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The Greek Thinkers CHW 3M “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
-SOCRATES
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Philosophy – “The love of wisdom”
The Greeks were known for their love of philosophy 2 phases of Greek philosophy Early - Natural philosophers (“What is a tree?”) What exists? (Air, water, etc) How does change occur? (permanence?) After Persian War (“What is a man?”) How can a person be certain about knowledge? What is knowledge? What are the uses of knowledge? What constitutes the good or just life?
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The Sophist Answer Socrates’ Answer
One group – the Sophists – believed that knowledge was relative No such thing as real good and evil – depended on man’s interpretation An action wasn’t evil, it just appeared evil (Pushing somebody in the street??) Loved arguing; cared more about persuasion than truth Socrates’ Answer One man – Socrates ( BC) – thought the Sophists were ridiculous One of the greatest teachers of all time – both loved and hated (eventually executed) The soul is what defines man – knowledge leads to truth and goodness
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The Socratic Method Used only questions to probe human behaviour
Questions highlighted logical fallacies, made people realize they were not that smart (“Is the Earth square or round?”) Dialectic: Idea that truth comes from modifying one’s idea through constant conflict with opposing views Problem: Assumed that if people knew what was right, they would DO it!
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Plato Takes It Further One of Socrates’ pupils – Plato ( BC) – continued to use Socrates’ dialectics, but added a twist. Two worlds 1) Sensible world What we see around us Contains Material forms: Temporary, imperfect illusions or copies of the real world (Like images on TV, individual horses) 2) Intelligible world – the real world Contains Ideal forms: The perfect, unchanging ideas or concepts of the things we experience (the IDEA of a horse)
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Plato Takes It Further Aristotle Makes Sense
Material states are doomed, unless ruled by philosophers who understand the “ideal” world Aristotle Makes Sense One of Plato’s pupils – Aristotle ( BC) made Plato’s ideas more practical Only one world – every object has both material and ideal aspects People and states can be improved – must work at becoming more “ideal” (good) Studied everything to figure out what leads to more goodness Became known as the “master of those who know”
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Honourable Mentions Pythagorus
Figured out how to calculate the length of the long line in a triangle – big math guru Anaxagoras Decided that the sun was a hunk of burning rock bigger than the WHOLE Peloponnesus! Hippocrates Founded modern school of medicine; rejected idea that illness caused by evil spirits
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