Plato (428-348 BC)

1
Plato (428-348 BC)

• Athenian philosopher
• Student of Socrates
• Aristotles teacher
• Founded the Academy (Closed 525 AD Justinian)
• Composed many (preserved) dialogues on morality,
  metaphysics and epistemology

2
Plato on Rationality Emotion

• The Apology
• Ostensibly, the story of Socrates trial
• Also represents Socrates conception of human
  nature as essentially rational
• Background to the trial
• Athenian democracy
• Socrates the gadfly
• Mocked in Aristophanes The Clouds
• Socrates (divinely inspired) inner voice
  advises him
• Apollos Oracle/Priestess at Delphi
• No one is wiser than Socrates
• Socrates says that he has no wisdom, small or
  great
• Certainly not prominent Athenians
• Neither politicians nor writers
• Writers as clairvoyants!

3
The Charges Against Socrates

• From early rumor
• Socrates paraphrases Aristophanes The Clouds
  "Socrates is an evil-doer, and a curious person,
  who searches into things under the earth and in
  heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better
  cause and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to
  others."
• Current formal charge (Meletus, Anytus, Lycon)
• impiety
• practices new (unsanctioned) religion
• does not recognize the States gods
• corruption of youth

4

• Result of trial
• Socrates sentenced to execution
• expectation of exile
• Platos rejection of democracy in the Republic
• Socrates defense
• Against the rumor (Aristophanes)
• Socrates denies any special wisdom expect that he
  knows his own ignorance
• Admits hes embarrassed the pompous

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Socrates Defense

• Against impiety
• Socrates recognizes some gods (e.g. Apollo) even
  if other philosophers (Anaxagoras) dont
• Socrates recognizes the Oracle of Delphi
  (Apollos representative) who says that no one is
  wiser than Socrates
• Accusation of practice of new religion implies
  Socrates recognizes some gods, which contradicts
  accusation of atheism

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Socrates Defense

• Against corruption of youth
• This is the critical accusation
• Socratic Paradox as defense
• All normal humans are rational
• Rational creatures are designed to seek only
  value, only what is good, only what is right
• Hence, rational creatures cant be bad
  intentionally
• Hence, rational creatures are robots of reason
  not driven by emotion

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Socratic Paradox

• Paradox means beyond belief. A paradox
  expresses something that is simultaneously
  credible and incredible. Thus, Socratic Paradox
  regarding rationality
• To corrupt the youth is to make them evil
• Evil youths would harm Socrates
• No rational person would intentionally harm
  him/herself
• Since Socrates is rational, he either
• did not corrupt the youth or
• did so only unintentionally
• If he did not corrupt, he should not be punished
• If he unintentionally corrupted the youths, he
  should be educated but not punished
• Hence, in either case, Socrates should not be
  punished

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Conclusion of Socratic Paradox

• A rational person will always and necessarily
• Try to do what he/she judges to be best
• Never knowingly do what is wrong
• Any behavior that appears wrong or immoral must
  result from
• Ignorance of the immorality
• Psychological impairment, malfunction or insanity

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Generalized Socratic Paradox

• Rational persons act deliberately
• Deliberation the use of reason to select what
  is judged to be the best alternative action
• So, rational persons always try to do what seems
  best
• Hence, they never intentionally do what they
  think is wrong
• Therefore, rational agents should never be
  punished for wrongdoing. At worst, they should
  be taught what is right or best. For once they
  know this, they will inevitably try to do what is
  right or best
• Failure to try to do what is believed best
  mental illness

10
Are We Really Rational?

• Our inclination towards fallacy
• Cognitive Biases (Daniel Kahneman (Princeton
  Professor of Cognitive Psychology and Behavorial
  Economics Nobel Laureate in Economics) Amos
  Tversky (Deceased Stanford Professor of Cognitive
  Psychology)
• gamblers fallacy
• selecting a car
• ordering effects on preferences
• Impact Bias in predicting happiness
• Daniel Gilbert Harvard Professor of Social
  Psychology
• His research indicates that humans chronically
  err in estimating how happy their activities and
  property will make them.
• Failures in deployment of knowledge
• Where are my glasses?
• Calculation errors on math test
• Tip of the tongue phenomenon
• Rational wrong doing
• Augustine weakness of will
• Hume reason as slave of desire

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Consequence of the Socratic Paradox

• The unexamined life is not worth living
• The examined life is the life of a rational
  person who undertakes to know what is generally
  good and valuable in life
• Only such a person may come to know what is best
  to do or how to live so as to optimize what is
  valuable in life.

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The Unexamined Life

• The unexamined life is one in which a person does
  not attempt to know what is generally good and
  valuable in life
• Such a person cannot rely on deliberation to
  guide life
• Rationality is wasted in such a person. Such a
  person cannot hope to have a good or rewarding
  life
• So, the unexamined life, is not worth living

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Whats Paradoxical in the Socratic Paradox?

• Is deliberation driven by value rather than
  desire?
• Is evil action the result of ignorance or
  insanity?
• Are people really saints?
• Is education the only appropriate response to
  (unintentional) evil?
• Are rational agents slaves to deliberation or are
  we free to do what is wrong?

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Reason Autonomy

• Assume that as a rational person you
• Inevitably seek what is most valuable in order to
  be happy
• Rational deliberation optimizes your chance of
  securing what is most valuable and thereby being
  happy
• Successful deliberation depends upon knowledge
• Hence, your happiness depends on your actions
  being controlled by whomever is most
  knowledgeable, even if that is someone other than
  yourself
• Hence you should surrender personal autonomy to
  whomever is more knowledgeable than you and
  committed to deliberating on your behalf to
  achieve what is most valuable for you
• But wait! Is it better to be autonomous or ruled
  always and completely by whomever is wiser?