CLASSICAL
GREEK THOUGHT
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
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.”
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
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
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