Exotic Journeys: A Tourist's Guide to Philosophy

brought to you by Ron Yezzi

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy

Minnesota State University, Mankato

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We look to the Greeks as the founders of Western

Philosophy. Starting with Thales (c. 640 - c. 546 B.C.E.), the

Greek philosophers turned away from religiously-dominated

interpretations of basic questions about nature and the

direction of life―striving instead for reasoned answers.

Their influence continued throughout ancient times, including

the Roman period.

This website covers the following philosophers (roughly

in chronological order): Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes,

Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, Empedocles,

Anaxagoras, Democritus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Socrates, Plato,

Aristotle, Antisthenes, Diogenes, Epicurus, Lucretius, Epictetus,

Marcus Aurelius, Carneades, Sextus Empiricus, and Cicero.

At the top of this page, you will find some more general

headings for grouping these philosophers―except for

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle who get separate treatment.

There are other ancient western philosophers, generally

considered to be more minor figures, who receive no mention

here.

A statue of the "Philosopher," at the Palazzo dei Conservatori, in Rome

Ancient Western Philosophy: An Introduction

Topics

Philosophical Background

Some Major Themes

Some Leading Problems

Historical Background

Life of Citizens

Democracy in Athens

Greek Religion

Philosophical Background

Some Major Themes

1. Objective reason resulting in generalizations is the key to understanding. The Greeks certainly did not invent reasoning; but they took it to a higher level of abstraction than was present earlier in Mediterranean civilizations. They were seeking generalizations that would make comprehensible a single order of nature. And their search, in particular, led them to ask "why" questions.

2. The world seems constantly to be in a state of process, or change. How should we understand this process? The answers covered the extremes―the denial of all change (Parmenides) and the denial of all permanence (Heraclitus)―as well as positions in between.

Some Leading Problems

1. What is the basic stuff of the universe?

The answers begin with a focus on the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water. Although we tend to think of these elements as things, we come to a better understanding if we associate them more with properties—solid, gaseous, lively, and liquid, respectively.

With Plato and Aristotle, answers regarding the basic stuff of the universe become more subtle.

2. How is change to be understood?

3. Is nature animate?

For living things, there seems to be a principle of life that animates them―this principle usually being associated with a soul. Is there some similar source of animation for physical things like the sun or the moon or lightning?

a. In trying to answer this question, the Greek philosophers became engaged in a search for the causes of motion.

4. How should human beings live and how should states be governed?

These questions were introduced most clearly by Socrates. Plato and Aristotle took up the questions; but they also embedded them within highly sophisticated philosophical systems. After Aristotle, perhaps due to a greater general pessimism regarding human possibilities, there is a focus on personal life directed toward achieving peace of mind―particularly by the Epicureans, Stoics, and Skeptics.

5. What method should philosophers use?

Socrates, in his intellectual jousts around Athens, introduced the philosophical method of challenging question-and-answer discourse that has come to be known as the "Socratic" or "dialectical" method. But it was Plato who immortalized the method in his writings and made method a central issue in philosophical inquiry. Aristotle followed up with his own distinctive philosophical method. For both philosophers, the quality of the method is fundamental for the successful acquisition of knowledge.

Greek Historical Background

The city-state of Athens was the cultural center of Greek civilization. Its chief political competitor, Sparta, produced the best soldiers in Greece; but it never produced a single major philosopher, writer of tragedies or comedies, poet, or sculptor.

Before we become too infatuated with the notion of Athenian "high" culture however, we should know that Athenians often exhibited an unruly exuberance for life that tended toward excess in acquiring goods and sensual pleasure as much as in the search for beauty or meaning in life.

Here are some snapshots of ancient Greece from Will Durant's The Story of Civilization: Part II, The Life of Greece (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939):

Democracy in Athens

Democracy thrived during the years 480-399 B.C.E. About 43,000 persons out of an Attic population of 315,000 were citizens. Women, children, slaves, and resident aliens were excluded.

1. 2000-3000 citizens were likely to attend assemblies. While all had the right to speak, the leaders and professional speakers were the ones who usually addressed the assembly.

2. Trials by jury usually had 300 jurors, chosen from a registry (heliaea) of 6000 citizens.

3. Torturing slaves to gain confessions was common.

4. Comment: So democracy in Athens was not quite as ideal a model as people sometimes believe.

Greek Religion

Greek religion had a stabilizing effect on morals, by providing sanctions; it also was often associated with patriotic rites. Private creeds were allowed; but blasphemy was dangerous.

1. There were thousands of gods. But Greek culture in many ways can be viewed as a struggle between two gods―Apollo who is associated with order, measure, and beauty and Dionysius who is the god of wine and is associated with revelry and festivals

a. Plato is sometimes referred to as “The Son of Apollo.”

2. The state controlled religion, rather than religion controlling the state.

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