Classical greek philosophy

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Classical Greek Philosophy

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Socrates

Simple man

Stonemason

Shrewish wife

Loyal service in the war

Incredible concentration

Wisest man in Athens (oracle)

Gad fly (Dialectics/Socratic method)

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

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Socrates

Convicted of “corrupting the youth”

Described as “the best and wisest” and “most noble” man

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Plato

Student of Socrates

The Academy

Mathematics

What is the real nature of things?

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What makes this a Chair?

Chairness

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Plato

The Republic

Ideal society

Rule by the philosophers

The Allegory of the Cave

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Plato

Superiority of the intellectual life

Platonic love

Devalued the physical

Creation by the Demiurge

Shaping imperfect matter into the perfect Form

Ethics Find the Form in all things

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Aristotle

Taught by Plato

Lyceum

Natural sciences

Truth is best understood from observation of living things

Capable in many areas

Forms can be understood from the physical as well as from the purely intellectual

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Aristotle

Aristotelian Scientific Method

Used for 2000 years

Basic assumptions based on reasoning

Deductive method

Observations used to confirm the assumptions

Example: Elements of earth (4) and heavens

Example: Qualities of things

Did not employ experimentation

Disturbs nature

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Aristotle

Four Causal Questions (Physics)

Material Question (What is it made of?)

Efficient Question (What caused it?)

Formal Question (What is its Form or essence?)

Final Question (What is its final end or purpose?)

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Aristotle

Example: A Mouse

Material: molecules

Efficient: birth

Formal: dna (information)

Final: fulfill its purpose as a creature of God

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