Download Ch. 6 Sec. 2 - J Go World History

Ch. 6 Sec. 2
Philosophers & Writers
of the Golden Age
The Rise of Philosophy
 Greeks discovered philosophy
which is the study of basic
questions of reality & human
existence
 Most philosophers believed that
all of nature is based upon
certain natural laws, or truths
Socrates
 Socrates
was
an important
thinker that
taught that
education was
the key to
personal
growth
 His
way of teaching
through questioning
has become known as
the Socratic Method
 Socrates had enemies
(Greek leaders) & was
accused of corrupting
Athenian youth, he
refused to deny his
teachings, & was
executed
Plato
 Since Socrates
didn’t write his
ideas down, we
learn about him
through Plato,
who was
Socrates student
 Plato
found the
Academy, which
was a special
school in Athens
for teaching
philosophy
 He wrote about
gov’t, justice, &
the nature of
physical & spiritual
things
 Plato’s
ideal gov’t was an
aristocracy- a gov’t ruled by an
upper class
 But Plato thought of the
aristocracy not of birth or wealth,
but of Philosophers chosen for
their wisdom, ability, & high
ideals
Aristotle
 Plato’s student,
who came up w/ a
process for
organizing facts
into systems
which became an
important part of
modern research
Aristotle wrote 2 books: Ethics & Poetics
 He believed that by combining the best of all
three gov’ts, (monarchy, aristocracy, &
democracy), he could create the best gov’t
to create a limited democracy

Mathematics
 Pythagoras
was a
philosopher who
believed that
everything could be
explained in terms of
mathematics
 Known for
Pythagorean
theorem
Science
 The
Greeks believed that the natural
world could be explained in terms of
natural laws
 They also believed that the rules that
govern our universe could be
identified, observed, & defined
 The approach of observation &
reason, rather than superstition,
advanced scientific thought
Medicine
 Hippocrates
taught
that disease comes
from natural causes,
not a punishment
from the gods
 Doctors, today, still
take the Hippocratic
oath
History
 Herodotus,
Father of
History, was
st
the 1
Historian of
the Western
world
 Thucydides,
famous for his
History of the
Peloponnesian
War, worked hard
to make his
history accurate &
fair
Greek Theater
The Greeks were the
first to write dramas
– plays containing
action or dialogue &
involving conflict &
emotion
 In Greek tragedies
the main character
struggled against
fate, or events

3
great Greek tragedy writers:
 Aeschylus wrote about religion & the
relationship between gods & people
 Sophocles defended many traditional
Greek values (Oedipus Rex)
 Euripides questioned many old
beliefs & ideas (The Trojan Women –
showed the pain & misery of war)
 Greek
comedies
made fun of ideas
& people including
both tragic &
humorous figures
 Aristophanes
was known for his
sharp wit (Clouds)