Greek History & Philosophers

Vocabulary Philosophy Philosopher Sophist Socratic Method

Greek Philosophers The word “Philosophy” comes from the Greek word for love of wisdom Greek Philosophy led to the study of history, political science, science, & Mathematics.

Greek Philosophers Philosophy- Study of the nature & meaning of life. Philosopher- Thinker who seeks wisdom and ponders questions of life.

Greek Philosophers Many philosophers were teachers Pythagoras- taught his students that the universe followed the same laws that governed music & numbers He thought all relationships in the world could be expressed numerically.

Sophists Sophists- were professional teachers in ancient Greece. Traveled from city to city and made a living teaching others Sophists did not believe the gods & goddesses influenced people.

Socrates Socrates- An Athenian sculpter whose true love was philosophy. He was a critic of Sophists. What we know about Socrates was left behind in the writings of his students.

Socrates He believed in absolute truth. He believed all knowledge was within each person. He invented the Socratic Method- asking pointed questions to force people to use reason & to see things for themselves.

Socrates Some Athenians considered the Socratic method a threat to their power. This brought about open debate until after the Peloponesian War when debate was no longer trusted.

Socrates In 399 BC Athenian leaders accused Socrates of encouraging young people to rebel against the state. He would be found guilty and sentence to death. He then drank poison to carry out his sentence.

Plato Plato was a student of Socrates. He wrote The Republic explaining his ideas about government. Plato thought a pure democracy was not a good idea, that people did not make good sensible decisions

Plato In the Republic he divided people into 3 catagories: Philosopher-kings Warriors All other people.

Aristotle Plato created a school in Athens known as the Academy. His best student was Aristotle. Aristotle wrote more than 200 books covering government to astronomy.

Aristotle In 355 BC Aristotle opened his own school called the Lyceum. Aristotle taught the “Golden Mean”- people should not do things in excess.

Aristotle Aristotle helped advance science encouraging people to use their senses to make observations. Aristotle studies the governments of 158 different places.

Aristotle He was always looking for the best form of government. In his book Politics, he divided government into 3 types: Gov. by one person Gov. by a few people Gov. by many people

Aristotle Aristotle noticed that government by the few was ran by the rich Government by many was ran by the poor. Aristotle thought there should be a mix of both. Aristotle shaped what would become the American government,

Greek Historians In the ancient world most places did not write about history. In 435 BC a Greek named Herodotus wrote the history of the Persian Wars. He tried to separate fact from legend.

Greek Historians He asked questions and checked the truthfulness of sources. Western Historians consider him the Father of History.

Greek Historians Many historians consider Thucydides the greatest historian of the ancient world. He fought in the Peloponesian War & wrote The History of the Peloponesian War.

Greek Historians Thucydides saw politics & war as events of humans not of the gods like Herodotus.