Greek Society

Category: Epistemology, Metaphysics

Last Updated: 27 Jul 2020

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Greek emphasis on reasoning bring to their views of nature and society? ADDED Greeks broke with the onomatopoeic outlook and started to view the physical world and human activities through reasoning and logical thinking. What changes did It make to nature and society? -Emphasis on reason marks a turning point for human collocation A) Philosophy -Marks the beginning of scientific thought, had an awareness of cause and effect, exploring the natural phenomena, principles of universe. Traditional mythical explanations are dismissed. -egg. Earthquakes commonly held belief that it was caused by Poseidon, god of the EAI, was offered with a logical explanation on how the earth floated on water. Discovered water as an element and rainbows certainly was not the goddess Iris. - Parricides' concept of unchanging reality apprehended by thought alone Influenced Plato and Is the foundation of metaphysics- the branch of philosophy that attempts to define ultimate reality, or Being. Democratic from Greek mainland renewed the Ionians' concern with the world of matter and reaffirmed their confidence in knowledge derived from sense perfection- and the senses indicated that change did occur in nature. -model of universe: empty space and an infinite number of atoms- a world of colliding atoms- everything behaved according to mechanical principles.

Therefore essential to scientific thought thus emerged in embryonic form with Greek philosophers: 1) Natural explanations for physical occurrences (Ionians) 2) The mathematical order of nature (Pythagoras) 3) Logical proof (Parricides) 4) Mechanical structure of the universe (Democratic) with all these logical reasoning and ways of knowing, Greek philosophers pushed thought in a new direction. This approached allowed critical analysis of theories, whereas myths, accepted unconditionally on faith and authority, did not promote discussion and questioning. Made possible theoretical thinking and the systemization of knowledge- as distinct from the mere observation and collection of data. -made attempt to prove underlying mathematical principles-> demonstrate that certain conclusions must flow from certain hypotheses. -able to distinguish between magic and medicine. B) The Sophists -early Greek thinkers. -they're the professional teachers and urged that Individuals Improve themselves ND their cities by applying reason to their tasks. -they answered a practical need in the Persian Wars. Sophists again arrived at a broader conception of humanity. That slavery was based on force or chance, that Pl were not slaves or master by nature, all Pl were fundamentally alike. -applied reason to human affairs- divine was useless and it's a human invention to prevent Pl from committing crime. -applied reason to law- all these to instill fear to citizens. -however, their doctrines encouraged loss of respect for authority, disobedience to law, neglect to civic duty ND selfish individualism- dangerously weakening community bonds.

C) Socrates -to comprehend nature, cosmologists discovered theoretical reason. -Socrates attacked sophist' relativism and questions them the questions that really mattered:- what is the purpose of live? The values? How to be perfect? But the sophists failed to answer. -indeed, sophists taught the ambitious to succeed in politics, but persuasive oratory and clever reasoning do not instruct a man in the art of living. -Socrates' central concern was the perfection of individual human character, the achievement f moral excellence. He believed that reason was the only proper guide to the most crucial problem of human existence: the question of good and evil. -because wrong thinking?wrong doing -supplied a method of inquiry called dialectics in urging Athenians to think rationally about the problems. -the good life, the moral life, is attained by the exercise of reason and by the development of intelligence- this percept is the essence of Socratic teaching- made the individual the centre of the universe, reason central to the individual and moral worth the central aim of human life.

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