What is a philosopher?
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Philosophers are deep thinkers who think about life
on a regular basis.
Ancient Greek philosophers sometimes thought, all
day without speaking to anyone.
They can be men or woman who like to study
knowledge, and they usually either read books or
just daydream.
Socrates
• Socrates was born in
Athens, Greece in
470 B.C.
• He was ALWAYS
asking questions!
• Socrates studied
drama, science,
astronomy, math, and
geometry.
Socrates
• When Socrates father
died he inherited his
property.
• Since Socrates was a
property owner he
had to fight in the
army.
• Socrates was a very
good warrior.
Socrates
• When Socrates
returned from the war
he became a teacher.
• He insisted his
students learn by
asking questions.
Socrates
• Socrates was
arrested!
• He was accused of
teaching his students
to think dangerous
thoughts!
• He was sentenced to
death!
Socrates
• He refused to escape.
• He also refused to
defend himself because
he didn’t think he was
guilty of doing anything
wrong.
• Rather than letting
someone else kill him
Socrates drank some
poison and killed
himself.
Plato
• Plato was born in
Athens in 429 BC
• His family was very
rich.
• When Plato was a
young man he used
to go listen to
Socrates.
Plato
• When Plato was 30
years old Socrates
died.
• Plato decided to write
down everything he
could remember that
Socrates had taught
him.
Plato
• After a while Plato began
writing down his own ideas
about philosophy.
• He thought that most people
were pretty dumb and he didn’t
believe they should be able to
make their own decisions.
• He felt that only a few of the
smartest people should make
all of the decisions!
• He even wrote a book about
this called The Republic.
Plato
• Plato also thought
about the natural
world a lot.
• He felt that man did
not understand the
real world very well.
• Plato started a school
in Athens called “The
Academy.”
Aristotle
• When Aristotle was a
young man he went to
study at Plato’s
school, “The
Academy.”
• He was already pretty
old when he started to
study there.
Aristotle
• When Plato died
Aristotle was not
chosen to take over
the school.
• He was probably mad
about that.
• So he left Athens and
became the tutor of
Alexander the Great!
Aristotle
• Alexander the Great
grew up and became
a king.
• So Aristotle went
back to Athens and
opened up his own
school called the
Lyceum.
Aristotle
• Aristotle was more
interested in science
than Socrates or
Plato, probably
because his father
was a doctor.
• He was especially
interested in biology.
Aristotle
• Aristotle spent the last
years of his life in the
North, where he had
been born.
• He died in 323 B.C.
Archimedes
• Archimedes was born
in 287 B.C.
• His father was an
astronomer.
• He lived on the island
of Sicily, which used
to be part of ancient
Greece!
Archimedes
• Archimedes was an
inventor!
• He invented lots of
different machines.
• One of the machines
he invented was a
screw that helped lift
water from one place
to another.
Archimedes
• Archimedes was
very interested in
WHY things
worked.
• He also wanted to
know if things
worked the same
way every time.
Archimedes
• He explained how
lever worked.
• He also worked on
getting a more
accurate number
for “pi.”
Archimedes
• He is best known for
discovering Archimedes'
principle, which states that
a body immersed in fluid
loses weight equal to the
weight of the amount of fluid
it displaces. As the story
goes, Archimedes made
this discovery as he
immersed himself in a full
tub of water and watched
the water overflow
Archimedes
• Archimedes died
when the Romans
conquered Syracuse.
• He was killed by a
Roman soldier.
• Archimedes will
always be
remembered for his
great ideas.