Greek philosophers

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

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Outline

 Introduction
 Part I. Socrates
 Part II. Plato
 Part III. Aristotle
 Conclusion
 References

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Introduction
 Greek Philosophy, body of philosophical concepts
developed by the Greeks, during the flowering of
Greek civilization between 600 and 200 BC
 The idealism of Socrates was organized by Plato
into a systematic philosophy
 In the writings of Plato and Aristotle the dominant
strains of idealism and materialism in Greek
philosophy reached, respectively, their highest
expression, producing a body of thought that
continues to influence philosophical inquiry

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Part I. Socrates
a. His life
 Socrates (469-399BC), Greek philosopher, who affected
Western philosophy through his influence on Plato
 Born in Athens, Socrates believed in the superiority of
argument over writing
 Engaging in dialogue and argument with anyone who
would listen or who would submit to interrogation
 Charged in 399 BC with neglecting the gods of the state
and introducing new divinities
 Socrates' friends planned his escape from prison, but he
preferred to comply with the law and die for his cause
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Part I. Socrates
b. His teaching
 His contribution to philosophy was essentially ethical in
character
 He believed that all vice is the result of ignorance, and
that no person is willingly bad
 His logic placed emphasis on rational argument and the
quest for general definitions
 Evidenced in the writings of his younger contemporary
and pupil, Plato, and of Plato's pupil, Aristotle
 Through their writings, Socrates affected the entire
subsequent course of Western speculative thought
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 Socrates taught that every
person has full knowledge of
ultimate truth contained within
the soul and needs only to be
spurred to conscious reflection
in order to become aware of it.
His criticism of injustice in
Athenian society led to his
prosecution and a death
sentence for allegedly
corrupting the youth of Athens

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 Part II. Plato
a. His life
 Plato (circa 428-c. 347 BC), Greek philosopher,
one of the most creative and influential thinkers in
Western philosophy
 Plato was born to an aristocratic family in Athens

 Became a disciple of Socrates, accepting his basic

philosophy and dialectical style of debate: the
pursuit of truth through questions, answers, and
additional questions
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 Part II. Plato
b. His work
 In 387 Plato founded the Academy in Athens, the
institution often described as the first European university
 Plato's writings were in dialogue form; philosophical ideas
were advanced, discussed, and criticized in the context of a
conversation or debate involving two or more persons. The
earliest collection of Plato's work includes 35 dialogues
and 13 letters
 The Republic is Plato's supreme philosophical achievement
(discussion of the nature of justice)
 Plato described the trial and death of Socrates in the
Crito, the Apology, and the Phaedo
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Plato, one of the most
famous philosophers of
ancient Greece, was the first
to use the term philosophy,
which means “love of
knowledge.” The goal of the
philosopher, according to
Plato, is to know the perfect
forms and to instruct others
in that knowledge

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Part III. Aristotle
a. His life
 Aristotle (384-322 BC), Greek philosopher and
scientist, who shares with Plato and Socrates the
distinction of being the most famous of ancient
philosophers
 Aristotle was born at Stagira, in Macedonia; he went
to Athens to study at Plato's Academy
 In 345 BC, Aristotle went to Pella, the Macedonian
capital, where he became the tutor of the king's young
son Alexander
 Aristotle's school came to be known as the Peripatetic
(“walking”) school
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Part III. Aristotle
b. His work
 His works on natural science include Physics, which
gives a vast amount of information on astronomy,
meteorology, plants, and animals
 His writings on the nature, scope, and properties of
being were given the title Metaphysics in the first
published edition of his works (60?BC)
 Other essential works include his Rhetoric, his Poetics
and his Politics
 His dialogues have been wholly lost; he also wrote a
dictionary of philosophic terms and a summary of the
doctrines of Pythagoras
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 Aristotle invented the field
known as formal logic,
pioneered zoology, and
addressed virtually every major
philosophical problem known
during his time. Known to
medieval intellectuals as simply
“the Philosopher,” Aristotle is
possibly the greatest thinker in
Western history, and
historically, perhaps the single
greatest influence on Western
intellectual development

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Conclusion
 As used originally by the ancient Greeks, the term
philosophy meant the pursuit of knowledge for its own
sake
 Philosophy comprised all areas of speculative thought
and included the arts, sciences, and religion
 Western philosophy is considered generally to have
begun in ancient Greece as speculation about the
underlying nature of the physical world
 Among the greatest Greek philosophers, we could also
name Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras,
Epicurus, Euclid and Diogenes
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References

 http://encarta.msn.com
 http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/g/
greekphi.htm
 http://www.ics.forth.gr/~vsiris/ancie
nt_greeks
 http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GRE
ECE/SOCRATES.HTM

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