A NCIENT G REEK P HILOSOPHY 哲學研究所專任助理教授 陳斐婷

Today’s agenda  Learning Classical Greek  A brief history of ancient Greek philosophy  Introduction to Unite 2: nature, change and cause

Learning Classical Greek 3

Fragment of Aristotle’s Politics 4

ὁ Δικαι ό πολις Dicaeopolis 5

Ἀ θηνα ῖ ος (an) Athenian 6

ἐ στ ί (ν) He is; he exists. εἰμίεἰμί I am; I exist 7

ὁ Δικαι ό πολις Ἀ θην ᾶί ος ἐ στιν. 8

ο ἰ κε ῖ He/she/it lives, dwells οἰκέωοἰκέω I live, dwell 9

δ έ and ἀ λλ ά but ο ὐ κ not ἐ ν τα ῖ ς Ἀ θ ή ναις in Athens ἐ ν το ῖ ς ἀ γρο ῖ ς in the fields 10

ὁ Δικαι ό πολις Ἀ θην ᾶί ος ἐ στιν. ο ἰ κε ῖ δ ὲ ὁ Δικαι ό πολις ο ὐ κ ἐ ν τα ῖ ς Ἀ θ ή ναις ἀ λλ ὰ ἐ ν το ῖ ς ἀ γρο ῖ ς. 11

A Brief History of Greek Philosophy

The Pre-Socratic philosophers  Milesians (4/13) Thales: water Anaximander: ἄ πειρον (the unlimited, unbound, boundless) Anaximenes: air  Ionians (4/20, 4/27) Heraclitus: change and logos  Eleatics (4/27, 5/4) Parmenides: the One Zeno of Elea: the paradoxes  Atomists (5/11)

The Pre-Socratic philosophers  Pluralists Empedocles: Four elements and two forces (Love and Strife) Anaxagoras: Mind and the divisibility of material ingredients  Sophists: Protagoras and Gorgias  Plato’s criticisms of sophists (a) Some sophists as a group responsible for decay in moral standards, e.g., Callicles ( Gorgias ) and Thrasymachus ( Republic ) (b) Other sophists such as Protagoras and Gorgias simply repeat those prejudices without founding their view on any rational basis that goes beyond the unexamined beliefs of the majority. Plato connects Sophistic with “appearances” or “images” in the Republic.

Socrates (470/ BCE)  Son of a midwife and a stone sculptor. Snub nose, bulging eyes, thick lips and a pot belly. Often barefoot, seldom bathed, and wore the same thin cloak winter and summer. Infantryman in the Peloponnesian War.  In the Apology : corrupting the youth, not believing in the gods of the city state, introducing new divinities.  In the Clouds (423BCE) founder of Thinkery School: (a) believing in Breath, Air, Chaos; thunder is not caused by Zeus; (b) teaching the Inferior Logic…

The historical Socrates  Socrates in Plato ’s Apology : corrupting the youth, not believing in the gods of the city state, introducing new divinities.  Socrates in Aristophanes ’ The Clouds (423BCE): a naturalist philosopher. The Thinkery School, believing in Breath, Air, Chaos. Thunder is not caused by Zeus…  Socrates in Xenophon ’s Socratic writing: concerned only with ethical issues; pessimistic about knowledge of heavenly phenomena.  Socrates in Aristotle ’s writing: ethical issues

Plato ( BC)  Two worlds: the visible world vs. the intelligible world.  Particulars exist in the visible world.  Forms exist in the intelligible world.  Particulars are inferior to the Forms. 20

Aristotle ( BC)  There is only one world.  Particulars are the primary substances.  Particulars are primary and fundamental to the universals. 21

Unite 2: Nature, Change, and Cause

Nature and Change

φύσις (nature)

What x consists of or comes to be from

Crocodiles

Epilepsy

Hippocrates on nature

From the regular and permanent traits to their underlying constituents

Explaining Change

The material explanation as the principle

Thales, Anaximenes, Heracleitus

Aristotle’s criticism

The efficient explanation as the principle

Aristotle’s (and Plato’s) Criticism?  If you were Aristotle (or Plato), how would respond to the efficient explanation as the principle of the cosmos (the world, the universe)?

Next week: Heracleitus