CHAPTER 2

ANCIENT WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL AND MODERN
Ancient Period (800 B.C & 500B.C)

Polis or "city-states (Independent communities)

Athens, Corinth, Sparta, and Thebes (Major cities)

Two confederations;
- Delos/Delian League
- Pelopponesus/Peloponnesian League
Golden Age (445 BC)
This age produced great lawgivers like Solon, Draco, Cleisthenes, Pericles & Lycurgus.
It also introduced forms of government such as Oligarchy, tyranny, military
state(Sparta) and Democracy.
The golden age lasted until around 431 BC.

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

EARLY GREEK SCIENTIFIC THINKERS AND PHILOSOPHERS
THALES (534-546 BC)
Greek philosopher, astronomers and mathematician.
Concluded that water was the primary element of nature.
Predicted the solar eclipse of May 28 585 BC.
The first man to replace myth with natural laws and causes.
The firs t method of determining distance of ships sighted at sea.

Father of natural philosophy.

HERACLITUS (540-480 BC)

Greek philosopher
"The weeping philosopher" and "Dark philosopher"
He claimed that man is part of a Universal fire.

Group 1

 The ever-living, self-igniting, and self-extinguishing fire negated the idea that there was no creator
of the world

PYTHAGORAS (570 BC)

Greek philosopher and Mathematician

The universe was arranged according to mathematical laws and that the earth was a sphere.
Pythagorean theorem "The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the
square of the other sides"
DEMOCRITUS (460-370 BC)

"The laughing philosopher"

Advanced the theory that nature was made up of atoms and particles that could not divided;
Collision, combination and disintegration.
His idea was the first atomic theory.

EMPEDOCLES

Man and all things in the universe are composed of the four elements of nature earth, air, fire and
water.
Man differs from other animals and things because he has the power of thought and reason.
EUCLID

Geometrician
Elements
He developed geometry into a system by showing how statements of truths (theorem) developed
logically from one another.
ARISTARCHUS

Greek philosopher and Astronomer.

The earth and planet move around the sun (heliocentric theory)

SOCRATES
Was born in circa 470 BC in athens, greece.
We know of his life throught the writings of his students, including plato and xenophon.

Group 1

 Know thy self was his famous motto.

Socratic method.
According to socrates man's body comes from matter while his psyche (mind), which is immortal comes from
the universal reason (God).
He was condemned to die by drinking hemlock, a poison.
His ideas of what constitute the "the good life". they were:
1. That an individual should not be concerned with self or property, but with improvement of his soul through
the pursuit of wisdom and truth.
2.

That the unexamined life is not worth living.

PLATO

Platos birth was around 428BCE but more modern scholars, tracing later events in his life believe he was
born between 424 and 423 BCE.

According to him only the unchanging ang unchangeable things of the world have true reality. two kinds of
reality: reality of physical objects known by senses the true reality of realm of abstract of physical true, pure
ideas and concepts knowable by reason.
Plato claimed that the human psyche has three distinct elements:
1. man's element of reason
2. his spirited element (soul)
3. bodily appetites and human desire

ARISTOTLE
Aristotle phiosophy is distinguished from Socrates and Plato by his use of Empirical or Deductive reasoning.

His works are divided in three categories:

1. Popular writing
2.

Memoranda

3.

Treatises

Views of Aristotle on Reality, Morality, and Absolute

Aristotle through that a particular substance, in animal or man is a unity is not something that exists.
Apart from its own essence.
He viewed morality as a state in which reason controls a persons irrational desires and appetites is
that he or she expresses acceptable behavior.

Group 1

 Aristotle believed that all the things of the universe; all the changes that occur in nature as well as
the motion of plants were caused by a great power.
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle , however, defined morality in connection with a persons control of the
elements of his psyche not in relation to code of ethics sanctioned by God, as these three
philosophers didnt believe in a personified God with human characteristics.
THE SOPHISTS
The sophists were professional teachers in Greece.
Who traveled from city to city in Greece.
They became respected as teachers of rhetoric, grammar, mathematics and the art of making persuasive
public speeches.
PROTAGORAS a famous sophist.
For them, the Morals of athens,its laws, and democracy, were not based upon unchanging absolute truths.
The Sophists, thus belived that Moral concepts vary with the culture of a society and with the individuals.

THE HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY

Aristotle tutored Alexander, the son of king Phillip of Macedon. Alexander the Great conquered much of
the civilized world from Egypt to India, and spread Greek Traditions and culture
( HELLENIZATION) into all the lands of his empire. Alexander Died in 323B.C and his generals
divided his empire into mini states, but they continued to preserve Greek Culture.
The Period of Greek History following his death is known as the HELLENISTIC AGE. ( the Greek
Called themselves HELLENES and their Country HELLAS).
four schools divided philosophy during the Hellenistic Period:
1.Cynicism,
2. Skepticism,
3. Epicureanism; and
4. Stoic.

The Four School of Philosophy

CYNICISM

Group 1

 an inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest.

Public cycinism about politics
Antisthenes is considered the founder of cynic the school of philosophy though Diogenes of Sinope often is
given that credit.
SKEPTICS

an ancient or modern philosopher who denies the possibility of knowledge, or even rational belief, in
some sphere.
-a person inclined to question or doubt all accepted opinions.
-Pyrrho of Elis (365275 BC) is usually credited with founding the "school" of skepticism
EPICUREANS

A person devoted to sensual enjoyment, especially that derived from fine food and drink.
-Devotion to a life of pleasure and luxury (Epicureanism)
-Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus,
founded around 307 BC.
STOICISM

an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded at Athens by Zeno of Citium. The school taught that virtue,
the highest good, is based on knowledge, and that the wise live in harmony with the divine Reason ,that
governs nature, and are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune and to pleasure and pain.

ELECTICISM

is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead
draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies
different theories in particular cases.
-From Greek eklektikos selective

ROMAN PERIOD

Early Rome was governed by kings, but after only seven of them had ruled, the Romans took power over their
own city and ruled themselves,They then instead had a council known as the 'senate' which ruled over them.
From this point on one speaks of the 'Roman Republic'.

The famous citizen was Julius Caesar

The greatest challenge the Roman Republic faced was that of the Carthaginians.

After Caesar followed the many emperors of Rome - and there were truly very many of them.
So, here are some of the most famous ones.

Group 1

Augustus -Rome's first emperor. He also added many territories to the empire.

Claudius- He conquered Britain.

Nero-He was insane. He murdered his mother and his wife and threw thousands of Christians to the lions.

Titus- Before he was emperor he destroyed the great Jewish temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.

Trajan- He was a great conqueror. Under his rule the empire reached its greatest extent.

Hadrian- He built 'Hadrian's Wall' in the north of Britain to shield the province from the northern barbarians.

Diocletian- He split the empire into two pieces - a western and an eastern empire.

Constantine- He was the first Christian emperor. He united the empire again chose his capital to be the small
town Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople.

Romulus Augustus -He was the last emperor of Rome, nicknamed Augustulus which means 'little Augustus'.

Justinian- He was the last 'great' emperor. He conquered many territories, created the 'Justinian Code' and
built the fantastic church Santa Sophia

.Constantine XI- The last emperor of Constantinople. He died defending his great city against the Turks.

ROMAN PHILOSOPHERS

Roman men didn't begin studying philosophy until about 200 BC. At that time, the Romans were conquering
Greece, and so a lot of Roman soldiers and generals spent a lot of time in Greece, and got a chance to talk
to Greek philosophers.

The Pre-Socratic philosophers are the earliest of the philosophers.

EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

Thales-The founder of natural philosophy

Phythagoras-was an early Greek philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician

Anaximander-was a pupil of Thales.

Anaximenes-was a 6th-century philosopher, a younger contemporary of Anaximander

Parmenides-the founder of the Eleatic School.

Anaxagoras-made a place for philosophy and associated with Euripides

Empedocles- very influential early Greek philosopher,

Zeno-greatest figure of the Eleatic School

Leucippus-developed the atomist theory

Xenophanes-was the founder of the Eleatic School of philosophy.

Group 1

Group 1