Plato’s Apology:
Socrates says death is not such a bad thing
- He thinks its similar to dreamless sleep
- Reincarnation/Heaven (go to Hades)
- Looking forward to this because he will meet the real judges in Hades
- Meet and talk to greek heros
Says that fearing death is ignorant bc to fear it you have to know something that
you don't know
Reason they shouldn't kill him because he is God's gift to the city
- Gadfly: he is the fly that gets the horse going
- Says athens is a slow horse that doesn't want to move and he is the fly
that gets athens/the horse to move\
- Idea is that athens has become complacent (the horse is a metaphor for
complacency)
- The gift is a fly
After he has received the death penalty he is saying:
- Exile me/kick me out of athens
“The unexamined life is not worth living”
- Would rather be put to death than question his own life
Plato’s Euthyphro:
- Convicting his father of murder
- Page 44
- Why would you try your own father?
- The intent wasn't there(not premeditated)
- Saw the guys stab someone, the father took the man and tied him up
and he passed away while the father was figuring out what to do
Aristophanes: The Clouds
Summary and analysis of Aristophanes' The Clouds.
- It is an example of Old Comedy, which is a comedic genre that utilizes
satire, caricature, and vulgar dialogue to ridicule public figures, politics,
ideas, trends, and institutions.
, - The play is very amusing and entertaining, but it also expresses serious
concern about the radical new ideas arising in Athens during the writing of
the play.
- Aristophanes chiefly focuses on the new ideas espoused by Socrates and by
the Sophists, and he emphasizes the threat that these new ideas pose to
traditional values and morals.
Socrates only worships the clouds and argues that zeus does not exist
- His new teaching threaten to undermine the traditional values of athens
- He is being made fun of for believing in the clouds
- Accused of being the ultimate sophist
- “Go to socrates, he will teach you how to make a weaker argument stronger”
Aristophanes is afraid of these new ideas so he ridicules socrates
Strepsiades is in debt because of him son
- He wants his son to go to socrates so his son can learn
- The son is very spoiled who wastes his dad's money
- Strepsiades wants to send his son to the thinkery of socrates
Sophist:
- Person paid to teach young men rhetoric (ways/modes of speaking)
- Teach people how to be good at making arguments
9/20/18
Parabasis:
- The chorus speaks directly to the audience
9/24/18
Judith Butler
★ Not biology but culture that forced people to behave how their sex is
supposed to behave
★ Gender does not equal sex
★ Just because you are identified as a male doesn't mean you have to behave
like the stereotype of a man
Symposium:
★ The symposium is celebrating Agathon’s victory of best tragedy