Life

Childhood

Aristotle was born in 384 BCE at Stagirus, a now extinct Greek colony and seaport on the coast of Thrace. His father Nichomachus was court physician to King Amyntas.While he was still a boy his father died. At age 17 his guardian, Proxenus, sent him to Athens, the intellectual center of the world, to complete his education.

Education

He joined the Academy and studied under Plato, attending his lectures for a period of twenty years. In the later years of his association with Plato and the Academy he began to lecture on his own account, especially on the subject of rhetoric. At the invitation of his friend Hermeas, ruler of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia, Aristotle left for his court. He stayed three year and, while there, married Pythias, the niece of the King.

Later Years

In later life he was married a second time to a woman named Herpyllis, who bore him a son, Nichomachus. At the end of three years Hermeas was overtaken by the Persians, and Aristotle went to Mytilene. At the invitation of Philip of Macedonia he became the tutor of his 13 year old son Alexander later Known as Alexander the Great.

Work

The works of Aristotle fall under three headings: (1) dialogues and other works of a popular character; (2) collections of facts and material from scientific treatment; and (3) systematic works.

Some works by Aristotle

Philosophical works

• Metaphysics (substance, cause, form, potentiality)
• Eudemain Ethics
• Magna Moralia
• Nicomachean Ethics (soul, happiness, virtue, friendship)
• Politics(best states, utopias, constitutions, revolutions)
• Rhetoric(elements of forensic and political debate)
• Poetics(tragedy, epic poetry)

Logic

• Categories (10 classifications of terms)
• On Interpretation (propositions, truth, modality)
• Prior Analytics (syllogistic logic)
• Posterior Analytics (scientific method and syllogism)
• Topics (rules for effective arguments and debate)
• On Sophistical Refutations (informal fallacies)

Philosophy

Although he studied under Plato, Aristotle fundamentally disagreed with his teacher on just about everything. He could not bring himself to think of the world in abstract terms the way Plato did; above all else, Aristotle believed that the world could be understood at a fundamental level through the detailed observation and cataloging of phenomenon. That is, knowledge is fundamentally empirical.

Outside of the empirical method, three characteristics stand out in Aristotle's thought: the schematization of knowledge, the four causes, and the ethical doctrine of the mean.

The Classification of Knowledge

Perhaps the most fundamental aspect of Aristoteleanism is the classification of knowledge according the objects of that knowledge.

The Four Causes

If you walk out of this class knowing anything really well, it should be this, for Aristotle's "four causes" stand at the heart of Western rationality and Western science. In order to know a thing, anything at all, Aristotle says that one must be able to answer four questions .

The Doctrine of the Mean

The Four Causes are universally applicable. However, ethics is a science that admits of a high degree of uncertainty because of the infinite variety of human actions and motivations.

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This video examins Aristotle's life and his work and explanes why Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy.

Life

Childhood

It is widely accepted that Plato, the Athenian philosopher, was born in 428-7 B.C.E. Little can be known about Plato’s early life.Plato came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active families in Athens.Plato’s actual given name was apparently Aristocles, after his grandfather. “Plato” seems to have started as a nickname.

Education

There is less Known about Platos early years of Education. Plato's quickness of mind and modesty as a boy, and the "first fruits of his youth infused with hard work and love of study".Plato must have been instructed in grammar, music, and gymnastics by the most distinguished teachers of his time.Plato had also attended courses of philosophy; before meeting Socrates.

Later Years

When Socrates died, Plato left Athens, staying first in Megara, but then going on to several other places, including perhaps Cyrene, Italy, Sicily, and even Egypt. According to the account given there, Plato first went to Italy and Sicily when he was “about forty”. While he stayed in Syracuse, he became the instructor to Dion, brother-in-law of the tyrant Dionysius I. In any event, Plato returned to Athens and founded a school, known as the Academy.

Work

There are varying degrees of controversy over which of Plato’s works are authentic, and in what order they were written, due to their antiquity. Platos earliest works are generally regarded as the most reliable of the ancient sources on Socrates, and the character Socrates that we know through these writings is considered to be one of the greatest of the ancient philosophers.

Some works by Plato

• The Republic
• Euthyphro
• Apology
• Parmenides

Philosophy

The fundamental aspect of Plato's thought is the theory of "ideas" or "forms. Plato was stymied by the question of change in the physical world.

The Nature of Justice

The question which opens this immense dialogue is: what is justice?

The Analogy of the Ideal Republic

If one could decide what a just state is like, one could use that as an analogy for a just person. Plato then embarks on a long exposition about how a state might embody the four great virtues: courage, wisdom, temperance, and justice.

The Allegory of the Cave and the Divided Line

Far and away the most influential passage in Western philosophy ever written is Plato's discussion of the prisoners of the cave and his abstract presentation of the divided line.

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The school founded by this antique philosopher, became a prototype of modern higher education. Contemporaries named him «the divine teacher»: in his works it was spoken about an ideal society structure and immortality of soul. Ancient Greek thinker Plato said, that «time is a moving similarity of eternity».

Life

Childhood

According to Plato,Socrates' father was Sophroniscus and his mother Phaenarete. Almost nothing is known of the childhood of Socrates but it can be assumed from his later display of learning that he attended the schools of Athens until he entered military service at age eighteen.

Education

As he grew to manhood learnt his family's trade as a sculptor. As well as learning this trade he also received a more formal education in geometry and astronomy. He had a hunger for knowledge that was credible and that could not be undermined by contrary facts. According to an account in Plato's "The Phaedo" Socrates started out with much enthusiasm for the sciences but eventually came to regard his teachers as merely imparting "received knowledge" that they could not themselves prove - he decided to seek true knowledge of "causes" and of "the good" elsewhere and was prepared to rely on his own intuitions as a guide in his search.

Later Years

Socrates devoted most of his adult life to the development of a philosophy and to teaching those followers who attached themselves to his dialogue discussion groups.

Work

There are no written records of Socrates' work. However, through his students who later turned into his peers, we have some works related to him.

ocrates was the chief character in many of his most famous dialogues. Plato's fame rests on his dialogues which are all preserved. They are usually divided in three periods, early, middle, and late. The early dialogues establish the figure of Socrates, portrayed as endlessly questioning, shattering the false claims of his contemporaries.

Philosophy

Socrates's contributions to philosophy were a new method of approaching knowledge, a conception of the soul as the seat both of normal waking consciousness and of moral character, and a sense of the universe as purposively mind-ordered. His method, called dialectic, consisted in examining statements by pursuing their implications, on the assumption that if a statement were true it could not lead to false consequences. The method may have been suggested by Zeno of Elea, but Socrates refined it and applied it to ethical problems.

His doctrine of the soul led him to the belief that all virtues converge into one, which is the good, or knowledge of one's true self and purposes through the course of a lifetime. Knowledge in turn depends on the nature or essence of things as they really are, for the underlying forms of things are more real than their experienced exemplifications. This conception leads to a teleological view of the world that all the forms participate in and lead to the highest form, the form of the good.

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In his use of critical reasoning, by his unwavering commitment to truth, and through the vivid example of his own life, fifth-century Athenian Socrates set the standard for all subsequent Western philosophy.

Life

Childhood

Thales was born in Miletus in Greek Ionia.his parents were Examyes and Cleobuline , Phoenician nobles.

Education

Thales seems to be the first known Greek philosopher, scientist and mathematician although his occupation was that of an engineer.He was interested in almost everything, investigating almost all areas of knowledge, philosophy, history, science, mathematics, engineering, geography, and politics.He also traveled to Egypt to study the science of geometry. He proposed theories to explain many of the events of nature, the primary substance, the support of the earth, and the cause of change. Thales was much involved in the problems of astronomy and provided a number of explanations of cosmological events which traditionally involved supernatural entities. He was the first natural philosopher in the Milesian School

Later Years

Thales involved himself in many activities, taking the role of an innovator. Some say that he left no writings, others that he wrote "On the Solstice" and "On the Equinox". He also founded of the school of natural philosophy.

Work

Only few fragmentary sources survive from Thales’ work. Some ancient authors ascribe to him, without serious justification, a work with the name Nautical Star-guide while according to some others he wrote only two works.

Some works by Plato

• On the Solstice
• On the Equinox

Philosophy

Prior to Thales, supernaturalism was considered to be the cause of most if not all things. Thales rejected the pseudo-science of supernaturalism and put forth a radically different explanation of causes, one from which an advance in knowledge could occur.

Specifically, Thales believed that water is ultimately the cause of all things. While this belief is incorrect, Thales's idea was revolutionary because it implied that natural forces are the cause of events, not supernatural ones.

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Thales was known for his innovative use of geometry. His understanding was theoretical as well as practical. For example, he said: Megiston topos: hapanta gar chorei Space is the greatest thing, as it contains all things

Life

Childhood

Pythagoras was born on Samos, the Greek island in the eastern Aegean, and we also learn that Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus. His father was a gem-engraver or a merchant.

Little is known of Pythagoras's childhood. Certainly he was well educated, learning to play the lyre, learning poetry and to recite Homer.

Education

Phythagoras studyed with the priests of one of the major temple schools in Egypt.The Egyptian temple schools were renowned for their wisdom, particularly the schools at Heliopolis Pythagoras, desiring to become acquainted with the institutions of the Egyptian priests. He purportedly remained in Egypt for about 22 years.

Later Years

Egypt was conquered by the Persian King Cambyses. The Persian King deported most of the learned men of Egypt to Babylon, including Pythagoras. After about 12 years in Babylon, Pythagoras was allowed to leave.

After a brief visit to his home in Samos, he finally settled in southern Italy at Crotone. At Crotone, Pythagoras established a secret society that was said to be similar to groups associated with the Orphic mysteries.

Work

Pythagoras was actually a predecessor to Michele De Nostradamus, his field of expertise was in fact astrology. Pythagoras believed that everything in existence was directly related to a mathematical algorithm.

Some works by Pythagoras

Mathematics

• Pythagorean theorem
• Musical theories and investigations
• Tetractys

Religion and science

• Lore

Philosophy

Pythagoreans held the following philosophical and ethical teachings: the dependence of the dynamics of world structure on pairs of opposites, successive reincarnation in different species until its eventual purification, and the understanding that all existing objects were fundamentally composed of form and not of material substance.

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Pythagoras founded a philosophical and religious school that had many followers. Pythagoras was the head of the society with an inner circle of followers who lived permanently with the Society, had no personal possessions and were vegetarians. They were taught by Pythagoras himself and obeyed strict rules. The beliefs that Pythagoras held were that reality is mathematical in nature, philosophy can be used for spiritual purification, the soul can rise to union with the divine, certain symbols have a mystical significance, and all brothers of the order should observe strict loyalty and secrecy.