Greek Philosophers and Sophists                                                                                        back to Greece

 l. What is a Philosopher?

     The word comes from two Greek words : phil - love (or lover)                                                                                                                                               soph - knowledge or wisdom

 - Thus a philosopher is, literally "a lover of wisdom" or someone interested in learning the truth.

 - The Greeks did not, as we do, divide knowledge up into subjects or categories (as in schools).  To them, all knowledge was part of one great whole. We see knowledge as being split into natural science (biology, chemistry, etc.,  knowledge about nature) and philosophy. To us today, Philosophy is an attempt to answer some of the more important basic questions that might lead to improved understanding of man and the universe.

 - By our definition, the Greek philosophers were also scientists because many studied nature (science), but to the Greeks all were philosophers because they all were pursuing knowledge.

We will look at the life and works and beliefs of three specific Greek philosophers.

  2. Socrates:

   a. The Man:

      - an Athenian who lived from about 469 to 399 B.C.

      - son of a sculptor, trained as one himself, may have worked occasionally as a stone cutter, but never held a
        steady job

      - married with five children - not a good provider or husband

      - a short, stocky, not handsome man who was usually in fine physical  condition

      - served with distinction in the army - brave and durable

      - spent much of his time wandering about Athens, mostly talking with small groups of young men

      - showed little concern about material things : he was always poor and often  poorly dressed

   b. The Teacher:

      - Socrates claimed that he was not a teacher, because he said that he knew nothing to teach. He refused to
        accept money for teaching,  although often offered payment. Young men flocked to follow him around and
        learn from him.

      - today history regards him as having been one of the finest teachers of all time

      - his method' of teaching has been called The Socratic Method (active listening)

      - he generally did not give out information, he taught by asking his students questions that would lead them to
        figure out the correct (or improved) answers for themselves

      - this method of teaching is admired because the student who figures out the answer for himself must really
        understand and will remember better than if just told.

      - the Socratic Method is very difficult to use and not appropriate for most kinds of material, so it is seldom
       used

  c. The Philosopher:

      - some wanted to call Socrates a "sophist" - a "wise man" but he preferred to be called a "philosopher" -
        "one who would like to be wise"

      - we do not know much about Socrates ideas because he left no writings - what we do know we get mainly
        from Plato and Xenophone, two men who studied under him and knew him well

      - his main concern seems to have been to cause people to think more carefully, to improve their grasp of
        important matters

      - he called himself "Gadfy to the Athenians" believing it was his job to bother them into thinking more
       clearly

      - here are a few sayings he is supposed to have used:

                        - his motto -"know thyself" (if you know yourself you are learning)

                        - "The unexamined life is not worth living" (live life to the fullest)

                        - "If it is true that I am the wisest of men, it must be because I alone know that I know                           
                            nothing" (in relation to the total of knowledge)

      - he persisted in asking questions often of those who were crooked or stupid and in positions of power, he
        thus got many powerful enemies

  d. The Death of Socrates:

   - his enemies, tired of his embarrassing questions, got together to silence him - they charged him with two
    crimes; denying the existence of the gods and misleading the city’s youth. The former was a crime punishable
     by death

  - he was brought to trial before a jury of 1200,, which had been bribed against him -  found guilty and was
    sentenced to death

  - it was not the purpose of his enemies to kill him, but just to scare him into not being such a bother. He was
    offered a chance for freedom if he would just admit that he had been wrong and promise to behave in the
   future

  - instead of backing down, Socrates took a cup  of poison hemlock, thus becoming a MARTYR, someone who
    gives up his life for a cause - to freedom of thought and freedom of expression because of his strength in
    defending his right  to think and express what he believed to be correct. He is still greatly admired today .

  3. Plato:

   a. The Man:

      - an Athenian who lived roughly from 427 to 347 B.C.

      - he was born into one of Athens oldest, most noble and wealthiest families

      - he was rich, brilliant, handsome, noble, athletic, artistic, musical, brave, popular - literally - he was a
        young man with everything

      - as a youth, he debated whether to become a poet or politician

      - at age 20, he fell under the spell of the old master teacher, Socrates, and followed him constantly,
        becoming the old man’s steady pupil

      - upon Socrates death, Plato fled Athens and went, probably, to Egypt where he studied mostly mathematics.
        For a few years he toured the east and studied under eminent eastern men of knowledge

  b. The Teacher:

    - when he came home to Athens from his eastern tour and study, his friends bought for him a large park area
       where he started a school named the ACADEMY, which existed for over 900 years

    - at the ACADEMY, Plato and other teachers instructed mostly the children of the rich (bright girls were also
      accepted)

    - there were no fees, but gifts, often large ones, were accepted

    - the subjects taught were mainly mathematics and philosophy

    - Plato and his teachers taught by lectures, discussion and by setting problems for the students

    - an interesting comment from a Greek at the time: "Words spoken by Plato to his students in their youth were
      finally understood by them in their older age."

  C. The Philosopher:

    - Socrates had left no writings, but his pupil Plato had left volumes - thus we know much more about his
       ideas

    - most of Plato's works are in dialogue form, written as imaginary conversations in which Socrates is often
      made to be the main speaker

    - thus Plato's works are generally called DIALOGUES, and the most famous one is called THE REPUBLIC,
       in which he-attempts to give his ideas about what would be the ideal state for man to live in

    - Plato is credited with starting a school or branch of Philosophy known as IDEALISM - simply stated, this is
      the way of thinking which stresses that sound general ideas are more important than actual things or specific
      examples or types

    - Plato, like Socrates, his teacher, encouraged people to work hard to improve their ideas so as to have a
      better understanding of reality

4. Aristotle:

   a. The Man:

      - came from a small settlement in northern Greece

      - lived from 384 to 322 B.C.

      - trained first in natural science

      - went to study under Plato at the Academy

      - a brilliant student, Plato called him "the mind of the school"

      - spent much time traveling, writing, collecting knowledge in varied areas

      - for four years he was in Macedonia, north of Greece, where he acted as special tutor to the young prince,
        later to become known as Alexander the Great.

  b. The Teacher:

      - he came to Athens and at the city's most elegant gymnasium, he opened a school called the Lyceum

      - here the students were mostly from middle class families

      - the studies were most often in the field of natural science, although a broad range of subjects were covered

      - he set his students to work collecting much research information, some of which he published in his own
        writing

  c. The Scientist:

      - because he was organized and reasonably careful, we regard Aristotle as being the father of the scientific
        method of  observation and experiment

      - he stated the principles of logic (rules of correct thinking) which the whole western world still uses today

      - he began the system of classification of plants and animals which has been carried on into modern Biology

      - he had considerable knowledge about such fields as mathematics, physics (i.e.. he knew that Earth and the
        other planets are spherical)

  d. The Philosopher:

      - he disagreed with his teacher Plato, concerning how important general ideas are

      - he is noted for being an early leader in a branch of philosophy known as Realism, which stresses that each
        individual object- is unique and cannot be totally understood unless it is studied by itself - to Aristotle the
        general idea was not as important as the specific example

  e. The Expert in Many Fields:

      - being very bright and having many students at work collecting information for him, Aristotle was able to
        collect large volumes of information

      - he wrote a large number of complicated works on subjects as varied as politics, music, ethics and poetry

      - because knowledge has grown so much, we shall never see another Aristotle - one able to be a leading
        expert in so many fields

  5. The Schools of the Sophists:

  - as time passed and Athenian civilization grew there arose a demand for higher education, men with special
    knowledge were able to make a living by going around the country lecturing on their specialty and charging
    money for admission

  - those whose specialty was much in demand could settle down and let the students come to them

  - thus began the schools of the "sophists" or "wise' men"

  - the most common subjects taught by sophists were public speaking (rhetoric) and clever reasoning (how to
    win arguments)

  - some of the sophists were honest teachers who gave their paying students good value for their money, but
     some were just clever charlatans out to make money for themselves

  - today in the English language, "sophistry" is defined as "a clever attempt to deceive"