| This is really neat in concept. However, I would be cautious about the substance here. I took a look at one philosopher that I know well---Socrates---and several of the entries seem very doubtful to me. > We need to know how to conduct our lives and ourselves. Sure, but doesn't everyone think that? > Things like 'justice' do exist; not materially, but in some sort of essence. This is getting metaphysical, something quite foreign to Socrates. > There can be no cut and dried answers; answers themselves are open to question. This reads to much in to the conversational aspect of the dialogues. Socrates is always pointing out that in many areas of life there are experts who know the correct answers and can be appealed to. In the moral realm, sadly, there seem to be no experts (though there are pretenders, hence lots of questions), but the point is that it would be great if there were experts here too! > To the man who preserves his integrity no real, long-term harm can come. "Integrity" sounds too personal or individual; this should be "the just man", or "the righteous man". And it does not need to "long-term" qualification. That is four out of seven items. There rest of the list seems broadly ok, though it is a rather eccentric selection of Socrates views. Gotta start somewhere though, I guess. One the other hand Socrates presents unusual problems of interpretation, so this may well not be a representative entry. |
I'm curious about the other three items. Would you mind sharing them?
As for the last point, Socrates had this idea of "caring for one's soul". Not sure about the nature of the soul besides it being one's "true self". Notably he believed that it's better to be harmed than to harm someone because the latter hurts one's soul (not sure how this is supposed to work).
BTW I am interested in developing his ideas that no one willingly does wrong, and the related one that the only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.