a brief history of ancient,medivval and contemporary (gst 211) 2

8/8/2019 A Brief History of Ancient,Medivval and Contemporary (Gst 211) 2

1/15


2/15

This section of lectures is going tobe an account of one tradition or

region of the world. A region of

the world that is believed to haveinfluenced greatly, the thought

and life pattern of other regions.

This region has come to be knownas the Western Region.


3/15

During the 6th BCE (Before the

Common Era) the most puzzlingissues amongst the thinkers was

What are things really like?

How can we explain theprocesses of change in things?.

These basic questions and many

more of such related questionswhere the subject of focus in

those ancient times.


4/15

Let us note that the many answers that

were given to these questions by theearlier philosophers are not as important

as the fact that they focused on these

specific questions.

These postulations of the 6th BC today

forms the basis on which all scientificdiscoveries of today were founded upon

and that is what we shall be devoting

these modules to .


5/15

Thales worked out a way of measuringthe height of a pyramid during one of histrip to Egypt.

It is believed that is was during one ofthese trips to Egypt that he discoveredthe techniques which helped him predictaccurately, the eclipse of the sun in may28 585 BC.

Fell into the well as he looked up whilestudying the heavenly body.

Held that the original substance or the

primary stuff of the universe was water.


6/15

While earlier philosophers focused at

trying described the ultimate constituent

of the world around us, Heraclitus shifted

attention to a new problem, the problem

of change. His chief idea was that all thing are in a

state of flux.

You can not step into the same water

twice. He argued that there must be

something that is responsible for

change, and that this thing was fire


7/15

According to Anaxagoras the nature ofreality is best understood as consisting ofthe mind and the matter

Separation is the process by which these

matter formed into various things They both believe that nature is constituted

of infinite and indivisible unit called atom.

The are the smallest indivisible particle of anelement, that also often exhibit a kind ofmovement that is random in nature.

Atoms are indestructible,


8/15

Let us note that the many answersthat were given to these questionsby the earlier philosophers are not

as important as the fact that theyfocused on these specificquestions. though further andrecent analysis has shown thatmost of the answers given by theancient thinkers were not entirelycorrect,


9/15

We can rightly aver that theindividual postulations andanswers given, set the stage for

other subsequent discuss thatfollowed which today, has furtherthrown more light on the quest for

knowledge and certainty


10/15

Introduction

The three most important sophists or(intellectuals) who appeared insometime during the fifth century BCEwere Protagoras, Gorgas andThrasymachus.

The sophist were primarily practicalpeople, and especially competent ingrammar, writing, and public discourse.


11/15

He is best known for his statement that

man is the measure of all things, of thethings that are, that they are, and of thethings that are not, that they are not.

That is, a person is the ultimate standard ofall judgments that he or she makes.

This means that whatever knowledge Imight achieve about anything would belimited to my human capacities.

Protagoras thought that the objects we

perceived by our various senses mustpossess all of the properties that differentpeople perceive as belonging to them.

For this reason, it is impossible to discoverwhat is the truth.


12/15

He took such a radical view regarding truth that

he eventually gave up philosophy and turnedinstead to the practice and teaching ofrhetoric.

while Protagoras claimed that truth is possiblethough independent of the individualperception, Gorgias denied the existence oftruth.

Gorgias propounded the extraordinary, (1) thatnothing exist, (2) if any thing exist, it isincomprehensible, (3) even were it can becomprehended, it can not be communicated


13/15

He is portrayed as the philosophy who asserted

that injustice is to be preferred to the life ofjustice. He did not look upon of character. injustice as

a defect.

Laws he says are made by the ruling party forthere own interest.

The above are examples of the kind of ideas

and thought that the sophist propagated,enthroning skepticism. It became the chiefconcern of Socrates to unravel the logicalinconsistencies of the sophist, to rebuild thenotion of truth and to establish some firm

foundation for moral judgments


14/15

WEEK THREE, LECTURE THREE, PART FOUR

GST 211 PHILOSOPHY, LOGIC, AND

HUMAN EXSISTENCE


15/15

LECTURE THREE, PART FOUR, GST 211.

a brief history of ancient,medivval and contemporary (gst 211) 2

Documents