CLASSICAL GREEK THOUGHT

  1. Philosopher = lover of wisdom
  2. Cosmologists (people who study the universe)
    1. Matter philosophers

                                                               i.      Thales of Miletus (624-548 BC) Basic element water      Natural explanation for earthquakes

                                                             ii.      Anaximenes (d. 525 BC) Basic element air    Natural explanation for rainbows

                                                            iii.      Anaximander (611-547 BC) Basic element – the “boundless”     Creation was natural process of evolution

    1. Pythagoras of Samos (580-507 BC)     Mathematical order of nature
    2. Parmenides of Elea (515-450 BC)        Truth reached through abstract thought  Founder of logic
    3. Democritus of Abdera (460-370 BC)    Universe consists of atoms
    4. Hippocrates of Cos (460-377 BC)         Natural causes for disease       Four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile
  1. Sophists
    1. Wanted to use reason to analyze people and society
    2. Taught political arete’ – skills needed to make laws and policies of polis
    3. Were philosophical relativists
    4. Protagoras – “Man is the measure of all things.”
    5. Attacked traditional religion and morality
    6. Aristippus – success = attainment of pleasure
  2. Socrates (c. 469-399 BC)
    1. Was not a Sophist although he wanted to use reason to examine human beliefs and behavior
    2. Believed moral values could be obtained through rational reflection – Socratic method or dialectic
    3. Function of philosopher was to recover truth buried in the mind
  3. Plato (428-348 BC)
    1. Disciple of Socrates/idealist
    2. Apology (legal term meaning defense) written shortly after Socrates’ death uses Socratic method: tension between realism/idealism, science/morality and ethics

                                                               i.      Realist: 3 parts to human nature: fear, self-interest, pride: “How should I live to get the most stuff possible?”

                                                             ii.      Idealist: concerned with values, not the world and things in it “How should I live to be a good human being?” “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

    1. The Republic (c. 380 BC): Justice is good for its consequences, but also is good in itself. Defined as doing what you’re naturally suited to do.

                                                               i.      Analogy between and individual and a city: The Body Politic

1.      Rational – Philosopher Ruler

2.      Spirited – Soldiers

3.      Appetitive - Craftspeople

                                                             ii.      Anti-democratic

1.      In a healthy city, people’s only goal is to meet basic needs

2.      In an unhealthy city, people seek luxury and are in danger from the envy of others

  1. Aristotle (384-322 BC)
    1. Associated with Plato’s Academy 368-348; tutor to Alexander the Great 343-340; established Lyceum in Athens 335.
    2. Nicomachean Ethics  Tries to combine and connect idealism and realism

                                                               i.      Thinks everything has a function and purpose: its purpose is its “good”: the world as is (realism) aims at the world as it should be (idealism)

                                                             ii.      Interested in citizenship

                                                            iii.      Five kinds of knowledge

1.      Scientific knowledge

2.      Craft knowledge (learn by producing)

3.      Practical wisdom (answer may be relative, not absolute)

4.      Understanding

5.      Wisdom (encompasses both scientific knowledge and understanding)

                                                               i.      Doctrine of the Mean

1.      Appropriate degree of response, not mediocrity

2.      For every situation, the right response lies between the extreme of excess and the extreme of deficiency

    1. Metaphysics    Doctrine of the Four Causes

                                                               i.      Material – the clay to make a vase

                                                             ii.      Efficient – the potter

                                                            iii.      Formal – the idea of form – the “vaseness”

                                                           iv.      Final – the purpose – the vase contains flowers