Classical Greek Philosophy

1. Classical Greek Philosophy Aristotle

2. Aristotle Perhaps the most complete thinker the world has ever known

3. Aristotle • He defined (originated or refined) many fields including: • logic • metaphysics (what is real) • scientific classification • scientific method • scientific results in various fields • literary criticism • rhetoric • ethics • politics

4. Aristotle • Developed rules of logic • Syllogism • Inductive • Deductive

5. Aristotle Syllogism • All trees need light

6. Aristotle Syllogism • All trees need light • An oak is a tree

7. Aristotle Syllogism • All trees need light • An oak is a tree • Therefore, oaks need light

8. Aristotle • Inductive • This dog needs lungs;

9. Aristotle • Inductive • This dog needs lungs; • that dog needs lungs;

10. Aristotle • Inductive • This dog needs lungs; • that dog needs lungs; • every dog I have seen needs lungs;

11. Aristotle • Inductive • This dog needs lungs; • that dog needs lungs; • every dog I have seen needs lungs; • Therefore, • all dogs need lungs

12. Aristotle • Deductive • All dogs have lungs,

13. Aristotle • Deductive • All dogs have lungs, • therefore , • this dog has lungs Aristotle favored deductive reasoning

14. Aristotle Metaphysics • What is the Form (or end) of humans? • “All human beings by nature desire to know.” • What is the LDS view of the Form (or end) of humans? • “Man is that he might have joy [progress].”

15. Aristotle Metaphysics • Forms • All things consist of Form and matter • Application to creativity • Form = vision • Matter = effort • Vision without effort is daydreaming, effort without vision is drudgery; • but vision, coupled with effort, • will obtain the prize. • —President Thomas S. Monson

16. Aristotle Scientific Classification • Distinguished between major branches of science • Physics, chemistry, biology, etc. • Developed the system used in biology that classifies each animal or plant by kingdom, phylum, class, species, etc

17. Aristotle Scientific Method • Scientific Method • Used for 2000 years • Basic assumptions based on reasoning • Deductive method • Observations used to confirm the assumptions • Example: Elements of earth (4) and heavens (quintessence) • Did not employ experimentation • Disturbs nature

18. Aristotle Greek Medicine • Bloodsanguine/confident • Heart • Hot, moist • Phlegm phlegmatic/slow • Brain • Moist, cold • Black bile melancholy/sad • Spleen or kidneys • Cold, dry • Yellow bile choleric/angry • Liver • Dry, hot

19. Aristotle Scientific Method Four Causal Questions (Physics) • Material Question (What is it made of?) • Efficient Question (What caused it?) • Formal Question (What is its Form or essence?) • Final Question (What is its final end or purpose?)

20. Aristotle Scientific Method • Material: molecules • Efficient: birth • Formal: DNA (information) • Final: fulfill its purpose as a creature of God Example: A mouse

21. Aristotle Scientific Method Another example: Sculpture • Material: marble • Efficient = Myron (sculptor) • Formal = discus thrower • Final = money?, art?, perfection?

22. Aristotle Scientific Method Discussion What is different between Aristotle’s scientific method and the modern scientific method?

23. Aristotle Scientific Results • Motion • Assumption: Bodies move to achieve their stable ("natural") position as determined by the type of material they are made of • Earth goes downward • Water goes downward • Fire rises • Air rises • Mixed materials behave as an average • Conclusion: Heavier bodies (containing much earth) fall faster

24. Aristotle Literary Criticism • Factors of a good drama • Plot • Character • Thought • Diction • Melodic Element • Spectacle • Catharsis • Best playwright = Sophocles

25. Aristotle – Rhetoric • Methods of appeal • Ethos • Trust/connection between speaker and audience • Example: President Monson • Pathos • Persuades people to act, not just to listen • Example: Patrick Henry • Logos • Least persuasive for action but can lead to longer residual reaction • Example: Presidential debate Appeal Methods Ethos Pathos Logos Emotion Character Logic “The Soul” “The Heart” “The Brain”

26. Aristotle Ethics Our motivations are from seeking happiness based on: • Pleasure • The goal of the vulgar man • Honor • The goal of the cultivated man • True principles of truth and virtue • The highest form of happiness and comes from contemplation and philosophy • Act to avoid extremes • The Golden Mean

27. The Golden Mean For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one's strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases or preserves it. So it is the same with temperance, courage and the other virtues….[I]n all our conduct it is the mean that is to be commended. —Aristotle The Nicomachean Ethics

28. Aristotle Ethics What is the spectrum of our reaction to danger? Courage Cowardice Rashness Golden Mean Too little Too much

29. Aristotle Politics Aristotle studied 158 constitutions (modes of government), and he compared them.

30. Creativity in Greek Philosophy • All philosophies are just footnotes to Plato and Aristotle. • Basis of western civilization • Philosophy • Religion • Science

31. Alexander Xenophon Eschines Socrates Raphael Zeno Alcibiades Plato Aristotle Zoroaster Epicurus Parmenides Hypatia Averroes Diogenes Ptolemy Anaxagoras Heraclitus Anaximander Pythagoras Euclid

32. Plato vs. Aristotle Particular was less real Substance is transitory Form is static Change of a perfect thing not possible Founded Academy Belittler of natural science Math—highest form of thinking Universe was less real Substance needs matter Evolution towards form Change inevitable to progress Founded Lyceum Observer of natural science Separated math and science

33. Summary Greek Legacy on Learning • The world is rational. • Science and philosophy can • find truth. • The world can be understood by identifying the fundamentals. • Fundamentals do not change. • Perfect things are unchanging.

34. Aristotle Scientific Method Discussion Has the world been helped or hurt by Greek philosophy?

35. A Dissenting View I cannot but greatly wonder at those who think that we must attend to none but the Greeks . . . and learn the truth from them only, and that we are not to believe ourselves or other men . . . Indeed they admit themselves that it is the Egyptians, the Chaldeans and the Phoenicians (for I will not now include ourselves [Jews] among those) that have preserved the memory of the most ancient and lasting tradition. —Josephus, (Quoted in Toulmin and Goodfield, The Discovery of Time, The University of Chicago Press, 1965, p. 25.)

36. Thank You Be InFormed!