Greek Philosophy
Earliest Beginnings
Greek Philosophy
• Philosophy began when human beings tried to understand the world through the use of reason, rather than through religious myths or accepting the authority of others • The earliest philosophical questions were things like…. • “What is the world made of?” • “What holds the world up?”
A brief overview of persons and doctrines
• The first known philosopher was Thales, who lived in Miletus, in southern Asia Minor. • He thought that the world was all made out of a single element… • He believe it was all water, in one form or another
You can’t step in the same river twice!...
• Other early philosophers adopted different views, both on the number of the basic elements, and on its nature… • Heraclitus said “everything is flux”
The Pythagoreans
• • A school of thinkers founded by Pythagoras, 570 BC-497 BC. Studied mathematics and philosophy, which he tried to unite Thought to be the first person to apply the word “cosmos” to the universe—the insight that the universe had an order to it, which Pythagoras believed could be expressed by humans in terms of mathematics
Socrates 470-399 BC
The first great Greek philosopher Born and lived at Athens Turned away from the thinking of previous philosophers because
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•
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they were all at odds with each other, and none proposed a method by which to decide between them they made little practical difference anyway, even if we could discover which was true
1
Socrates
Socrates believed what we needed to know was how to conduct our lives and ourselves The urgent questions were
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Socrates
Socrates believed that if we apply words like “just” to all sorts of different people, decisions, laws, and sets of arrangements, there was something common to them all, something called “justice” which they all shared. He believed that this “justice” is real, though it is not material, perhaps some sort of “essence.” He believed that we could discover the nature of this
Greek Philosophy
• Philosophy began when human beings tried to understand the world through the use of reason, rather than through religious myths or accepting the authority of others • The earliest philosophical questions were things like…. • “What is the world made of?” • “What holds the world up?”
A brief overview of persons and doctrines
• The first known philosopher was Thales, who lived in Miletus, in southern Asia Minor. • He thought that the world was all made out of a single element… • He believe it was all water, in one form or another
You can’t step in the same river twice!...
• Other early philosophers adopted different views, both on the number of the basic elements, and on its nature… • Heraclitus said “everything is flux”
The Pythagoreans
• • A school of thinkers founded by Pythagoras, 570 BC-497 BC. Studied mathematics and philosophy, which he tried to unite Thought to be the first person to apply the word “cosmos” to the universe—the insight that the universe had an order to it, which Pythagoras believed could be expressed by humans in terms of mathematics
Socrates 470-399 BC
The first great Greek philosopher Born and lived at Athens Turned away from the thinking of previous philosophers because
–
•
–
they were all at odds with each other, and none proposed a method by which to decide between them they made little practical difference anyway, even if we could discover which was true
1
Socrates
Socrates believed what we needed to know was how to conduct our lives and ourselves The urgent questions were
– – –
Socrates
Socrates believed that if we apply words like “just” to all sorts of different people, decisions, laws, and sets of arrangements, there was something common to them all, something called “justice” which they all shared. He believed that this “justice” is real, though it is not material, perhaps some sort of “essence.” He believed that we could discover the nature of this