Name:______Block:______

He Said What?

Directions: Read an excerpt from the Greek Philosophers. Answer the questions that follow

  1. Socrates:
  2. “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
  3. “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”
  4. “Wisdom begins in wonder”
  5. “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.”
  6. “I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.”
  7. Plato:
  8. “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
  9. “Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.”
  10. “Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.”
  11. “The result, then, is that more plentiful and better-quality goods are more easily produced if each person does one thing for which he is naturally suited, does it at the right time, and is released from having to do any of the others.” – Plato’s Republic
  12. "Until philosophers rule as kings… and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophise (participate in discussions of philosophy), that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide … cities will have no rest from evils,... nor, I think, will the human race." – Plato’s Republic
  13. “Philosophy begins in wonder”
  14. Aristotle:
  15. “He who studies how things originated… will achieve the clearest view of them all.”
  16. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
  17. “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.”
  18. “The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.”
  19. “Democracy is when the indigent (poor), and not the men of property, are the rulers.”
  20. “The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead.”

Questions:

  1. Why does Socrates value education? Why do his quotes make you think that?
  1. Why does Plate value education? Why do his quotes make you think that?
  1. Did Plato agree that the democracy of Athens is the perfect government? What makes you think this? What did he feel is the most perfect form of government?
  1. Why does Aristotle value education? Why do his quotes make you think that?
  1. Did Aristotle agree that the democracy of Athens was the perfect government? What makes you think this? What did he believe was the most perfect form of government?