Transcript Greece - PBworks

Philosophy in Ancient Greece
Video to Introduce
Lesson
http://videos.howstuffw
orks.com/hsw/25880ancient-greece-socratesand-plato-video.htm
Plato
Aristotle
Standards
 SSWH3 The student will examine the political,
philosophical, and cultural interaction of
Classical Mediterranean societies from 700 BCE to
400 CE.
 Identify the ideas and impact of important
individuals; include Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and
describe the diffusion of Greek culture by Aristotle’s
pupil Alexander the Great and the impact of Julius and
Augustus Caesar.
Essential Question
 How did the philosophical ideas of Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle impact their society?
Greek Philosophy
 Philosophy = “love of wisdom”
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an organized system of rational thought
tried to explain the universe
The Sophists = traveling teachers that taught
rhetoric
 believed that understanding the universe was
beyond human understanding & people should
just try to improve themselves & pursue one’s
own good
Socrates
Socrates (Sculptor & Philosopher)
 Lived from 469-399 BC
 Criticized the Sophists
 He tried to find the definitions of the virtues, such as
courage and justice, by cross-examining people who
professed to have knowledge of them
 Developed the Socratic method (process of questions &
answers to get people to understand by themselves)
 After the Peloponnesian war, Socrates was tried & convicted
of corrupting the young & sentenced to death (drank
hemlock)
 His death made him a martyr and an icon; many schools of
philosophy made him their hero
Plato
Plato
 428-348 BC
 Considered by many the greatest philosopher of
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Western Civilization
Student of Socrates who taught that an ideal world of
forms is the highest reality
Virtue is the supreme form of knowledge
Wrote The Republic (an ideal virtuous state: rulers,
warriors, & commoners)
Established a school called the Academy
Aristotle
Aristotle
 384-322 BC
 One of the greatest philosophers of antiquity
 Student of Plato who believed in classifying things by
observation & investigation
 Philosophy to him meant science, and its aim was the
recognition of the purpose in all things
 Wrote Politics (3 good forms: monarchy, aristocracy, &
constitutional government)