Ancient Greek philosophy

Raphael's School of Athens.

Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BCEand continued throughout the Hellenistic period and theperiod in which Ancient Greece was part of the RomanEmpire. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, includingpolitical philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, ontology, logic,biology, rhetoric, and aesthetics.Many philosophers today concede that Greek philosophyhas influenced much of Western culture since its incep-tion. Alfred North Whitehead once noted: “The safestgeneral characterization of the European philosophicaltradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes toPlato.”[1] Clear, unbroken lines of influence lead fromancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers to Early Is-lamic philosophy, the European Renaissance and the Ageof Enlightenment.Some claim that Greek philosophy, in turn, was influ-enced by the older wisdom literature and mythologicalcosmogonies of the ancient Near East. Martin LitchfieldWest gives qualified assent to this view, stating, “con-tact with oriental cosmology and theology helped to lib-erate the early Greek philosophers’ imagination; it cer-tainly gave them many suggestive ideas. But they taughtthemselves to reason. Philosophy as we understand it is aGreek creation.”[2]

Subsequent philosophic tradition was so influenced bySocrates (as presented by Plato) that it is conventional torefer to philosophy developed prior to Socrates as pre-Socratic philosophy. The periods following this untilthe wars of Alexander the Great are those of “classicalGreek” and “Hellenistic” philosophy.

1 Pre-Socratic philosophy

Main article: Pre-Socratic philosophy

The convention of terming those philosophers who wereactive prior to Socrates the pre-Socratics gained currencywith the 1903 publication of Hermann Diels’ Fragmenteder Vorsokratiker, although the term did not originatewith him.[3] The term is considered philosophically usefulbecause what came to be known as the “Athenian school”(composed of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle) signaled aprofound shift in the subject matter and methods of phi-losophy; Friedrich Nietzsche's thesis that this shift beganwith Plato rather than with Socrates (hence his nomen-clature of “pre-Platonic philosophy”) has not preventedthe predominance of the “pre-Socratic” distinction.[4]

The pre-Socratics were primarily concerned withcosmology, ontology and mathematics. They weredistinguished from “non-philosophers” insofar as theyrejected mythological explanations in favor of reasoneddiscourse.[5]

1.1 Milesian school

Main article: Milesian school

Thales of Miletus, regarded by Aristotle as the firstphilosopher,[6] held that all things arise from water.[7] Itis not because he gave a cosmogony that John Burnet callshim the “first man of science,” but because he gave a nat-uralistic explanation of the cosmos and supported it withreasons.[8] According to tradition, Thales was able to pre-dict an eclipse and taught the Egyptians how to measurethe height of the pyramids.[9]

Thales inspired the Milesian school of philosophy andwas followed by Anaximander, who argued that the sub-stratum or arche could not be water or any of the classicalelements but was instead something “unlimited” or “in-definite” (in Greek, the apeiron). He began from theobservation that the world seems to consist of opposites(e.g., hot and cold), yet a thing can become its opposite(e.g., a hot thing cold). Therefore, they cannot truly beopposites but rather must both be manifestations of someunderlying unity that is neither. This underlying unity(substratum, arche) could not be any of the classical ele-ments, since they were one extreme or another. For ex-ample, water is wet, the opposite of dry, while fire is dry,

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2 1 PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY

the opposite of wet.[10] Anaximenes in turn held that thearche was air, although John Burnet argues that by thishe meant that it was a transparent mist, the aether.[11] De-spite their varied answers, theMilesian school was search-ing for a natural substance that would remain unchangeddespite appearing in different forms, and thus representsone of the first scientific attempts to answer the questionthat would lead to the development of modern atomic the-ory; “the Milesians,” says Burnet, “asked for the φύσις ofall things.”[12]

1.2 Xenophanes

Main article: Xenophanes

Xenophanes was born in Ionia, where the Milesian schoolwas at its most powerful, and may have picked up some ofthe Milesians’ cosmological theories as a result.[13] Whatis known is that he argued that each of the phenomenahad a natural rather than divine explanation in a mannerreminiscent of Anaximander’s theories and that there wasonly one god, the world as a whole, and that he ridiculedthe anthropomorphism of the Greek religion by claimingthat cattle would claim that the gods looked like cattle,horses like horses, and lions like lions, just as the Ethiopi-ans claimed that the gods were snubnosed and black andthe Thracians claimed they were pale and red-haired.[14]

Burnet says that Xenophanes was not, however, a sci-entific man, with many of his “naturalistic” explanationshaving no further support than that they render the Home-ric gods superfluous or foolish.[15] He has been claimedas an influence on Eleatic philosophy, although that is dis-puted, and a precursor to Epicurus, a representative of atotal break between science and religion.[16]

1.3 Pythagoreanism

Main article: Pythagoreanism

Pythagoras lived at roughly the same time that Xeno-phanes did and, in contrast to the latter, the school thathe founded sought to reconcile religious belief and rea-son. Little is known about his life with any reliability,however, and no writings of his survive, so it is possiblethat he was simply a mystic whose successors introducedrationalism into Pythagoreanism, that he was simply arationalist whose successors are responsible for the mysti-cism in Pythagoreanism, or that he was actually the authorof the doctrine; there is no way to know for certain.[17]

Pythagoras is said to have been a disciple of Anaximanderand to have imbibed the cosmological concerns of the Io-nians, including the idea that the cosmos is constructedof spheres, the importance of the infinite, and that airor aether is the arche of everything.[18] Pythagoreanismalso incorporated ascetic ideals, emphasizing purgation,

metempsychosis, and consequently a respect for all ani-mal life; much was made of the correspondence betweenmathematics and the cosmos in a musical harmony.[19]

1.4 Heraclitus

Main article: Heraclitus

Heraclitus must have lived after Xenophanes andPythagoras, as he condemns them along with Homer asproving that much learning cannot teach a man to think;since Parmenides refers to him in the past tense, thiswould place him in the 5th century BCE.[20] Contrary tothe Milesian school, who would have one stable elementat the root of all, Heraclitus taught that “everything flows”or “everything is in flux,” the closest element to this fluxbeing fire; he also extended the teaching that seeming op-posites in fact are manifestations of a common substrateto good and evil itself.[21]

1.5 Eleatic philosophy

Main article: Eleatics

Parmenides of Elea cast his philosophy against those whoheld “it is and is not the same, and all things travel in op-posite directions,”—presumably referring to Heraclitusand those who followed him.[22] Whereas the doctrinesof the Milesian school, in suggesting that the substratumcould appear in a variety of different guises, implied thateverything that exists is corpuscular, Parmenides arguedthat the first principle of being was One, indivisible, andunchanging.[23] Being, he argued, by definition implieseternality, while only that which is can be thought; a thingwhich is, moreover, cannot bemore or less, and so the rar-efaction and condensation of the Milesians is impossibleregarding Being; lastly, as movement requires that some-thing exist apart from the thing moving (viz. the spaceinto which it moves), theOne or Being cannotmove, sincethis would require that “space” both exist and not exist.[24]While this doctrine is at odds with ordinary sensory ex-perience, where things do indeed change and move, theEleatic school followed Parmenides in denying that sensephenomena revealed the world as it actually was; instead,the only thing with Being was thought, or the question ofwhether something exists or not is one of whether it canbe thought.[25]

In support of this, Parmenides’ pupil Zeno of Elea at-tempted to prove that the concept of motion was absurdand as such motion did not exist. He also attacked thesubsequent development of pluralism, arguing that it wasincompatible with Being.[26] His arguments are known asZeno’s paradoxes.

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1.6 Pluralism and atomism

The power of Parmenides’ logic was such that some sub-sequent philosophers abandoned the monism of theMile-sians, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, whereone thing was the arche, and adopted pluralism, such asEmpedocles and Anaxagoras.[27] There were, they said,multiple elements which were not reducible to one an-other and these were set in motion by love and strife (asin Empedocles) or by Mind (as in Anaxagoras). Agree-ing with Parmenides that there is no coming into beingor passing away, genesis or decay, they said that thingsappear to come into being and pass away because the el-ements out of which they are composed assemble or dis-assemble while themselves being unchanging.[28]

Leucippus also proposed an ontological pluralism with acosmogony based on two main elements: the vacuum andatoms. These, by means of their inherent movement, arecrossing the void and creating the real material bodies.His theories were not well known by the time of Plato,however, and they were ultimately incorporated into thework of his student, Democritus.[29]

1.7 Sophistry

Main article: Sophists

Sophistry arose from the juxtaposition of physis (nature)and nomos (law). John Burnet posits its origin in the sci-entific progress of the previous centuries which suggestedthat Being was radically different from what was experi-enced by the senses and, if comprehensible at all, wasnot comprehensible in terms of order; the world in whichmen lived, on the other hand, was one of law and order,albeit of humankind’s own making.[30] At the same time,nature was constant, while what was by law differed fromone place to another and could be changed.The first man to call himself a sophist, according to Plato,was Protagoras, whom he presents as teaching that allvirtue is conventional. It was Protagoras who claimed that“man is the measure of all things, of the things that are,that they are, and of the things that are not, that they arenot,” which Plato interprets as a radical perspectivism,where some things seem to be one way for one person(and so actually are that way) and another way for an-other person (and so actually are that way as well); theconclusion being that one cannot look to nature for guid-ance regarding how to live one’s life.[31]

Protagoras and subsequent sophists tended to teachrhetoric as their primary vocation. Prodicus, Gorgias,Hippias, and Thrasymachus appear in various Dialogues,sometimes explicitly teaching that while nature providesno ethical guidance, the guidance that the laws provide isworthless, or that nature favors those who act against thelaws.

2 Classical Greek philosophy

2.1 Socrates

Main article: Socrates

Socrates, born in Athens in the 5th century BCE, marksa watershed in ancient Greek philosophy. Athens was acenter of learning, with sophists and philosophers trav-eling from across Greece to teach rhetoric, astronomy,cosmology, geometry, and the like. The great statesmanPericles was closely associated with this new learning anda friend of Anaxagoras, however, and his political oppo-nents struck at him by taking advantage of a conservativereaction against the philosophers; it became a crime to in-vestigate the things above the heavens or below the earth,subjects considered impious. Anaxagoras is said to havebeen charged and to have fled into exile when Socrateswas about twenty years of age.[32] There is a story thatProtagoras, too, was forced to flee and that the Atheniansburned his books.[33] Socrates, however, is the only sub-ject recorded as charged under this law, convicted, andsentenced to death in 399 BCE (see Trial of Socrates).In the version of his defense speech presented by Plato,he claims that it is the envy he arouses on account of hisbeing a philosopher that will convict him.While philosophy was an established pursuit prior toSocrates, Cicero credits him as “the first who broughtphilosophy down from the heavens, placed it in cities, in-troduced it into families, and obliged it to examine intolife and morals, and good and evil.”[34] By this accounthe would be considered the founder of political philos-ophy.[35] The reasons for this turn toward political andethical subjects remain the object of much study.[36][37]

The fact that many conversations involving Socrates (asrecounted by Plato and Xenophon) end without havingreached a firm conclusion, or aporetically,[38] has stimu-lated debate over the meaning of the Socratic method.[39]Socrates is said to have pursued this probing question-and-answer style of examination on a number of topics,usually attempting to arrive at a defensible and attractivedefinition of a virtue.While Socrates’ recorded conversations rarely providea definite answer to the question under examination,several maxims or paradoxes for which he has becomeknown recur. Socrates taught that no one desires what isbad, and so if anyone does something that truly is bad,it must be unwillingly or out of ignorance; consequently,all virtue is knowledge.[40][41] He frequently remarks onhis own ignorance (claiming that he does not know whatcourage is, for example). Plato presents him as distin-guishing himself from the common run of mankind bythe fact that, while they know nothing noble and good,they do not know that they do not know, whereas Socratesknows and acknowledges that he knows nothing noble andgood.[42]

4 2 CLASSICAL GREEK PHILOSOPHY

Numerous subsequent philosophical movements were in-spired by Socrates or his younger associates. Plato castsSocrates as the main interlocutor in his dialogues, de-riving from them the basis of Platonism (and by exten-sion, Neoplatonism). Plato’s student Aristotle in turn crit-icized and built upon the doctrines he ascribed to Socratesand Plato, forming the foundation of Aristotelianism.Antisthenes founded the school that would come to beknown as Cynicism and accused Plato of distortingSocrates’ teachings. Zeno of Citium in turn adapted theethics of Cynicism to articulate Stoicism. Epicurus stud-ied with Platonic and Stoic teachers before renouncing allprevious philosophers (including Democritus, on whoseatomism the Epicurean philosophy relies). The philo-sophic movements that were to dominate the intellectuallife of the Roman empire were thus born in this febrileperiod following Socrates’ activity, and either directly orindirectly influenced by him. They were also absorbed bythe expanding Muslim world in the 7th through 10th cen-turies CE, from which they returned to the West as foun-dations of Medieval philosophy and the Renaissance, asdiscussed below.

2.2 Plato

Main article: Plato

Plato was an Athenian of the generation after Socrates.Ancient tradition ascribes thirty-six dialogues and thir-teen letters to him, although of these only twenty-four ofthe dialogues are now universally recognized as authentic;most modern scholars believe that at least twenty-eightdialogues and two of the letters were in fact written byPlato, although all of the thirty-six dialogues have somedefenders.[43] A further nine dialogues are ascribed toPlato but were considered spurious even in antiquity.[44]

Plato’s dialogues feature Socrates, although not alwaysas the leader of the conversation. (One dialogue, theLaws, instead contains an “Athenian Stranger.”) Alongwith Xenophon, Plato is the primary source of informa-tion about Socrates’ life and beliefs and it is not alwayseasy to distinguish between the two. While the Socratespresented in the dialogues is often taken to be Plato’smouthpiece, Socrates’ reputation for irony, his caginessregarding his own opinions in the dialogues, and his oc-casional absence from or minor role in the conversationserve to conceal Plato’s doctrines.[45]Much of what is saidabout his doctrines is derived from what Aristotle reportsabout them.The political doctrine ascribed to Plato is derived fromthe Republic, the Laws, and the Statesman. The first ofthese contains the suggestion that there will not be justicein cities unless they are ruled by philosopher kings; thoseresponsible for enforcing the laws are compelled to holdtheir women, children, and property in common; and theindividual is taught to pursue the common good through

noble lies; the Republic says that such a city is likely im-possible, however, generally assuming that philosopherswould refuse to rule and the people would refuse to com-pel them to do so.[46]

Whereas the Republic is premised on a distinction be-tween the sort of knowledge possessed by the philoso-pher and that possessed by the king or political man,Socrates explores only the character of the philosopher;in the Statesman, on the other hand, a participant referredto as the Eleatic Stranger discusses the sort of knowl-edge possessed by the political man, while Socrates lis-tens quietly.[46] Although rule by a wise man would bepreferable to rule by law, the wise cannot help but bejudged by the unwise, and so in practice, rule by law isdeemed necessary.Both the Republic and the Statesman reveal the limita-tions of politics, raising the question of what political or-der would be best given those constraints; that question isaddressed in the Laws, a dialogue that does not take placeinAthens and fromwhich Socrates is absent.[46] The char-acter of the society described there is eminently conser-vative, a corrected or liberalized timocracy on the Spartanor Cretan model or that of pre-democratic Athens.[46]

Plato’s dialogues also have metaphysical themes, the mostfamous of which is his theory of forms. It holds that non-material abstract (but substantial) forms (or ideas), andnot the material world of change known to us through ourphysical senses, possess the highest andmost fundamentalkind of reality.Plato often uses long-form analogies (usually allegories)to explain his ideas; the most famous is perhaps theAllegory of the Cave. It likens most humans to peo-ple tied up in a cave, who look only at shadows on thewalls and have no other conception of reality.[47] If theyturned around, they would see what is casting the shadows(and thereby gain a further dimension to their reality). Ifsome left the cave, they would see the outside world il-luminated by the sun (representing the ultimate form ofgoodness and truth). If these travelers then re-entered thecave, the people inside (who are still only familiar withthe shadows) would not be equipped to believe reports ofthis 'outside world'.[48] This story explains the theory offorms with their different levels of reality, and advancesthe view that philosopher-kings are wisest while most hu-mans are ignorant.[49] One student of Plato (who wouldbecome another of the most influential philosophers ofall time) stressed the implication that understanding re-lies upon first-hand observation:

2.3 Aristotle

Main article: Aristotle

Aristotle moved to Athens from his native Stageira in367 BCE and began to study philosophy (perhaps even

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rhetoric, under Isocrates), eventually enrolling at Plato’sAcademy.[50] He left Athens approximately twenty yearslater to study botany and zoology, became a tutor ofAlexander the Great, and ultimately returned to Athens adecade later to establish his own school: the Lyceum.[51]At least twenty-nine of his treatises have survived, knownas the corpus Aristotelicum, and address a variety of sub-jects including logic, physics, optics, metaphysics, ethics,rhetoric, politics, poetry, botany, and zoology.Aristotle is often portrayed as disagreeing with histeacher Plato (e.g., in Raphael's School of Athens). Hecriticizes the regimes described in Plato’s Republic andLaws,[52] and refers to the theory of forms as “emptywords and poetic metaphors.”[53] He is generally pre-sented as giving greater weight to empirical observationand practical concerns.Aristotle’s fame was not great during the Hellenistic pe-riod, when Stoic logic was in vogue, but later peripateticcommentators popularized his work, which eventu-ally contributed heavily to Islamic, Jewish, and me-dieval Christian philosophy.[54] His influence was suchthat Avicenna referred to him simply as “the Master";Maimonides, Alfarabi, Averroes, and Aquinas as “thePhilosopher.”

3 Hellenistic philosophy

Main article: Hellenistic philosophy

During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, many differ-ent schools of thought developed in the Hellenistic worldand then the Greco-Roman world. There were Greeks,Romans, Egyptians, Syrians and Arabs who contributedto the development of Hellenistic philosophy. Elementsof Persian philosophy and Indian philosophy also had aninfluence. The most notable schools of Hellenistic phi-losophy were:

• Neoplatonism: Plotinus (Egyptian), AmmoniusSaccas, Porphyry (Syrian), Zethos (Arab),Iamblichus (Syrian), Proclus

• Academic Skepticism: Arcesilaus, Carneades,Cicero (Roman)

• Pyrrhonian Skepticism: Pyrrho, Sextus Empiricus

• Cynicism: Antisthenes, Diogenes of Sinope, Cratesof Thebes (taught Zeno of Citium, founder of Sto-icism)

• Stoicism: Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes, Chrysippus,Crates of Mallus (brought Stoicism to Rome c.170 BCE), Panaetius, Posidonius, Seneca (Roman),Epictetus (Greek/Roman), Marcus Aurelius (Ro-man)

The philosopher Pyrrho from Elis, in an anecdote taken fromSextus Empiricus' Pyrrhonic Sketches.

(upper) PIRRHO • HELIENSIS •PLISTARCHI • FILIVS

translation (from Latin): Phyrrho . Greek . Son of Plistarchus

(middle) OPORTERE • SAPIENTEMHANC ILLIVS IMITARI

SECVRITATEM translation (from Latin): It is right wisdomthen that all imitate this security (Phyrrho pointing at a

peaceful pig munching his food)

(lower) Whoever wants to apply the real wisdom, shall notmind trepidation and misery

• Epicureanism: Epicurus (Greek) and Lucretius (Ro-man)

• Eclecticism: Cicero (Roman)

The spread of Christianity throughout the Romanworld, followed by the spread of Islam, ushered in theend of Hellenistic philosophy and the beginnings ofMedieval philosophy, which was dominated by the threeAbrahamic traditions: Jewish philosophy, Christian phi-losophy, and early Islamic philosophy.

4 Transmission of Greek philoso-phy under Islam

Main article: Arab transmission of the Classics to theWestSee also: Early Islamic philosophy and Latin translationsof the 12th century

During the Middle Ages, Greek ideas were largely for-gotten in Western Europe (where, between the fall ofRome and the East-West Schism, literacy in Greek haddeclined sharply). Not long after the first major expan-sion of Islam, however, the Abbasid caliphs authorized

6 6 NOTES

the gathering of Greek manuscripts and hired translatorsto increase their prestige. Islamic philosophers such asAl-Kindi (Alkindus), Al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Ibn Sina(Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) reinterpreted theseworks, and during the High Middle Ages Greek philos-ophy re-entered the West through translations from Ara-bic to Latin. The re-introduction of these philosophies,accompanied by the new Arabic commentaries, had agreat influence onMedieval philosophers such as ThomasAquinas.

5 See also• Ancient philosophy

• Byzantine philosophy

• Dehellenization

• List of ancient Greek philosophers

6 Notes[1] Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, Part II,

Chap. I, Sect. I

[2] Griffin, Jasper; Boardman, John; Murray, Oswyn (2001).The Oxford history of Greece and the Hellenistic world.Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. p. 140.ISBN 0-19-280137-6.

[3] Greg Whitlock, preface to The Pre-Platonic Philosophers,by Friedrich Nietzsche (Urbana: University of IllinoisPress, 2001), xiv–xvi.

[4] Greg Whitlock, preface to The Pre-Platonic Philosophers,by Friedrich Nietzsche (Urbana: University of IllinoisPress, 2001), xiii–xix.

[5] John Burnet, Greek Philosophy: Thales to Plato, 3rd ed.(London: A & C Black Ltd., 1920), 3–16. Scanned ver-sion from Internet Archive

[6] Aristotle, Metaphysics Alpha, 983b18.

[7] Aristotle, Metaphysics Alpha, 983 b6 8–11.

[8] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 3–4, 18.

[9] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 18–20; Herodotus, Histories,I.74.

[10] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 22–24.

[11] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 21.

[12] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 27.

[13] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 35.

[14] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 35; Diels-Kranz, Die Frag-mente der Vorsokratiker, Xenophanes frr. 15-16.

[15] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 36.

[16] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 33, 36.

[17] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 37–38.

[18] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 38–39.

[19] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 40–49.

[20] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 57.

[21] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 57–63.

[22] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 64.

[23] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 66–67.

[24] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 68.

[25] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 67.

[26] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 82.

[27] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 69.

[28] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 70.

[29] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 94.

[30] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 105–10.

[31] Burnet, Greek Philosophy, 113–17.

[32] Debra Nails, The People of Plato (Indianapolis: Hackett,2002), 24.

[33] Nails, People of Plato, 256.

[34] Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, V 10–11(or V IV).

[35] Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History (Chicago: Univer-sity of Chicago Press, 1953), 120.

[36] Seth Benardete, The Argument of the Action (Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 2000), 277–96.

[37] Laurence Lampert, How Philosophy Became Socratic(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010).

[38] Cf. Plato, Republic 336c & 337a, Theaetetus 150c,Apology of Socrates 23a; Xenophon, Memorabilia 4.4.9;Aristotle, Sophistical Refutations 183b7.

[39] W. K. C. Guthrie, The Greek Philosophers (London:Methuen, 1950), 73–75.

[40] Terence Irwin, The Development of Ethics, vol. 1 (Oxford:Oxford University Press 2007), 14

[41] Gerasimos Santas, “The Socratic Paradoxes”, Philosophi-cal Review 73 (1964): 147–64, 147.

[42] Apology of Socrates 21d.

[43] John M. Cooper, ed., Complete Works, by Plato (Indi-anapolis: Hackett, 1997), v–vi, viii–xii, 1634–35.

[44] Cooper, ed., Complete Works, by Plato, v–vi, viii–xii.

[45] Leo Strauss, The City and Man (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1964), 50–51.

7

[46] Leo Strauss, “Plato”, in History of Political Philosophy,ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, 3rd ed. (Chicago:University of Chicago Press 1987): 33–89.

[47] “Plato - Allegory of the cave” (PDF). classicalas-trologer.files.wordpress.com.

[48] “Allegory of the Cave”. washington.edu.

[49] Garth Kemerling. “Plato: The Republic 5-10”. philoso-phypages.com.

[50] Carnes Lord, Introduction to The Politics, by Aristotle(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984): 1–29.

[51] Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (NewYork: Simon & Schuster, 1972).

[52] Aristotle, Politics, bk. 2, ch. 1–6.

[53] Aristotle, Metaphysics, 991a20–22.

[54] Robin Smith, "Aristotle’s Logic,” Stanford Encyclopediaof Philosophy (2007).

7 References

• Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005). Handbook of GreekPhilosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysisand Fragments, Trafford Publishing ISBN 1-4120-4843-5

• John Burnet, Early Greek Philosophy, 1930.

• William Keith Chambers Guthrie, A History ofGreek Philosophy: Volume 1, The Earlier Presocrat-ics and the Pythagoreans, 1962.

• Kierkegaard, Søren, On the Concept of Irony withContinual Reference to Socrates, 1841.

• Martin Litchfield West, Early Greek Philosophy andthe Orient, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971.

• Martin Litchfield West, The East Face of Helicon:West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry andMyth, Ox-ford [England] ; New York: Clarendon Press, 1997.

• Charles Freeman (1996). Egypt, Greece and Rome.Oxford University Press.

• A.A. Long. Hellenistic Philosophy. University ofCalifornia, 1992. (2nd Ed.)

• Artur Rodziewicz, IDEA AND FORM. ΙΔΕΑ ΚΑΙΕΙΔΟΣ. On the Foundations of the Philosophy ofPlato and the Presocratics (IDEA I FORMA. ΙΔΕΑΚΑΙ ΕΙΔΟΣ. O fundamentach filozofii Platona i pre-sokratyków)Wroclaw, 2012.

• Baird, Forrest E.; Walter Kaufmann (2008). FromPlato to Derrida. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-158591-6.

8 Further reading• Nightingale, Andrea Wilson, Spectacles of Truth inClassical Greek Philosophy: Theoria in Its CulturalContext, Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN0-521-83825-8

• Loudovikos, Nikolaos, Protopresbyter, TheologicalHistory of the Ancient Hellenic Philosophy – Preso-cratics, Socrates, Plato (in Greek), Pournaras Pub-lishing, Athens, 2003, ISBN 960-242-296-3

• The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Searchfor the Good Life, by Bettany Hughes (2010) ISBN0-224-07178-5

• Luchte, James, Early Greek Thought: Before theDawn, in series, Bloomsbury Studies in Ancient Phi-losophy, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2011.ISBN 978-0567353313

9 External links• Ancient Greek Philosophy, entry in the Internet En-cyclopedia of Philosophy

• The Impact of Greek Culture on Normative Judaismfrom the Hellenistic Period through theMiddle Agesc. 330 BCE- 1250 CE

• Orphic Platonism

8 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

10 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

10.1 Text• Ancient Greek philosophy Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_philosophy?oldid=676001203 Contributors: Zundark,The Anome, RK, Michael Hardy, Ixfd64, Pedant17, Robbot, Altenmann, Sverdrup, Nilmerg, Raeky, Everyking, WHEELER, Ya-hel~enwiki, Clossius, Utcursch, Andycjp, Hananeko, Sohailstyle, Antandrus, Beland, Karol Langner, Pmanderson, Ukexpat, Trevor MacIn-nis, Freakofnurture, CALR, DanielCD, Pasquale, Discospinster, FranksValli, FT2, Narsil, Paul August, Bender235, BACbKA, Deanos,Wareh, BrokenSegue, Shenme, Pearle, Knucmo2, Alansohn, Sextus~enwiki, Ricky81682, WhiteC, Wtmitchell, Amorymeltzer, Bsad-owski1, BlastOButter42, Alai, Zenithan, Japanese Searobin, OwenX, Woohookitty, TigerShark, Danmaz74, Eleassar777, Wikiklrsc, Blue-moose, Pprevos~enwiki, FreplySpang, Edison, JubalHarshaw, Amire80, Kalogeropoulos, Afterwriting, Matt Deres, Bfigura, Sango123,Crazycomputers, RexNL, Nick81, DVdm, The Rambling Man, Ssimsekler, Sceptre, Hairy Dude, Adam1213, RussBot, RJC, MarkusSchmaus, DanMS, CambridgeBayWeather, KSchutte, Deskana, Tommaisey, Moe Epsilon, Histprof, Botteville, Tomisti, Wknight94, Ul-tron, Zzuuzz, Arthur Rubin, Josh3580, Diddims, Robskin, Nlitement, Allens, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Jagged 85, Decimator~enwiki,Josephprymak, Canthusus, HalfShadow, Hmains, Amatulic, Chris the speller, Bluebot, Persian Poet Gal, Jprg1966, Oli Filth, SchfiftyThree,Whispering, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Egsan Bacon, VMS Mosaic, GeorgeMoney, Addshore, Spencerhopper, Dreadstar, Salt Yeung,Cyberevil, Frazzle, Minna Sora no Shita, Goodnightmush, Across.The.Synapse, Ryulong, Hu12, Levineps, Iridescent, Maestlin, Twas Now,MJO, Courcelles, Tawkerbot2, Kurtan~enwiki, JForget, CmdrObot, Aherunar, NickW557, Kribbeh, Road Wizard, Gogo Dodo, Dumb-BOT, Gimmetrow, Thijs!bot, Epbr123, Mojo Hand, Marek69, Dfrg.msc, Grayshi, AbcXyz, Igorwindsor~enwiki, AntiVandalBot, Emer-aldcityserendipity, D. Webb, Amadís, Halfricanvt, Gökhan, Ericoides, TAnthony, Kipholbeck, Nikolaos Bakalis, Bongwarrior, VoABot II,JNW, Renosecond, Bubba hotep, Catgut, Wrad, JaGa, CCS81, Cedricbear, MartinBot, PrestonH, LedgendGamer, J.delanoy, Trusilver,Bongomatic, Maurice Carbonaro, Nigholith, Ncmvocalist, McSly, Bilbobee, Vinsfan368, VolkovBot, TreasuryTag, CWii, Macedonian, JeffG., JohnBlackburne, Soliloquial, Philip Trueman, Ldonna, Arpan123, Wikiisawesome, Coching, MDfoo, Falcon8765, Insanity Incarnate,Alcmaeonid, Monty845, Xenovatis, PericlesofAthens, OsamaK, WereSpielChequers, Fabullus, Keilana, Radon210, Iain99, UncleMartin,Le vin blanc, 3rdAlcove, WikipedianMarlith, Faithlessthewonderboy, ClueBot, Snigbrook, Foxj, The Thing That Should Not Be, Tizzle999,Kristamaranatha, Blanchardb, RafaAzevedo, Singinglemon~enwiki, Falloutgirl15, Excirial, Hinko Gnito~enwiki, CrazyChemGuy, Jochen-roth, Chiroubles, SchreiberBike, Light show, Catalographer, Thingg, Vegetator, Aitias, Kevala~enwiki, JS747, Avoided, Anturiaethwr,HMFS, MystBot, Iranway, Addbot, Jojhutton, Captain-tucker, Ronhjones, Vishnava, Zarcadia, MrOllie, Favonian, Tide rolls, JEN9841,Luckas-bot, Yobot, TaBOT-zerem, THENWHOWASPHONE?, AnakngAraw, Jim1138, IRP, Ulric1313, Materialscientist, ImperatorEx-ercitus, Rtyq2, E2eamon, Clark89, Xqbot, Leabnm, Bandgjl, Nexeuitas, Necirsad, Linburats, History109, Erud, Pordaguit, Gensanders,Lop0100, Grim23, Loveless, Achanast, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, GNRY09, Gnuish, Tunkytown, Dougofborg, Ben346643, FrescoBot,Isospin, Djrb1979, Pinethicket, Yahia.barie, Lehooo, Danwhite2010, Pollinosisss, Zenzor, Lotje, Reaper Eternal, Olivesrock, Shadow-fang63, Matthewdavies, Skamecrazy123, DASHBot, EmausBot, Rami radwan, Gratel, 4meter4, Finn Bjørklid, TuHan-Bot, Wikipelli,Ivostefanov, Mp390, FunkyCanute, 15turnsm, Allison Tragedy, Access Denied, Snaevar, Donner60, Orange Suede Sofa, ClueBot NG,Cazmachine, Doh5678, CaroleHenson, Widr, Bahnheckl, Titodutta, David Macauley, MusikAnimal, Davidiad, VictoriaJBoorman, MarkArsten, CitationCleanerBot, Ilovepandabearssomuch, TheNuszAbides, Fmetites, Reburn2, Ducknish, Spiderman1028, Dillonmstein, Van-ished user sdij4rtltkjasdk3, Dexbot, Interlude65, Sriharsh1234, Uberbacon12, Tawdjay, Camyoung54, Uggiehuggie616, Lliwwill5, Cow-girl01, Aubreybardo, Notsosoros, Apollon.musegetes, Scarlettail, Zeijani, TerryAlex, Philosopherian, Tylerstelle256, Girl9, SoSivr, Kas-parBot and Anonymous: 473

10.2 Images• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Originalartist: ?

• File:Petrarca-Meister_001.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Petrarca-Meister_001.jpg License:Public domain Contributors: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed byDIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. Original artist: Petrarca-Meister

• File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0Contributors:Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:Tkgd2007

• File:Raphael_School_of_Athens.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Raphael_School_of_Athens.jpgLicense: Public domain Contributors: wikimedia commons Original artist: Raphael

10.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0