Classical greek philosophy

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– Josephus, (Quoted in Toulmin and Goodfield, The Discovery of Time, The University of Chicago Press, 1965, p. 25.)

Slide 37

“My advice is to get married: if you find a good wife you’ll be happy; if not you’ll become a philosopher.”

Deep Philosophy

From Socrates

Slide 38

Thank You

Slide 39

“The only useful knowledge is that which betters us.”

- Socrates

Slide 40

Plato vs. Aristotle

Particular was less real

Substance is transitory

Form is static

Fear of change

Founded academy

Mystic

Belittler of natural science

Math—highest form of thinking

Universe was less real

Substance needs matter

True nature evolves

Change inevitable to progress

Founded Lyceum

Logician

Observer of natural science

Separated math and science

Slide 41

Platonic vs. Pre-Socratic

World is an ordered cosmos

Pervasive intelligence

Order transcends physical manifestation

Complete knowledge

Full understanding satisfies the mind and soul

Knowledge acquired through reason

Truth is transitory

Natural phenomena are impersonal and physical

Theory measured against empirical knowledge

No thought is final

Slide 42

“Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not, nor of what form they are; for there are many obstacles to such knowledge, including the obscurity of the subject and the shortness of human life.”

— Protagoras (a Sophist)

Slide 43

Socrates

Taught a barbarian the Pythagorean Theorem

Knowledge is intuitive and is merely revealed by learning

“Know thyself.” – Socrates

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Slide 44

"[For Plato] knowing is an act of making the observable world intelligible by showing how it is related to an eternal order of intelligible truths.“

– Palmer, Donald, Does the Center Hold?, Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1991, p. 58.

Slide 45

"The essence (or 'form,' as he [Aristotle] called it, borrowing Plato's term .) is the thing's 'whatness,' and its materiality is its 'thisness.' That is, an oak tree's 'whatness,' its 'essence' or 'form,' is the combination of characteristics that make it an oak tree rather than, say, a pussy cat; and its 'thisness' is its individuality – what distinguishes this oak tree from all other oak trees."