Well, Socrates claimed he knew nothing. That was his only wisdom. Of course, all that was Socratic irony, Socrates knew better. On the other hand, there was Metrodorus of Chios. I kind of like the fellow. He said “None of us knows anything, not even this, whether we know or we do not know; nor do we know what ‘to not know’ or ‘to know’ are, nor on the whole, whether anything is or is not.” from Cicero, see the SEP, on “Ancient Skepticism.”
Category: All
Ataraxia
Tranquility, contentedness, freedom from fear or disturbance according to Epicurus. This is the kind of attitude we would imagine would be held by Epictitus or a modern day Stoic. I recall a Quaker friend, a leader in the Friends social movement who, having lost an important initiative on behalf of a desperately poor group of citizens, remarked quietly that we should now see what we have learned from this. Ataraxia. Cool Hand Luke.
Aponia
Freedom from pain, one of the characteristics of a happy life according to Epicurus.
Telos
The purpose, the end or goal. Aristotle associates telos with the good.
Aitia, and Aristotles four causes
Cause or explanation. Aristotle talks of four causes. The formal cause, or what is it. The material cause, what is it made of. The efficient (maker) cause, the mover, like a father is the efficient (not the sufficient!) cause of a child, the builder is the efficient cause (maker or mover) of a house. Finally, there is telos, the end or purpose or goal of a thing.
Ousia
Ousia, substance or essence.
Aristotle defined protai ousiai, or “primary substances”, in the Categories as that which is neither said of nor in any subject, e.g., “this human” in particular, or “this ox”. From Wikipedia
Aristotle: The Primary Substance
Here we have to look at the four categories of onta (beings, or what is) per Ari. Is it said of a subject yes/no, is it in a subject yes/no. Particular subjects (not said of a subject, not in a subject) are the highest form of being. From Susan Suave Meyer, Ancient Philo Pt 2 on Coursera: “Plato thought that the entities
that deserve the title ousia, the most fundamental entities, are suprasensible, intelligible forms. Aristotle, by contrast, thought that the most basic realities are those that serve as subjects for
all the rest. And these are such ordinary entities as human beings, and other animals.”
Aristotle: Categories, Universals, Particulars, Predicates
Aristotle’s discussion of Categories, Subjects, and Predicates is about ontology not grammar. Predicates are said ‘of something’. This is a reversal of Plato’s ontology where the general or universal is the real, existing in a higher plane. Aristotle thinks the subject is the real thing, the general category cannot exist without a subject. Fido is a dog. The just itself will be set of the many just things. The pious itself will be set of the many pious things. Note how this Aristotelian picture inverts the relation of priority between forms and sensibles that Plato insisted ons more real than the particular objects that depend on them for their being. Aristotle has the dependence relation going in the other direction. For the many beautiful things will be the subjects for the beautiful itself. And then many just things will be the subjects for the just itself, and so on. And the subjects are more fundamental, more real than the items that are predicated out of them.” From Susan Suave Meyer, Ancient Philo Pt 2 on Coursera
Nature of Inquiry in Socrates
Discussion of the Socratic Method, Prof Mayer. The business of questioning was not about events or factual knowledge, but about evaluation, math, normative concepts, or concepts or systems that are above our experience like math or virtue.
Euthyphro
Euthyphro is the self satisfied jerk who meets the incarcerated Socrates on the way to charging his own father of murder. The dialog is about the nature of good and evil. Euthyphro cannot respond with a general or fundamental definition of piety, only gives examples. The Euthyphro dilemma is the question of whether piety (the good) is commanded by the gods because it is good, or because it is commanded by the gods. Leads to the idea of whether there is really a moral good or is it given by God. Also there is the question of the actual death of the slave, the father had accosted the slave for killing another, tied him up and went to get the authorities but the slave died. In addition, the accused is Euthyphro’s father for heaven’s sake, who is he to bring charges against his old man.
Two Strikes 