PHILOSOPHY in the ancient world 700 BC 250

PHILOSOPHY in the ancient world 700 BC -250 AD

THALES OF MILETUS(624 -546 BC) What is the basic material of the cosmos? It must be…. • . . something from which everything can be formed • …essential to life • …capable of motion • …capable of change • EVERYTHING IS MADE OF WATER

LAOZI 6 th century BC • Chinese philosophy • Approach: Daoism • Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is true wisdom • To live a virtuous life means acting in accordance with the dao (the Way – the root of all things, the source of all existence)

PYTHAGORAS (570 BC-495 BC) • Approach: Pythagorianism • Everything in the universe conforms to mathematical rules and ratios • So if we understand number and mathematical relationships we come to understand the structure of the cosmos. • Mathematics is the key model for philosophical thought • Number is the ruler of forms • Number is the ruler of ideas

SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA (563 -483 BC) • Eastern philosophy • Approach: Buddhism • Happy is he who has overcome his ego • Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own reason.

CONFUCIUS (551 -479 BC) • Chinese philosophy • Approach: Confucianism • What you know, you know; what you don’t know, you don’t know; this is true wisdom • Faithfulness and sincerity hold the power of transformation • Virtue is not god sent it is something that can be developed

HERACLITUS (535 -475 BC) • Approach: Monism • The road up and the road down are one and the same thing • You can never step into the same river twice • Everything changes

PARMENIDES • APPROACH: Monism • Everything that is real must be eternal and unchanging and must have an indivisible unity – ALL IS ONE

PROTAGORAS (490 -420 BC) • Approach: Relativism • Man is the measure of all things • Example: it is spring day in Athens. A visitor from Sweden says the weather is warm and a visitor from Egypt says the weather is cold. Both people are telling the truth according to Protagoras as the truth depends on perspective and is therefore relative.

MOZI (470 -391 BC) • Approach: Mohism • When one throws to me a peach, I return to him a plum • Treat others as you want them to treat you • When this philosophy is applied by all including rulers, Mozi says, it avoids conflict and war.

DEMOCRITUS (460 -371 BC) • Approach: Atomism • Man is a microcosm of the universe. • Nothings exists except atoms and empty space

SOCRATES 469 -399 BC • Approach: Dialectical method • The unexamined life is not worth living

PLATO (427 -347 BC) • Everything in this world is a ‘shadow ‘ of its IDEAL FORM in the world of IDEAS

ARISTOTLE 384 -322 BC) • Approach: Empiricism • We find the truth from evidence gained in the world • Example: we see different instances of ‘dog’ in the world around us. We recognize the common characteristics of dogs in the world. Using our senses and our reason, we understand what makes a dog. • ‘Socrates is mortal’ is the undeniable conclusion to the most famous syllogism in history. Aristotle’s syllogism – a simple deduction from two premises to a conclusion – was the first formal system of logic. Example: All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore Socrates is mortal

EPICURUS (341 -270 BC) • Approach: Epicurianism • Peace of mind, tranquility is the goal of life. One of the obstacles to this is the fear of death. If we overcome the fear of death we can be happy. He reasons that death is the end of sensation so cannot be physically painful and that death is the end of consciousness, so cannot be emotionally painful. Therefore is nothing to fear death

DIOGENES OF SYNOP (404 -323 BC) • Approach: Cynicism • The first of a group of thinkers who became known as the cynics from the Greek word kynikos meaning ‘dog-like’. To live the ideal life you needed to be able to reject all forms of social custom and instead live as natural as possible. He lived a life of poverty in a tub. • He has the most who is most content with the least.

ZENO OF CITIUM (332 -265 BC) • Approach: Stoicism It is up to the individual to choose whether to put aside things over which he has little or no control and be indifferent to pain and pleasure, poverty and riches. But if he manages to do that, one will be in agreement with nature. Happiness is a good flow of life