The School of Athens, by Raphael. Fresco painted on the wall of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, 1510-1511

The Greek natural philosophers searched for the archê, the first cause or substance of things

(If the gods did not create the world, what did? And what is the world made of?)◦Materialists: looked for the fundamental

substance out of which everything is composed◦ Idealists: looked for the organizing principle of

the universe

For the materialists the world is constituted of some basic physical substance orarchê◦Thales: water◦Anaximander: apeiron, an unlimited,

undefined substance◦Anaximenes: air◦Democritus: atoms, “uncuttables”

Thales of Miletus

For the idealists the physical world is largely illusory; behind it is some spiritual force or metaphysical power◦ Pythagoras: the universe exists in mathematical

harmony, ordered by numbers◦ Parmenides: change is illusory; reality is

unchanging and only known through logos, reason.◦ Xenophanes: the underlying, unifying force in the

universe is “God.”

Pythagoras of Samos

Xenophanes was an anti-polytheist, and is famous for this sociological critique: The Ethiops say that their gods are flat-nosed and black,

While the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red

hair.Yet if cattle or horses or lions had hands and could draw,And could sculpt like men, then the horses would draw their godsLike horses, and cattle like cattle; and each they would shapeBodies of gods in the likeness, each kind, of their own.

In other words, humans make gods in their own image (not the other way around, as in the book of Genesis)

This doesn’t mean that there is no God, only that God is beyond our comprehension

Some natural philosophers attempted to reconcile the materialist and idealist schools of thought◦ Empedocles: Four basic elements (air, earth, fire, water)

set in motion by opposing forces of Love and Strife◦ Heraclitus: Fire is the basic element; all things are in

flux; but there is a unity of opposites structured by logos◦ Anaxagoras: an infinite number of imperishable

elements, ordered by a Divine mind. Credited with introducing philosophy to Athens

Heraclitus in The School of Athens. He was called the “weeping philosopher” and was solitary and melancholy.

The Parthenon (Temple of Athena) atop the Acropolis (“upper city”)

The view of the Athenian Agora and Temple of Hephaestus from the Acropolis

The Areopagus (“Rock of Ares”), the High Court of Appeals, located between the Agora and the Acropolis. Here St. Paul delivered his famous speech about the “unknown God” (Acts 17:16-34)

The Athenian Agora (Market) was the center of government in democratic Athens

The Sophists

5th century BCE Athens—a wealthy, powerful, democracy

Economy was slave-based, leaving leisure classes with time for culture and active participation in government (if you were male).

There was a growing demand for education

The Sophists From sophia or “wisdom”

Sophists were the “wisdom-izers”, wise men who thought they could teach wisdom to others

Sophists taught anything for which there was a demand, but mainly focused on rhetoric, the art of public speaking, which was necessary for political success (and still is!)

There was a tradition of wise men in Athens—but the sophists charged a fee

The Sophists The focus on rhetoric led to the sophists being

accused of moral relativismWhat was right and true did not matter so much

as convincing someone, “making the weaker argument the stronger.”

Because sophists relied on dazzling, clever speech to convince listeners to believe something they knew to be false, the word “sophistry” is still used today.

However, the sophists were also responsible for injecting humanism into philosophy

"Man is the measure of all things: of things which are, that they are, and of things which are not, that they are not”Truth is subjective rather than objectiveHumans, rather than gods, are the pre-eminent

beings

"Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be, because of the obscurity of the subject, and the brevity of human life”One of the earliest known statements of agnosticism

Enter Socrates (469-399 BC)Like Jesus, Socrates left no writings of his own,

so we are dependent upon the writings of othersAristophanes (comical), Xenophon (anti-sophist), and

especially Plato (portrait of the ideal philosopher)

The historical Socrates: Middle class, veteran of Peloponnesian War, married with two sons.Executed for impiety and corrupting the youth, forced to

commit suicide by drinking hemlock

Socrates’ PhilosophyUnlike natural philosophy, which was focused

on the finding the archê, Socrates focused on the human condition…How do we live morally good lives?

…and the abstract philosophy of ideasWhat is virtue, what is beautiful, what is good?

“Know thyself” and “The unexamined life is not worth living.”Human excellence or virtue comes from

knowledge; evil and error stems from ignorance.

This ruined house in the ancient Athenian Agora is reportedly where Socrates conversed with a man called Simon the Shoemaker, who later wrote down these dialogues.

Socrates’ MethodSocratic Method- asking questions and offering

counterexamples in a manner which ultimately leads the other person to reach the right (or at least a better) conclusion.

Socrates saw his role of Philosopher as a “gadfly” (to prick at complacently held prejudice, and ill-founded opinion)

Or “midwife” (to help others to give birth to truth by asking the right

questions; or to help them to figure out what the answer might be).

Meiutic method: helping people to give birth to their own ideas, not simply to persuade others or provide them with information.

What is meant by the term “Socratic ignorance?”Socrates was once told by the Delphic oracle that

he was the wisest man alive. But he claimed he knew nothing.

Therefore Socrates decided that one who KNOWS he is ignorant is wiser than one who falsely claims to have knowledge.

Socrates would therefore look for one who was wiser than he, and never found anyone.

This led to another term, “Socratic irony”Socratics, say some, was clearly pretending to be

ignorant in order to force others to make statements that could be challenged.

Socratic Method in Plato’s DialoguesThe elenchus is the technique Socrates uses to investigate,

for example, the nature or definition of ethical concepts such as justice or virtue, using the following steps:1. Socrates' interlocutor asserts a thesis, for example

"Courage is endurance of the soul", which Socrates considers false and targets for refutation.

2. Socrates secures his interlocutor's agreement to further premises, for example "Courage is a fine thing" and "Ignorant endurance is not a fine thing".

3. Socrates then argues, and the interlocutor agrees, that these further premises imply the contrary of the original thesis, in this case it leads to: "courage is not endurance of the soul".

4. Socrates then claims that he has shown that his interlocutor's thesis is false and that its contrary is true.

Use the Socratic method to disprove the following statements:All men are created equalBeauty is skin-deepMight makes rightIgnorance is bliss

c. 429–347 B.C. Born into a wealthy and powerful Athenian

family Fervent disciple of Socrates Major philosophical influences were:

Parmenides—true reality is timeless and changeless

Plato: true knowledge is knowledge of the timeless and changeless reality

Heraclitus—the material, sensible world is ever-changing Plato: true knowledge of things is derived not

from the senses but from the intellect Plato was definitely an idealist

Sense perception: “ I see a triangle” The mind is turned toward the object

perceived… …But also to the form of a triangle (in

other words, the mind knows it is not a circle)

We perceive the thing as a triangle because we apprehend the form of the triangle

Form

Object

This is a triangle

Think general thoughts Account for regularities Account for change Think the same thought at different times Think the same thought as each other Think veridical (truthful) thoughts

I can see thousands of different triangles, but know with certainty that each and every one of them is a triangle

So far, so good. We can all agree that everything has a form (later on, Aristotle believed this, too)

But Plato took this one step further: Everything has a form because in reality there is

a Form for every thing. Plato believed that Forms of things—even of

abstract concepts such as Beauty and Truth—had a separate existence, and were more real and truer than the things themselves

This world of Forms can only be apprehended by the intellect and not by the senses

For Plato, then, the reason why I know that this

is a triangle, is because it participates in the Form of Triangle,

Similarly, a beautiful woman participates in the Forms of Beauty and of Woman

And a just man participates in the Forms of Justice and Man

Form

Object

This is a triangle

Participation

Perception

?

…are separate from ( and prior to) the empirical world, since in order to understand the names of empirical objects, we need to have (implicitly) the concept of the form that gives meaning to these names.

…are more real than empirical objects, because it is only through participation in the forms that empirical things have the properties they have.

…can be perceived only by the intellect. The philosopher is in contact with a different reality because of this connection to the world in which these abstract entities exist.

Plato’s Theory of Forms is the basis for his entire philosophical system

Unlike the natural philosophers, who were concerned only with cosmology, or Socrates, who was concerned with ideas and the human condition…

…Plato conceived a comprehensive philosophy that answered the questions of cosmology, ideas, knowledge, human nature, ethics, and politics.

The Human BeingFor Plato, Human Nature is dualistic

Soul and body are separateSoul is immortal, imperishable; body is mortal,

corruptibleThe Soul is Tripartite—three parts

Appetitive (focused on bodily desires)Spirited (focused on self-assertion and anger)Intellectual (focused on directing the whole soul)

The Human DoingFor Plato, ethics is tied to the FormsThe soul, having dwelled with the Forms of Good,

Justice, etc., finds itself in a body tied to the senses and sensory pleasures

Each part of the soul has its proper virtue, i.e., mode of behavior:Appetitive soul must exercise self-controlSpirited soul must exercise reason and judgment

But the intellect tries to free itself of bodily temptations, guide the whole person, and do what is Good, Just, etc.