Aristotle

When assuming the task of profiling Socrates utilizing these four criteria, one must take as requirement the "Principle of Textual Fidelity" and balance it with the "Principle of Interpretive Plausibility". With the body of work on Socrates being replete with secondhand sources, satisfying these two principles can be tricky.

I. Theory of Value: What knowledge and skills are worthwhile learning? What are the goals of education?

Socrates believed that there were different kinds of knowledge, important and trivial. He acknowledges that most of us know many "trivial" things. He states that the craftsman possesses important knowledge, the practice of his craft, but this is important only to himself, the craftsman. But this is not the important knowledge that Socrates is referring to. Through his method of powerfully questioning his students, he seeks to guide them to discover the subject matter rather than simply telling them what they need to know. The goals of education are to know what you can; and, even more importantly, to know what you do not know.

II. Theory of Knowledge: What is knowledge? How is it different from belief? What is a mistake? A lie?

Socrates makes the claim there are two very different sorts of knowledge. One is ordinary knowledge. This is of very specific (and ordinary) information. He claims that to have such knowledge does not give the possessor of said knowledge any expertise or wisdom worth mentioning.

Socrates devotes much thought to the concept of belief, through the use of logic. He spars with students early in his career and later with his accusers, at his trial, on the nature of his belief regarding the gods. To define belief, according to Socrates, was to use naturalistic explanations for phenomena traditionally explained in terms of Divine Agency.

III.Theory of Human Nature: What is a human being? How does it differ from other species? What are the limits of human potential?

The being in human is an inner-self. This inner-self is divine, cannot die, and will dwell forever with the gods. Only human beings can distinguish virtue, which is knowledge, from ignorance, which is the root of moral evil.

The human being is so constituted that he "can" know the good. And, knowing it, he can follow it, for no one who truly knows the good would deliberately choose to follow the evil. This is a typically Greek notion, and is attractive to all rationalists

From experience, it can be known that intellectually the human potential is infinitesimal. The mind of man is constantly reaching out for more and more knowledge, just as his will is desirous of more and more love. The search for knowledge varies with the individual, but the race of man has always carried on the quest in accordance with its nature and for the practical and speculative value that knowledge brings with it

IV. Theory of Learning: What is learning? How are skills and knowledge acquired?

Learning is the seeking of truth in matters, and it occurs when after questioning and interpreting the wisdom and knowledge of others, one comes to recognize their own ignorance. Skills and knowledge are acquired by: (1) interpreting the statements of others; (2) testing or examining the knowledge or wisdom of those reputed (by themselves or others) to be wise; (3) showing those who are not wise their ignorance; (4 ) learning from those who are wise; (5) examining oneself; (6) exhorting others to philosophy; (7) examining the lives of others; (8) attaining moral knowledge.

V. Theory of Transmission: Who is to teach? By what methods? What will be the curriculum be?

Socrates does not believe that any one person or any one school of thought is authoratative or has the wisdom to teach "things." Socrates repeatedly disavows his own knowledge and his own methods. However, this appears to be a technique for engaging others and empowering the conversator to openly dialogue.

Be that as it may, Socrates is widely regarded as one of the great teachers of all time. The Socratic Method is one in which a teacher, by asking leading questions, guides students to discovery. It was a dialectical method that employs critical inquiry to undermine the plausibility of widely-held doctrine.

Socrates devoted himself to a free-wheeling discussion with the aristocratic young citizens of Athens, insistently questioning their unwarranted confidence in the truth of popular opinions, even though he often offered them no clear alternative teaching.

VI. Theory of Society: What is society? What institutions are involved in the education process?

To the class of Athenians that Socrates was born into, society existed to provide the best life for the individual. The Athenians of Socrates' day assumed just as their ancestors had assumed that the best life one could have, required the acquisition of what was called virtue, or excellence. A truly good person succeeded in doing great things for the city, strictly obeyed its law, honored parents and ancestors, scrupulously paid homage to the gods by strictly obeying the conventions governing prayer and sacrifice.

Athens' political system was a radical, participating democracy in which every Athenian male citizen could-and was expected to-vote, hold office, and serve on the very powerful Athenian juries.

Societies are invariably formed for a particular purpose. Individuals are not self-sufficient, no one working alone can acquire all the genuine necessities of life. Separations of functions and specialization of labor are key. Society is composed of distinct classes (clothiers, farmers, builders, etc.). In addition, there are those that manage society and settle disputes. In Plato's Republic, he uses the fictional character Socrates as spokesman for explaining the fundamental principles for the conduct of human life.

Education took place in magnificent buildings such as the Parthenon and Hephaisteion, which adorn the Acropolis and the Agora, the large open area at the front of the Acropolis that consisted of the Athenian market place and Public Square.

Shakespeare found nature an inspiration, and peoples' different reactions to love and life. While most stories in those days finished with a 'happily ever after,' Shakespeare realised that a total opposite could happen, so Shakespeare explored the many ways a romance story could end.

The ideas for Shakespeare's plots were almost all taken from earlier stories, poems or plays. The English histories as well as the semi-historical King Lear and Macbeth were drawn from Holinshed's Chronicles. The story of Romeo and Juliet was from a poem written by Arthur Brooke in 1562. Hamlet was probably based on an earlier play which was itself based on a story by Saxo Grammaticus. We have an alternate Taming of the Shrew which is very similar to Shakespeare's. Roman historians provided the source for Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.

Nowadays we tend to think that it was the stories which Shakespeare created, so that he deserves credit for any story of a brother of a king who murders the king and marries the widow. This is not so. Shakespeare created words for these people to say, which words showed them to be much more complex than any characters created beforehand and most created since.
Historical Political figures.

There are several:

• To provide the squabbling Greek city states he had tentatively united with a common enemy to focus on;
• To fulfil his dreams and ambitions;
• To gain control of the fabled wealth and power of the Persian Emperor;
• To get revenge for Greek defeats at the hands of the Persians;
• To free Greek cities under Persian control

Aristotle is often regarded as the father of psychology, and his book, De Anima (On the Soul), the first book on psychology. He was concerned with the connection between the psychological processes and the underlying physiological phenomenon. Many believe he contributed more to prescience psychology than any other person, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Although Aristotle attended Plato's Academy, he became convinced of the need for empirical observations and criticized many of Plato's philosophies. Plato and Aristotle "represent a basic divergence in the way man and the world may be viewed, a modern parallel being the difference between the clinical and the experimental psychologist. (Zusne, p. 8)"

Aristotle postulates that the body and the mind exist as facets of the same being, with the mind being simply one of the body's functions. He suggests that intellect consists of two parts: something similar to matter (passive intellect) and something similar to form (active intellect). Aristotle says that intellect "'is separable, impassible, unmixed, since it is in its essential nature activity. . . . When intellect is set free from its present conditions, it appears as just what it is and nothing more: it alone is immortal and eternal . . . and without it nothing thinks (Britannica Online, "Physiological Psychology")."

Aristotle described the psyche as a substance able to receive knowledge. Knowledge is obtained through the psyche's capability of intelligence, although the five senses are also necessary to obtain knowledge. "As Aristotle describes the process, the sense receives 'the form of sensible objects without the matter, just as the wax receives the impression of the signet-ring without the iron or the gold.' (Britannica Online, "Physiological Psychology")." Sensitivity is stimulated by phenomenon in the environment, and memory is the persistence of sense impressions. He maintained that mental activities were primarily biological, and that the psyche was the "form" part of intellect. Aristotle insisted that the body and the psyche form a unity. This idea is known as hylomorphic.

Aristotle believed that thinking requires the use of images. While some animals can imagine, only man thinks. Knowing (nous) differs from thinking in that it is an active, creative process leading to the recognition of universals; it is akin to intuition, it does not cause movement, and it is independent of the other functions of the psyche. (Zusne, pp. 8-9)

Thomas Aquinas based many of his ideas on those of Aristotle, metaphysically interpreting them to make them fit his Christian theological framework. Thomistic psychology is still taught in Catholic schools today.