Greek Philosophy What is Philosophy love of wisdom

Greek Philosophy

What is Philosophy?

• “love of wisdom” • Study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence • Greeks invented philosophy as a formal, systemic way of thinking • Before, all attributed to the gods • Greeks didn’t turn to their dieties to explain the origin of everything. STILL HAD RELIGION

3 Big Questions • What is the world made of? (now, natural science) • How can we know? (epistemology) • What should we do? How should we behave? (morals)

Wisdom vs. Knowledge • Wisdom = a way of thinking (“wise person”) • Knowledge = the accumulation of information

• Greeks built into Western civilization a tradition of CRITIQUE

Pre. Socratic Greeks • Materialists - explained all natural phenomena in terms of one or more of the earth’s elements (water, earth, air and fire) • Thales – first Western philosopher • Water alone, not the gods, responsible for all changes in nature • First time attributed events to nature, not gods • Thales started Greek free discussion of ideas in public areas such as the agora, no longer limited to an educated elite or the priests.

• Pythagoras - Universe is harmonious - All things can be placed in sequence, ordered and counted. - Discovered musical scale’s numerical ratio of frequencies (octaves) - Pythagorean theorem in geometry: ratio of sides of a right triangle

• Protagoras – Sophist who taught reasoning to wealthy families - “Man is the measure of all things. ” - people see themselves as the standard of beauty, or judge other things in relation to themselves - “sophists” = skilled debaters can defeat rational arguments – PLATO DISAGREED, SAYING THERE IS OBJECTIVE REALITY

The Big Three • Socrates, his pupil Plato and then Aristotle • Socrates - wrote nothing - executed for corrupting the youth - “Socratic Dialogue” - way of questioning to show that he and others didn’t really know anything

• Plato - dedicated his life to defending his master’s teachings - What is the nature of knowledge & what means do we have of obtaining it? - What is morality & the best way to live? - Used dialogues, like Socrates - Allegory or Myth of the Cave: we see only copies of reality

Philosopher outside Cave in Sunlight

• “shoes” - What is a shoe? - “shoe-ness” • What is love? - I love my children. - football, a juicy hamburger, studying Greek philosophy, justice - Are these all the same?

• Aristotle - based his ideas on close observation and thought, not on pure thought - a rival school of philosophy to Plato - no “shoe-ness” for Aristotle, just concrete actual shoes that you could see and touch.

• Happiness is ultimate goal of human life. • Humans are political as well as rational beings. • A political community is essential for a fully human life and happiness.

Legacy • Aristotle is a philosophical basis for Christian theology. • Thomas Aquinas based much of his doctrine on Aristotle – remains offiical philosophical poistion of Roman Catholic Church

Raphael “The School of Athens”

• Plato points up, the mind • Aristotle points down and out: reality is here, among us, not in the mind • Basis of Western intellectual tradition • Video