Philosophy Honors World Studies Mrs. Steinke

Philosophy There are some major players in the ancient game of philosophy.

Philosophy Socrates Did philosophy using the Socratic method (teaching by questioning). He hit the streets in search of wisdom. He was executed by popular demand. He taught Plato.

Philosophy Plato He hung around with Socrates. Wrote dialogues featuring his teacher (Socrates). Maybe the most famous philosopher of all time. He taught Aristotle.

Philosophy Aristotle He was a student of Plato. He codified logic. He said everyone seeks happiness. He taught Alexander the Great. Plato emphasized the next world; Aristotle concentrated on this one.

Philosophy The Stoics Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius were the best known of the Stoics. Their main advice for handling any difficult thing in life: Put it in perspective and get over it!

Philosophy There are also some key terms of basic philosophy

Philosophy Love of wisdom

Philosophy Aesthetics The study of beauty, ugliness, and maybe even the sublime. The question “What is art” is an aesthetical one.

Philosophy Epistemology The study of belief, truth, knowledge and rationality

Philosophy Ethics The study of good and evil, right and wrong, rules and virtues, character and vice, success and happiness.

Philosophy Business ethics: What is okay to do? Legal ethics: Who is it okay to sue? Medical ethics: When is it okay to clone? Techno ethics: Is it okay to tap a phone?

Philosophy Metaphysics The study of being, or what really exists.

Philosophy What follows is a quick and concise history of early philosophers…

Philosophy There seems to be a general consensus as to where philosophy started…Greece

Philosophy By the 6 th century BC the city states on mainland Greece were thriving commercial centers. They were developing through the arts and were building the basic structures of democracy.

Philosophy The Greeks travelled widely, had a precise language, had assimilated geometry from the Egyptians, and took the calendar from Asia Minor.

Philosophy Many scholars believe that a man named Thales is to blame for starting philosophy.

Philosophy Wisdom Practical insight for living

Philosophy Thales was the first man to whom the name of “wise” was given. He was a politician, a geometer, astronomer and thinker.

Philosophy He is credited with correctly predicting the solar eclipse in 585BC. He wasn’t interested in myths but in knowledge of the world and stars.

Philosophy What was unique about Greeks like Thales was that they tried to disentangle science and magic, and dared to think about the world without first thinking of god.

Philosophy He questioned what the world was made from. He thought, perhaps, that maybe everything was made of water.

Philosophy Thales question is an interesting one—but more importantly, it’s a NEW kind of question for the Greeks.

Philosophy What the earliest philosophers were looking for was the unity of things.

Philosophy From Thales there were many other philosophers:

Philosophy Anaximander: he held that the earth was freely suspended in space and that all living creatures evolved from fish. Pythagoras: he founded a math school and figured out that halving the length of a string on a lyre produced a note an octave higher, and that all harmonies represented ratios of whole numbers. He explored the geometry of perfect solids and discovered the theorem, that still ears his name.

Philosophy Heraclitus: argued that everything was in a state of flux. He believed in a cosmic justice that maintained equilibrium in the world. The Atomists: they proposed that innumerable tiny solid particles—atoms—floated around in endless movement. For instance, they believed you could cut an apple with a knife was because there were spaces between the atoms.

Philosophy Then a BIG change---The Sophists. The earlier Greek philosophers had been interested in the universe, in unity, in the big questions. The Sophists were more interested in Man himself, how he behaved. Instead of looking for a big truth, the Sophists were more interested in the mechanics of how man could do things for himself.

Philosophy This idea led them to teaching people how to write, make speeches, and how to win court cases through the use of paradox and twisted arguments. This got them into trouble in Athens for leading people into bad habits (like being cynical).

Philosophy That brings us to next class when we start to explore Socrates…the next in line of philosophers after the Sophists.