Ancient Greek Philosophy Chapter 7 Summary

Moreover, Plato was highly influential on my thinking about the soul; I

Plato’s idea that there was a perfect world of ideas affected this pieces subject and the

Ancient Greece has been a religion- centered culture since the earliest period of habitation in Greece, the Pre-Mycenaean/Mycenaean period. Also through to the Dark Ages to the Classical period. It is a religiously centered civilization, and did have significant changes in the how it was incorporated into people’s daily lives. Religion is important to know about the Ancient Greeks because through it we are able to understand how they lived their lives.

1. During the Mycenaean civilization, who was the great poet and what were his two important literary works that influenced the Greeks and formed part of Western literature? Homer, The Iliad, The Odyssey

King Philip II used phalanxes in his army. The greek city states could not agree on a single policy

Ancient philosopher Plato’s affiliation with religion is evident across multiple dialogues and referenced during his discussion of both metaphysical and ontological questions. Plato did not believe in one singular god, but many [2]. In his work Timaeus, he proposed that the universe

For century’s women were viewed to be inferior to Men. In some cases, women were not even considered to be human. Our sole purpose for living was to please men and reproduce. Although women bare the gift of creating life inside their womb and giving birth it is still seen as weakness as motherhood and nurturing women are feeble.

Plato, in addition to being a philosopher, wrestled at the Olympic level, is one of the classical Greek authors, mathematicians and the founder of The Academy, the first higher learning institute in the west. In short, Plato is one of the great thinkers in history and his contributions to philosophy, ethics and politics are many and varied. One of Plato’s main philosophical ideas is based on the idea that the world

Chapter nine’s main focus was on being able to identify your signature strengths. The strengths of characters talked about are how we achieve the virtues mentioned in chapter eight. The virtues include wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity and love, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Though the strengths in which we acquire the virtues include things such as hope, social intelligence, teamwork, loyalty, curiosity, etc. The first part of the chapter goes on to explain the difference between talents and strengths. Talents are nonmoral, while strengths are moral traits. We are able to build strength and make a choice as when to use and acquire it, while a talents have a limit as to how many you can acquire and you either have it or you

It is often said that Greek civilization underwent a transition from myth to reason. But what does this assertion really mean? Is it true? Could it be that the Greeks were special in having evolved our sort of reason, or is that an illusion?

He writes, “when turned towards the twilight of becoming and perishing, then [the soul] has opinion only, and goes blinking about, and seems to have no intelligence” (Book VI, p. 25). By establishing opinion as the opposite to the ultimate good, and by definition, the ultimate evil, he criticizes the use of rhetoric and persuasion while praising to his long-winded, circuitous form of writing. By continually asking questions and telling parables, Plato avoids direct advocation of his beliefs and allows his readers to discover the truth for themselves, rather than to be coerced through eloquent language.

Plato in his Republic thoughtfully examines how an individual’s soul can attain self-control, as well as implications it carries with it —such as its correspondence with the structure of the city, unity in having ‘stronger’ rule, and social reputations — all reasons that become riddled with fallacies as Plato comes to contradict himself such as in the liability of error and social perceptions being just.

explains his belief that the “soul exists before, and survives the body”. Plato 's beliefs of

Thus, Plato argued that the soul must have existed outside of the natural world. In order for this to be so, it must be immortal, living before it came into this world. It only stands to reason, Plato contended, that it must continue to exist after it leaves this world. How else would it have been in existence before it came into this world? Plato believed that it was a rational assumption that our soul must continue to exist even after our death.

Throughout the history of the world, philosophy has been at the forefront of the human search for knowledge, but there is no other philosophy like ancient Greek philosophy. Ancient Greek philosophy roughly began in the sixth century BCE and continued on up until ancient Greece became apart of the Roman Empire. The great Greek philosophers of the time, like Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle focused their study of philosophy in subjects like political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, ontology, logic, biology, and rhetoric to name a few. Even today many philosophers agree that ancient Greek philosophy has influenced much of today’s Western culture. Among the broad subject of ancient Greek philosophy there were many sub-forms of Greek philosophy like the Pre-Socratic philosophy, which involves the Milesian school, and Pythagoreanism, and classical Greek philosophy, which involves Socrates’, Plato’s, and Aristotle’s teachings; and then there was sophism and the sophists. Who are the sophists and why/how are their teachings relevant with the rest of ancient Greek philosophy?