Transcript Materialism - Gordon State College

Classical Greece
and the classical ideal
The philosophers Protagoras and
Xenophanes sum up the attitude of Greek
intellectual thought when they write:
• Protagoras: “Man is the measure of all
things, of the existence of those that exist,
and of the nonexistence of those that do
not.”
• Xenophanes: “If horses and cows had
hands and could draw, they would draw
gods looking like horses and cows.”
We find just such a human-centered view in
the writings of Herodotus (484-420 BCE)
•The first historian: “Father of History”
•Wrote the History of the Persian Wars First
writer in Western tradition to devote himself to
historical writing rather than Epic poetry (like
Homer)
•His history is based on observation, analysis,
and credible sources
•Posits the concept of hubris
•In Book VII of the history, the Persian
emperor Xerxes’s uncle, Artabanus, warns
Xerxes before the invasion: “You know, my
lord, that amongst living creatures it is the
great ones that Zeus smites with his thunder,
out of envy of their pride. It is God’s way to
bring the lofty low. For He tolerates pride in
none but Himself.”
We find a complementary human-centered view in
the poems of Sappho (b. 612 BCE), the great
Greek lyric poet;
Percussion, salt and honey,
A quivering in the thighs;
He shakes me all over again,
Eros who cannot be thrown,
Who stalks on all fours
Like a beast.
Perhaps the most human-centered intellectual
work of the Greeks is philosophy.
What is philosophy?
Perhaps the most human-centered intellectual
work of the Greeks is philosophy.
What is philosophy?
• Philosophy literally means “love of wisdom.”
Perhaps the most human-centered intellectual
work of the Greeks is philosophy.
What is philosophy?
• Philosophy literally means “love of wisdom.”
• In the Western tradition it usually refers to inquiries into
the nature and ultimate significance of human
experience, including such areas as logic, metaphysics,
epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and politics.
Perhaps the most human-centered intellectual
work of the Greeks is philosophy.
What is philosophy?
• Philosophy literally means “love of wisdom.”
• In the Western tradition it usually refers to inquiries into
the nature and ultimate significance of human
experience, including such areas as logic, metaphysics,
epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and politics.
• Philosophy is not religion. Greek philosophers turned
away from religious teachings to study the above topics,
using the power of human reason to try to discover how
the world came into being and how it works, and to
understand the place of humans in it.
The first schools of philosophy:
The first schools of philosophy:
• Materialism: the earliest school of Greek
philosophy. Sought to explain all phenomena in
terms of one or more elements.
The first schools of philosophy:
• Materialism: the earliest school of Greek
philosophy. Sought to explain all phenomena in
terms of one or more elements.
• Pythagoreanism: mathematical relationships
represent underlying order of universe.
The first schools of philosophy:
• Materialism: the earliest school of Greek
philosophy. Sought to explain all phenomena in
terms of one or more elements.
• Pythagoreanism: mathematical relationships
represent underlying order of universe.
• Dualism: there are two worlds, the world around
us and an ideal world accessible only through
the intellect and reason.
The first schools of philosophy:
• Materialism: the earliest school of Greek
philosophy. Sought to explain all phenomena in
terms of one or more elements.
• Pythagoreanism: mathematical relationships
represent underlying order of universe.
• Dualism: there are two worlds, the world around
us and an ideal world accessible only through
the intellect and reason.
• Atomism: reality consists of ultimate,
unchangable particles that are not obvious to the
eye and also of void (nothingness).
The Classical Ideal
• The belief that the quest for reason and order
could succeed.
The Classical Ideal
• The belief that the quest for reason and order
could succeed.
• Existence can be ordered and controlled.
The Classical Ideal
• The belief that the quest for reason and order
could succeed.
• Existence can be ordered and controlled.
• Human ability can triumph over the apparent
chaos of the natural world and create a
balanced society.
The Classical Ideal
• The belief that the quest for reason and order
could succeed.
• Existence can be ordered and controlled.
• Human ability can triumph over the apparent
chaos of the natural world and create a
balanced society.
• The aim of life should be a perfect balance:
everything in due proportion; “nothing too much.”
The Classical Ideal
• The belief that the quest for reason and order
could succeed.
• Existence can be ordered and controlled.
• Human ability can triumph over the apparent
chaos of the natural world and create a
balanced society.
• The aim of life should be a perfect balance:
everything in due proportion; “nothing too much.”
• Individuals can achieve order by understanding
the motives for their own action.
The Classical Ideal informs every
aspect of Greek culture:
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Greek philosophy
Greek architecture
Greek sculpture
Greek drama
Greek history
Thucydides (b 460 BCE) , wrote The History of the
Peloponnesian War. First history to focus on human
motives and reactions so that future generations could
understand why the events of the past happened and, thus,
understand themselves.
The Parthenon, a temple built for Athena atop the Acropolis, Athens
The Classical
Style:
ideal beauty
represented in
realistic terms
Chrysippus writes: “beauty
consists of the proportion of
the parts; of finger to finger; of
all the fingers to the palm and
the wrist; of those to the
forearm; of the forearm to the
upper arm; and of all these
parts to one another, as set
forth in The Canon of
Polykleitos”
This statue by Praxiteles (copied
many times) represents the
discovery of the female body as an
object of beauty in itself.
It is also one of the first attempts to
bring the element of sensuality into
the portrayal of the female form.
Athenian Drama
• Athens the center of dramatic production in Greece; plays
produced for the festival of Dionysus, god of wine and
song.
• The Athenian tragic dramatists: Aeschylus, Sophocles,
Euripides. Tragedy is the art of hamartia and catharsis.
• The Athenian comedies (Aristophanes): mocked the
constantly warring culture of Greece.
Philosophy in the Late Classical Period:
Platonist and Aristotelian
• Socrates: proponent of the Socratic method of
questioning of traditional values through dialog
• Plato: Socrates’s student; wrote down the dialogs of
Socrates; founded The Academy (the first univesity);
proposed concept of ideal societies and forms in works
such as The Theory of Forms and The Republic
• Aristotle: Plato’s student; founded the Lyceum in
competition with The Academy; known as the great
systematizer; rejected in works such as The Metaphysics
and The Rhetoric Plato’s other-worldly idealism in favor
of the analysis of the essences of the material and
mental world as directly experienced; inspiration for
modern science.
Exam Question 2
• Making reference to at least two specific
works of classical Greek culture, define
the classical ideal and discuss how it
informs Greek culture.
• Successful answers should be one full
paragraph at least five sentences long