Plato

Ch1. Faction in the 20th Century - Analytic Philosophy vs. Continental Philosophy

It should be well known to a modern student of philosophy that house currently stands somewhat divided on itself. In England and America, analytic philosophy in the tradition of Russell and others dominates. It has essentially taken over. But in the 20th century we saw the rise of philosophers rejecting "scientism", particularly in continental Europe. Names like Husserl, Kierkegaard and Sartre stand out prominently as examples of philosophers not plugged into the American/English tradition.

2. Modern Logic

Between great thinkers like Frege, Gödel, Tarski, Kripke and Quine, in the 20th century we developed an unparalleled understanding of philosophical and mathematical logic. Model theory remains a hot topic in mathematical and philosophical circles. A basic understanding of the nature of incompleteness and completeness is becoming standard for student of philosophy and computer science. With the advance of logic philosophy over all has become a more formal discipline.

3. Thinking in Terms of Language

Much of modern linguistics has philosophical fathers. Frege and Grice spring to mind, a strong case could also be made for Tarski. But the architect of a takeover of language analysis in the 20th century was Wittgenstein. His Philosophical Investigationslead philosophers to the idea that by analyzing so called language games, we could solve paradoxes and understand the world. This was something of a pre-occupation of philosophers in the 20th century.

4. Epistemology - Empiricism vs. Rationalism before the 20th century

The early modern philosophers were deeply concerned with questions of epistemology. History class usually breaks them up into two approaches. One approach put "self-evident" truths into the center stage. This approach is called rationalism. The other approach put sense data as the primary source of knowledge. This approach is known as empiricism. The subject of many treatises has been based on argument for one side against another. Some of the great rationalist of history are Descartes and Leibniz. Some of the great empiricists are Hume and Locke. It is worth mentioning that Kant argued against rationalism on the basis of arguments with equal a priori support, which he dubbed "antinomies".

5. Philosophy of Government

The idea of what makes a good government takes center stage from the enlightenment all the way to modern day. Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Robert Nozick and John Rawls are just a few names in a long, rich history of political philosophers. It might be worth mentioning that enthusiastic readers of author Ayn Rand, who go under the self-proclaimed name of Objectivists count themselves as political philosophers (as well as philosophers of epistemology and ethics). As of right now, most philosophy departments ignore Objectivists.

6. Science - What is it? What is Causality? What is a Scientific Explanation?

In the 20th century, the philosopher Karl Popper raised the question "What makes something scientific?" and argued that Freudian psychology and Marxism are not scientific modes of thought, but that relativity, which were cutting edge at the time, is. His arguments were based on a principle of "falsifiability", namely that in order for some hypothesis to be scientific, it must be falsifiable. Other philosophers have grappled with the subject of causality, the earliest account I can think of in the 20th century belonging to Hume. Still others such as Hempel grappled with the notion of what is an explanation, giving rise to the idea of a Deductive-Nomological account of scientific explanation. Modern philosophers of science include Nancy Cartwright and Bas van Fraassen.

7. Modern Epistemology - Justified True Belief

The subject of epistemology has been hot and remains hot throughout all of Modern philosophy. I have already mentioned some of the classical approaches to epistemology, namely rationalism and empiricism. The modern approach barrows from the seminal critique of modern epistemology by Edmund Gettier. Read up more on "Gettier cases" if you are curious. Much of epistemology is devoted to the question of "What makes a belief justified?"; but also shares topics in ontology (namely the question, "What is true?") and philosophy of mind (namely the subject, "What is a belief?"). A pioneer in our modern theory of knowledge would be W.V. Quine, who suggests that beliefs form webs with peripheries we are more likely to abandon in the face of conflicting evidence and cores we would essentially never abandon.

8. Ethics - Cognitive ( Utility vs. Obligation) vs. Non-Cognitive

In the 20th century the field of Meta-Ethics was formed, to answer the question "What is ethics anyway?" An early name in this subject was G.E. Moore. Essentially the question is split between ideas that ethical truths can be discerned objectively somehow, versus the idea that ethical statements mean "something else". An early Cognitivist contrast to Moore was the philosopher W.D. Ross, who gives the idea of candidate duties one must decide between in situations of seeming conflict of duty, or as he calls them prima facia duties. The Non-Cognitivist philosopher Ayer did not believe that there was any way of resolving ethical disputes. The Non-Cognitivist philosopher Stevenson thought that ethical statements were supposed to evince another person of some position.

9. Philosophy of Mind

Another subject and perennial question of modern philosophy is "What is the thought?" The discussion almost always starts with Descartes Meditations. The view is typically split between Materialism, which holds that thoughts can be explained in terms of matter, and Dualism, which holds that thoughts can be explained in terms other worldly matter. Almost all 20th century analytic philosophers reject this view.

10. Rationality and Economy

Ever since Adam Smith, we have been interested in asking what motivates people in economies, and what is best. A closely related question is "What is rationality". I will be honest, this subject matter is the focus of my study. Great reading can be found classically in Malthus and Hobbes and Smith, great modern reading would be in Von Neumman & Morgenstern, Luce & Raiffa, Kripke, David Lewis, Auman, Kreps, Rubinstein, Amartia Sen, Schelling and Kahneman to mispell a few names off the top of my head.

According to Plato: " there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, and one grievous day and night befell them, when the whole body of your warriors was swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished."

Historians believe that Plato was the first one to write about Atlantis. This subject appears in his Timaeus of 448 BC.

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Many people believe that the historical basis for the Atlantis myth was the Minoan civilization on the island of Thera in the Mediterranean (now called Santorini).
The Minoan eruption is a key marker for the Bronze Age chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean world.
The Island exploded in a huge volcanic eruption that destroyed the Minoan civilization across the whole Mediterranean somewhere between 1627 BCE and 1600 BCE.

Some say that Plato's real name was Aristocles, and that Plato was a nickname, meaning "the broad". The nickname might refer from the width of his shoulders or forehead or from the breadth of his style. As a young man, Plato studied under Cratylus, himself a student of Heracleitus. It almost certain that Plato became friends with Socrates when he was young.

Plato was in military service from 409 BC to 404 BC, at the end of the Peloponnesian War, but at this time he wanted a political career rather than a military one. However, the excesses of Athenian political life during peacetime seems to have persuaded him to give up political ambitions. In particular, the execution of Socrates in 399 BC had a profound effect on him and he decided that he would have nothing further to do with politics.

Plato travelled in Egypt, Sicily and Italy. In Egypt he learned of a water clock. In Italy he learned of the work of Pythagoras, and came to appreciate the value of mathematics. Again there was a period of war and again Plato entered military service.

On his return to Athens, Plato founded, around 387 BC a school of learning called the Academy. Plato presided over the Academy, an institution devoted to research and instruction in philosophy and the sciences until his death. His reasons for setting up the Academy were to train young men who would become better statesmen.

Plato's main contributions are in philosophy, mathematics and science. However, it is not as easy as one might expect to discover Plato's philosophical views. The reason for this is that Plato wrote no systematic treatise giving his views, rather he wrote about 30 dialogues written in the form of conversations. Not only are these dialogues important works of philospophy, but they are superb pieces of literature.

Through these dialogues, Plato contributed to the theory of art, in particular dance, music, poetry, architecture, and drama. He discussed a whole range of philosophical topics including ethics, metaphysics where topics such as immortality, man, mind, and Realism are discussed. He discussed the philosophy of mathematics, political philosophy, and religious philosophy. In his theory of Forms, Plato rejected the changeable, deceptive world that we are aware of through our senses proposing instead his world of ideas which were constant and true. In hisRepublic, Plato talks of geometrical diagrams as imperfect imitations of the perfect mathematical objects which they represent. He also contributed to logic and legal philosophy, including rhetoric.

Although Plato made no important mathematical discoveries himself, his belief that mathematics provides the finest training for the mind was extremely important in the development of the subject. Plato's contributions to the theories of education are shown by the way that he ran the Academy and his idea of what constitutes an educated person. Over the door of the Academy was written: "Let no one unversed in geometry enter here".

Plato concentrated on the idea of "proof" and insisted on accurate definitions and clear hypotheses. This laid the foundations for Euclid's systematic approach to mathematics. All of the most important mathematical work of the fourth century was done by friends or pupils of Plato, including Eudoxus, Aristotle, and Archytas.

In mathematics Plato's name is attached to the Platonic solids. In the Timaeus, there is a mathematical construction of the elements earth, fire, air, and water being represented by the cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, and icosahedron repectively. The fifth Platonic solid, the dodecahedron, is Plato's model for the whole universe.

Plato's Academy flourished until 529 when it was closed down by the Christian Emperor Justinian, who claimed it was a pagan establishment. Having survived for 900 years it is the longest surviving university known.

Plato is quoted as saying "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

On a similar theme of being kind:

James M. Barrie - the author of "Peter Pan" - said, "Be kinder than necessary."

Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?

James M. Barrie

Chapter one of " The little White Bird " Published 1902.

Thomas B. Albright - See

Either the question is wrong or the answer. I know English language, enough to say, the answer is wrong.

No disrespect to Thomas B Albright.

I do not know the answer, off hand but may be allowed to find it, later. This is to say, I shall work tenuously to be the first to answer the question, framed in the headline.

To wit:

Dept of Sanskrit lexicography at Deccan College Swati Shinde, TNN Nov 2, 2009, 03.08am IST

PUNE: The Deccan college post-graduate and research institute will set up country's first-ever Department of Sanskrit Lexicography, starting from academic year 2010-11. The department which will initially offer masters and doctorate courses in lexicography, will allow students to gain hands-on experience on the mammoth Sanskrit dictionary project, undertaken by the college way back in 1948.

Lexicology is the science of the study of word whereas lexicography is the writing of the word in some concrete form i.e. in the form of dictionary. It also includes the history, theory, methodology and typology of dictionary-making.

Director of the college Vinayaka Bhatta said, "For several years we have been working on the Sanskrit dictionary project. So, we realise the potential of lexicography in Sanskrit. Hence, we decided to set up a separate department for the subject. Also, the fact that there is no lexicography department or courses available exclusively for Sanskrit led us to set up one."

There are several universities in the country that offer lexicography courses in various other languages namely - Punjabi, English and even Tamil. But not Sanskrit. The Sanskrit lexicography course will get underway from next year even as the department will be set up on the premises of Deccan college.

"Once the course gains publicity and the department expands, we intend to build a separate building and add more courses," Bhatta said.

The Deccan College has undertaken the Sanskrit dictionary project which is described as one of world's biggest lexicography work having started in 1948 and expected to be completed in another 30 to 40 years from now.

Unlike conventional dictionaries which deal with word meanings as static, one-item entries, this Sanskrit dictionary adopts a historical approach, a special feature in the field of lexicography. The project has already seen three generations of lexicographers at work and many more to go.

The students applying for these courses will also gain hands-on experience on this mammoth project and further still they swill also get a chance to prepare their own dictionary as a project.

"There are several opportunities in the field today and a number of universities and colleges in the country and outside are involved in various projects related to lexicography. Also, students who pass out of this course can take up an initiative and prepare their own dictionaries," Bhatta said.

Presently, the Deccan College has three departments functioning, namely the department of archaeology, department of linguistics and the Sanskrit dictionary project.

Poona, India (City). University. Centre of Advanced Study in Linguistics

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Deccan College, 1973 - Foreign Language Study - 131 pages

Studies in historical Sanskrit lexicography , Issue 3

Studies in historical Sanskrit lexicography , Issue 3

Poona, India (City). University. Centre of Advanced Study in Linguistics

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Deccan College, 1973 - Foreign Language Study - 131 pages

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Origin of Lexicography reveals that there were two categories of lexicons: synonymous and homonymous. There were dictionaries that were written by poets like Banabhatta, Mayura, Murari and Sriharsa. The Nighantus contained nominal and verbal forms. The Koshas contained only nouns. The former dealt with one special text, the latter was based on any special text. Koshas are written in verse and it incorporates expressions from many of the arts which a poet was expected to have mastered. The composition of such works may have been promoted by existence of Dhatupathas and other lists of the grammarians.

In synonymous lexicons words were grouped by subject-matter. Some of the important synonymous dictionaries included a homonymous section. As the books were aimed at learning, the principle of alphabetic order was not considered. They are divided accordingly on various principles. The longer articles may come first or the arrangement may be by the final consonants or the initial letters or both combined. In some cases information is given as to gender with an appendix on it. Homonyms may be treated in the same way. The older writers were indifferent to order. They were keen to give long definitions. However the later writers are unwilling to waste space and are proportionately unclear.

(Last Updated on : 24/05/2011)

Origin of Sanskrit Lexicography

Origin of Sanskrit Lexicography can be dated back to Nighantavas which is a collection of Vedic terms.

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Wörterbücher: ein internationales Handbuch zur Lexikographie, Volume 3 edited by Franz Josef Hausmann

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That they each believe in making a point but that one does so with convictions and the other with none is what makes up a comparison and contrast of Antigone in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.) and Crito in the dialogue by Plato 424/423 B.C.E. - 348/347 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone believes in giving her life for the family, the gods and Theban traditions. In contrast, Crito considers it more effective to make points outside of prison and without impending death sentences being carried out. He defends life as needing to be saved at all costs and convictions as important after the preservation of one's own life.