greek philosophy slides

8/8/2019 Greek Philosophy Slides

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/greek-philosophy-slides 1/6

Greek Philosophy

A brief overview of persons

and doctrines

Earliest Beginnings

• Philosophy began

when human beingstried to understandthe world through theuse of reason, ratherthan through religiousmyths or acceptingthe authority of others

• The earliest

philosophicalquestions were thingslike….

• “What is the worldmade of?”

• “What holds the worldup?”

• The first knownphilosopher wasThales, who lived inMiletus, in southernAsia Minor.

• He thought that theworld was all madeout of a singleelement…

• He believe it was allwater, in one form oranother

• Other earlyphilosophers adopteddifferent views, bothon the number of thebasic elements, andon its nature…

• Heraclitus said“everything is flux”

You can’t stepin the same

river twice!...

The Pythagoreans

• A school of thinkers foundedby Pythagoras, 570 BC-497BC.

• Studied mathematics andphilosophy, which he tried to

unite• Thought to be the first person

to apply the word “cosmos” tothe universe—the insight thatthe universe had an order to it,which Pythagoras believedcould be expressed byhumans in terms ofmathematics

Socrates 470-399 BC

The first great Greekphilosopher

Born and lived at Athens

Turned away from the thinkingof previous philosophersbecause – they were all at odds with each

other, and none proposed amethod by which to decidebetween them

– they made little practicaldifference anyway, even if wecould discover which was true



Socrates

Socrates believed whatwe needed to knowwas how to conduct ourlives and ourselves

The urgent questionswere – What is good?

– What is right?

– What is just?

Socrates

Socrates believed that if we applywords like “just” to all sorts ofdifferent people, decisions, laws,and sets of arrangements, therewas something common to them all,something called “justice” whichthey all shared.

He believed that this “justice” isreal, though it is not material,perhaps some sort of “essence.”

He believed that we could discoverthe nature of this abstract realitythrough rigorous discussions andcareful questioning of each other.

Socrates

Socrates’ two cherished beliefs:

– If we preserve our integrity, noreal, long-term harm could evercome to us.

– No one really knowingly doeswrong—he believed that if weonly knew the answer toquestions like “what is justice,”we would be bound to behave

justly. This is why he tried toinvolve as many people aspossible in his discussions.

PLATO

A follower of Socratesand initially adisseminator of his ideas

First person to writephilosophy—he wrote“Dialogues” in whichSocrates is theprotaganist

Early dialogues weremore or less accounts ofSocrates’ and hisconversations; laterdialogues Plato began toinclude ideas of his own

PLATO

His interests beginwith the ethicalinterests of Socrates,

but gradually movetoward naturalphilosophy andmathematics—thesorts of things thatSocrates scorned

PLATO

Plato never denied Socrates beliefs that the only real harmthat can come to a person is harm to the soul (integrity); that itis better to suffer wrong than to commit it; that we should thinkfor ourselves, being ready to question whatever we believe istrue

However, he rejected the view that virtue is simplyknowledge—according to Plato, virtue requires that reasonrule the irrational parts of one’s soul



PLATO: The Theory of the Forms (Ideas)

Plato adopted the implied view ofSocrates’ quest to know universalessences of things, and

generalized it across the whole ofreality Everything in our world was, for

Plato, an ephemeral, decayingcopy of something whose idealform has a permanent andindestructible existence, outside oftime and space.

These Forms or Ideas were therealities underlying all existence.

Accessible only to the mind;knowledge of these were whatphilosophers actually pursued.

PLATO All of reality then wasdivided two—a visibleworld, our ordinaryeveryday world, which is

presented to our sense,and which is constantlychanging.

And timeless andunchanging world, ofwhich our everyday worldonly offers us a glimpse.Because it alone just is,one might call this worldthe real reality.

PLATO The same division in reality

exists in the human being:

We have a body whichcomes into existence andpasses away, never stayingthe same.

The body is only a fleetingglimpse of something that isalso us, and is non-material,timeless, and indestructible

—our soul. For Plato, this isour permanent Form, and itexists in the same order ofreality as all the unchangingForms of everything else.

PLATO

Life’s ultimate aim for Plato is to move beyond the imageof things and know its ultimate reality. This is achievedthrough practicing detachment from the world andphilosophy

Plato even said that it is a lot like rehearsing to be dead .

ARISTOTLE 384-322BC

A pupil of Plato, educatedat Plato’s Academy inAthens

Founded his own school,called the Lyceum, in335BC.

Rejected Plato’s idea thatthere were two worlds—what ever is outside ofexperience of us can onlybe nothing.

“The teacher of those who know”

Mapped out many of thebasic fields of academicinquiry and even provide

names for them:psychology, physics,logic, economics,meterology, rhetoric,ethics

Probably one of thegreatest thinkers to haveever lived…

Dante on Aristotle



ARISTOTLE

THE NATURE OF BEING

All things are composed of

matter—their constituentmaterials and form—theway they are structured

Matter is just the stuff out

which things are made…itchanges, even every day.

ARISTOTLE

Form or organization orstructure is the reasonanything is what it is

There is no distinctive

matter that makes upanything

There is no Chihuahua

stuff—Chihuahua is a waymatter is organized.

ARISTOTLE’S FORM

Inherent in every object

Incapable of separate existence: a reality, butonly a principle of things

Source of a thing’s function

ARISTOTLE

THE FOUR CAUSESMaterial: that which

something is made of

Formal: that which causessomething to be, gives itidentification

Efficient: what actually doesor makes it

Final: reason for it all

“All men by nature desire to know”

ARISTOTLE

The Human Being

Composed of body(matter) and soul(form)

Acts for a final end orgood—happiness oreudaimonia

ARISTOTLE

The Science of Ethics

Investigates howhappiness can be

achieved by humans—what are its basicboundaries orrequirements

Virtue: the balancebetween the extremes ofexcess and deficiency



ARISTOTLE

Ethics is a preliminaryinvestigation toPolitics

“Man is by nature apolitical animal”

Purpose ofgovernment: toenable citizens to livea full and happy life.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE HELLENISTIC AGEPHILOSOPHY OF THE HELLENISTIC AGE

THE CYNICS

• Rejected civilization and

embraced a simply life• Only difference that matteredwas between “true” values and“false” values; all others wererubbish (Greek/foreigner;civilized/uncivilized)

• Diogenes (404-323BC) was afamous cynic known for hisaggressive flouting of all theconventions and deliberateattempts to shock people bynot eating or dressing, oreating disgusting food, orcommitting flagrant acts ofpublic indecency


THE SKEPTICS

• Founded by Pyrrho (365-270; sooften called Pyrrhonism)

• Characterized by the activerefusal to believe anything (eventhat!)

• Argument: there are equally goodarguments for both sides; so stopworrying and “go with the flow”

• Timon: no ultimate ground ofcertainty could ever be reached—every argument assumes itsstarting point.

• Arcesliaus—became director ofPlato’s Academy, and skepticsdirected the school for over 200years (why Augustine refers tothem as the Academics )


THE EPICUREANS

• “Live Unknown”• Materialism: atoms and space

are eternal; everything elsechanges.

• Death: only the state after ourexistence; it cannot hurt us. Sodon’t fear it.

• God: far away and happy; nodesire to become involved inhuman affairs

• Our lot: Make the best of thislife – Achieve by moderation of our

pursuits and withdrawal frompublic life.


• Seek pleasures that willlast and not cause unduepain

• The natural necessities:

– Food and drink—to live – A bed—to rest

– Friends—to discussphilosophy

• All tragedies can beendured—they will eitherkill you quickly or soonpass.


THE STOICS• Reason was the highest

authority…• Therefore

– The world our reasonspresents to us as existing(Nature) is all the realitythere is

– Nature is governed byrationally intelligibleprinciples (logos)

– God = spirit of rationalitythat imbues us and allNature; God is the mind orself-awareness of the world

Marcus Aurelius

Epictetus

Seneca




Stoic Ethics

• No afterlife—as this is all there is

• Everything is it is for a reason;everything happens according toreason

• We must accept all things withoutcomplaint—for indifference is themark of reason

• Emotions are wrong—always false judgments

• Endure life’s troubles with calm anddignity; and if things become sobad, it was rational to take your life.

greek philosophy slides

Documents