Greek Influence On Western Civilization

The ancient Greeks made numerous contributions to not only our society, but to civilizations world wide. They believed there was rational order in the universe and they were on a mission to find it. They believed they were capable of perfection and strived to achieve just that. They had brilliant philosophers and mathematicians. Some names that probably already pop into your mind when thinking about ancient Greeks are Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. These three men, along with many others, changed the world with their intellectual abilities. They had many similarities in their philosophies and ways they see the world, but also some very different views that formed the Western culture. Plato was very influenced by Pythagoras. Pythagoras was

This foundation also led other philosophers to base ideas of the mind verse body concept. The mind was superior in Plato’s eyes, and the body was subject to material things. He felt the mind should only be focused on because it was absolute, rational, and perfect. By doing so, he may have affected the ways Christians feel about sexuality. St. Augustine promoted only beliefs of heavenly things than earthly matters, and it is believed that this changed the Christian view. Plato saw the world as a vague illusion of reality. Not one person can behold the views or thoughts of the 7 billion people on this earth. My happy is having a roof over my head, a family, and clean water to drink. Another person might not even think twice about being grateful for those simple things. I’ve been to Africa, Trinidad, and places in Europe where most of the people in the community are not fortunate to have any of the three I listed. They haven’t had an opportunity to see what other people experience outside of their culture. They are perfectly content and happy with what they have (which I‘m not saying is a bad thing), and don’t realize that there is so much more out there for them. This leads us to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” He explains that humankind has never emerged out of this cave to see the light of day. They simply excepted the shadows they saw on the wall and spent their life being too ignorant to see the outside

He was Plato’s teacher and was thought to just be a fictional character Plato wrote about. Luckily, others have wrote about Plato to prove he was real. He was often to stubborn to write anything, and he chose to ask question instead of lecturing. His pursuit was for truth. The ultimate truth was “knowing thyself.” He believed that life was not worth living if one did not try to perfect their soul. His goal was to make yourself as good as you can be. This should be everyone’s’ goal in life. Unfortunately, most people are too lazy or corrupted to believe that they can reach their full potential. He didn’t believe in teaching as much as questioning his students in hopes that they would teach themselves. He felt by teaching and having students pay for it, he was just a pimp whoring out knowledge and learning (I liked your example). If only Socrates could see most every school in the world. Today. I don’t think he’d be very happy. Socrates provided students with the skills to become life-long learners, and by doing so, he formed genuine relationships and gained another viewpoint to see the world