Greek+Philosophy



//"The unexamined life is not worth living, doing the right thing is the only path to goodness, and introspection and self-awareness are the only ways to learn what is right."// -Socrates =**__Greek Philosophy__**= The Greek people of the Classical Age were often renowned as skilled thinkers, speakers, as well as men of science and logic, in the investigative sense of the word. Not all the people of the people were philosophers, as most were content with Greece's rough pantheon of gods and goddesses as explanations for the world around them, but the few who were often inspired a "How do things work?" attitude among their peers and fellow Grecians. Their thinking provided the basis and groundwork for what would become all of modern Western Philosophy.

__The Pre-Socratics__
These men are thought to be some of the world's first Western philosophers. While their theories may seem archaic, simple, and wrong to the modern day man or woman they brought about a scientific approach to life and the world around us, explaining thing with "How?" rather than the simple approach of "It's that way because the Gods made it that way." Most of the populace was very content with the latter of the two.

Pre-Socratics are called what they are because they came before Socrates, arguably the most famous philosopher of all time. They are sometimes also called Monists, because they sought to isolate one element as the source of all things. They generally taught their ideas in the city-state of Ionia, which is on the coast of modern day Turkey. Their theories are simple-minded at best to today's standard, but they took the first few steps into Natural Law as we know it today.

Sadly, very little is known of their theories, as no work of one philosopher is available complete, and most information about them is gathered from Plato's writings, which have proven biased.

As most of them rarely held complex theories, most could be noted as believing one single element, such as earth, air, water or fire as their core philosophical ideal. Thales, the father of Natural Philosophy, and often considered the first philosopher, hypothesized that all matter was composed of air, and after he made this hypothesis, contemporaries and students either concurred or stated another element to be the root of all things. Other notables were: Pythagoras, who believed everything to be arranged through mathematical equations, and is famous for a Theorem sharing his name, and Heraclitus and Parmenides, who held the opposing beliefs that everything was in flux, or ever changing, and that everything was stagnant, or the same at all times.

Several other schools emerged during this time: The Pluralists, a group that held the belief that reality was composed of more than one element. The Atomists, who believed everything to be made of an indivisible particle called an atom. Half of their theory holds true to this day. The Sophists, a group of orators, rhetoricians, and self-help gurus that charged for their teaching services. They were largely looked down upon, and the only surviving sources on them are the writings of Plato. They were also some of the first philosophers charged with impiety, or disbelief in the Gods, a plague to many future philosophers.

__Socrates__
When philosophy seemed to be at it's end, a new beginning was brought about in a man who walked the streets of Athens arguing with anyone social enough to engage him. This man was Socrates, a philosopher who had studied previous philosophies and found them all too weak in one way or another. He invented several things still used today, like:
 * Socratic Dialogue: A method of posing questions to start a debate amongst an audience.
 * Dialectic: The very method used in modern debate.
 * Socratic Seminar: A circle in which a people can debate.

Socrates was an adept speaker, as he had studied under the Sophists, but refused any sort of money from anyone. He wandered the bustling streets and agoras of Athens debating random passersby on any potentially philosophical subject; and although he often made people feel uncomfortable, inferior, and a whole slew of other emotions, he wasn't in it for the sake of belittling his fellow citizens. What he sought was the Truth, through the free thinking of Athenians. Along with making people look stupid, this gained him quite a few enemies.

Socrates never put pen to paper, so to speak, so the main source on his thoughts was Plato, who was a student of his. Plato had written down several of his Dialogues. The earlier Dialogues are seen to be a true representation of Socrates, while later ones were used merely to espouse Plato's theories.

As for the enemies he had made, it seemed quite a few of them were in places of high esteem. The powers that were decided Socrates was impious, similar to earlier philosophers like the Sophists. The influentials of Athens decided Socrates was corrupting the youth with thoughts of individuality, instead of following the preset orders of the Pantheon supposedly atop Mount Olympus. A free-thinking populace wasn't a good thing. In his trial, merely a formality for the already decided judges, Socrates orated what became known as his "Apology", which was hardly apologetic. In this long speech, he simultaneously swatted down every argument for his sentencing and made his accusers even angrier. He knew full well that the trial wouldn't rule in his favor, and he expressed no fear of death, the punishment they had decided upon.

After his apology, Socrates reiterated his beliefs. He believed that doing the right thing and sticking to his guns was the only things a man could do in his life. In the quote, "The unexamined life is not worth living, doing the right thing is the only path to goodness, and introspection and self-awareness are the only ways to learn what is right." he summed everything up. He was also courteously allowed to suggest a different punishment. He recommended a free house for rental, and for the government to support him financially for the rest of his life. He also told the state that he wouldn't stop philosophizing if allowed to live. He faced the court unapologetically and knew the conscequences that would follow.

Although sentenced to death, the state of Athens soon figured out they couldn't just execute a local celebrity, as he had become a quite poopular local flavor. They made it be known that if Socrates fled in exile, they wouldn't aggressively pursue him. Given this choice between exile or death, Socrates stayed true to himself and chose death. He committed suicide a martyr, drinking a hemlock potion while imprisoned.

After Socrates died, several schools in Greece claimed to corner his teachings, but most only covered certain topics.

__**Plato**__
One of Socrates' most well known followers, and his independent theories can be summed up in a couple of ideas:
 * __The Cave:__ A description of society, which had a veil over it's eyes, similar to seeing shadows of a fire obscured from vision inside a cave. The people trapped in this cave only saw reflections of Plato's idea of the Forms, and the ones who break free from the veil and leave the cave were the philosopher type. These people saw life and the world to it's full extent, but were often unable to tell the veiled majority of society, as they would be killed, as an abnormality to the status quo.
 * __The Forms:__ True representations of things like Beauty, Truth, and Good (Plato's version of God), and the versions we see of these in our earthly realms are just mere imitations, the truer beings have their own separate plain of perfection in Plato's mind.
 * __Reincarnation:__ Plato believed in reincarnation. He stated that when someone dies, they get to see the reality of the forms, in their truest image, only to forget it as soon as they were reborn, again apart of this earth, with only a minor understanding of a more powerful force existing. Evil people, as punishment, didn't get to reincarnate, a proverbial "Don't pass go".
 * __The Republic:__ Plato even tried his hand at political philosophy. He called his utopian society "The Republic" and wrote a book of a similar title. Most people wouldn't want to live there though, because Plato's world was inspired by his hatred for Democracy and governments at the time. His society was very state driven, with little personal individualism, even littler private property, and a rigid caste system, at which philosophers were conveniently placed at the top. A forever wise Philosopher King would rule, and this monarch would strictly enforce laws against emotion, or art, which evoked emotion.

__**Aristotle**__
Like Plato to Socrates, Aristotle was taught by none other than Plato himself. He seemed to live a bit more than his rather pessimistic teacher, as he travelled the known world spreading his teachings (he liked to walk while he philosophized), and even tutored a 13 year old boy named Alexander, who later went on to conquer all of the known world at the time, you know him as Alexander the Great.


 * __Challenges to Plato:__ Aristotle found many things wrong with his teacher's beliefs. He stated that the forms were illogical and impossible to prove, instead saying that they were found within everything on earth, in some form or another. He called these forms "Universals".
 * __Theory of Potentiality:__ He also thought that everything on earth was naturally evolving to fulfill it's full potential, essentially becoming it's own Platonic Form. He explained that there were 4 forces that initiated potentiality, starting with an omniscient creator, called Nous.
 * __Happiness:__ Aristotle believed that happiness was the ultimate goal of mankind, and it could be gained through living a virtuous life, and thus working toward personal Potentiality.
 * __Math:__ Aristotle also formulated the Law of Syllogism, famous today for it's use in Geometry.
 * __Government:__ He bleieved there were three good forms of government, Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Constitutional Republic, and when these were spoiled, they reverted into Tyranny, Oligarchy, and Democracy respectively.

__**Other Schools**__
__The Cynics:__ A Socratic group that held a basic belief in nonconformity. They were generally scruffy, bearded and homeless. They found society to be full of hypocrisies and extravagance, which could've been done without. As they followed Socratic beliefs, they tried to live virtuous lives, which to them, was a simple life.

__The Epicureans:__ A commonly misunderstood sect, often compared to hedonists. They believed in the pursuit of pleasure, and this meant something completely different than the modern day interpretation of the word, one of extreme sensual indulgence. An epicurean led his life humbly; spending most of his days relaxing, reading, and participating in other calm pursuits, like chatting with a small group of friends. They were a quiet bunch; believing that inner peace was all one could achieve in life.

__The Stoics:__ A school founded by Zeno of Cyprus, it was interestingly named because he liked lecturing on his porch, or stoa, in Greek. They often sided with the Pre-Socratic belief of a philosopher named Heraclitus, that everything was ever changing. They felt all knowledge was gained from sensory experiences, which were recorded in the mind, a blank entity that was influenced by what was perceived, and since all perception was subjective, so is all knowledge, and nothing happens to be true for everyone. One of their main pillars of belief was that emotion should be susupended from judgement, and that every decision required apathetic reasoning. They also lived life without compaining about their place, which is how they entered the English language.

__The Skeptics:__ The name describes them perfectly, only they were a bit extreme. They believed that senses couldn't be trusted, since everything was subjective, and everything you could ever know came from your senses. The way they saw it, nothing or everything could be true. They also believed in leading virtuous lives, which for them, was never caring, making decisions, to live life with absolutely no judgement involved.