1. Greek Philosophers
The Big Three

2. Socrates of Athens c.470 BCE-399BCE
- Interested in the thinking process.
- Asked questions step-by-step to arrive to a final conclusion, or truth.
- This process of questioning is called the “Socratic Method.”
- Socrates was brought to trial and executed.
- He left no writings after his death.

3. Plato of Athens c427-347 BCE - Recorded the speeches made by Socrates
- Plato wrote his ideas about an “ideal state” in a book called The Republic.
- Aristocrat
- Plato established a school called the Academy to train government leaders.
- The Republic is the first book written on political science, or the study of government.

4. Aristotle 384-322 BCE - Aristotle was one of Plato’s brightest pupils.
- He believed in using your senses to discover the physical world.
Aristotle was the first to classify, or group together, similar plants and animals.
- Aristotle added to the ideas of other scientists – he added the 3rd step to the Scientific Method.
…a hypothesis must be tested to be proven.

5. Aristotle also made contributions in logic.
He developed the syllogism – a method of reasoning that uses three related statements.
Sixth Grade students learn about Ancient Greece.
Laura is learning about Ancient Greece.
Therefore, Laura is a sixth-grade student.