Week 3: Plato's Symposium · Aristotle's Four Causes · Basic Logic and Fallacies

• The Symposium — Plato — seven speeches about love; Socrates reports what Diotima taught him
• The Four Causes — Aristotle, Physics Book II (chapter 3) — short; read chapter 3 twice

Textbook chapters (Payne): Ch. 2: How Philosophy is Done · Ch. 3: Ancient Philosophy · Ch. 8: Love and Happiness

1. The Symposium is a dinner party where each guest gives a speech in praise of Love (Eros). Aristophanes tells the myth of split humans searching for their other half.
2. Socrates reports Diotima's teaching: love is desire for what we lack; it climbs a ladder from one beautiful body, to all bodies, to beautiful souls, to laws and knowledge, and finally to Beauty itself.
3. Aristotle's Four Causes explain anything fully: material (what it is made of), formal (its shape or definition), efficient (what brought it about), final (its purpose). A statue: bronze · the figure · the sculptor · to honor a hero.
4. An argument is a set of premises offered to support a conclusion. Find the conclusion first, then ask what is doing the supporting.
5. Deductive arguments aim at validity: if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true. A valid argument with true premises is sound.
6. Inductive arguments aim at strength: true premises make the conclusion probable, not certain. Most everyday reasoning is inductive.
7. A fallacy is a mistake in reasoning that looks like a good argument. Common ones: ad hominem (attack the person), straw man (misstate the view), false dilemma (only two options), slippery slope (one step leads to disaster with no evidence), appeal to popularity, hasty generalization, begging the question (assume what you are proving), red herring (change the subject).
8. Major Essay 1: a clear thesis, reasons that actually support it, evidence from the text, and one objection answered — and zero fallacies of your own.

Discussion post

1. Post one real-world argument you found and name the fallacy (or explain why it is sound).
2. Quote or paraphrase it fairly — no straw man of your own.
3. Say what a stronger version of the argument would look like.
4. Reply to two classmates: test their label with a counter-example.

Netiquette from the syllabus: address ideas, not people. Complete sentences, correct spelling. Personal matters go to email, never the board.

Confirm the exact prompt and rubric in Canvas. This outline fits any Weeks 1–3 prompt on Plato, Socrates, or the nature of love and knowledge.

1. Introduction: hook with the dilemma, then a one-sentence thesis that takes a side.
2. Context paragraph: who, what, when — the Cave, the trial, or the Symposium — in your own words.
3. Reason 1 + textual evidence (author, section) + your explanation of why the evidence proves the point.
4. Reason 2 + evidence + explanation.
5. Objection: the best case against your thesis, stated so fairly its defender would nod.
6. Reply: why the objection does not overturn your thesis.
7. Conclusion: restate the thesis in new words and say what follows for how we should live or learn.
8. Final pass: no fallacies, active voice, complete sentences, Canvas rubric checked, file uploaded.

Write it in your own words. Cite the reading by author and section. Submit the file in Canvas before the deadline — Late work is not accepted except for a documented emergency (doctor's note, funeral announcement) arranged case by case.

Raise your hand. Mr. James gets a message right away and can help you remotely. Nothing else is stored — just your last name, grade, and where you're stuck.

Ask at home: Aristotle said everything has a purpose — a 'final cause.' What do you think the purpose of a family dinner is?

En español: Aristóteles dijo que todo tiene un propósito, una 'causa final.' ¿Cuál crees que es el propósito de una cena en familia?