, who Socrates was, and the methods he used in teaching his philosophy. INTRODUCTION Attention Getter: 'The unexamined life is not worth living. ' This is the most famous quote of the most popular philosopher of all time: Socrates. Reveal Topic: I plan on telling you what philosophy is and how Socrates viewed philosophy. Credibility: I am able to speak on this topic because I have taken a philosophy course, and I have done extensive research in to Socrates life. Central Idea: I plan on telling the audience what philosophy is, who Socrates was, and tell the way he viewed philosophy in order to better understand his quote. (Connective: First, lets talk about what philosophy is. ) BODY I. Philosophy is a term with many meanings.
A. Philosophy is the process of thinking through every little question imaginable to try to come up with the most rational explanation or truth. B. It is an attempt to describe 'the ultimate and real nature of reality. ' C. Philosophy also helps us to determine the limits of out knowledge by its source, value, nature and validity. D.
It is a continuous thought process searching for the underlying knowledge of all causes or things as they appear to us, finding out why a thing is what it is. (Connective: Now let's learn a little about Socrates life. ) II. Socrates's Life A. He grew up in Athens with little schooling. B. He married late in life but did have 3 sons. C.
He was a political figure because of his wisdom, but never was interested in running for any type of public office. D. He was a major figure during a war which is where he first gained his recognition. E. He wrote none of his thoughts down. The information we have about him today comes from one of his students, his best, Plato.
He recorded several of the dialogs he had with Socrates and put them in a book. F. His main interest throughout his life was figuring out the nature of human nature, figuring out why humans acted the way they did. G. He believed that he received a calling to pursue philosophy and thought the way he could serve his country would be by teaching and getting the Athenians to engage in self-examination to find their souls.
H. He believed the only way to achieve a perfectly happy life would be to seek and bring out the insights and values of people. (Connective: Now let's see how he prodded all of those minds. ) III. Socrates's thoughts and teachings. A. The oracle of Delphi was said to have proclaimed Socrates the wisest man for admitting he knew nothing. B.
He liked to play ignorant. C. He would usually walk into the marketplace of Athens and speak to whatever group was standing their, someone you wanted to be interrogated, or just anyone who would listen to him. He often annoyed many people. D. His main goal was to prove that a person who thought they were very knowledgeable about a subject, even claiming to know everything about it, did, in actuality, know anything.
E. He did this by first engaging in a conversation that the person though they knew a lot about. They would tell Socrates everything they knew. However, Socrates would be constantly looking for inconsistencies in the conversation. All of his dialogs would be just simple questions and answers. F.
After he has gotten the person to admit humility about not being as smart as they though they were, he would help them to reach the most rational truth. G. Needless to say, he learned by questioning others and in the process exposing their errors and lack of knowledge. H. There are some paradoxes in his thoughts, however. 1.
He believed that no one would do evil out of their own free will, but one can. 2. He thought that if someone knew what was good and right that they would always do never hesitate to do it, but people can know what is good and still do the bad. 3. He also said that if evil is committed it was because that person did not know the good, 'but one can commit evil cor out of ignorance but in full knowledge that what he or she is doing is evil. ' IV. Socrates's death. A. Eventually, Socrates began to upset the higher powers of Athens, and he was put to trial.
B. He was charged with impiety, which is not believing in the gods of the state, corrupting the minds of the youth, and he was labeled a demon of some sort because he would often refer to 'an inner voice pictured as a genie or spirit sitting on the lobe of his ear, which warned him about, of forbade, actions. C. He was given the death sentence, which was to drink hemlock. However, he was granted one question after his sentencing, and he said he thought he should only have to pay a fine because of his value to the state and to the people as a philosopher.
This was not granted. E. His friends were by his side while he was in prison. They had actually devised an escape plan, and also a guard 'forgot' to lock the door, but Socrates said he wanted to comply with the law and die for his reason, cause, and beliefs. F.
He said he didn't fear death because you can't fear anything you don't have any knowledge of. CONCLUSION Well, I hope everyone can come up with their own interpretation of why the unexamined life wasn't and isn't worth living. According to Socrates, we should be asking questions about everything we see, hear, or think we know. I interpret the quote as having to know yourself inside and out. You have to come up with your own beliefs and values, not the one's of anyone else. I believe to have a happy life, you have to examine and know every little aspect of your life.
If your thoughts and beliefs aren't questioned by yourself over and over again, how will you know if they are your thoughts or the ones of others'? If you are living the values and beliefs of your best friend or a group of friends, the values are not your own, so therefor, your life is unexamined and why should you live a life that isn't yours?
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