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(A) Some initial approaches to reading and analyzing philosophical texts.
- Quickly look at the beginning to see the context.
- Glance over the whole thing to get a sense of how many parts it may have.
- Look at the last part to get a sense of what it may be going.
- Now start again at the beginning.
- What should we be looking for?
As you read, look for definitions, places where the author (AU) explains the meaning of terms used. Keep your eyes open for these because they are the foundations. Underline definitions when you find them. (They can be hard to spot. But, wait! What if the AU does not provide definitions or explanations of terms? Be careful: this indicates that the AU is assuming meanings not fully spelled out.) Above all, use a dictionary for any terms you do not understand. Definitions are keys for unlocking the reasoning.
Next, watch for statements or premises (starting points of reasoning). Then look at how the reasoning proceeds. The reasoning forms arguments for or against various ideas, notions or positions.
Now chop up the arguments noting the starting points and the ending points. How many different arguments or sets of reasoning does AU provide? Is AU trying to make his point or win his/her case with several different arguments to show the correctness of his view from different sides?
Make some notes and try to figure out an outline of the reasoning (premises) and how they lead to conclusions of the parts.
(B) Phil 1001 Moving from simply taking notes to analyzing reasoning
hus far in our course note taking has taken the form of indicating key events and statements in Plato’s Republic. Most of you have done a good job on this, a clear indication that you are reading the text with care.
Now we will move to another stage in your studies with a focus on analyzing the arguments and reasoning of philosophical readings.
We start with the discussion following the THIRD (‘tidal’) WAVE of radical society restructuring proposed by Socrates, namely the assertion that the ruler must be a Philosopher for there to be Justice in the city with focus on the good of the whole and the appropriate kinds of happiness for members of the three groups, rules (wisdom), guardians / auxiliaries (courage) and the workers and producers (temperance). This was political account, reasoning that yielded the four virtues (Note that arete in Greek means excellence): wisdom, courage, temperance and justice. This was the political reasoning in favor of the rule of the Philosopher King (PK). It is political because it is based on what is good for the polis or state.
But now he will begin a long epistemological account, that is, one based on how knowledge is acquired. (The Greek term episteme can be translated as knowledge or even science.) His goal is to provide reasoning in support of the PK based on the kind of knowledge the PK can provide.
STEP ONE: Two kinds of lovers:
(i) The senses which present us with bodies having color, sounds, shapes in the many beautiful individual things we see around us. Those who appreciate these are lovers of sights and sounds. These believe in beautiful things. But they are unable to see the beautiful itself.
(ii) Other believers call things beautiful and believe in what is beauty considered in itself, what accounts for the beauty of the beautiful things we see? The beautiful things all share in or participate in beauty; so we believe in the beautiful itself. Knowing beauty itself means having knowledge. This person is aware of beautiful things available to the senses and also beauty itself. B
STEP TWO: What is is the object of knowledge.
Is this knowledge of something that is or nothing? Is it of nothing? Knowledge concerns what is, while ignorance is concerned with what is not. Is there something in between What is and What is not? What is in between is belief. Belief differs from knowledge which concerns What is.
STEP THREE: Two levels of reality, two powers of apprehension by the soul
We dismiss ‘What is not’ wholly and find two levels of reality and of apprehension:
(i) Belief (doxa) or sensory apprehension which is “a wandering, in between object grasped by the in-between power”, that is, belief . People with this are called lovers of belief, philodoxers.
(ii) Knowledge which is a stable apprehension of ideas such as the beautiful itself, apprehended by the mind, not by the senses. Those concerned with ideas or Forms are lovers of wisdom, philosophers.
Later he will explain that the things of the world are transitory, constantly changing, while ideas or forms grasped by the mind are transcendent principles, sorts of absolute real primary sources (e.g., the one horse, the one tree, and the like) for the particular things we see here (e.g, many horses, many trees, and the like).
This is the beginning of the account of Plato’s Theory of Ideas or Forms. As we shall see, he holds that the mind grasps these as the true objects of knowledge.
THE NEW FOCUS OF STUDENT NOTES
Your new focus in preparing notes will now be not just on pulling out interesting notions and particular details or events.
Now I want you to note the argumentation and reasoning for the philosophical positions that ‘Socrates’ puts forward. You are looking to notice the grounds, bases, foundations, for his reasoning and how he proceeds to reason for his views. These grounds, bases, foundations are premises that lead to new conclusions.
So now start looking for arguments and reasons that support them.