The School of Athens Explained

In the center Plato (#1), holding the Timaeus and pointing to the heavens, speaks with
Aristotle (#2), holding the Ethics and gesturing towards the earth. They are framed by
the triumphal arch above as well as by barrel vaults and sky; they are also surrounded
by the largest number of people (#3-10, 52-56). In addition, #11 is ascending the stairs,
leaving the geometers and astronomers below, while #12 points out Plato and Aristotle
to him. Figure #13 is intently writing while a friend (#14) looks on in interest. At the
far right, others are coming in, the younger two (#17 and 18) looking curiously at those
below. The old man (#16) is eagerly moving in a different direction, apparently towards
Plato and Aristotle. Above the thoughtful old man (#15) who gestures downward like
Aristotle, is the statue of Athena, goddess of wisdom, crafts, and war. She is dressed in
military garb and on her shield is the terrifying face of the Gorgon. Below her is a
relief of Virtue elevated upon clouds, holding one hand at her breast, the seat of valor,
while extending the other toward the earth with the scepter of her empire.

!1
In the lower right-hand corner are the groups surrounding Euclid (#23) and the
crowned figure of Ptolemy (#21). Euclid has the features of Raphael’s great mentor
Donato Bramante who, as architect of St. Peter’s (suggested by the vaulted ceilings of
this noble edifice), was a master of geometric principles as seen in the design of his
buildings. The four students around Euclid depict four stages of learning: #26 is intent
but at the level of literal learning, and #27, with his pointing finger and encouraging
pat seems to be an apprentice teacher; #25 is turning to his companion with the
excitement of dawning comprehension, but #24 is already anticipating the outcome.
These figures are all focused upon a slate with a diagram, drawing attention to the
faculty of sight, which is also used by the astronomers who hold globes in their hands:
Ptolemy holds an earthly globe and Zoroaster holds a globe of the starry universe.
Raphael has placed himself (#19) among these champions of sight, and next to him is
his teacher Perugino (#20). Isolated on the steps in the middle, Diogenes the Cynic
(#28) is absorbed in his reading, with a beggar’s cup in front. Below and to his left is
the somewhat glum and antisocial Heraclitus (#29), who has the face of Michelangelo.

Socrates (#49), bald and snub-nosed, has the rapt attention of an unknown youth
(#48), Xenophon (#47), Eschines (#47), and Alcibiades (#49) who is attired in armor
embellished in gold. Behind him is another figure (#44) who is gesturing to servants
(#41-43) hurrying in at the far left. Below is Epicurus (#37), crowned with the ivy leaves
of Bacchus and surrounded by the very young and the very old--the only ones who
seriously attended to his teachings.

Under Socrates are the pre-Socratics. Pythagoras (#33) is also a center of rapt
attention, with Anaximander (#34), Empedocles (#35), Archytas (#32) and others
looking on with great interest. #30 is Parmenides. #31 alone is not drawn in; this
handsome young man is simply looking out towards us. The sculpture at upper left is
Apollo, god of poetry, music, and health. He has a lyre in one hand and the other rests
upon a trunk around which coils the serpent (the Greek symbol of health). This god of
beauty and harmony stands above two reliefs depicting the unmoderated passions of
wrath and concupiscence.


!2
 ENCYCLICAL LETTER FIDES ET RATIO
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II TO THE BISHOPS
OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN FAITH AND REASON

My Venerable Brother Bishops, Health and the Apostolic Blessing!

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the
contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the
truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and
women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9;
63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn 3:2).
 
INTRODUCTION: "KNOW YOURSELF"
 
1. In both East and West, we may trace a journey which has led humanity down the
centuries to meet and engage truth more and more deeply. It is a journey which has
unfolded—as it must—within the horizon of personal self-consciousness: the more
human beings know reality and the world, the more they know themselves in their
uniqueness, with the question of the meaning of things and of their very existence
becoming ever more pressing. This is why all that is the object of our knowledge
becomes a part of our life. The admonition Know Yourself was carved on the temple
portal at Delphi, as testimony to a basic truth to be adopted as a minimal norm by
those who seek to set themselves apart from the rest of creation as "human beings",
that is as those who "know themselves".
Moreover, a cursory glance at ancient history shows clearly how in different parts of
the world, with their different cultures, there arise at the same time the fundamental
questions which pervade human life: Who am I? Where have I come from and where
am I going? Why is there evil? What is there after this life? These are the questions
which we find in the sacred writings of Israel, as also in the Veda and the Avesta; we
find them in the writings of Confucius and Lao-Tze, and in the preaching of
Tirthankara and Buddha; they appear in the poetry of Homer and in the tragedies of
Euripides and Sophocles, as they do in the philosophical writings of Plato and

!3
Aristotle. They are questions which have their common source in the quest for
meaning which has always compelled the human heart. In fact, the answer given to
these questions decides the direction which people seek to give to their lives.

2. The Church is no stranger to this journey of discovery, nor could she ever be. From
the moment when, through the Paschal Mystery, she received the gift of the ultimate
truth about human life, the Church has made her pilgrim way along the paths of the
world to proclaim that Jesus Christ is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6). It
is her duty to serve humanity in different ways, but one way in particular imposes a
responsibility of a quite special kind: the diakonia of the truth.(1) This mission on the
one hand makes the believing community a partner in humanity's shared struggle to
arrive at truth; (2) and on the other hand it obliges the believing community to
proclaim the certitudes arrived at, albeit with a sense that every truth attained is but a
step towards that fullness of truth which will appear with the final Revelation of God:
"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I
shall understand fully" (1 Cor 13:12).

3. Men and women have at their disposal an array of resources for generating greater
knowledge of truth so that their lives may be ever more human. Among these is
philosophy, which is directly concerned with asking the question of life's meaning and
sketching an answer to it. Philosophy emerges, then, as one of noblest of human tasks.
According to its Greek etymology, the term philosophy means "love of wisdom". Born
and nurtured when the human being first asked questions about the reason for things
and their purpose, philosophy shows in different modes and forms that the desire for
truth is part of human nature itself. It is an innate property of human reason to ask
why things are as they are, even though the answers which gradually emerge are set
within a horizon which reveals how the different human cultures are complementary.

!4
 Discussion Guide and Notes

What is Philosophy?

Philosophy comes from two Greek words _______________ and _________________ . The

literal translation is _____________________________________.

What is Wisdom?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What is Love?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!5
 Anthropology

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________


!6
 What is Philosophy? Essay Outline and Rough Draft
Paragraph One: What is Philosophy? - Wisdom and Love

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two: Anthropology - Intellect and Free Will

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three: Christian Anthropology: Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason)

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

!7
Rough Draft

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________


!8
The Pre-Socratics


!9
!10
 The Pre-Socratics
All of the first six pre-Socratics are considered “Monists,” meaning that the believed reality can
be explained or reduced to one thing.

Milesian School – Starting the Conversation

1.    Thales (624-546 B.C.) – The “Father of Greek Philosophy”. All things are water.
2.    Anaximander (610-546 B.C.) – The first principle is aperion, an infinite and
immortal substance without qualities, out of which the primary opposites, (e.g. hot and
cold, moist and dry) are differentiated. He states that it must be divine.
3.    Anaximenes (585-525 B.C.) – All things are air – as air “thickens” it becomes fire,
cloud, water, earth.

The Remaining Monists

4.    Pythagoras of Samos (582-496 B.C.). All is number and harmony. He had a cult
following. First to call himself a philosopher.
5.    Heraclitus of Ephesus (535-475 B.C.) – He said that all is fire. Fire is always in flux
and so all things are always changing in an unending process.
6.    Parmenides of Elea (510-440 B.C.) – All is one. He outlines the way of aletheia
(truth) and the way of doxa (perception). He poses questions that future philosophers
struggle to answer.

All future pre-Socratics are “Pluralists”. They will attempt to explain the world through
multiple elements.

The Pluralists
7. Empedocles (490-430 B.C.) - the universe is made of the four elements: earth,
wind, fire and water.
8. Anaxagoras (500-428 B.C.) - nous (mind) is the ordering force in a universe of
infinitely divisible elements.
9.    Democritus (460-370 B.C.). All is atoms. Moving along an infinite void, atoms
“swerve” and “crash”, thereby generating things.

!11
Initial Directions for your Book Assignment:

1) The Project: Throughout the year, you will combine your completed and graded
essays into one book. The finished book is worth 50% percent of your grade for the
4th quarter.

2) Content: the book is to be structured as follows:

1) Title Page: All books will be called “Ancient Greek Philosophy”. The title page
will include this title, any subtitle that you wish to give your book, your name,
and a copy of the painting, “The School of Athens”. You will also have a
separate dedication and/or acknowledgment page.
2) Introduction: this essay begins with the question “what is philosophy” and
ends with a brief overview of the two chapters. There is no specific thesis
statement. Your introductory essay will be just that, an introduction to what the
book covers.
3) Chapter One - The Pre-Socratics: Includes Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes.
Later you will add essays on Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles,
Anaxagoras, Democritus
4) Chapter Two will be on Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
5) Conclusion: a brief summary of what you have covered and perhaps some
insights into what you have learned. You will also need a page for References.
This is not a Works Cited page, but a general acknowledgement of books,
websites, and videos. Start this now!

3) Formatting: create a word doc entitled “[Your Name]’s Book”. Share the
document with me.
1) all papers are to be in either Book Antiqua, Garamond or Times New Roman, 12
point font (other fonts subject to approval)
2) spacing is to be 1.2 or 1.5 (NOT single or double)
3) margins are to be 1 inch all around
4) page dimensions are 5.50 x 8.50 (portrait)
5) adding pictures, images or maps is recommended (since the pages are small,
you might want to add them on a separate page). 


!12
 The Pre-Socratics
Most glorious of immortals, Zeus
The many named, almighty evermore, 

Nature's great Sovereign, ruling all by law

Hail to thee! On thee 'tis meet and right
That mortals everywhere should call.

From thee was our begetting; ours alone

Of all that live and move upon the earth

The lot to bear God's likeness.

Thee will I ever chant, thy power praise!
Cleathes of Assos (331-233 BC)

The Greek people were very religious. As well as comfort, hope and security, their
gods and their myths offered explanations for the unexplained world around them and
the mysterious events of life. Ultimately, these stories would not be satisfying to
everyone. During the fifth and sixth centuries BC, individuals started to question the
world around them. They were looking for answers to the physical world, not from the
gods and myths, but from the physical world itself.

These men became known as philosophers, lovers of wisdom. They sought answers
about the physical world, the universe and about existence. Most of all they wanted to
understand how things were able to change and yet stay the same. What caused the
change? What enabled things to stay the same? This underlying principle that
remained constant amidst the ever-changing world, they called the archê. These men
of reason, who approached the world from a rational vantage point, were the first
scientists. They each thought about what the archê was and they each came up with a
different hypothesis. Nearly all of them supposed that the archê had to be a physical
substance. At first, the philosophers thought that there was just one substance; later
thinkers postulated that it could be many things.

This group of first scientists/philosophers is known as the pre-Socratic philosophers.

They, of course, would never have thought to call themselves pre-Socratic. Some of
them lived at the same time as Socrates, but most of them lived well before him. But
all the pre-Socratics dealt with the same problems in much the same way. The wrote
poetry about the universe and about the archê. With Socrates, however, the emerging
world of philosophy would undergo an enormous shift; a shift so great that everything

!13
before it became lumped together and seen as an introduction to the thought of the
wisest man of Athens and his two great disciples, Plato and Aristotle.

Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________


!14
 Like All Things in the Ancient World, It Started with a River

By the sixth century BC, Mesopotamia and Egypt were already ancient civilizations.
Their antiquity was due in part to the ease with which agriculture, and hence large
populations, were established and sustained by the regular flooding of the Tigris/
Euphrates and the Nile.

The same situation existed in the Greek city of Miletus in the colony of Ionia. In
Thales’ time Miletus was a busy seaport at the mouth of the river Meander, from which
we get the verb. The ruins of Miletus, in Turkey, are now ten kilometers inland, thanks
to the soil deposited by that slow-winding river. Seeing this process at home as well on
his travels, it’s little wonder that Thales concluded that the primordial substance was
water. Since Miletus was a mercantile city and the power of the religious establishment
was not as strong as in other Greek cities, Thales was free to account for movement
and change in some other way without relying on myths. His solution was simply to
dispense with the gods and apply ‘life’ directly to water and to the world which came
from water. So for Thales the world grew and developed not because gods were
moving things around, but because the world itself was alive. By so doing, Thales
formulated the first naturalistic explanation of the cosmos. And thus, the studies of
science and philosophy began.

!15
Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________


!16
 Who Were the Pre-Socratics?
Paragraph One

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

!17
Pre-Socratic Rough Draft

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________


!18
Thales of Miletus, (624-546 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, astronomer
and businessman. He lived in Miletus in Asia Minor, in current day Turkey. Many
regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, and he is recognized as the
first individual in Western civilization known to have engaged in scientific thought.

Thales is one of the first thinkers to have made a break from mythological
explanations of the world. Instead, he wanted to find explanations for the existence of
natural things by theories and hypothesis about natural causes. This would later
become the standard for scientific studies. Thales's hypothesis was that the
originating principle of nature was a single material substance: water.

In mathematics, Thales used geometry to calculate the heights of pyramids and the
distance of ships from the shore. In astronomy, Thales predicted the solar eclipse of
May 28, 585 BC. It is unclear how he was able to do this, and it greatly impressed his
fellow citizens. Thales described the position of Ursa Minor, and thought the
constellation might be useful as a guide for navigation at sea. He calculated the
duration of the year and the timings of the equinoxes and solstices.

Several anecdotes suggest Thales was not solely a philosopher, but also involved in
business. A story, with different versions, recounts how Thales became rich from an
olive harvest by prediction of the weather. In one version, he bought all the olive
presses in Miletus after predicting the weather and a good harvest for a particular year.
Another version of the story says Thales had reserved presses ahead of time at a
discount only to rent them out at a high price when demand peaked, following his
predictions of a particularly good harvest. Thales' objective in doing this was not to
enrich himself, but to prove to his fellow Milesians that philosophy could be useful,
contrary to what they thought.

Thales’ significance lies less in his choice of water as the essential substance than in
his attempt to explain nature through causes within nature itself rather than in the
whims of the Greek gods. All of the other pre-Socratic philosophers that followed
Thales adopted his approach and tried to provide explanations of natural things by
focusing on the unity of everything because of the existence of a single ultimate
substance, the archê, instead of explanations given by mythology.

!19
 Discussion Guide
Thales' most famous philosophical position was his cosmological thesis, which comes
down to us through a passage from Aristotle. In the work, Metaphysics, Aristotle
reported Thales’ hypothesis about the nature of all matter – that the originating
principle was a single material substance: water. He writes:

"That from which is everything that exists and from which it first becomes and into which it is
rendered at last, its substance remaining under it, but transforming in qualities, that they say is
the element and principle of things that are. … For it is necessary that there be some nature
(φύσις), either one or more than one, from which become the other things of the object being
saved... Thales the founder of this type of philosophy says that it is water.”

In this quote we see Aristotle's depiction of the problem of change and the definition
of substance. He asked if an object changes, is it the same or is it different? In either
case how can there be a change from one to the other? What changes and what
remains the same? His answer is that the substance is “saved", but acquires or loses
different qualities, the things we experience by our senses. Put the above argument in
your own words:

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

From the video:

1) Like many in the ancient world, Thales thought that water was alive.
2) Unaware of the force of gravity, Thales also believed that water was capable of self-
movement.
3) It seems likely that Thales viewed the Earth as solidifying from the water on which
it floated and the oceans that surround it.
4) Thales thought the Earth must be a flat disk which is floating in an expanse of water. 


!20
 Thales Discussion Notes and Outline
Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!21
Outline

Paragraph One: Biographical Information

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two: Arche

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three: Other Contributions

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________


!22
 Anaximader (610 – 546 B.C.) was a pre-Socratic Greek
philosopher who also lived in Miletus. He belonged to the Milesian
school and learned the teachings of his master Thales. He
succeeded Thales and became the second master of that school
where he counted Anaximenes and, arguably, Pythagoras among
his pupils. Little of his life and work is known today. According to
available documents, he is the first philosopher known to have
written down his studies, although only one fragment of his work
remains. Most of what we know about Anaximander is found in
the writings of other thinkers and historians from ancient Greece.

Like Thales, his studies included what today would be called science, philosophy and
astronomy. In astronomy, he tried to explain different aspects of the universe, and had
a strong interest in its origins. He also attempted to describe the movement of
heavenly bodies in relation to the Earth. He claimed that nature is ruled by laws, just
like human societies. In physics, his idea that the indefinite (or apeiron) was the source
of all things introduced Greek philosophy to metaphysical thought. His knowledge of
geometry allowed him to introduce the sundial in Greece. He created a map of the
world that contributed to the advancement of geography.

Archê
Anaximander was the first to use the term archê (ἀρχή) in a philosophical context.
Until then archê had meant beginning or origin, but for Anaximander it became more
than a point in time, but the source or stuff that made the universe.

Cosmology
Anaximander was the first to describe the world in mechanical terms. In his model,
the Earth floats very still in the centre of the infinite, not supported by anything. It
remains "in the same place because of its indifference". Anaximander's realization
that the Earth floats free without falling and does not need to be resting on something
is thought by many to be the first cosmological revolution and the starting point of
scientific thinking. Karl Popper calls this idea "one of the boldest, most revolutionary,
and most portentous ideas in the whole history of human thinking." This model
allowed the concept that celestial bodies could pass under the Earth, opening the way
to Greek astronomy.

!23
Anaximander was the first astronomer to consider the Sun as a huge mass, and
consequently, to realize how far from Earth it might be. He was also the first to
present a system where the celestial bodies turned at different distances. His
knowledge and work on astronomy confirm that he must have observed the inclination
of the celestial sphere in relation to the Earth to explain the seasons.

Discussion Guide

Anaximander believed that the first principle must be an endless, unlimited

primordial mass (apeiron), subject to neither old age nor decay, that perpetually yielded
fresh materials from which everything we perceive is derived. He proposed the theory
of the apeiron in direct response to the earlier theory of his teacher, Thales, who had
claimed that the primary substance was water. This archê is called "eternal and
ageless”. One ancient writer describes him in this way:

Anaximander of Miletus, son of Praxiades, a fellow-citizen and associate of Thales, said that
the material cause and first element of things was the boundless, he being the first to introduce
this name of the material cause. He says it is neither water nor any other of the so-called
elements, but a substance different from them which is infinite, from which arise all the heavens
and the worlds within them.

For Anaximander, the principle that which made all substances, is not a specific thing
and not an element such as water. Anaximander argues that each of the known four
elements could not embrace all of the opposites found in nature — for example, water
can only be wet, never dry — and therefore they cannot be the one primary substance.
In the Physics, Aristotle explains further,

According to Anaximander, there is a body distinct from the elements, the boundless, which is
not air or water, in order that the other things may not be destroyed by their infinity. The
elements are in opposition to each other: air is cold, water moist, and fire hot. Therefore, if any
one of them were infinite, the rest would have ceased to be by this time. Thus, he said that what
is infinite is something other than the elements, and from it the elements arise. (Aristotle,
Physics, 3.3) … The infinite has no beginning, … but seems to be the beginning of other things,
and to surround all things and guide all … And this is the divine, for it is immortal and
indestructible.


!24
 Anaximander Discussion Notes and Outline
Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!25
Outline

Paragraph One: Biographical Information

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two: Archê

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three: Other Contributions

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________


!26
 Anaximenes of Miletus (c. 585 – c. 525 B.C.) was one of the
three Milesian philosophers. He was a student of
Anaximander. Anaximenes, like others in his school of
thought, practiced material monism. This means that they
wanted to identify one physical substance that unites all of
reality and explains why some things stay the same amidst
all the observable change.

Anaximenes and the Archê

While his predecessors, Thales and Anaximander, proposed that archê was water and
the ambiguous substance apeiron, respectively, Anaximenes asserted that air was the
primary substance of which all other things are made. The choice of air might seem to
go backwards from Anaximander’s idea of aperion, but Anaximenes based his
conclusion on observable phenomena in the processes of condensation and
vaporization. When air condenses it becomes visible, as mist and then rain and other
forms of precipitation. As the condensed air cools Anaximenes supposed that it went
on to form earth and ultimately stones. In contrast, water evaporates into air, which he
thought, as it grows thicker, ignites and produces flame. While other philosophers also
recognized such transitions in states of matter, Anaximenes was the first to offer a
scientific explanation to justify his theory. Through condensation and vaporization,
Anaximenes sought to explain the primary opposites of hot and cold (identified with
fire and earth) and wet and dry (water and air).

The origin of the Cosmos

Having concluded that everything in the world is composed of air, Anaximenes used
his theory to devise a scheme to explain the origins and nature of the earth and the
surrounding celestial bodies. He thought that air condensed to create the water and
then earth, which he said was table-like and behaved like a leaf floating on air.
Anaximenes proposed that the earth released gases that, as they became less dense,
ignited and became the stars. While the sun is also described as being aflame, it is not
composed of air like the stars, but rather of earth like the moon; its burning comes not
from its composition but rather from its rapid motion. Similarly, he considered the
moon and sun to be flat and floating on streams of air. In his theory, when the sun sets
it does not pass under the earth, but is merely obscured by higher parts of the earth as
it circles around and becomes more distant. Anaximenes likens the motion of the sun

!27
 and the other celestial bodies
around the earth to the way that
a cap may be turned around the
head.

Other phenomena
Anaximenes used his
observations and reasoning to
provide causes for other natural
phenomena on the earth as well.
Earthquakes, he asserted, were
the result either of lack of
moisture, which causes the earth to break apart because of how parched it is, or of
superabundance of water, which also causes cracks in the earth. In either case the
earth becomes weakened by its cracks, so that hills collapse and cause earthquakes.
Lightning is similarly caused by the violent separation of clouds by the wind, creating
a bright, fire-like flash. Rainbows, on the other hand, are formed when densely
compressed air is touched by the rays of the sun. These examples show how
Anaximenes, like the other Milesian philosophers, looked for the broader picture in
nature. They sought unifying causes for diversely occurring events, rather than
attributing them to gods or to a personified nature.

Discussion Question: If you had to pick one of the Milesians’ archai, which would you
chose? Try to defend their archê as making the most sense.

Notes:________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________


!28
 Anaximenes Discussion Notes and Outline
Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!29
Outline

Paragraph One: Biographical Information

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two: Archê

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three: Anaximenes’ View of the Cosmos

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________


!30
 Pythagoras of Samos (c. 582 – c. 496 B.C.) was a
philosopher, mathematician, scientist, religious leader,
and the founder of the Pythagorean School. Most of the
information about Pythagoras was written down
centuries after he lived, so very little reliable
information is known about him. He was born on the
island of Samos, and travelled, visiting Egypt and
Greece, and maybe India. Around 530 BC, he moved to
the city of Croton in southern Italy where he
established some kind of school or guild.
Pythagoras was a student of Anaximander and his
geometry continues the work begun by Thales and the Milesians. He is often revered
as a great mathematician and scientist and is best known for the Pythagorean theorem
which bears his name. But he wrote nothing himself and many of the
accomplishments credited to Pythagoras may actually have been accomplishments of
his colleagues and successors. It was said that he was the first man to call himself a
philosopher, or lover of wisdom, and Pythagorean ideas had a major influence on
Plato, and through him, all of Western philosophy. Pythagoras was married to Theano,
a lady of Croton, herself a philosophrt.

Elements and Opposites

The first philosophers wrestled with the
existence of opposites. Wet and dry, hot
and cold were some of the most basic
opposites and were related to the four
basic elements which nearly everyone
thought were the most fundamental
building blocks of the physical world:
earth, air, fire and water. People viewed the
world as made up of these elements: the
earth was surrounded by water below and water above. The air created a dome that
kept the water out. In the sky were fiery stars and the sun. The four opposites were
related to the four elements: dry was between fire and earth, wet between air and
water, etc. Rather than opposites, Pythagoras saw everything as related by harmony
and number. This idea was said to have started with an observation about music and

!31
the relationship of sounds. For example, he noticed that
vibrating strings produce harmonious tones only when the
ratios between the lengths of the strings are whole
numbers. He later realized that these ratios could be
extended to other instruments. Pythagoras saw this
harmonious relationship in the cosmos and even within
the human body.

Musical Theories and Investigations

According to legend, Pythagoras discovered that musical notes
could be translated into mathematical equations when he passed blacksmiths at work
one day and thought that the sounds coming from their anvils were beautiful and
harmonious and decided that whatever scientific law caused this to happen must be
mathematical and could be applied to music. He went to the blacksmiths to learn how
the sounds were produced by looking at their tools. He discovered that it was because
the hammers were simple ratios of each other, one was half the size of the first,
another was 2/3 the size, and so on. This legend has proven to be false since these
ratios are only relevant to string length, and not to hammer weight. Pythagoras was an
accomplished lyre player, so his realization could possibly have come from his time
with this ancient string instrument.

Another belief attributed to Pythagoras was that of the harmony of the heavenly
spheres. He believed the planets and stars moved according to mathematical
equations, which corresponded to musical notes and thus produced a symphony.

The Archê
Pythagoras and his followers believed that the substance of the entire universe is
number. Number was the archê. For the Pythagoreans, number was a living reality,
and not just a sign that denotes a quantity. Number was a universal principle.
However, it is also true that what they mean when they say “number” might be
bettered represented by our idea of “harmonous relationship”. This point was made
by Pythagoras’ wife, Theano, who was also a philosopher, and one of Pythagoras's first
pupil. Theano wrote that:

!32
I have learned that many of the Greeks believe Pythagoras said all things are generated from
number. The very assertion poses a difficulty: How can things which do not exist even be
conceived to generate? But he did not say that all things come to be from number; rather, in
accordance with number - on the grounds that order in the primary sense is in number and it is
by participation in order that a first and a second and the rest sequentially are assigned to
things which are counted.

Pythagorean School
Pythagoras set up an organization which was in some ways a school, in some ways a
brotherhood, and in some ways a monastery. The community was open to women as
well as men. It was based upon the religious teachings of Pythagoras and was very
secretive. The adherents were bound by a vow to Pythagoras and each other, for the
purpose of pursuing the religious and ascetic observances, and of studying his
religious and philosophical theories. Some represent Pythagoras as forbidding all
animal food, advocating a plant-based diet, and prohibiting consumption of beans. But
temperance of all kinds seems to have been urged. It is also stated that they had
common meals, resembling the Spartan system, at which they met in companies of
ten. Considerable importance seems to have been attached to music and gymnastics
in the daily exercises of the disciples. Their whole discipline was meant to lead the
members to a lofty serenity and self-possession.

Influence on Plato
Pythagoras, or in a broader sense, the Pythagoreans, exercised an important influence
on the work of Plato. In addition to directly influencing Plato’s theory of forms, his
views of the state and of the soul, Pythagoras’ influence can also be seen indirectly in
Plato’s view of community. There is evidence that Plato learned from Pythagoras the
importance of mathematics and abstract thinking for philosophical thinking as well as
for science and morals. Finally, Plato and Pythagoras shared a mystical approach to the
soul and its place in the material world.

Aristotle claimed that the philosophy of Plato closely followed the teachings of the
Pythagoreans, and Cicero repeats this claim: Platonem ferunt didicisse Pythagorea omnia
("They say Plato learned all things Pythagorean"). Bertrand Russell, in his A History of
Western Philosophy, contended that the influence of Pythagoras on Plato and others
was so great that he should be considered the most influential of all Western
philosophers.

!33
Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________


!34
 Pythagoras Outline

Paragraph One: Introduction and Biographical Information

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7) TOPIC SENTENCE:_______________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two: The Four Elements and the Ancient World View

1) TOPIC:___________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7) CLINCHER:______________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three: Number as the Arché

1) TOPIC:___________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

!35
6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7) CLINCHER:______________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Four: The School/Mathematical Principles

1) TOPIC:___________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7) CLINCHER:______________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Five: Conclusion

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7) TIE-IN WITH TITLE:______________________________________________________________

!36
 Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – c. 475 BC) was a native
of the city of Ephesus. Little is known about his early
life and education, but he regarded himself as self-
taught and a pioneer of wisdom. From the lonely life
he led, and from the paradoxical nature of his
philosophy, he was called "the Obscure" and the
"Weeping Philosopher”. Heraclitus was famous for his
insistence on ever-present change as being the
fundamental essence of the universe, as stated in the
famous saying, "No man ever steps in the same river
twice". This position was complemented by his
teaching about the unity of opposites in the world,
stating that "the path up and down are one and the
same". Heraclitus insisted that all opposites are identical, so that no thing may ever
occupy a single state at a single time. This, along with his many cryptic utterances,
have led to his nickname, “the Obscure”.

Logos
Heraclitus saw that the world is in a constant state of change. He believed everything
changes into it’s opposite, and that this is what maintains the world. “Cold things
warm up, the hot cools off, wet becomes dry, dry becomes wet.” The philosophers
before him thought there was a fundamental principle of reality (the archê) and they
identified it with a substance (water, air, number). For Heraclitus, the fundamental
principle of the world wasn’t a substance, but rather the principle that everything
changes according to a divine guidance, which he called the Word (logos). This logos is
always at work, but humans are often unable to understand it.

Fire
By discovering the logos of the world, Heraclitus believed he understood the way the
world worked. He saw that the elements of the world are constantly changing into
their opposites. “Fire lives the death of air, and air lives the death of fire; water lives
the death of earth, earth that of water.” Heraclitus considered fire as the most
fundamental element. He believed fire gave rise to the other elements and thus to all
things. He regarded the soul as being a mixture of fire and water, with fire being the
noble part of the soul, and water the ignoble part. A soul should therefore aim toward

!37
becoming more full of fire and less full of water: a "dry" soul was best. According to
Heraclitus, worldly pleasures made the soul "moist", and he considered mastering
one's worldly desires to be a noble pursuit which purified the soul's fire.

In addition to seeing fire as the most fundamental of the four elements and the one
that determines the quantity (logos) of the other three, he presents fire as the cosmos,
which was not made by any of the gods or men, but "was and is and ever shall be ever-
living fire.” Fire is both a substance and a motivator of change, it is active in altering
other things.

Heraclitus' theory can be understood as a response to the philosophy of his Ionian

predecessors. For the Milesians, to explain the world and its phenomena was to show
how everything came from the original stuff. Heraclitus seems to follow this pattern of
explanation when he refers to the world as "everliving fire”. But fire is a strange stuff
to make the origin of all things, for it is the most changeable.

Change
Ultimately, fire may be more important as a symbol than as a stuff. Fire is constantly
changing-but so is every thing. One thing is transformed into another in a cycle of
changes. What is constant is not some stuff, but the overall process of change itself.
Heraclitus may be saying that the Milesians correctly saw that one stuff turns into
another in a series, but they incorrectly inferred from this that one substance is the
source of everything else. There is no particular reason to promote one element at the
expense of the others. What is important about the stuffs is that they change into
others. The one constant in the whole process is the law of change. Heraclitus' view
that change was the foundation to any theory of nature was strongly opposed by
Parmenides, who argued that change is an illusion and that everything is static.

Church Fathers
The Church Fathers were the leaders of the early Christian Church during its first five
centuries A.D. All of them had something to say about the Christian form of the
Logos. The Catholic Church found it necessary to distinguish between the Christian
logos and that of Heraclitus as part of its ideological distancing from paganism. The
Apologist Justin Martyr, however, had a positive view of Heraclitus. In his First
Apology, he said both Socrates and Heraclitus were Christians before Christ: "those

!38
who lived reasonably are Christians, even though they have been thought atheists; as,
among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and men like them.”

Heraclitus Discussion Notes and Outline

Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!39
Outline

Paragraph One: Fire

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two: Change

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three: Logos

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________


!40
 Parmenides of Elea (510-440 B.C.) was the first philosopher to
inquire into the nature of existence itself, and is therefore called
the “Father of Metaphysics.” As the first to employ deductive
arguments to justify his claims, he also competes with Aristotle
for the title “Father of Logic.” He is also the founder of the
“Eleatic School” of thought—a philosophical label given to
those who argued that reality is a unified and unchanging thing.
This has often been understood to mean there is just one thing
in all of existence. Parmenides has traditionally been viewed as a
pivotal figure in the history of philosophy: one who challenged
the physical systems of his predecessors and set forth for his
successors the metaphysical criteria that any successful system
must meet. All future philosophers feel compelled to answer the
“parmenidean problem”.

On Nature
Parmenides' philosophy is presented in the form of poetry. The philosophy he argued
was, he says, given to him by a goddess, though the "mythological" details in
Parmenides' poem do not bear any close correspondence to anything known from
traditional Greek mythology.

Parmenides’ only written work is a poem entitled, On Nature. Only a limited number of
fragments of his poem are still in existence. The poem has three main sections—
Introduction (Proem), Reality (Alétheia), and Opinion (Doxa). The Proem features a young
man on a cosmic, spiritual journey in search of enlightenment. This is followed by the
central, most philosophically-oriented section (Reality). Here, Parmenides endorses
certain logical guidelines for his thought, which he then uses to argue for his famous
metaphysical claims—that “what is” cannot be in motion, change, come-to-be, perish,
lack uniformity, and so forth. The final section (Opinion) concludes the poem with a
cosmogonical account of the world, which paradoxically employs the very phenomena
(motion, change, and so forth) that Reality seems to have denied. Furthermore, despite
making apparently true claims, the account offered in Opinion is supposed to be
representative of the mistaken “opinions of mortals,” and thus is to be rejected on
some level. All three sections of the poem seem to have a cohesive and unified thesis.

!41
However, discerning exactly what that thesis is supposed to be has proven a vexing
problem since ancient times.

The Way of Truth

The section known as "the way of truth" discusses that which is real and contrasts
with the argument in the section called "the way of opinion," which discusses that
which is an illusion. Under the "way of truth," Parmenides states that there are two
ways of inquiry: that it is, on the one side, and that it is not, on the other side. He said
that the latter argument is never feasible because there is no thing that can not be.
This is difficult.

Thus, Parmenides concludes that "Is" could not have "come into being" because
"nothing comes from nothing". Existence is necessarily eternal. That which truly is,
has always been, and was never becoming; that which is becoming was never nothing,
but will never actually be. Parmenides was not struggling to formulate the laws of
conservation of mass and conservation of energy; he was struggling with the
metaphysics of change, the same issue that all the pre-Socratic philosophers struggled
with. If things change, how can they stay the same. What is the sameness that
underlies the change? Parmenides solution is that change is an illusion and that
which is, is, and can never not be.

Moreover, he argued that movement was impossible because it requires moving into
"the void", and Parmenides identified "the void" with nothing, and therefore by
definition it does not exist. That which does exist is The Parmenidean One, which is
timeless, uniform, and unchanging.

The Way of Opinion (doxa)

After the exposition of the archê (ἀρχή), i.e. the origin, the necessary part of reality that
is understood through reason or logos (that [it] Is), in the next section, the Way of
Appearance/Opinion/Seeming, Parmenides proceeds to explain the structure of the
becoming cosmos (which is an illusion, of course) that comes from this origin.

Interpretations of Parmenides
The traditional interpretation of Parmenides' work is that he argued that the every-day
perception of reality of the physical world is mistaken, and that the reality of the world

!42
is 'One Being': an unchanging, ungenerated, indestructible whole. Under the Way of
Opinion, Parmenides set out a contrasting but more conventional view of the world,
thereby creating a duality between appearance and reality. For him and his pupils, the
phenomena of movement and change are simply appearances of a changeless, eternal
reality.

Nor was [it] once, nor will [it] be, since [it] is, now, all together,
One, continuous; for what coming-to-be of it will you seek?
In what way, whence, did [it] grow? Neither from what-is-not shall I allow
You to say or think; for it is not to be said or thought
That [it] is not. And what need could have impelled it to grow
Later or sooner, if it began from nothing? Thus [it] must either be completely or not at all.

Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!43
Outline

Paragraph One

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________


!44
In antiquity, Empedocles (ca. 490–430 B.C.) was characterized as a politician, a
physician, as well as a philosopher and poet. His writings, which are poetical in form,
have come down mostly in fragments preserved as quotations in the works of other
ancient authors. Extensive fragments, some of them not previously known, were
recently found preserved on a papyrus roll from Egypt in the Strasbourg University
library.

Traditionally, Empedocles' writings were held to consist of two poems, entitled On

Nature and Purifications. The first primarily concerns the formation, structure, and
history of the physical world as a whole, and the formation of the animals and plants
within it; the second concerns moral topics.

On Nature is a bold and ambitious work. It is based on the claim that everything is
composed of four material elements which make all the structures in the world—fire,
air, water, earth. “Air” refers to the atmospheric air, rather than the air that we breathe
here on earth. Empedocles called these four elements "roots", which he also identified
with the mythical names of Zeus, Hera, Nestis, and Aidoneus. According to the
different proportions in which these four indestructible and unchangeable elements
are combined with each other the different structure/substances are produced. It is in
the attraction and separation of these elements that Empedocles found the real
process which corresponds to growth, increase or decrease. Nothing new comes or can
come into being; the only change that can occur is a change in the joining of elements.
Aristotle credits Empedocles with being the first to distinguish clearly these four
elements. This theory of the four elements became the standard teaching for the next
two thousand years.

These elements are moved by two opposing forces, Love and Strife. The four elements
come together and blend under the agency of Love, and they are driven apart by
Strife, in a continual alternation. Empedocles posits a stage in which Love is totally
dominant and all things are unified into a Sphere. Since this unity includes the
elements, they are presumably thoroughly intermingled with one another. The Sphere
is the initial stage in the formation of the cosmos; it is not itself a cosmos. The cosmos
requires a separation of elements into identifiable masses of earth, air, water, and fire,
even though there might still be some (much diminished) presence of each element
within each of the four masses. The mass of earth is at the center; water more or less

!45
surrounds the earth. Air forms the next layer. From fire at the periphery, the sun comes
to be as a distinct entity. This geocentric formation is what the ancients usually
recognized to be our cosmos. Empedocles also describes a time when Strife has
separated the elements. When Strife reaches the depths of the vortex (i.e., the central
point round which the whole cosmos turns), Love comes to be in the middle of the
whirl. Love then begins to join together what Strife had separated; the mixture of
things by Love gives rise to mortal beings. Heavier elements like earth settle in the
middle and lighter ones like fire are pushed to the periphery.

Notes from Video

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________


!46
 Empedocles Discussion Notes and Outline
Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!47
Outline

Paragraph One: Introduction and Background

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two: The Four Elements

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three: Love and Strife

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________


!48
Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (c. 500—428 B.C.) was an important pre-Socratic natural
philosopher and scientist who lived and taught in Athens for approximately thirty
years. He gained notoriety for his materialistic views, particularly his contention that
the sun was a fiery rock. This led to charges of impiety, and he was sentenced to death
by the Athenian court. He avoided this penalty by leaving Athens, and he spent his
remaining years in exile. While Anaxagoras proposed theories on a variety of subjects,
he is most noted for two theories. First, he speculated that in the physical world
everything contains a portion of everything else. His observation of how nutrition
works in animals led him to conclude that in order for the food an animal eats to turn
into bone, hair, flesh, and so forth, it must already contain all of those constituents
within it. The second theory of significance is Anaxagoras’ postulation of Mind (Nous)
as the initiating and governing principle of the cosmos.

1. The Structure of Things: A Portion of Everything in Everything

Anaxagoras’ theory of physical nature is summarized in the phrase, “a portion of
everything in everything.”

a. The Challenge of Parmenides

According to Parmenides, whatever is, is (being) and whatever is not, is not (nonbeing).
As a result, whatever constitutes the nature of reality must always “have been” since
nothing can come into being from nothing. Furthermore, reality must always “be”
since being (what is) cannot become nonbeing (what is not). This argument led
Parmenides to a state that all is one and that change is an illusion. Anaxagoras appears
to accept this argument of Parmenides. He could not, however, square the thesis of
radical monism with his experience of a world that seems to admit plurality and
change. In fact, if the theses of Parmenides is correct, there is no possibility of science
because all empirically gathered data is misleading. Therefore, the challenge for
Anaxagoras and other post-Parmenidean philosophers was to present a proper
account of nature while maintaining the demand that the stuff that constitutes reality
can neither come into being from nothing nor pass away into nonbeing.

b. A Critique of Empedocles’s Theory

Empedocles was a contemporary of Anaxagoras. In response to Parmenides,
Empedocles maintained that the four elements—earth, air, fire, water—were the

!49
constituents or “roots” of all matter. These four roots cannot come into being, be
destroyed or admit any change. Therefore, apart from the fact that there are four, they
are essentially identical to the “one” of Parmenides. The roots mix together in various
proportions to account for all the things in the world that we suppose to be real, such
as apples, horses, etc. As an apple dissolves, it does not collapse into nonbeing, rather
the mixture that has accounted for the apparent apple of our senses has simply been
rearranged. Apples, and other “mortal things,” as Empedocles called them, do not
actually come to be, nor are they actually destroyed. This is simply the way humans
like to talk about entities which appear to exist but do not.

Anaxagoras maintained that the pluralism of Empedocles unduly singled out certain
substances as primary and others as secondary. According to Anaxagoras, the
testimony of our senses maintains that hair or flesh exist as assuredly as earth, air,
water or fire. In fact, all of the infinite numbers of substances are as real as the root
substances. Therefore, under this interpretation the key problem for Anaxagoras is that
under Empodocles' theory it would be possible to divide a hair into smaller and
smaller pieces until it was no longer hair, but a composite of the root substances. As
such, this would no longer satisfy the requirement that a definite substance cannot
pass into nonbeing.

c. The Lesson of Nutrition

Anaxagoras’ contention that all things have a portion of everything in everything may
have had its genesis in the phenomenon of nutrition. He observed among animals that
the food that is used to nourish develops into flesh, hair, etc. For this to be the case,
Anaxagoras believed that rice, for instance, must contain within it the substances hair
and flesh. Again, this is in keeping with the notion that definite substances cannot
arise from nothing: “For how can hair come to be from not hair or flesh from not
flesh?” Moreover, not only does a piece of rice contain hair and flesh, it in fact
contains the entirety of all the infinite amount of stuffs (a portion of everything). But
how is this possible?

d. The Divisibility of “Stuffs”

To understand how it is possible for there to be a portion of everything in everything,
it is necessary to develop Anaxagoras’ contention that stuff is infinitely divisible. In
practical terms, this can be explained by continuing with the example of the rice

!50
kernel. For Anaxagoras, if one were to begin dividing it into smaller and smaller
portions there would be no point at which the rice would no longer exist. Each
infinitesimally small piece could be divided into another, and each piece would
continue to contain rice, as well as hair, flesh and a portion of everything else. As
strange as this may appear to modern eyes, Anaxagoras’ unique and subtle theory
accomplished what it set out to do. It satisfied the Parmenidian demand that nothing
can come into or out of being and it accounted for the plurality and change that
constitutes our world of experience. A difficult question remains for Anaxagoras’
theory, however.

e. Why is Something What It Is?

If, according to Anaxagoras, everything contains a portion of everything, then what
makes something (rice, for instance) what it is? Anaxagoras does not provide a clear
response to this question, but an answer is alluded to in his claim that “each single
thing is and was most plainly those things of which it contains most.” (frag. 12)
Presumably, this can be taken to mean that each constituent of matter also has a part
of matter that is predominant in it. As such, a substance like rice, while containing
everything, contains a higher proportion of white, hardness, etc. than a substance like
wood. Simply stated, rice contains more stuff that makes it rice than wood or any
other substance.

2. The Origins of the Cosmos

Anaxagoras’ theory of the origins of the world is reminiscent of the cosmogonies that
had been previously developed in the Ionion tradition, particularly through
Anaximenes and  Anaximander. The traditional theories generally depict an original
unity which begins to become separated off into a series of opposites. Anaxagoras
maintained many of the key elements of these theories, however he also updated these
cosmogonies, most notably through the introduction of a causal agent (Mind or nous)
that is the initiator of the origination process.

Prior to the beginning of world as we know it everything was combined together in

such a unified manner that there were no qualities or individual substances that could
be discerned. At some point, the unity is spurred into motion at a force and a speed
“of nothing now found among humans, but altogether many times as fast” (frag. 9).
This motion begins the separation and it is “air and aither” that are the first

!51
constituents of matter to become distinct. As the air and ether became separated off,
all other elements become manifest in this mixture as well: “From these things as they
are being separated off, earth is being compounded; for water is being separated off
out of the clouds, earth out of water, and out of the earthy stones are being
compounded by the cold, and these [i.e., stones] move further out than the
water” (frag. 16).

Therefore, the origin of the world is depicted through this process of motion and
separation from the unified mixture. As mentioned above, in answering the “how” of
cosmogony, Anaxagoras is fairly traditional in his theory. In proposing an initiator or
causal explanation for the origins of the process, however, Anaxagoras separates
himself from his predecessors.

3. Mind (Nous)
According to Anaxagoras, the agent responsible for the rotation and separation of the
primordial mixture is Mind or nous. This Mind is depicted as “ruling” the rotation and
setting everything in order as well as having supreme power and knowledge of all
things. At this point, it might be tempting to equate Mind with a Greek god or with
God. But one should be careful to jump to conclusions, for Anaxagoras thinks of Mind
as something material and non-material. It is not divine in the sense of a god, but it is
not merely physical either.

Thus far, we have examined the role of Mind in the development of the world. But
what exactly is Mind, according to Anaxagoras? It is hard to say. It is a rational
principle for the ordering of the cosmos. But it exists in all things in certain way, as
well. It is material, but it is distinguished from the rest of matter in that it is finer,
purer and it appears to act freely. This theory is best understood by considering
Anaxagoras’ contention that plants possess minds. It is the mind of a plant which
enables it to seek nourishment and grow, but this dynamic agent in a plant is not
distinct from the plant itself. This would have been a common biological view for the
time, but where Anaxagoras is novel is that he extends the workings of “mind” at the
level of plants and animals into a cosmic principle which governs all things. The Mind
of the cosmos is a dynamic governing principle which is immanent to the entire
natural system while still maintaining its transcendental determining power. From
Anaxagoras’ perspective it appears to be a principle which is both natural and divine.

!52
 Anaxagoras Discussion Notes and Outline
Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!53
Outline

Paragraph One: Introduction and Background (Parmenides and Empedocles)

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two: “A portion of everything in everything”

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three: Mind

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________


!54
Democritus and the Atomists

Democritus (460 – 370 B.C.) was an influential ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher
known for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe.

Democritus was born in Abdera, Thrace, around 460  BC. Largely ignored in ancient
Athens, Democritus is said to have been disliked so much by Plato that the latter
wished all of his books burned. He was nevertheless well known to his fellow
northern-born philosopher Aristotle. Many consider Democritus to be the "father of
modern science". None of his writings have survived; only fragments are known from
his vast body of work.

Democritus spent the inheritance which his father left him on travels into distant
countries, to satisfy his thirst for knowledge. He traveled to Asia, and was even said to
have reached India and Ethiopia. It is known that he wrote on Babylon and visited
Egypt. The many anecdotes about Democritus attest to his disinterest, modesty, and
simplicity, and show that he lived exclusively for his studies. He was cheerful, and was
always ready to see the comical side of life, which later writers took to mean that he
always laughed at the foolishness of people.

Atomic hypothesis
The theory of Democritus held that everything is composed of “atoms”. Not the atoms
that we know today with protons and electrons, but literally the smallest, physically
indivisible thing. Atom (a-tome) is the greek word for indivisible. For Democritus,
atoms are indestructible, and have always been and always will be in motion. He
believed that there is an infinite number of atoms and of kinds of atoms, which differ
in shape and size. Democritus, along with other atomists like Leucippus and Epicurus,
proposed the earliest views on the shapes and connectivity of atoms. They reasoned
that the solidness of material things corresponded to the shape of the atoms involved.
Thus, iron atoms are solid and strong with hooks that lock them into a solid; water
atoms are smooth and slippery; salt atoms, because of their taste, are sharp and
pointed; and air atoms are light and whirling, pervading all other materials. Using
analogies from humans' sense experiences, he gave a picture or an image of an atom
that distinguished them from each other by their shape, their size, and the
arrangement of their parts. Moreover, connections were explained by material links in

!55
which single atoms were supplied with attachments: some with hooks and eyes others
with balls and sockets. The theory of the atomists appears to be more nearly aligned
with that of modern science than any other theory of antiquity. However, the similarity
with modern concepts of science can be confusing when trying to understand where
the hypothesis came from. It is obvious that classical atomists would never have had a
solid empirical basis for modern concepts of atoms and molecules.

However, Lucretius, gives very clear and compelling empirical arguments for the
original atomist theory. He observes that any material is subject to irreversible decay.
Through time, even hard rocks are slowly worn down by drops of water. Things have
the tendency to get mixed up: Mix water with soil and mud will result, seldom
disintegrating by itself. Wood decays. However, there are mechanisms in nature and
technology to recreate "pure" materials like water, air, and metals. The seed of an oak
will grow out into an oak tree, made of similar wood as historical oak trees, the wood
of which has already decayed. The conclusion is that many properties of materials
must derive from something inside, that will itself never decay, something that stores
for eternity the same inherent, indivisible properties. The basic question is: Why has
everything in the world not yet decayed, and how can exactly some of the same
materials, plants, and animals be recreated again and again? One obvious solution to
explain how indivisible properties can be conveyed in a way not easily visible to
human senses, is to hypothesize the existence of "atoms". These classical "atoms" are
nearer to humans' modern concept of "molecule" than to the atoms of modern
science. The other central point of classical atomism is that there must be considerable
open space between these "atoms": the void. Lucretius gives reasonable arguments
that the void is absolutely necessary to explain how gasses and liquids can flow and
change shape, while metals can be molded without their basic material properties
changing.


!56
 Democritus Discussion Notes and Outline
Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!57
Outline

Paragraph One: Introduction and Background

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two: Atoms as Archê

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three: Atoms - Then and Now

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________


!58
 The Pinnacle of
Greek Philosophy:
Socrates, Plato,
and Aristotle

!59
!60
 The Golden Age of Philosophy
What the Pre-Socratic thinkers, from Thales to Democritus, had done was nothing
less than amazing - they had given to nature a rational and non-mythical foundation.
This new approach allowed for critical analysis and theories, and not mythical
explanations. Such a spirit even found its way into medicine, where the Greek
physician Hippocrates of Cos (c.460-c.377 B.C.) was able to distinguish between myth
and medicine. Physicians observed ill patients, classified symptoms and then made
predictions about the course of a disease. For instance, of epilepsy, he wrote: "It is not,
in my opinion, any more divine or more scared than other diseases, but has a natural
cause, and its supposed divine origin is due to men's inexperience, and to their
wonder at its peculiar character."

Into such an atmosphere of change came the traveling teachers, the Sophists. The
Sophists were a motley bunch – some hailed from the Athens, some from other city-
states, but the majority came from Ionia, in Asia Minor. The Sophists were men whose
responsibility it was to train and educate the sons of Athenian citizens. There were no
formal school as we know them today. Instead, these were peripatetic schools, meaning
that the instructor would walk with students and talk with them – for a fee, of course.
The Sophists taught the skills (sophia) of rhetoric and oratory. Both of these arts were
essential for the education of the Athenian citizenry. After all, it was the sons of the
citizens who would eventually find themselves debating important issues in the
Assembly and the Council of Five Hundred. Rhetoric can be described as the art of
composition, while oratory was the art of public speaking.

The Sophists abandoned science, philosophy, mathematics and ethics. What they
taught was the subtle art of persuasion. A Sophist was a person who could argue
eloquently – and could prove a position whether that position was correct or incorrect.
In other words, what mattered was persuasion and not truth. The Sophists were also
relativists. They believed that there was no such thing as a universal or absolute truth,
valid at all times. According to Protagoras (c.485-c.411 B.C.), "Man is the measure of all
things." Everything is relative and there are no values because man, individual man, is
the measure of all things. Nothing is good or bad since everything depends on the
individual. Gorgias of Leontini (c.485-c.380 B.C.), who visited Athens in 427, was a

!61
well-paid teacher of rhetoric and famous for his saying that a man could not know
anything. And if he could, he could not describe it and if he could describe it, no one
would understand him.

The Sophistic movement of the fifth century B.C. has been the subject of much
discussion and there is no single view about their significance. Plato's treatment of the
Sophists in his late dialogue, the Sophist, is hardly flattering. He does not treat them as
real seekers after truth but as men whose only concern was making money and
teaching their students success in argument by whatever means. Aristotle said that a
Sophist was "one who made money by sham wisdom.”

At their very best, the Sophists challenged the accepted values of the fifth century.
They wanted the freedom to sweep away old conventions as a way of finding a better
understanding of the universe, the gods and man. Regardless of what we think of the
Sophists as a group or individually, they certainly did have the cumulative effect of
further degrading a mythical understanding of the universe and of man.

Into this situation arrived a man, surprisingly ugly and shabbily dressed, claiming to
be the most ignorant of all men. Only he wasn’t ignorant at all; in fact, he was
probably one of the wisest men in all of history … 


!62
 Notes for the Introduction of Chapter II

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________


!63
Socrates


!64
Socrates (470-399 BC) was a Greek philosopher and his teachings mark the
beginning of the Western philosophical tradition. He was born around 470 BC, in
Athens, Greece. Since he did not write anything himself, we know of his life and
teachings through the writings of his students, primarily Plato. This is known as “the
Socratic problem.” His "Socratic method" laid the groundwork for the Western
systems of logic and philosophy. Due to the political climate of Greece and his
antagonism toward the ruling class, Socrates was sentenced to death by hemlock
poisoning in 399 BC. He accepted this judgment rather than fleeing into exile.

Early Years
Born circa 470 BC in Athens, Greece, Socrates's life is chronicled through only a few
sources—the dialogues of Plato and Xenophon and the plays of Aristophanes. Because
these writings had other purposes than reporting his life, it is likely none present a
completely accurate picture. However, collectively, they provide a vivid portrayal of
Socrates's philosophy and personality.

Socrates was the son of an Athenian stone mason. Because he wasn't from a noble
family, he probably received a basic Greek education and learned his father's craft at a
young age. It is believed Socrates worked as a mason for many years before he devoted
his life to philosophy. Socrates married Xanthippe, a younger woman, and he was
father to three sons. By his own words, Socrates had little to do with his sons'
upbringing and expressed far more interest in the intellectual development of Athens'
young boys.

Athenian law required all able bodied males serve as citizen soldiers, on call for duty
from ages 18 until 60. According to Plato, Socrates served in the armored infantry—
known as the hoplite—with shield, long spear and face mask. He participated in three
military campaigns during the Peloponnesian War, at Delium, Amphipolis, and
Potidaea, where he saved the life of Alcibiades, a popular Athenian general. Socrates
was known for his courage in battle and fearlessness, a trait that stayed with him
throughout his life. After his trial, he compared his refusal to retreat from his legal
troubles to a soldier's refusal to retreat from battle when threatened with death.

!65
Plato's Symposium provides the best details of Socrates's physical appearance. He was
not the ideal of Athenian masculinity. Basically, he was ugly. Short and stocky, with a
snub nose and bulging eyes, Socrates always seemed to appear to be staring. However,
Plato pointed out that in the eyes of his students, Socrates possessed a different kind
of attractiveness, not based on a physical ideal but on his brilliant debates and
penetrating thought. Socrates always emphasized the importance of the mind over the
relative unimportance of the human body.

Philosopher
Socrates believed that philosophy should achieve practical results for the greater well-
being of society. He attempted to establish an ethical system based on human reason
rather than mythological doctrine. He pointed out that human choice was motivated
by the desire for happiness. Ultimate wisdom comes from knowing oneself. The more a
person knows, the greater his or her ability to reason and make choices that will bring
true happiness. Socrates believed that this translated into politics with the best form
of government being neither a tyranny nor a democracy. Instead, government worked
best when ruled by individuals who had the greatest ability, knowledge, and virtue and
possessed a complete understanding of themselves.

One of Socrates’ friends, Chaerephon, visited the Oracle of Delphi. The priestess told
him that Socrates was the wisest man in Athens. Upon hearing the news, Socrates
responded not by boasting or celebrating, but by trying to prove the Oracle wrong. So
he decided he would try and find out if anyone knew what was truly worthwhile in life,
because anyone who knew that would surely be wiser than him. He set about
questioning everyone he could find, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.
Instead they all pretended to know something they clearly did not.

Finally Socrates realized the Oracle might be right after all. He was the wisest man in
Athens because he alone was prepared to admit his own ignorance rather than
pretend to know something he did not. For Socrates, Athens was a classroom and he
went about asking questions of the elite and common man alike, seeking to arrive at
political and ethical truths. Socrates didn’t lecture about what he knew. In fact, he
claimed to be ignorant because he had no ideas, but wise because he recognized his
own ignorance. He asked questions of his fellow Athenians in a dialectic method (the
Socratic Method) which compelled the audience to think through a problem to a

!66
logical conclusion. Sometimes the answer seemed so obvious, it made Socrates's
opponents look foolish. For this, he was admired by some and vilified by others.

During Socrates's life, Athens was going through a dramatic transition after a
humiliating defeat by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. Athenians entered a period of
instability and doubt about their identity and place in the world. As a result, they
clung to past glories, notions of wealth, and a fixation with physical beauty. Socrates
attacked these values with his insistent emphasis on the greater importance of the
mind. While many Athenians admired Socrates's challenges to Greek conventional
wisdom and the humorous way he went about it, an equal number grew angry and felt
he threatened their way of life and uncertain future. He was accused of impiety
against the gods and corrupting the minds of the Athenian youth.

Execution
Plato’s Dialogue, The Apology, recounts Socrates’ defense against these charges. The
jury, however, was not swayed and convicted him by a vote of 280 to 221. Possibly the
defiant tone of his defense contributed to the verdict and he made things worse
during the deliberation over his punishment. Athenian law allowed a convicted citizen
to propose an alternative punishment to the one called for by the prosecution and the
jury would decide. Instead of proposing he be exiled, Socrates suggested he be
honored by the city for his contribution to their enlightenment and be paid for his
services. The jury was not amused and sentenced him to death by drinking a mixture
of poison hemlock.

Before Socrates's execution, friends offered to bribe the guards and rescue him so he
could flee into exile. He declined, stating he wasn't afraid of death. He felt he would be
no better off if in exile and said he was still a loyal citizen of Athens, willing to abide
by its laws, even the ones that condemned him to death. Plato described Socrates's
execution in his Dialogue, Phaedo. Socrates drank the hemlock mixture without
hesitation. Numbness slowly crept into his body until it reached his heart. Shortly
before his final breath, Socrates described his death as a release of the soul from the
body.

!67
Notes
______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________


!68
Outline

Paragraph One: Introduction, Life, Importance and “Socratic Problem”

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two: The Oracle of Delphi, Ignorance

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three: Difference from the Pre-Socratics, Focus on Wisdom

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

!69
______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Four: The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Five: Conclusion, Personal View of Socrates’ Importance

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________


!70
Plato


!71
Introduction The son of a wealthy and noble family, Plato (427-347 B.C.) was
preparing for a career in politics when the trial and eventual execution of Socrates
changed the course of his life. He abandoned his political career and turned to
philosophy, opening a school on the outskirts of Athens dedicated to the Socratic
search for wisdom. Plato's school, known as the Academy, was the first university in
western history and operated from 387 B.C. until A.D. 529.

Life and Influences Plato was a well-known wrestler, and the name by which we
know him today was his ring name. Plato means broad or flat: presumably in this case
the former meaning, referring to his shoulders (or, as some sources insist, to his
forehead). At his birth in 427 B.C., Plato was given the name Aristocles. He was born in
Athens, or on the island of Aegina, which lies just twelve miles offshore from Athens.
Plato was born into one of the great political families of Athens. His father was
descended from the last king of Athens, and his mother was descended from the great
Athenian lawmaker, Solon.

Like any bright member of a political family, Plato’s earliest ambitions were in other
fields. Twice he carried off the wrestling prize at the Isthmian Games but never made it
to the Olympics. Instead he set about trying to become a great tragic poet, but he
failed to impress the judges in any of the major competitions. Having failed to win an
Olympic gold, or carry off the ancient Greek equivalent of the Nobel Prize, Plato was
almost resigned to becoming a mere statesman. Then, as a last fling, he decided to
have a go at philosophy, and went off to listen to Socrates.

It was love at first sight. For the next nine years Plato sat at the feet of his master,
absorbing all he could of his ideas. Socrates’s combative teaching methods forced his
pupil to realize his full intellectual potential, at the same time opening his eyes to the
unrealized possibilities of the subject.

It was Socrates who, in Cicero’s words, “called down philosophy from the skies.” The
pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in discovering the archê which led
them to investigate natural philosophy and cosmology; Socrates’ concerns, in contrast,
were almost exclusively moral and political issues. In 399 when a democratic court
voted by a large majority of its five hundred and one jurors for Socrates’ execution on
an unjust charge of impiety, Plato came to the conclusion that all existing governments

!72
were bad and almost beyond redemption. “The human race will have no respite from
evils until those who are really philosophers acquire political power or until, through
some divine dispensation, those who rule and have political authority in the cities
become real philosophers”.

After the death of his mentor, Plato traveled widely and became exposed to the ideas
of other great thinkers, especially the Pythagorean cult. He visited Syracuse first in
387, then in 367, and again in 362-361, with the general purpose to moderate the
Sicilian tyrants with philosophical education and to establish a model political rule.
But this adventure with practical politics ended in failure, and Plato went back to
Athens. His Academy, which he began in 387, provided a base for succeeding
generations of Platonic philosophers until its final closure in 529 A.D., and became the
most famous teaching institution of the Hellenistic world. Mathematics, rhetoric,
astronomy, dialectics, and other subjects, all seen as necessary for the education of
philosophers and statesmen, were studied there. Some of Plato’s pupils later became
leaders, mentors, and constitutional advisers in Greek city-states. His most renowned
pupil was Aristotle. Plato died in c. 347 B.C. During his lifetime, Athens turned away
from her military and imperial ambitions and became the intellectual center of
Greece. She gave host to all the four major Greek philosophical schools founded in
the course of the fourth century: Plato’s Academy, Aristotle’s Lyceum, and the
Epicurean and Stoic schools.

Plato’s Realm of Forms Plato’s theory of forms (or ideas) lies at the heart of his
philosophy. It follows directly from the questions raised by the pre-Socratics and
Socrates. One of the problems these philosophers tried to answer was that of relating
the many to the one. For example when we see a particular chair for the first time how
do we know it is a chair? The particular example of the chair we are presented with
might not bear any resemblance to any other chair we have seen before yet we know
instinctively that it is a chair!

Socrates had insisted that we must attempt to answer the question ‘What is X?’ before
we can say anything meaningful about X. To answer this question Socrates asked the
question ‘What is the one thing common to all the many instances of examples of X?’
Socrates was primarily interested in the consequences of this problem for ethics (not
chairs!). He was interested in questions such as ‘What is justice?’ He reasoned that in

!73
order to define what justice is all you needed to do was look at examples of justice in
the world around you and note down the similarities. However, despite all his
philosophical inquiry, Socrates was unable to come to any conclusion.

Following on from this, Plato sought to find out why Socrates’ reasoning was
inconclusive. Going over Socrates’ philosophical method, Plato concluded that all
instances and examples of X were unreliable. Plato held that in interesting cases such
as justice and goodness and beauty every instance of X will also be an instance of the
opposite of X. Plato concluded that there must be an unambiguous example of justice.
This unambiguous example cannot be found in this world but only in another, just as
Pythagoras had said about number. He believed that as well as the transitory material
world that we all experience here and now, there was also an eternal world of concepts
or forms. This eternal world is more real than the world we experience through the
senses, and it is the object of knowledge, not opinion. For Plato, in order for
something to be real, it had to be permanent and unchanging, as with Parmenides.
Reality and perfection for Plato were closely related.

When Socrates asked ‘What is justice?’ or ‘What is beauty?’, he was not just trying to
find a good definition of the words. He was asking about the nature, or essence, of
these qualities. Plato believed that the qualities had a sort of universal existence, a
reality of their own. When we see examples of justice in the world, we recognize them
as such because we see that they reflect the nature of True Justice, or the Form of
Justice. When we call something beautiful, it is because we have an innate knowledge
of True Beauty, or the Form of Beauty.

Whether we are thinking about justice or beauty, what we see in the world around us
is always imperfect. Even though we have never seen perfect justice or beauty, we
know what they are because knowledge is a kind of recollection. We have an
instinctive understanding of the Forms and we understand as a concept even though
we have never seen a perfect example of it.

The Allegory of the Cave Unlike his mentor Socrates, Plato was both a writer and a
teacher. His writings are in the form of dialogues, with Socrates as the principal
speaker. In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato described symbolically the predicament in
which mankind finds itself and proposes a way of salvation. The Allegory presents, in

!74
brief form, most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions: his belief that the world
revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real
world can only be apprehended intellectually; his idea that knowledge cannot be
transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing
student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it
for themselves; his faith that the universe ultimately is good; his conviction that
enlightened individuals have an obligation to the rest of society, and that a good
society must be one in which the truly wise (the Philosopher-King) are the rulers.

The Allegory of the Cave can be found in Book VII of Plato's best-known work, The
Republic, a lengthy dialogue on the nature of justice. Often regarded as a utopian
blueprint, The Republic is dedicated toward a discussion of the education required of a
Philosopher-King. As you read the Allegory, try to make a mental picture of the cave
Plato describes. Better yet, why not draw a picture of it and refer to it as you read the
selection. In many ways, understanding Plato's Allegory of the Cave will make your
foray into the world of philosophical thought much less burdensome.

Harmony in the State and in the Soul It is generally believed today that democracy,
“government of the people by the people and for the people,” is the best and only fully
justifiable political system. Democracy can be described as the rule of the free people
who govern themselves, either directly or though their representatives, in their own
interest. Why does Plato not consider democracy the best form of government? In the
Republic he criticizes the potential democracy for its potential for anarchy and
instability. He also believes that equality, the belief that everyone has the right and
equal capacity to rule, brings to politics all kinds of power-seeking individuals,
motivated by personal gain rather than public good. Sound familiar? Plato argues that
politics needs expert rulers, and they cannot come to it merely by accident, but must
be carefully selected and prepared in the course of extensive training. Who then
should the experts be and why?

If philosophers, among whom Plato includes both men and women, are those who can
distinguish between true and false beliefs, who love knowledge and are motivated by
the common good, and finally if they are not only master-theoreticians, but also the
master-practitioners who can heal the ills of their society, then they, and not
democratically elected representatives, must be chosen as leaders and educators of the

!75
political community and guide it to proper ends. Are philosophers incorruptible? In
the ideal city there are provisions to minimize possible corruption, even among the
good-loving philosophers. They can neither enjoy private property nor family life.
Although they are the rulers, they receive only modest payment from the state, dine in
common dining halls, and have wives and children in common. The ideal city becomes
a bad one, described as timocracy, precisely when the philosophers neglect music and
physical exercise, and begin to gather wealth.

Initially chosen from among the brightest, most stable, and most courageous children,
they go through a sophisticated and prolonged educational training which begins with
gymnastics, music and mathematics, and ends with dialectic, military service and
practical city management. They have superior theoretical knowledge, including the
knowledge of the just, noble, good and advantageous, but are not inferior to others in
practical matters as well. Being in the final stage of their education illuminated by the
idea of the good, they are those who can see beyond changing empirical situations and
reflect on such timeless values as justice, beauty, truth, and moderation.

The philosopher-kings enjoy a life of contemplation and have the duty to rule. The
workers in society do not enjoy power. They are led by the philosophers. But they are
happy with their state in life because they are allowed the pleasures of family life,
private property and good food. They produce all that is necessary for society through
farming and skilled trades. The vast majority of people are in this working class.
There are also members of society that are between the leaders and the workers and
these are the warriors. Like the philosopher kings, they live in common and have no
possessions. But they are allowed the glory and honor that comes from being
successful warriors - they are like the movie stars of Plato’s harmonious society. They
receive fame for their service, but their motivation for serving is purified since they
receive no physical pleasures and do not lead. They dedicate their lives to military
training and they offer protection to society. Life the philosopher-kings, they are not
responsible for any work, but can devote their time to training and warcraft.

Plato identifies three different aspects in the human soul, the intellect, the emotions,
and the passions. This is known as the theory of the tripartite soul. Plato says that
one needs to strive for the same harmony within the soul of the person that should
exist in the perfect society. Whether in a city or an individual, justice is the state of the

!76
whole when each part fulfills its function without attempting to interfere in the
functions of others. The intellect (logistikon from logos) is the thinking part of the soul
which loves the truth and seeks to learn it. The intellect discerns what is the real and
not merely apparent, judges what is true and what is false and wisely makes just
decisions in accordance with its love for goodness. Plato makes the point that the
intellect is the smallest part of the soul (as the rulers would be the smallest population
within the Republic), but must be in charge of directing the emotions and the
appetites.

The spirited, or hot-blooded, part of the soul is the emotional center that gets angry
when it perceives an injustice being done. This is the part of us that loves to face and
overcome great challenges, the part that can steel itself to adversity, and that loves
victory, winning, challenge, and honor. When ruled by the intellect, these emotions
are important in living a good and virtuous life. This part of the soul mirrors the class
of warriors in the state.

The third part of the soul, the appetites, are our myriad desires for various pleasures,
comforts, physical satisfactions, and bodily ease. There are so many of these appetites
that Plato does not bother to enumerate them, but he does note that they can often be
in conflict even with each other. Like the workers, this part of the soul can indulge in
its desires, but only contributes to the well-being of the person when ruled by the
intellect and guided by moderation. If the desires are in control, then the individual,
just like the state, is on a sure and quick path to destruction.

The Super Essay

It might be daunting to be asked to write a 5-page paper. But a 5-page paper is just a
three paragraph essay, combined with two more three paragraph essays. So each three
paragraph essay is like one topic in a three paragraph essay, it just gets explained in
three paragraphs. So we will write three 3-paragraph essays, put them together with
an intro and conclusion (sound familiar?), and ta-da, you will have done a 5-page
paper! The three topics of our three essays are: the life of, and influences on, Plato;
the realm of the forms and the allegory of the cave; and harmony in the state and in
the soul. We will take them one at a time.


!77
 Plato Discussion Notes and Outline
Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!78
_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!79
Outline: Essay One - Life

Paragraph One

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

!80
Outline: Essay Two - The Forms

Paragraph One

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

!81
Outline: Essay Two - Harmony of State and Soul

Paragraph One

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

!82
Conclusion

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________


!83
Aristotle

!84
Life and Overview of his Work Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and
scientist born in 384 B.C. in the city of Stagira, on the sea in northern Greece. His
father, Nicomachus, was court physician to the Macedonian king, a connection that
would play an important role in Aristotle’s life. Aristotle’s parents died while he was
still a child, and his brother-in-law became Aristotle’s guardian. At seventeen or
eighteen years of age, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until
the age of thirty-seven.

When Plato died in 347 B.C., many believed Aristotle would take his place as director
of the Academy. However, by that time, Aristotle had differing views on several of
Plato’s works (for example, he disagreed with Plato’s theory of Forms), and Aristotle
was not offered the position. In 343, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip
II of Macedon, returned to Macedonia to tutor the king’s teenage son, Alexander.
From this tutelage Alexander gained a passion for Homer, and in particular the Iliad,
as well as some appreciation for Athens as a center of learning.

In 335, Alexander became king and began his conquest of the known world. Aristotle
returned to Athens and decided to open his own school, the Lyceum, rather than
rejoin the Academy. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the
production of many of his hundreds of books. This period in Athens, between 335 and
323 BC, is when Aristotle is believed to have composed many of his works. He wrote
many dialogues of which only fragments have survived. Those works that have
survived are in treatise form and were not, for the most part, intended for widespread
publication; they are generally thought to be lecture aids for his students. His most
important treatises include Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, De Anima
(On the Soul) and Poetics.

Aristotle not only studied almost every subject possible at the time, but made
significant contributions to most of them. In physical science, Aristotle studied
anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics and zoology.
In philosophy, he wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government, logic, metaphysics, politics,
economics, psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, foreign
customs, literature and poetry. His combined works constitute a virtual encyclopedia
of Greek knowledge.

!85
Following Alexander's death, there were strong feelings in Athens against Macedonian
rule. In 322  BC, Aristotle was denounced for impiety, prompting him to flee to his
mother's family estate in Chalcis, at which occasion he was said to have stated: "I will
not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy"  – a reference to Athens's
prior trial and execution of Socrates. He died in Euboea of natural causes later that
same year, leaving a will in which he asked to be buried next to his wife.

Logic Aristotle’s logic, especially his theory of the syllogism, has had an unparalleled
influence on the history of Western thought. Kant thought that Aristotle had
discovered everything there was to know about logic, and the historian of logic Prantl
stated that any logician after Aristotle who said anything new was confused, stupid, or
perverse.

Aristotle regarded logic as a widely-applicable instrument or method for careful

thinking.  It was a tool for right thinking that would need to be applied to every
discipline. Aristotle’s six logical treatises were later combined into a sort of manual
called the Organon (Greek for “tool”).  The Organon included the Categories, On
Interpretation, the Prior Analytics, the Posterior Analytics, the Topics, and On Sophistical
Refutations.  These books touch on many issues: the logical structure of propositions,
the proper structure of arguments (syllogisms), the difference between induction and
deduction, the nature of scientific knowledge, basic fallacies (forms of specious
reasoning), debating techniques, and so on. 

Ontology Aristotle's Categories is a singularly important work of philosophy. It not

only presents the backbone of Aristotle's own philosophical theorizing, but has had an
unmatched influence on the systems of many of the greatest philosophers in the
western tradition. The set of doctrines in the Categories provides the framework of
inquiry for a wide variety of Aristotle's philosophical investigations, ranging from his
discussions of time and change in the Physics, to the science of being qua being in the
Metaphysics, and even extending to his rejection of Platonic ethics in the Nicomachean
Ethics. Looking beyond his own works, Aristotle's Categories has engaged the attention
of such diverse philosophers as Plotinus, Porphyry, Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza,
Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Brentano and Heidegger (to mention just
a few), who have variously embraced, defended, modified or rejected its central

!86
contentions. All, in their different ways, have thought it necessary to come to terms
with features of Aristotle's categorical scheme.

Aristotle's first system of classification is of beings (τὰ ὄντα - onto, ontology). The
classification starts by making two distinctions: (1) said-of and (2) present-in. Any
being, according to Aristotle, is either said-of another or is not said-of another.
Likewise, any being is either present-in another or is not present-in another.

Beings that are said-of others are universals, while those that are not said-of others are
particulars. Beings that are present-in others are accidental, while those that are not
present-in others are substantial. If we put these possibilities together, we arrive at the
following four-fold system of classification: (1) accidental universals; (2) essential
universals; (3) accidental particulars; (4) non-accidental particulars, or what Aristotle
calls primary substances.

Particular Universal (Said-Of)

Essential Particulars Essential Universals

Essential/Substantial Not Said-Of, Not Present-In Said-Of, Not Present In
(Primary Substances) (Secondary Substances)

Accidental Particulars Accidental Universals

Accidental (Present-In)
Not Said-Of, Present-In Said-Of, Present-In

The world, as Aristotle describes it in his Categories, is composed of substances—

separate, individual things—to which various characterizations or properties can be
ascribed.  Each substance is a unified whole composed of interlocking parts.  There
are two kinds of substances.  A primary substance is (in the simplest instance) an
independent object, composed of matter, characterized by form.  Individual living
organisms—a man, a rainbow trout, an oak tree—provide the most unambiguous
examples of primary substances.  Secondary substances are the larger groups, the
species or genera, to which these individual organisms belong.  So man, horse,
mammals, animals (and so on) would be examples of secondary substances. 

Like his teacher Plato, Aristotle's philosophy aims at the essential. Aristotle's ontology,
however, emphasizes the substance in particular things, which he calls the essence of

!87
things, while in Plato's ontology, the universal exists apart from particular things, and
is related to them as their prototype or exemplar. So Aristotle’s notion of what is
important is exactly opposite from Plato’s. Aristotle inverts Plato’s ontology.

The Problem of Change and the Answer to the Parmenidean Problem When
Aristotle undertook to explain how it is that things change, he had first to confront the
seemingly iron-clad logic of Parmenides. Bound by this logic, Parmenides had been
forced to the position that there is in reality no change at all. All change is mere
appearance; reality is One, and this One, which only is, is unchanging. Parmenides
had argued that there are only two alternatives for anything, being and non-being.
The advance that Aristotle made over Parmenides consists in seeing that, although it is
true that "nothing can come from nothing," it is obviously not true that "being cannot
come from being." One must distinguish being-in-act (actual being) from being-in-
potency (potential being). It is true that from being-in-act, being-in-act cannot come
since it would already be. The alternative from which being can come is not non-being,
however, but being-in-potency. From being-in-potency there can come being-in-act.

Accidental Change After introducing the category of potentiality, Aristotle then

distinguishes between two forms of change, accidental and substantial. Accidental
change is when an existing thing takes on a trait that it did not have before. For
example, the man had brown hair and now it is gray, or the woman was sick, but now is
healthy. These changes do not involve a coming-to-be of a thing, which is an essential
or substantial change, but the coming-to-be of an accidental quality. Together with the
category of potency, Aristotle has no difficulty explaining accidental change since it
does not really touch on the heart of the parmenidean problem.

When a sculptor sets out to sculpt a statue from a formless block of marble, the form
of the statue is already present in the block of marble. The role of the sculptor is only
to remove the excess marble from the statue that was already there inside the block.
This is possible only because the block of marble has the possibility and capacity of
being transformed. The figure of the statue is in potency in the block of marble. This
potency is not nothing, it is not non-being. It is real; not with the reality of being-in-
act, but with the reality which corresponds to being-in-potency. This example helps
explain Aristotle’s discovery about the concept of potency and accidental change.

!88
Aristotle distinguishes four causes within change: 1) The material cause - this is the
material, physical substance that undergoes the change. It was the material cause that
preoccupied most of the pre-Socratics. 2) The formal cause - why does this group of
elements become one thing and not another? What guides and governs the growth of
a thing? Aristotle says it is the formal cause, the essence of what that thing is. He calls
this the soul. This relates to Plato’s idea about the realm of the forms. 3) The efficient
cause - the maker or doer of the change, in our example it is the sculptor. 4) The final
cause - this is the goal or end for which something is changed or made. This is why
the efficient cause does what it does. So the sculptor (efficient cause) uses marble
(material cause) to create a statue (formal cause) to place in the temple (final cause).

Substantial Change When one thing that did not exist comes into being, such as a
person or a tree, this change is not accidental - it does not involve new traits to an
existing thing. This type of change involves coming into being and is exactly what
Parmenides stated could never happen. The Aristotelian principles used to explain
substantial change are analogous to those used in explaining accidental changes:
matter, form and privation. What comes to be is a new form; the matter already exists
and persists through the change. This new form comes to be in what previous lacked
that form, i.e. in what had the privation of the form. This form is what contains the
potency for becoming the thing. Thus, the form of a tree informs and guides certain
matter to grow from an acorn into this tree and not something else. The form guides
the tree from potency to actuality. Form and matter, however, make up a substantial
unity; one cannot have form without matter, nor matter without some form. But, one
can still distinguish these principles, and also understand that these principles are real
features of the things that exhibit them.

The Unmoved Mover This discussion leads Aristotle to the question of whether there
can be an infinite regress in a series of change? Aristotle’s fundamental principle is
that everything that is in motion is moved by something else (either as an efficient or
final cause). He argues that, where there is substantial change, there cannot be an
infinite series of moved movers. If it is true that when A is in motion there must be
some B that moves A, then if B is itself in motion there must be some C moving B, and
so on. Since we see and experience A, we know that this series cannot go on
backwards forever, and so it must come to a halt in some X in the past that is a cause
of motion but does not move itself—an unmoved mover.

!89
Since the motion it causes is everlasting, this X must be an eternal substance, says
Aristotle. It must lack matter, for it cannot come into existence or go out of existence
by turning into anything else. It must also lack potentiality, for the mere power to
cause motion would not ensure the causal chain of motion. It must, therefore, be pure
actuality (energeia). Such a mover could not act as an efficient cause, because that
would involve a change in itself, but it can act as a final cause—an object of love—
because being loved does not involve any change in the beloved.

The Prime Mover causes the movement of other things, not as an efficient cause, but
as a final cause. In other words, it does not start off the movement by giving it some
kind of push, but it is the purpose, or end of the movement. This is important for
Aristotle, because he thought that an effective cause, giving a push, would be affected
itself by the act of pushing. Aristotle believed the prime mover causes things to move
by attraction in much the same way that a saucer of milk attracts a cat. The milk
attracts the cat but cannot be said to be changed in the process.

In Book 12 of his Metaphysics, Aristotle describes the unmoved mover as being

perfectly beautiful, indivisible, and contemplating only the perfect contemplation:
itself contemplating. Aristotle called this first mover God. He said that God must
exists necessarily, which means that the he does not depend on anything else for
existence. He never changes or has any potential to change, never begins and never
ends, and so is eternal. Eternal things, Aristotle claimed, must be good; there can be
no defect in something that exists necessarily, because badness is connected with
some kind of lack, a not-being of something which ought to be there, an absence of
the ‘actuality’ that Aristotle thought God most perfectly has.

The life of God, he says, must be like the very best of human lives. The delight that a
human being takes in the sublimest moments of philosophical contemplation is in
God a perpetual state. What, Aristotle asks, does God think of? He must think of
something—otherwise, he is no better than a sleeping human—and whatever he is
thinking of, he must think of eternally. Either he thinks about himself, or he thinks
about something else. But the value of a thought depends on the value of what it is a
thought of, so, if God were thinking of anything other than himself, he would be
somehow degraded. So he must be thinking of himself, the supreme being, and his life
is a contemplation of himself.


!90
 Aristotle Discussion Notes and Outline
Notes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!91
_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!92
Outline: Essay One - Life and Works (including Logic)

Paragraph One

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

!93
Outline: Essay Two - Answering Parmenides/Inverting Plato’s Ontology

Paragraph One

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

!94
Outline: Essay Two - The Unmoved Mover

Paragraph One

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Two

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

7)___________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Three

1)___________________________________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________________________________

3)___________________________________________________________________________________

4)___________________________________________________________________________________

5)___________________________________________________________________________________

6)___________________________________________________________________________________

!95
Conclusion

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________


!96
 Conclusion: Eudaimonia
And so the journey of Ancient Greek Philosophy draws to an initial close. There is
much more to be said, but for an initial overview, the journey has been long, exciting
and full of twists and turns, not unlike the river that started the whole process!

The journey began with people who no longer looked to the myths of their forefathers
for answers. They observed change, continuity, diversity and unity in the world around
them and wanted to know if they could find a reason within that same world that
would account for what they observed. The first philosophers looked to the material
world to provide the answer, things like water and air, earth and fire. Later
philosophers realized that more was needed to explain the complexity of harmony,
change and even existence itself. On a scientific level, it is amazing to see how far they
came, arriving at the atom without even knowing the atom.

Then Socrates arrived and changed everything. His method of asking questions rather
than guessing at answers, and pointing people to the highest ideals in life inspired a
generation of young thinkers. Chief among them was Plato who postulated the world
of the forms and offered people a way to get there through philosophy and harmony.
His student, Aristotle, would end this journey by arriving at God, the unmoved mover,
the cause of the universe. He did not know the personal loving God of the Hebrews
or of the later Christians, but he does substantiate the claim of the Church that it is
reasonable to believe in the existence of the creator of the universe.

One final note on which to end and summarize our journey. Aristotle emphasized the
importance of developing excellence of character, as the way to achieve what is finally
more important, excellent conduct. In Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle
argues that the man who possesses virtue does the right thing, at the right time, and in
the right way. Like many ethicists, Aristotle regards excellent activity as pleasurable for
the man of virtue. For example, Aristotle thinks that the man whose appetites are in
the correct order actually takes pleasure in acting moderately.

Aristotle emphasized that virtue is practical, and that the purpose of ethics is to
become good, not merely to know. Aristotle also claims that the right course of action

!97
depends upon the details of a particular situation, rather than being generated merely
by applying a law. The type of wisdom which is required for this is called "prudence".
This virtue allows one to find the “golden mean”, the middle ground of virtue between
two opposites of vice - excess and lack.

In his ethical works, Aristotle describes eudaimonia as the highest human good. In
Book I of the Nicomachean Ethics he goes on to identify eudaimonia as the excellent
exercise of the intellect. In daily life, in order to practice one virtue, a person must
possess all the others. Aristotle describes people with excellence of character as
persons who necessarily have all the moral virtues: magnanimity, justice, wisdom,
nobility and true friendship.

Aristotle also says that such a complete virtue requires intellectual virtue, not only
practical virtue. Such a virtuous person, if they can come into being, will choose the
most pleasant and happy life of all, which is the philosophical life of contemplation
and speculation.

Aristotle claims that a human's highest functioning must include reasoning, being
good at what sets humans apart from everything else. Or, as Aristotle explains it, "The
function of man is activity of soul in accordance with reason, or at least not without
reason." He identifies two different ways in which the soul can engage: reasoning (both
practical and intellectual) and following reasoning. A person that does this is the
happiest because they are fulfilling their purpose or nature as found in the rational
soul.

(The wise person will) be more than human. A man will not live like that by virtue of his
humanness, but by virtue of some divine thing within him. His activity is as superior to the
activity of the other virtues as this divine thing is to his composite character. Now if mind is
divine in comparison with man, the life of the mind is divine in comparison with mere human
life. We should not follow popular advice and, being human, have only mortal thoughts, but
should become immortal and do everything toward living the best in us. (NE 10.7)

In other words, the just man is not only the 'best' person, but is also most like God.


!98
 Conclusion

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

!99
!100