1. Greek Philosophy and History
Section 2 Overview
This section describes Greek contributions to the study of philosophy and the writing of history.

2. Focusing on the Main Ideas
Greek Philosophy and History
Focusing on the Main Ideas
Greek philosophers developed ideas that are still used today. 
Greeks wrote the first real histories in Western civilization.

3. Meeting People Pythagoras (puh·THA·guh·ruhs) 
Greek Philosophy and History
Meeting People
Pythagoras (puh·THA·guh·ruhs) 
Socrates (SAH·kruh·TEEZ) 
Plato (PLAY·TOH) 
Aristotle (AR·uh·STAH·tuhl) 
Herodotus (hir·RAH·duh·tuhs) 
Thucydides (thoo·SIH·duh·DEEZ)

4. Building Your Vocabulary
Greek Philosophy and History
Building Your Vocabulary
philosophy (fuh·LAH·suh·fee) 
philosopher (fuh·LAH·suh·fuhr) 
Sophist (SAH·fihst) 
Socratic method (suh·KRA·tihk)

5. Greek Philosophy and History
Greek Philosophers
The word philosophy comes from the Greek word for “love of wisdom.” 
Greek thinkers, called philosophers, believed the human mind could understand everything.

6. Greek Philosophy and History
Greek Philosophers
Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher who taught that the universe followed the same laws that governed music and numbers. 
He developed many ideas about mathematics. 
Sophists were professional teachers who traveled from city to city, teaching others. 
They did not believe that gods and goddesses influenced people.

7. Greek Philosophy and History
Greek Philosophers
They also did not believe in absolute right or wrong. 
Socrates was a philosopher who believed that an absolute truth existed and that all real knowledge was within each person. 
Leaders did not trust Socrates, and accused him of teaching young Athenians to rebel.

8. Greek Philosophers Socrates was tried and sentenced to death. 
Greek Philosophy and History
Greek Philosophers
Socrates was tried and sentenced to death. 
The Socratic method is a form of teaching that uses questions to lead students to discover things for themselves. 
Plato was on of Socrates’ best students. 
In his book the Republic, Plato described the ideal government.

9. Greek Philosophy and History
Greek Philosophers
At the top were rulers and philosophers, in the middle were warriors, and at the bottom were all others. 
Aristotle was one of Plato’s students. 
He opened his own school called the Lyceum. 
Aristotle helped advance science and government.

10. Greek Philosophy and History
Greek Philosophers
Many of his ideas shaped the way European and American founders thought about government. 
The “golden mean,” one of Aristotle’s ideas, states that a person should do nothing to excess.

11. Greek Philosophy and History
Greek Historians
Many historians consider Herodotus the “father of history” because he wrote the history of the Persian Wars. 
The Greek Thucydides is considered the greatest historian of the ancient world. 
He wrote History of the Peloponnesian War.