The Beginnings of Greek Philosophy Essay

The ancient Greeks with their brilliant and imaginative spirit created a complete order of things that functioned harmoniously in the infinite world that contained them. Although its exact origins are lost in time, Greek religion is thought to date from about the 2d millenium B.C., when the culture of Aryan invaders fused with those of the Aegean and Minoan peoples who had inhabited the region of Greece from Neolithic times [1]. The beginning and the genesis of this world occupied the ancient Greeks in much the same way it did the early people of every civilization. Greek religion was at the beginning a blend of Minoan, Egyptian, Asian, and other elements, but it subsequently evolved along with Greek thought.

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.

This paper looks at two Greek philosophers, Heraclitus, and Parmenides. It examines their different theories as to how the universe was created, understanding of the universe, 'way of truth, ' 'way of opinion ' and the third way. The author explains that Parmenides, who came after Heraclitus, addressed part of his writings as a refutation of Heraclitus? views. He objected both to Heraclitus? view of the universe and how Heraclitus felt people could gain knowledge of it.

Historians have long considered Ancient Greece to be one of the most influential societies on modern day life. Ancient Greece has inspired the modern world in five main areas: theatre, government, philosophy, art, and architecture.

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

Socrates and Aristotle were both Greek philosophers who contributed philosophies. Socrates believed that all people contained real knowledge within them and that self critical examination was needed to bring this knowledge out. Socrates once stated, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In this philosophical idea, Socrates is suggesting that an individual, who chooses to not think about their own actions, does not truly care about their own life. Aristotle believed in the concept of examining individual objects and being able to perceive their form and establish universal principles. These principles did not exist as a separate higher world of reality beyond material things, but were apart of things themselves. Aristotle has

The Greeks were a civilization that have been admired and studied by historians for over hundreds of years before their tragic collapse. An extraordinary individual named Eratosthenes was born in a small Greek colony called Cyrene, he was a very talented Grecian who has a young man traveled to Athens to pursue studies. In all my years of reading about the ancient Greeks and studying geography, the name “Eratosthenes” had always come up. Taking AP Human Geography last year, my teacher was captivated by Eratosthenes and he would continuously state facts about him. But a unique statement struck me and could never leave my head. When talking about the earths tilt, latitude, and longitude he told us that someone over 2250 years ago, with only basic

Plato was a philosopher who was born in Athens (470-390 BCE), and was also a student of Socrates. He felt that intelligence and one’s perception belonged to completely independent realms or realities. He believed that general concepts of knowledge were predestined, or placed in the soul before birth even occurred in living things. Plato believed that the cosmos was intelligible, and the the universe was mathematically understandable. He believes that mathematical objects could be seen as perfect forms. Forms, a doctoral of Plato, can be understood as an everyday object or idea, which does not, exists in the everyday realm, but merely is existent in the hypothetical realm or reality.

With man and nature, there is seemingly a constant curiosity that of which compels many to contemplate questions and to ultimately seek answers for those questions. In modern day, man seeks science, logic, and mathematics to name a few in order to search for those compelling thoughts. However, it was seemingly not that easy in the era of the Ancient Greeks. The Ancient Greeks did feature mathematics, however, to explain natural phenomenon, there was not a reference to science and logic, and like other nations it was rather, mythology.

Anaximenes (585 - 528 B.C.) was an early Pre-Socratic philosopher from the Greek city of Miletus in Ionia which is now modern day Turkey. He was a important figure in the Milesian School as well as a friend of Anaximander. Anaximenes pursued the Milesians' philosophical inquiries regarding the first principle of the universe. Anaximenes concluded that it was air. In the realm of the physical sciences, Anaximenes was the first Greek to distinguish clearly between planets and stars, and was able to use his principles to account for numerous kinds of natural phenomena, for example, earthquakes and thunder and lightning.

discovery of nature that we commonly think of as the original physics. The town of

Ancient Greece forged many of the contributions seen in western civilizations. One of the most influential contributions is literature. Those contributions where very important then and still are today.

Every idea has a start and a history that can be traced back in time. An incredible amount of these ideas and thoughts were started by great ancient civilizations. These ancient civilizations are the base of all modern knowledge. No ancient civilization has contributed more to this base than the civilization of Ancient Greece. The unique ways of ancient Greek agriculture have left a profound influence on the agriculture of today.

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?

In addition, Thales also theorizes that water is an essential source of life. He says, through the account of Simplicius that “corpses dry up,” in the sense that without nourishment of water, there is no life (91 Kirk). [Also, the Pre-Socratics often associate life with motion, as another testimony of Aristotle on Thales implies -- “a magnet has a soul, so does amber”