Ancient Greek Philosophers: Jigsaw Notes
Socrates

Born ________ B.C.

Considered to be the father of _______________.

Socrates left no __________________ behind; we know of his ideas from his student,
______________.

A group of young men flocked to learn from Socrates. He sought to teach through a path of
________.

The Socratic Method is…

Because he was not afraid to criticize others as well as Athens, he created
_______________.

When Socrates heard from the Oracle of Delphi that no one was wiser than him, he thought
this was a paradox as he always said he ____________________.

Socrates criticized others who thought they knew _______.

Which two things came together to lead to the arrest and trial of Socrates?

What was Socrates found guilty of?

When found guilty, Socrates __________ the verdict and took hemlock poison.

He could have been free if he had _____________ his beliefs. However, as a philosopher, he
felt it was more _____________ to stick to his beliefs.
Plato

Modern scholars believe he was born most likely around ________ B.C.

We don’t know much about Plato’s life because of a lack of ______________________.

His parents both came from the Greek ___________.

What were the two events that greatly affected Plato’s life?

The defeat of Athens ended its ___________. The Spartans then replaced it with an
______________.

When the _____________ was overthrown, Plato thought about a career in politics but
decided to stick to philosophy and study after the execution of ___________.

Plato traveled for 12 years throughout the _________________ region and studied
throughout _________ and Egypt.

Plato’s writings fall into _________ distinct periods.

The first period occurs during Plato’s travels (399- _____ B.C.). In The Apology of Socrates ,
Plato goes about trying to teach Socrates’ __________ and teachings.

In the second period, Plato writes his own opinions on ________, courage, wisdom and
moderation of the individual and ____________.

By the third period, Socrates takes on a more _________ role and Plato explores the themes
of dance, music, drama and architecture, as well as ethics and mortality.

Around 385 B.C., Plato founded the __________, a school of learning.

The Academy operated until 529 A.D. Why was it then closed?

Plato’s goal for the Academy was that it would…

__________ was one of his most promising students at the Academy.

Plato died around _____B.C., when he was in his early _________.
Aristotle

Aristotle was born most likely around ________ B.C.

When he turned 17, his family sent him to _________ to pursue a ________________.

He was sent to ______ because at the time, it was considered the academic center of the
___________.

He enrolled in the __________, which was run by the famous philosopher ___________, who was
a student of ____________.

In 338 B.C. Aristotle went home to ___________ to tutor _____________________.

King Phillip II and ___________ both held Aristotle in high esteem and he was paid
_____________ for his work.

In 335 B.C., after _________ had conquered Athens, Aristotle went back to the city and started his
own school called the ___________.

The school researched topics from science and math to philosophy and politics, and nearly everything
_______________. Their findings were written up in ___________, which helped build up the
school’s massive collection of written materials.

_______ was one of the main topics Aristotle researched. He believed that knowledge could be
obtained through interacting with _________________.

He attempted to classify animals into _________ based on their __________________. While
there were some ___________, his classification system was seen as the standard system for many
years.

With the earth sciences, Aristotle identified the ______________ . His views on the Earth were
controversial at the time, but were popularized during the late ____________.

Aristotle’s philosophy involved both __________ and deductive reasoning.

He would observe the workings of the world around him and then reason from the _____________
to ____________ laws.

Aristotle was the first major proponent of the modern ___________________.

When it came to politics, Aristotle argued that humans are _____________ animals. That means
they are also social animals and that any understanding of human behavior or needs MUST include
social _____________.

He investigated the ______ of various kinds of political systems, describing their different _______
and vices.

Later in life, Aristotle had to flee from Chalcis to escape prosecution for __________, which mean he
did not have respect for the ______. He died in _______.

While his works fell out of favor during the next hundred years, they were later revived during the
__________ century.