Ancient Greek Philosophers

School of Athens - Raphael Sanzio

“The unexamined life is not worth living. ...

Wisdom begins in wonder. ... There is

only one good, knowledge, and one evil,

ignorance.”

(Socrates, 469 - 399 B.C.)

“The philosopher is in love with truth, that is, not with the changing world of sensation, which is the object of opinion, but with the unchanging reality which is the object of

knowledge.”

(Plato, 429 - 347 B.C.)

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then,

is not an act, but a habit. ... At his best, man is

the noblest of all animals; separated from law

and justice he is the worst.”

(Aristotle, 384 - 322 B.C.)

• Philosophy- love of wisdom• Greek Philosophers

– Pythagoras- universe followed the same laws that govern music & numbers

• Pythagorean Theorem- determine the length of the sides of a triangle

• Sophists- professional teachers– Taught students how to win

arguments– Rejected the idea of an Absolute

Right & Wrong

• Socrates- criticized Sophists– left no writings behind– Believed in absolute

truth – Socratic Method-

asked pointed questions to force pupils to discover their own knowledge

– Sentenced to death for his teachings

• Plato- Socrates student– Republic book that

explained ideas about gov’t

– Philosopher King –ruled using logic & wisdom, 2nd group-warriors, 3rd rest of ppl

– Women’s rights- believed men & women should have access at an education

– Academy- Plato’s school

• Aristotle- student of Plato– Lyceum- Plato’s school – “golden mean”- do nothing in excess– Politics- in book he compares governments– Mixture of oligarchy & democracy – he felt

would be the best gov’t

excavation of the Lyceum

• Greek Historians

– History is the study of human past– Herodotus wrote the history of the Persian

Wars• Tried to separate fact from fiction but still used

mythology to explained some events • “father of history”

– Thucydides wrote History of the Peloponnesian War

• Stressed the importance of having accurate facts• Primary Source- fought in the war