Greek Philosophy

What is philosophy Philosophy ( “love of wisdom”) is an organized system of rational thought. Early Greek philosophers were interested in the nature of the universe and explaining it through unifying principles. In short they were looking for a simple and logical way to explain the universe. Pythagoras taught that the essence of the universe could be found in music and numbers.

The Great Greek Philosophers In the fifth and fourth century B.C., Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle raised questions that are still being debated today.

Socrates Socrates taught many pupils (students) for no pay. He believed that the goal of education was to improve a person’s soul. He introduce the Socratic method, a way of teaching still used today

Socrates “the unexamined life is not worth living.” The Socratic method uses a process of question and answer to get students to understand things for themselves. Socrates said The belief in the individual’s power to reason was an important contribution to Greek culture. Socrates and his pupils questioned authority. After the Peloponnesian War, Athenians did not trust open debate. Socrates was tried and convicted of corrupting the youth. He was sentence to death by drinking hemlock.

The Death of Socrates

Plato Plato is considered by many as the greatest Western philosopher. He was concerned with the nature of reality and how we know reality (what is real)

Plato According to Plato, an ideal world of forms is the highest reality. Only a mind trained by philosophy can grasp the nature of forms. Plato was also concerned with the virtue of city- states=> just and rational. This theory is explained in his manuscript “The Republic” The ideal state had three groups:

Plato 1. rulers, motivated by wisdom 2. warriors, motivated by courage 3. commoners, motivated by desire Only then would they have a just society, where people lived the good life He believed that men and women should receive the same education and opportunity (positions) Plato established a school call the Academy

Aristotle Aristotle was Plato’s most important pupil He did not believe in a world of ideal forms, he thought they were part of the natural world. Aristotle was more interested in analyzing and classifying things by observation and investigation. In this way we could know reality.

Aristotle He wrote on ethics, logic, politics, astronomy, geology, biology, and physics. Like Plato, Aristotle was concerned with how to improve government, one that could rationally direct human affairs. He looked at existing governments. He found three good forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and constitutional government. Of these the third was the best (“Politics”)