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 the 1 st 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)