Socrates
Wisdom can be defined as the knowledge of
what is right and true. The ancient Greeks
discussed, debated, and studied wisdom. This is
called philosophy. The word philosophy comes
from a Greek term meaning "the love of wisdom."
The Greeks believed they could become wise by
using reason. Reason is the ability to think clearly.
Greek philosophers developed logic, a step-by-step
method of using reason to think through a problem.
A philosopher named Socrates challenged the
leaders of Athens by asked his students to use
reason and logic instead of following the directions
of the leaders of Athens.
Socrates was a retired stonecutter. As a young
man he fought in the Peloponnesian War and
served in the boule, but he devoted the last years of
his life to philosophy. Socrates believed that we all
could find truth by thinking logically and trusting
our inner voices. Socrates told his students that
“wisdom begins in wonder.”
Socrates did not teach in a school. The old
philosopher drifted around Athens, engaging his
students in arguments about justice, bravery, and
ethics. Socrates taught by asking questions that
forced his students to use logic. When teachers ask
questions that encourage students to draw
conclusions, they are using the "Socratic method" of
teaching. A priest called the Oracle of Delphi
pronounced Socrates the wisest man in Greece.
Socrates concluded that while others professed
knowledge they did not have, Socrates knew how
little he knew. Socrates asked many questions, but
he gave few answers. He often denied knowing the
answers to the questions he asked.
Socrates did not write any books because he
believed in the superiority of rhetoric over writing.
Rhetoric is speech that is used to persuade
someone. What we know about Socrates comes
mostly from his student, Plato. Plato wrote down
his teacher’s ideas in a series of dialogues. A
dialogue is a conversation between two people.
Athens had recently lost the Peloponnesian War
to Sparta, and the humiliated leaders of the polis
did not want a critic like Socrates challenging their
authority. Socrates called himself a “gadfly.” A
gadfly is a pest that bites livestock. Socrates tried to
use his criticism of Athens to “sting” the polis into
recovering the Golden Age that existed before the
long war.
The Athenian leaders threatened to bring
Socrates to trial on two charges. Socrates refused to
honor the gods. He was also charged with
corrupting the youth of Athens by teaching the
young people to trust their own judgment instead of
following the rules of the city leaders.
Most Athenians expected the
seventy-year-old Socrates to leave
Athens before his arrest, but the old
philosopher remained in Athens,
stood trial, and was found guilty.
Socrates refused to participate in
a plan to escape from prison. The
philosopher calmly accepted his death
by drinking from a cup of poison hemlock, the
customary practice of execution of his time.
Socrates believed that he must obey the law, even if
he disagreed with it.
Plato
What we know about Socrates comes mostly
from his student, Plato. Plato called Socrates "the
best of all men I have ever known." Plato wrote
down his teacher’s ideas in a series of dialogues. A
dialogue is a conversation between two people.
Plato was a young man when he began to study
with Socrates. Plato came from a very wealthy and
powerful family. He was named Aristocles, but he
was better known as Plato, a nickname that means
“broad.” Plato’s nickname could have referred
either to the philosopher’s broad shoulders, or to
the breadth of his great intellect.
When Socrates died, Plato left Athens for more
than a decade. He returned to start the Academy, a
school where Plato and his invited guests would
discuss philosophy.
Plato saw his imperfect world and thought of
ways he could improve society. Plato wrote about
utopia. A utopia is an imaginary place where
governments and social conditions are perfect. No
government has ever adopted Plato’s ideas, but his
philosophy influenced leaders for over two
thousand years.
Plato argued in favor of an "aristocracy of
merit," or rule by the best and the wisest people.
Plato believed that government should raise all
children so that everyone would have equal
opportunities. Schools would test students on a
regular basis. Students who did poorly would be
sent to work, while those who did well would
continue their studies. Plato believed a small group
of intelligent and educated men and women should
govern society. This small group would select the
best and the brightest students to join them.
Later in his life Plato mentored a young man
named Aristotle. A mentor is someone who teaches
or gives help and advice to a less experienced and
often younger person. Aristotle’s ideas would form
the basis of modern science.
Aristotle
Aristotle was the greatest scientist of the
ancient world. He believed in using logic and
reason to explain natural events in an era when
most people believed storms and good harvests
were a consequence of the anger or the pleasure of
the gods.
Aristotle was born in Macedonia, a
mountainous land north of the Greek peninsula. At
that time, many Greeks viewed Macedonia as an old
fashioned land with no culture. Aristotle moved to
Athens and studied at Plato’s Academy. Plato was a
well known philosopher and a student of Socrates.
Aristotle remained at the school for more than
twenty years until shortly after Plato died.
Aristotle then returned to Macedonia, where
King Philip hired him to prepare his thirteen-yearold son, Alexander, for his future role as a military
leader. His student would one day be known as
Alexander the Great, one of the greatest military
conquerors of all time.
Once Alexander became King of Macedonia,
Aristotle returned to Athens and opened a school he
called the Lyceum. For the next twelve years,
Aristotle organized his school as a center of
research on astronomy, zoology, geography,
geology, physics, anatomy, and many other fields.
Aristotle wrote 170 books, 47 of which still exist
more than two thousand years later. Aristotle was
also a philosopher who wrote about ethics (the
study of moral principles), psychology (the study of
the mind and its functions), economics (the study of
the production, consumption, and transfer of
wealth), theology (the study of religious beliefs),
political science (the study of government), and
rhetoric (the art of effective or persuasive speaking
or writing). Later inventions such as the telescope
and microscope would prove many of Aristotle’s
theories to be incorrect, but his ideas formed the
basis of modern science.