Philosophy and Famous Quotes

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How can a trader get a benefit from Philosophy? If you want to be a great trader you must first become a great man, and philosophy may take you there.

Socrates was a classical Athenian philosopher credited as the first moral philosopher and one of the founders of Western philosophy.

 

Socrates {469-399 BC} “What Defines an Educated Man”

 When sometime Socrates was asked to define the educated man, he did not mention anything about the accumulation of knowledge, instead, he defined the educated man as:

1. The one who can control unpleasant situations rather than be controlled by them

2. The one who can face all situations in his life with courage and logic

3. The one who is honest in all his transactions

4. The one who faces unpleasant people with goodwill

5. The one who can control his pleasures

6. The one who is not defeated by mishaps and failures

7. The one who is not worn by his success and glory

 

Some more quotes from Socrates:

8. True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing

9. False words (lies) are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil

10. Our prayers should be for blessings in general, only God knows best what is good for us

» Socrates at Wikipedia

 

The Triple Test of Socrates

 

One day, when the ancient philosopher Socrates was visiting the Acropolis, met an acquaintance who said “I have something important to tell you concerning one of your students”

-Socrates said that he would like before hearing him impose him to the Triple-Test..

-"The Triple-Test?" the man said in amazement..

-“Yes, before you tell me what you heard about my student, I would like to sit here for a moment and to filter what you are about to tell me”.

-“Ok,” said the man

-“The first filter is the one of the Truth,” Socrates said and then asked:

“Are you completely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

-“…Not exactly, I just heard but ...” said the main

-“So you have no idea if what you are about to tell me it is true or false..” Socrates said

-“Let us now try the second filter, that one of Kindness,” Socrates said and then asked:

“What you are about to tell me concerning my student is something good?”

-“Good?... Probably the opposite..” the man said

-“So, you want to say something bad about one of my students although you're not sure that it is true”

The man felt shame and embarrassment.

-“Nevertheless, you can still pass the test because there is a third filter,” Socrates said

“The third filter is the one of Utility..”

“Is what you are about to tell me about my student something that can be seen as something Useful?” Socrates asked

-“No. I do not think so..” the man answered

-“Then, after all, you want to tell me something about one of my students that is not good, not useful and probably it isn’t even true.. why should I hear about it?

And Socrates left the conversation without listening to what that man had to say about his student.

 

A Few more words about Socrates

Socrates lived in a period when people worshiped many gods. He instead believed that there was just one god. For this behavior and his teachings, he was convicted to death. But during the Ancient Athenian Democracy, executions were strictly forbidden. So the convicts had to execute their death penalty by themselves. If they wanted to live they had to abandon the city permanently. Socrates' students organized an escape plan so that Socrates could leave Athens safely. But he refused to be saved. He said in plain words: How will ever people listen to me again if I don’t stand for my own words and ideas? And that is why he preferred to drink the poison, provided by the state, and execute his death penalty. He was an example of a man who lived and died to serve his ideas.

 

The Great Philosophical Sequence that Started with Socrates and ended with Aristotle

 

1) Socrates → Plato (student)

Socrates had many students, among them there was the famous Philosopher Plato. Plato founded one of the major Philosophical Movements of all time ‘Platonic Idealism’. For Plato, Ideas come first, and then comes the Material World. Plato also had a great passion for Geometry and wrote outside his Academy “If you don’t know Geometry, Do not enter my Academy”. Academies of nowadays are named according to Plato’s Academy.

 

2) Plato → Aristotle (student)

One of Plato’s students was Aristotle, one of the greatest minds of the ancient world and maybe of all times. Aristotle was more of a scientist than a philosopher. He was a maniac in writing science. It was like he was trying to build the Internet of ancient times, on himself. He wrote a massive collection of Scientific Readings that include: Physics, Biology, Zoology, Oceanology, and Metaphysics. He also wrote about Logic, Ethics, Poetry, Theater, Politics, and Government. Only 1/3 of his work is saved nowadays.

Interestingly, Aristotle Defined God similarly to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. According to Aristotle, the Concept of Time exists because the Material World is constantly changing. Then he argued, that there was a single time in history (the start of the world) when the Material World was Unchanged and that means that at this point Time didn’t exist. Aristotle said that God is the energy that pushed the Material World to Move and that energy started Time. God according to Aristotle is like a Motion. Aristotle founded the Philosophical Movement of “Pragmatism”, which, in contrast with Platonic Idealism, states that the Material World comes first and then comes the world of Ideas.

 

3) Aristotle → Alexander the Great (student)

This great sequence of men from Teacher to Student ends with one of Aristotle’s students, the famous General of ancient times Alexander the Great.

 

Socrates Famous Quotes

George P. for TradingCenter.org