Download The Greek Philosophers

The Greek Philosophers
✏ Greeks
had great confidence in
the power of the human mind
✏ Driven by:
✏
curiosity
✏ belief
in reason
✏ Philosopher-lover
of wisdom
✏ Some
Greek thinkers did not believe
that the gods were in control
✏ They
used observation and reason to
find causes for what happened
✏
They studying many subjects (math,
physics, music, logic and rational thinking)
✏
reason and observation =laws that governed
the universe
✏
Much modern science traces its roots to
the Greeks
✏
Other philosophers were interested in
ethics, or moral behavior
✏
Their debates centered on questions about
government
✏
Many citizens condemned these
philosophers for undermining traditional
values (ex. Socrates)
✏ Socrates
encouraged those around
him to examine their deepest beliefs
and ideas
✏ Eventually
this would cost him his life
✏ Most
of what we know about Socrates
comes from his student Plato
✏ Socrates
questioned citizens about
their beliefs
✏ known
as the Socratic method
✏ Socrates
believed it was a way to
seek truth and self-knowledge
✏ To
other Athenians, however, it was
an annoyance and a threat to
accepted traditions
✏ When
he was about 70 years old,
Socrates was put on trial
✏ His enemies accused him of
corrupting the youth and failing to
respect the Gods
✏ A jury of 501 citizens condemned him
to death
✏ morally
wrong to flee
✏ Socrates
✏ He
accepted the death penalty
drank a cup of hemlock, a deadly
poison
✏ The
death of Socrates shocked Plato
so much that he left Athens for 10
years
✏ When he returned, he set up an
academy
✏ Like Socrates, Plato emphasized the
importance of reason
✏ Through
rational thought, he argued,
that people could discover unchanging
ethical values, recognize perfect
beauty and learn how to organize an
ideal society
✏ In The Republic, Plato described his
vision for an ideal state
✏ He
rejected Athenian democracy
because it condemned Socrates
✏ Instead, Plato felt that the state
should regulate every aspect of its
citizens’ lives
✏ He divided society into three classes:
✏ workers to produce the necessities
of life,
✏soldiers to defend the state
✏philosophers to rule
✏ This
elite class of leaders would be
specially trained to ensure order and
justice
✏ The wisest of them, a philosopher
king, would have the ultimate
authority
✏ Plato
argued that every object had an
ideal form
✏ The work of the Greek artists and
architects reflected the same
concern with form and order
✏ Plato’s
✏ He
most famous student
analyzed all kinds of government
✏ Like
Plato, he was suspicious of
democracy, which he thought could
lead to mob rule
✏ In
the end, he favored rule by a
single strong virtuous leader