Chapter 6, Section 2: Philosophers and Writers of the Golden Age (part one)

1. Chapter 6, Section 2:Philosophers and Writers of the Golden Age (part one) Objectives: Explain the basic ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Identify the achievements of Greek mathematicians and scientists of the golden age. Identify the important literary forms that originated or flourished during Greece’s golden age.

2. The Rise of Philosophy • Philosophy study of basic question of reality and human existence. • Used to better understand themselves and the world around them. • Believed that nature is based upon certain natural laws, or truths that they could discover through reason. • Example: Origin of the Earth • Homer’s Odysseyused mythology • Philosophersthrow this out and used secular methodology based on observation and logic.

3. BIRTH OF PHILOSOPHY • Philosophy originated in the Greek city states along the coast of Asia Minor around 600 BC • Because they were not as bound by tradition as city-states on mainland Greece • Because they were also constantly in touch with the ancient science and speculation of the Middle East • They were, in short, more open to intellectual innovation and speculation than counterparts on the mainland

4. THALES OF MILETUS • Born around 625 BC • Became a well-known astronomer and correctly predicted a solar eclipse • Also developed theories about size and orbits of the sun and moon • Learned geometry and engineering in Egypt

5. THALES’ THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE • Divided all matter in the universe into two categories • Material objects • Which had their origin in water • Animate spirits • Had the ability to move on their own • We all know that his theory was wrong but he nonetheless did something important • Saw universe as tangible, finite, and knowable • Not a mysterious and nebulous entity that only the gods could understand

6. OPENING THE DOOR • Asserted that the universe could be known by men • He rejected theological and mythological interpretations of the universe and instead sought rational explanations • Opened the door for a whole new series of questions once the age-old obstacle of relying on the gods for all answers had been overcome • What is man and what is the best society for man? • What is truth and how can one recognize it? • What is virtue and how can one acquire it?

7. THE SOPHISTS • Greeks quickly commercialized spirit of intellectual liberation • Men trained in philosophy set themselves up as teachers of various fields • Their basic premise was that men were capable of self-improvement through education and education would make men more successful • Offered idea of human progress through one’s own efforts • Became very popular and were concentrated in Athens

8. MORE SOPHIST ARGUMENTS • Sophists also attacked the traditional religious and moral values of Athenian society • Some argued that religion was useless and others asserted that religion was a human invention • Even argued that the law did not come from the gods, nor were they based on any objective or universal standard of justice and good • Argued that the law was something made by the most powerful citizens for their own benefit • Dangerous implications • Law did not need to be obeyed since it rested on no higher principle than might • Disruptive of community life because it stressed the selfish interests of the individual over the general welfare of the city

9. STILL MORE SOPHIST ARGUMENTS • Some sophists attacked Athenian emphasis on moderation and self-discipline • Urged that people should maximize pleasure and destroy traditions that restricted them • Traditions were only invented by the weak to enslave nobler nations

10. CRISIS WITHIN ATHENS • Radical sophists triggered intellectual and spiritual crisis in Athens • Their doctrines encouraged disrespect and disobedience to the law, neglect of civic duty, and selfish individualism • Dangerously weakened community bonds in Athens during Peloponnesian War • Worried conservative Athenians • Wanted to restore authority of law and respect for moral values by renewing allegiance to traditions that sophists attacked

11. CRITICISM OF THE SOPHISTS • Felt that sophists had taught skills but had no insight into the questions that really mattered • What is the purpose of life? • What are the values by which man should live? • How does man perfect his character? • Felt sophists had attacked old system of beliefs but had not provided a constructive replacement

12. SOCRATES • Employed intellectual methodology that sophists had created to address questions that they had either neglected or ignored • 469-399 BC • Born into middle class family and began adult life as a stone mason • Soon gave this up to devote life to finding out what was the right way to conduct one’s life

13. CENTRAL CONCERN • Central concern was the perfection of individual human character • Believed moral values were attained when the individual regulated his life according to objective standards arrived at through rational reflection • An individual would be able to ascertain the values necessary to live a good and just life when reason became the formative, guiding, and ruling agency of the soul • True education meant the shaping of character according to values discovered through the active and critical use of reason

14. THE POWER OF REASON I • Wanted to subject all human beliefs and behavior to the clear light of reason • And thereby remove ethics from the realm of authority, tradition, dogma, superstition, and myth • Believed reason was the only proper guide to the most critical problem of human existence • The question of good and evil

15. THE POWER OF REASON II • Socrates taught that rational inquiry was a priceless took that allowed one to test opinions, weigh the merit of ideas, and alter beliefs on the basis of knowledge • Believed that when people engaged in critical self-examination and strove to perfect their characters, they liberated themselves from accumulated opinions and traditions and based their conduct instead on convictions they could rationally defend

16. Bellwork • Get out the notes that we were working on last time. We will begin on Socratic Method I shortly after the bell. • Get scratch sheet of paper off back table and answer questions on it: • What is philosophy? • What social class was Socrates born into: lower, middle, or upper? • Thales’ theory of the universe divided all things into what two categories?

17. SOCRATIC METHOD I • Believed that knowledge was innate in the human mind • To extract it out into the conscious, he developed a question-and-answer method • Attracted loyal audience of young men • Mostly from well-off families • Encouraged them to debate the most fundamental concepts of human behavior in an attempt to define the guidelines of ethical conduct

18. SOCRATIC METHOD II • Would begin debates with students with searching questions into traditional assumptions that everyone took for granted and then proceed to show that these assumptions were rooted more in custom and prejudice than they were in logic • Would then lead students (with more questions) into developing more precise definitions of such concepts as piety, justice, good, and evil

19. ATTITUDES TOWARDS SOCRATES • Most in Athens dismissed Socrates as a eccentric sophist • But his students developed a fanatical loyalty to him • Political leaders, whose ability and judgment he continually questioned, hated his guts • It was this conflict that ultimately did him in

20. DEATH OF SOCRATES • After war was over, some enemies brought Socrates to trial on charges of “corrupting the youth of Athens” • Socrates denied charges but refused to grovel and beg forgiveness • Instead he boldly spelled out what he stood for • Was found guilty and ordered to kill himself by drinking hemlock • If he had tried to appeased jurors, he probably would have received light sentence • But he refused to alter his principles, even under the threat of death

21. PLATO • In 387, Plato founded the Academy in Athens • Intended to be a training ground for young men from all over Greece • Where they would learn the Socratic Method • Plato had more ambitious goal than Socrates’ moral regeneration of the individual • Also wanted arrange political life according to rational rules • Argued that quest for personal morality could not succeed unless the community was also transformed on the basis of reason

22. THE WORLD OF IDEAS I • Socrates had taught that universal standards of right and justice exist and could be found through the application of reason • Plato insisted on the existence of a higher world of reality • One that was independent from the world of things that we experience everyday • Called this the “World of Ideas” (or “Forms”) • Unchanging, eternal, absolute, and universal standards of beauty, justice, and truth • One had to live according to these standards in order to live the good life • To know these forms was to know truth

23. THE WORLD OF IDEAS II • Truth resides in the World of Ideas • Not in the world made known through the senses • People form opinions of beauty or justice from observing what they think is beautiful or just in the material world • But since nothing is perfect in the material world, this opinion is distorted and imperfect • One who aspires to true knowledge must go beyond sensory perception and try to grasp with their mind the Idea of Beauty or Justice in the World of Ideas • Plato saw the material world as unstable, transitory, and imperfect while the World of Ideas was eternal and universally valid • True wisdom is obtained through knowledge of the Ideas, not the imperfect reflection of these Ideas that we perceive with the senses

24. PLATO: SUMMARY • Plato was a champion of reason who aspired to study and arrange human life according to universally valid standards • Maintained that such standards did exist • But his writings also included a religious/mystical side • Appears at times to be a mystic seeking escape from this world to a higher reality

25. ARISTOTLE • Studied in Plato’s Academy for 20 years • Left to become tutor to Alexander the Great • Returned after Alexander became ruler and founded Lyceum • Ranges of interests and intellect was extraordinary • Leading expert of his time in all subjects except mathematics • Wrote large number of books on various topics

26. MATERIALISM I • Renewed confidence in sense perception • Which Plato had dismissed as an erroneous way to obtain knowledge • Respected knowledge obtained through the senses • Retained stress on universal principles • But wanted them to be derived from human experience with the material world

27. MATERIALISM II • Thought Plato’s notion of an independent and separate World of Ideas beyond space and time was contrary to common sense • To comprehend reality, one should not try to escape to another world • Believed Plato had undervalued the world of facts and objects revealed through the senses

28. MATERIALISM III • Perfect models existed within material things themselves • Through human experience with such things as men, horses, and red objects, the essence of man, horse, and red could be discovered through reason • For Plato, perfect models existed independently of particular objects • For Aristotle, universal ideas could not be determined without examination of particular things through the senses

29. ETHICS I • Believed knowledge of ethics was possible and that it had to be based on reason • Ethical thought derived from a realistic appraisal of human nature and a common sense attitude towards life • The “good life” meant making intelligent decisions when confronted with specific problems

30. ETHICS II • People could achieve happiness when they applied knowledge relevantly to life and when their behavior was governed by intelligence • Not by whim, tradition, or authority • Realized that passionate element within the human personality could not be completely eradicated • To surrender to one’s passions was to sink to the level of animals • But to deny the passions was foolish and an unreasonable rejection of human nature • Argued that people could regulate their passions through rigorous training • Could achieve virtue when they avoided extremes of behavior and rationally chose moderation

31. SUMMARY • Believed that contemplative life of the philosopher would yield perfect happiness • But he did not demand more from a person than human nature would allow • Did not set impossible standards but recognized that all persons cannot pursue life of contemplation • But all persons could experience a good life by applying reason to human affairs • Philosophy came down to earth with Aristotle and spoke to needs and concerns of all people • Not just a highly educated elite • Set the stage for the individualistic philosophies of the Hellenistic Age