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Classical (or "early") Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. In many ways it paved the way both to modern science and to modern philosophy. Clear unbroken lines of influence lead from early Greek philosophers, through early Muslim philosophy to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the secular sciences of the modern day.

Pre-Socratic philosophers

The history of philosophy in the West begins with the Greeks, and particularly with a group of philosophers commonly called the pre-Socratics. The pre-Socratics were often known as naturalists or cosmologists. The first Greek philosopher was called Thales, of Miletus. Of course, this is not to deny the occurrence of other pre-philosophical rumblings in Egyptian and Babylonian cultures. Certainly great thinkers and writers existed in each of these cultures, and we have evidence that some of the earliest Greek philosophers may have had contact with at least some of the products of Egyptian and Babylonian thought. However, the early Greek thinkers add at least one element which differentiates their thought from all those who came before them. For the first time in history, we discover in their writings something more than dogmatic assertions about the ordering of the world -- we find reasoned arguments for various beliefs about the world.

As it turns out, nearly all of the various cosmologies proposed by the early Greek philosophers are profoundly and demonstrably false, but this does not diminish their importance. For even if later philosophers summarily rejected the answers they provided, they could not escape their questions:

What is life?
From where does everything come?
Of what does it really consist?
How do we explain the plurality of things found in nature?
And why can we describe them with a singular mathematics?

And the method the Greek philosophers followed in forming and transmitting their answers became just as important as the questions they asked. The pre-Socratic philosophers rejected traditional mythological explanations for the phenomena they saw around them in favor of more rational explanations. In other words they depended on reason and observation to illuminate the true nature of the world around them, and they used rational argument to advance their views to others. And though philosophers have argued at length about the relative weights that reason and observation should have, for two and a half millennia they have basically united in the use of the very method first used by the pre-Socratics.

Difficulties often arise in pinning down the ideas of the Pre-Socratic philosophers, and in determining the actual line of argument they used in supporting their particular views. This problem arises not from some defect in the men themselves or in their ideas, but simply from their separation from us in history. While most of these men produced significant texts, we have no complete versions of any of those texts. We have only quotations by later philosophers and historians, along with the occasional textual fragment.

Thales

Anaximander

Pythagoras

Heraclitus of Ephesus Heraclitus is an excellent example of the Pre-Socratic philosopher. All of his existing fragments can be written in 45 small pages as poetry. (Brooks Haxton, a poet, has provided a very interesting translation of all of the fragments of Heraclitus titled "Fragments, the Collected Wisdom of Heraclitus.") Although he wrote twenty-five hundred years ago and very little of his work still exists, it is very appealing. Some of his lines remain among our common sayings today. For example, "You can never step into the same river twice" Brooks translates the original as follows:

The river

where you set

your foot just now

is gone-

those waters giving way to this,

now this.

Heraclitus had a unique view of reality. For him change was the most important fact about the world, as the lines quoted illustrate. Brooks in his Introduction and brief Notes points out that it is very difficult to translate such ancient writing into contemporary English. The changes in the culture, the figures of speech, the chasm between the background of the contemporary reader and that of a Greek of twenty-five hundred years ago as relates to our understanding of the world, and so forth, makes literal translation pointless and freer translation subject to question. It is a point to keep in mind when considering any of these Pre-Socratics. Heraclitus also illustrates the point that these early philosophers do have important things to tell us about the world.

Xenophanes

Parmenides and the other Eleatic philosophers

Leucippus, Democritus and the other Atomists

Protagoras and the Sophists

Empedocles

Socrates

Socrates , an Athenian philosopher, became one of the most important icons of the Western philosophical tradition. He believed that a person should always try to do good. He claimed that one has an obligation to disobey a bad command. He made his most important contribution to Western thought through his method of inquiry. In addition, he also taught many famous Greek philosophers. His most famous pupil was Plato. However, since Socrates discussed ideas that upset many people (some in high positions), he was sentenced to death by drinking the poison hemlock. The ironic thing about this is that during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants he was often threatened, but survived despite his continued protests for democracy. When democracy came, he was executed for corrupting their young. Most of what we know about Socrates came from Plato as Socrates wrote nothing down. Given the fact, that he has worked his whole life for the ethic, divine, virtous and righteous one, there are several severe comments on Socrates, that he could have been a prophet sent to ancient Greece. See the article on Socrates for more information on this topic.

Plato and Aristotle

Aristotle, known as Aristoteles in most languages other than English (Aristotele in Italian), (384 BC - March 7, 322 BC) has, along with Plato, the reputation of one of the two most influential philosophers in Western thought.

Their works, although connected in many fundamental ways, differ considerably in both style and substance. Plato wrote several dozen philosophical dialogues—arguments in the form of conversations, usually with Socrates as a participant—and a few letters. Though the early dialogues deal mainly with methods of acquiring knowledge, and most of the last ones with justice and practical ethics, his most famous works expressed a synoptic view of ethics, metaphysics, reason, knowledge, and human life. Predominant ideas include the notion that knowledge gained through the senses always remains confused and impure, and that the contemplative soul that turns away from the world can acquire "true" knowledge. The soul alone can have knowledge of the Forms, the real essences of things, of which the world we see is but an imperfect copy. Such knowledge has ethical as well as scientific import. One can view Plato, with qualification, as an idealist and a rationalist.

Aristotle was one of Plato's students, but placed much more value on knowledge gained from the senses, and would correspondingly better earn the modern label of empiricist. Thus Aristotle set the stage for what would eventually develop into the scientific method centuries later. The works of Aristotle that still exist today appear in treatise form, mostly unpublished by their author. The most important include Physics, Metaphysics, (Nicomachean) Ethics, Politics, De Anima (On the Soul), Poetics, and many others. See the article on Aristotle for more discussion...

Aristotle was such a great thinker and philosoph, that he was called 'the master' by Avicenna in the following centuries.

Later Classical philosophers

Cicero

Zeno of Citium

Epictetus

Epicurus and Lucretius

Sextus Empiricus

The Neo-Platonists

Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus, Iamblichus)

Marcus Aurelius

Schools of thought in the Hellenistic period

In the Hellenistic period, the following schools developed:

The spread of Christianity through the Roman world ushered in the end of the Hellenistic philosophy and the beginnings of Medieval Philosophy.

External links

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 == Pre-Socratic philosophers ==
-The history of philosophy in the [[Western world|West]] begins with the [[Hellenic Greece | Greeks]], and particularly with a group of philosophers commonly called the [[pre-Socratic]]s.  The [[pre-Socratics]] were often known as naturalists or [[cosmologists]].  The first Greek philosopher was called Thales, of Miletus.  Of course, this is not to deny the occurrence of other pre-philosophical rumblings in [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] and [[Babylonian]] cultures. Certainly great thinkers and writers existed in each of these cultures, and we have evidence that some of the earliest Greek philosophers may have had contact with at least some of the products of Egyptian and Babylonian thought.  However, the early Greek thinkers add at least one element which differentiates their thought from all those who came before them.  For the first time in history, we discover in their writings something more than dogmatic assertions about the ordering of the world -- we find reasoned arguments for various beliefs about the world.
+The history of philosophy in the [[Western world|West]] begins with the [[Hellenic Greece | Greeks]], and particularly with a group of philosophers commonly called the [[pre-Socratic]]s.  The [[pre-Socratics]] were often known as naturalists or [[cosmologists]].  The first Greek philosopher was called Thales, of [[Miletus]].  Of course, this is not to deny the occurrence of other pre-philosophical rumblings in [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] and [[Babylonian]] cultures. Certainly great thinkers and writers existed in each of these cultures, and we have evidence that some of the earliest Greek philosophers may have had contact with at least some of the products of Egyptian and Babylonian thought.  However, the early Greek thinkers add at least one element which differentiates their thought from all those who came before them.  For the first time in history, we discover in their writings something more than dogmatic assertions about the ordering of the world -- we find reasoned arguments for various beliefs about the world.
 As it turns out, nearly all of the various cosmologies proposed by the early Greek philosophers are profoundly and demonstrably false, but this does not diminish their importance. For even if later philosophers summarily rejected the answers they provided, they could not escape their questions: