Panhellenic festivals 776 BCE Honor of the Greek Gods Mid-summer every 4 years Olympia Which games? Winners received amphoras with olive oil and laurel leaves Could women participate? Individual excellence and communal pride Philosophy 6th century BCE Shift from myth, magic, ritual, beliefs, intuition to careful analysis, reason, scientific inquiry Speculative leap from supernatural to natural Reason vs. faith (intellectual detachment and objectivity) Lovers of wisdom Naturalist Philosophers.
Thales, “What is everything made of? ” Water Miletus and Democritus, world is made of small indivisible particles, physics in the 20tth century Pythagoras, unchanging truths are in numbers; 2+2 = 4 Rather than deifying the sun and moon like the Egyptians, the Greeks studied them From subject of worship to object of study Hippocrates, father of medicine, medical ethics, link between body and mind, cause and effect This is the beginning of Western science and philosophy Sophists.
They turned their attention from the world of nature to the world of the mind, from physical matters to moral concerns ‘Man is the measure of all things”, Protagoras How do we know what we know? Skepticism was common: truth and justice were relative Socrates 470-399 BCE Opposed the view of Sophists Absolute nature of truth and justice Individuals are moral: to know good is to do good Dialectical method – question and answer method to give rational justifications for their answers Know thyself Inductive method: particular to general.
From the a just or unjust action to the idea of justice Exchange of ideas, horsefly on a sluggish horse At 70, he was brought to trial for subversive behavior, impiety and atheism, corrupting the youth Drank the hemlock (loyalty of the citizen to the polis) Human deeds outlast human lives Plato and the Theory of Forms Socrates’ pupil, student is Plato He founded the Academy, the first school of philosophy Dialogues with Socrates Socrates wrote nothing The Republic: what is the meaning of justice? What is a just society?
Two level reality: one with our senses and the other of unchanging eternal truths understood by way of intellect Higher, eternal truths is called Forms What senses perceive are mere copies of Forms Circle vs. sphere – the idea of the sphere always exists Justice, Love, Beauty, Good Allegory: image, hidden meaning Mortals chained underground (like the mind/soul in our body) Shadows believe to be real Only when one ascends to higher level of knowledge, philosopher hero They understand that they used to perceive shadows Dialogue between Socrates and Plato’s older brother, Glaucon Platonic idealism.