Transcript Greek Philosophy

GREEK PHILOSOPHY
BIOGRAPHY OF SOCRATES
•469 – 399 B.C.
•Philosopher of Athens
•Married to Xanthippe
•One of the founders of western philosophy
•Very wise man, Plato was one of his students
•He never recorded anything or wrote it down, only passed information on to his students
•He questioned the gods and whether objective goodness could exist
•Trial of Socrates: 2 charges, corrupting the youth and impiety, discussed in Plato’s The Republic
•Sentenced to death : drank hemlock and died at the age of 71
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BIOGRAPHY OF PLATO
•Plato was born to upper class parents in Athens around 427 BC (The 88th Olympiad)
•Was chosen to be a student in Law due to the family’s close relation to Solon, the lawgiver of Athens
•Became a disciple of Socrates at the age of 20, developing his passion for Philosophy
•Plato traveled across the Mediterranean, going to Sicily, Persia, and other Greek lands
•Unlike Socrates, he was loved by all of Athens, garnering attention from nearly all citizens
•Would later go on to teach Aristotle in his Academy
•Died between 348 and 347 BC
•It is unclear how Plato died, some sources saying he died in his sleep while others say he died at a wedding
feast.
3: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Sanzio_01_Plato_Aristotle.jpg
PLATONIC AND SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY
•The philosophy of the two men are difficult to discern from each other due to Plato’s
apprenticeship and Socrates’ refusal to write or record any of his work
•The most important contribution from Socrates is the described Socratic Method, a method of
solving problems by breaking the problem down into questions and answering each question, much
like the Scientific Method
•Plato published his theories in the form of dialogues, usually using the character Socrates, leading
to confusion as to who originally developed these theories
•Plato was one of the first to publish work on the philosophic theory of Realism, often called
Platonism due to his contributions
• Platonic Realism is the ontological belief that metaphysical abstractions (i.e. gods, called universals by Plato) exist
independent to the existence of humanity
PLATONIC AND SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY (CONT.)
•Plato’s epistemological theories was heavily intertwined with his theory of Realism
• Plato believed that the original soul given to a human held all knowledge, but the knowledge was lost when the human
was born, leaving everything to be re-learned by the human during its life
•Plato’s theories of society were inspired heavily by Socrates and were mainly depicted in Plato’s
greatest work, The Republic
•The Republic is a complex Socratic dialogue that discusses everything from the meaning and
definition of justice, the social contracts between government and the people, forms of government,
and Plato’s view of the problem of universals.
• The dialogue is told through the character Plato calls Socrates
• The problem of universals is the question of whether properties (an attribute of an object i.e. redness) actually exist or
are created by humans
BIOGRAPHY OF ARISTOTLE
•Probably born in 384 BC
•His father was the doctor of the King of Macedonia and started educating Aristotle in science and medicine
•Aristotle was 15 when Socrates was executed under Athenian law, making his teacher, Plato, 43 years old
•Aristotle’s parents died when he was young and was raised by his uncle who sent him to Plato’s Academy at the age
of 18
•Despite Aristotle’s status as the brightest student in the academy, ownership was given to Plato’s nephew
•After leaving the Academy, Aristotle traveled the Mediterranean, bringing him to Atarneus, where he would marry
the niece of the King, an alumni of the Academy
•Aristotle would return to Athens and form his own school, Lyceum, where he would teach Alexander the Great
•Aristotle would eventually leave Athens and seek refuge in Calchus after the fall of Alexander’s Empire, claiming, "I
will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy,“
•Aristotle would eventually die of natural causes in his mother’s home in Calchus in 322 BC
ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY
•Aristotle expanded on the Socratic Method, taught to him by his mentor, Plato
• It eventually developed into the Scientific Method we use today
•Aristotle also expanded on Plato’s work in the metaphysical field of Universals. The
Aristotelian view of Universals is that they exist intertwined with our dimension,
contrasting with Plato’s belief that Universals exist independent of our world.
•Aristotle would eventually move from metaphysical philosophy to what he called
“natural philosophy”, studying the physical phenomena that occur in the natural world
• This branch of philosophy would eventually develop into the study of Physics, Biology, Geology, and
other natural sciences
•Aristotle divided his fields of study into Logic, Theoretical Philosophy, Practical
Philosophy, Natural Philosophy, and Poetical Philosophy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Downey, Ed. "Aristotle." Aristotle (2006): 1. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 16 Aug. 2013.
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Armstrong, D. M. A Theory of Universals. Cambridge [etc.: Cambridge UP, 1978. Web.
Rist, John M. Plato's Moral Realism: The Discovery of the Presuppositions of Ethics. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America, 2012. Web.
Da Urbino, Raphael Sanzio. The School of Athens. 1510. Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.Wikimedia Commons. Web. 18 Aug. 2013.
David, Jacques-Louis. The Death of Socrates. 1787. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA. Wikimedia Commons. Web. 18 Aug.
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