Greek Philosophy

9th Grade World History Ms Wynne

Earliest Beginnings
Philosophy began when human beings tried to understand the world through the use of reason, rather than through religious myths or accepting the authority of others. It begins asking questions like: What is the world made of ? What holds the world up ?

Pre-Socratics :Thales
The first known philosopher was Thales, who lived in Miletus in Ionia. He thought that the world was all made out of a single element.. He believed it was WATER in one form or another

Anaximander
Pupil of Thales Set out to explain the weather e.g. rain, wind. He explained lighting and thunder not as Zeus throwing thunderbolts down upon the earth but having natural causes (compressed air). Though only partially correct, it is the first recorded attempt of a scientific explanation of the weather in the history of mankind. He was the first man in Greece to draw a map of the known world.

 A school of thinkers founded by Pythagoras 570BC- 497BC Studied mathematics and philosophy, which he tried to unite He is thought to be the first person to apply the word cosmos to the universe- the insight that the universe had an order to it, which Pythagoras believed could be expressed by humans in terms of mathematics

The Pythagoreans

Heraclitus
Other early philosophers adopted different views, both on the number of the basic elements, and on its nature. Heraclitus said everything is flux Fire is the most basic and powerful element as it consumes everything. you cant step in the same river twice for its not the same river and he is not the same man

Raphaels painting
1: Plato 2: Aristotle 23: Euclid 26: Heraclitus 28: Hypatia

Socrates 470-399 BC
The first Great Greek Philosopher- born and lived in Athens Turned away from the thinking of previous philosophers because they all seemed to disagree with each other The unexamined life is not worth living

Socrates
I know I am intelligent because I know I know nothing Wisdom begins in wonder To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For anything that men can tell, death may be the greatest good that can happen to them: but they fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of evils. And what is this but that shameful ignorance of thinking that we know what we do not know?

Socrates
Socrates believed that what we needed to know was how to conduct our lives and ourselves. The Urgent Questions were: -What is good? -What is right? -What is just?

Socrates
Socrates believed that if we apply words like just to all sorts of different people, decisions, laws etc. there must be something common to them all- something called justice which they all shared. He believed that this justice is real, though it is not material, perhaps some sort of essence He believed that we could discover the nature of this abstract reality through rigorous discussions and careful questioning of each other.

Socrates about to take the poison

Socrates
Two main beliefs: 1. If we preserve our integrity, no real, long-term harm could ever come to us. 2. No one really knowingly does wrong- he believed that if we only knew the answer to questions like what is justice we would be bound to behave justly. This is why he tried to involve as many people as possible in his discussions.

Plato 428-348 BC
A follower of Socrates and his most famous pupil. He is the first person to write philosophy- he wrote Dialogues in which Socrates is the main character. Early dialogues were more or less accounts of the life of Socrates and his conversations; later dialogues Plato began to include his own ideas.

Plato
At first Plato was interested with ethics like Socrates but later he became more interested in natural philosophy and mathematics. His book The Republic was his idea of how a city state should be run. Plato never denied Socrates' belief that the only real harm that can come to a person is harm to the should (integrity); that it is better to suffer wrong than to commit it; that we should think for ourselves and be ready to question whatever we believe is true. However, he did not believe that VIRTUE is simply knowledge- according to Plato, virtue requires that reason rule the irrational parts of the soul.

Platos Theory of Forms

Everything in our world is a poor copy of something whose ideal form or idea has a permanent and indestructible existence, outside time and space. Only our minds can understand these Forms and knowledge of these forms was what philosophers actually were doing.

Plato
All of reality was divided in TWO 1. A visible world which is presented to our senses and which is constantly changing 2. A timeless and unchanging world, which we cannot really see though we catch glimpses of it from time to time.

The Cave

Body divided into two:

Body: this is material, it comes into existence and then also passes away. It never stays the same, it is always changing. Soul: non material, timeless and indestructible This is our permanent form and exists in the world of forms

 For Plato what matters is not the physical world but the world of forms. We should try to become detached or removed from the physical world. Plato even said that it is a lot like rehearsing to be dead.

Aristotle 384-322 BC
A pupil of Plato and was educated at Platos Academy in Athens. He later set up his own school called the Lyceum in 335 BC He rejected Platos idea that there were two worlds- believing that whatever is outside of our experience does not exist!!

Aristotle
Mapped out many of the basic fields of academic inquiry and even provided names for them: psychology, physics, logic, economics, meteorology, rhetoric, ethics One of the greatest thinkers to have ever lived.

Aristotle
The Nature of Being: All things are composed of matter (this is the form that they take) and the way they are constructed Form: Is the organization of that matter. There is no dog matter!! A dog is a way matter is organized.

Aristotles Form:
It is in every object It only exists with the thing, cannot exist apart from the thing. It gives a thing its function- it is what a thing is!!! Example: A human being is made up of a body = matter a soul = form

Aristotles Ethics
For Aristotle to be happy we must be good!!! Virtue: is the balance between the extremes. The Golden Mean He believed that only good men should rule if we are to be happy with our rulers!!!

Hellenistic Philosophy
The Cynics 404-323 BC: They rejected civilization and preferred a simple life DIOGENES was a famous cynic. He rebelled against every convention or what was normal for his time. He did things to shock people like not wearing any clothes, not eating, or eating disgusting food or worse!!

The Skeptics: 365-270

Founded by PYRRHO They refused to believe anything! They argued that there are good arguments for both sides so stop worrying and just go with the flow!! Nothing is certain! They took over Platos academy and directed the school for nearly 200 years.

The Epicureans 341-270 BC

Enjoying life is all that matters. All tragedies can be endured, they will either kill you quickly or be over fast!! Death is just a way of being after our life is over, it cannot hurt us , so we should not fear it. Look for pleasures that we last and not cause pain. The natural necessities are: 1. Food and drink- to live 2. A Bed- to rest 3. Friends- to discuss philosophy

The Stoics
ZENO

SENECA MARCUS AURELIUS

REASON is everything. Nature is governed by understandable principles. God = Spirit of rationality that exists in us and all of nature. God is the mind of the world. We must accept all things without complaint- for indifference is the mark of reason. Emotions are wrong, always lead to false judgments. Accept lifes troubles with calm and dignity. If things get so bad it is rational to take your own life!!