3 GREAT PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE

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3 GREAT PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE
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• SOCRATES
• The unexamined life is not worth living

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• Charged with not worshiping the Athenian gods and
  for corrupting the young

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• Known for his morals, self-control, and quest for
  wisdom (truth)
• Socratic method a series of seemingly simple
  questions designed to elicit a rational response

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The Nature of Justice The question which opens
this immense dialogue is what is justice?
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A Sophist, Thrasymachus, defines justice as
whatever the strongest decide it is, and that the
strong decide that whatever is in their best
interest is just.
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Socrates dismisses this argument by proving that
the strong rarely figure out what is in their
best interest, and this can't be just since
justice is a good thing.
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THE MELIAN DEBATE
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PLATO
Born 427 BC in Athens, GreeceDied 347 BC in
Athens, Greece
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• Student of Socrates
• Established the Academy

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• Dialogues
• The Republic Written 360 B.C.E Plato discusses
  justice and the construction of an ideal state

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• Only way to eliminate injustice from society
  would be for all rulers to become philosophers
• People should do the work in which they are best
  suited for

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   Plato divides human beings up based on their
innate intelligence, strength, and courage. 1.
Those who are not overly bright, or strong, or
brave, are suited to various productive
professions farming, smithing, building, etc.
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2. Those who are somewhat bright, strong, and
especially courageous are suited to defensive and
policing professions. 3. Those who are
extraordinarily intelligent, virtuous, and brave,
are suited to run the state itself
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The lower end of human society consists of an
overwhelming majority of people in a state he
calls the "producers" since they are most suited
for productive work.
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The middle section of society, a smaller but
still large number of people, make up the army
and the police and are called "Auxiliaries."
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The best and the brightest, a very small and
rarefied group, are those who are in complete
control of the state permanently Plato calls
these people "Guardians."
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When the analogy is extended to the individual
human being, Plato identifies the intellect with
the Guardians, the spirit or emotions with the
Auxiliaries, and the bodily appetites with the
Producers.
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Questions For DiscussionDoes this arrangement
satisfy you? Is this a fair division of the human
soul? Is this a fair division of society?
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• Ideal government ARISTOCRACY
• Aristocracy based on intelligence, reasoning,
  education, and high ideals
• Ideal Aristocrat Philosopher

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Influence

• A philosopher for mystics
• Provided foundations of philosophy
• Political ideas passed on to modern authoritarian
  thinkers

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ARISTOTLE
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We can say without exaggeration that we live in
an Aristotelean world wherever you see modern,
Western science dominating a culture in any
meaningful way Aristotle is there in some form.
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• Students were Ptolemy and Alexander the Great
• The foundation for European philosophy, theology,
  science, and literature

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• Organon defines the fundamental rules for making
  an argument
• Poetics his literary views (tragedy and comedy)

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Influence

• Laid down the principles on which science was
  pursued for centuries
• The Arab world preserved many of them and
  eventually returned them to the west (in the 13th
  century)

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Were they failures??

• Neither saw a way out of the political tangle
  left in Greece by the Peloponnesian War
• Neither were interested in the unity of the Greek
  States
• Both assumed that the city-state was the only
  possible center for a civilized life.