Classical Greek philosophy Essays

  • The Influence of Christianity on Ancient and Modern Greece

    1651 Words  | 4 Pages

    and philosophical traditions of the Greek people to create a church, visibly distinguishable from all other sects and denominations of Christianity.? Christianity has certainly influenced the nation of Greece.? However, it is safe to say that Greek culture has also had a notable effect on the way its people view Christianity.? The purpose of this paper is to examine the mutually significant and interacting influences of the Christian faith on Greece and of the Greek culture on Christianity. ?From

  • Human Creativity and Spirit

    2912 Words  | 6 Pages

    pioneering talent, or a collective or superindividual spirit. Evidence for the life and character of spirit is furnished by the historical rise and fall of waves of human creativity. Examples of such waves are classical music, the Italian Renaissance, the German Renaissance, Greek philosophy, Christianity, modern science. The concept of spirit is meaningful. Our experience of value requires it. What are the sources of value? What gives them their authority? Reason, social conditioning, biological

  • The Western Subjectivity Thought

    4250 Words  | 9 Pages

    achievements of western philosophy. It is faced with many difficulties in its development process and has been declared to "have died", but I think that it indeed still has bright prospects of development. 1. Historical Development of Western Subjectivity Thought The word "subject" comes from the Latin word " subjectum ", which means something in front, or something constituting the foundations of other things. In Greek philosophy, at least in Aristotle's philosophy, "subject" is not a philosophical

  • Philosophy’s Prejudice Towards Religion

    3944 Words  | 8 Pages

    after a rivalry developed between philosophy and theology, originating in philosophy’s adopting the role of our culture’s superjudge in all of morality and knowledge, and in faith’s coming to be seen as belief, that is, as assent to propositional content. Religion, no longer trust in the face of mystery, became a belief system. Reason as judge of propositional belief set up religion’s decline. But spirituality is on the rise, and favors trust over reason. Philosophy could make space for the spiritual

  • Kierkegaard and P.M. Moller on Immortality

    2281 Words  | 5 Pages

    loved poets, and beginning in 1831 he held the position of professor of philosophy at the University of Denmark. While at the university Moller taught Moral and Greek Philosophy, and his early philosophical position has been regarded as Hegelian. Kierkegaard began his university studies in 1830, and the young professor made a deep impression upon him. During 1834-36 two events occurred that transformed Moller’s philosophy and also influenced his relation to Kierkegaard. The first was the death

  • Nature vs. Nurture: Which is the Origin of Virtue?

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    influenced psychologists from different perspectives to more thoroughly examine what makes an individual act the way he/she does. This search has been mostly expressed through an ongoing debate that has been around at least since the days of Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle” (VanBuren). Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle believed that happiness requires virtue; hence a person who wanted to be happy needed “virtuous amounts of character.” Socrates identifies happiness with pleasure

  • Alfarabi And Aristotle: The Four Causes And The Four Stages Of The Doc

    1391 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alfarabi and Aristotle: The Four Causes and The Four Stages of The Doctrine of The Intelligence Alfarabi was raised as a young boy in Baghdad. His early life was spent studying the art of linguistics, philosophy, and logic. His teachers were Syrian Christians experts in Greek philosophy. He studied Aristotle and Plato in detail, and it became evident in his later writings that they were a strong influence on him. He became quite a prolific writer, and he wrote more than 100 works, many of which

  • The Neoplatonist Roots of Sufi Philosophy

    2391 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Neoplatonist Roots of Sufi Philosophy Neoplatonism strongly influenced the development of Sufism. Neoplatonism, as developed by Plotinus conceives God to be the source and goal of everything. Islam qua institution is closed to all critical and philosophical thought, but Sufism enjoys a more liberal and critical approach. It is probable that the translations of Plotinus have provided the necessary philosophical ground for Sufism. An examination of both Sufism and Neoplatonism reveals close

  • The Dichotomy of Sight in Oedipus at Colonus

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Dichotomy of Sight in Oedipus at Colonus A simple process formed the backbone of most Greek philosophy.  The ancients thought that by combining two equally valid but opposite ideas, the thesis and the antithesis, a new, higher truth could be achieved.  That truth is called the synthesis.  This tactic of integrating two seemingly opposite halves into a greater whole was a tremendous advance in human logic.  This practice is illustrated throughout Oedipus at Colonus in regard to Sophocles’

  • The Free-Will Determinism Problem in Greek Philosophy: Aristotle

    2775 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Free-Will Determinism Problem in Greek Philosophy: Aristotle Although the tradition of western philosophy was once famously called a series of 'footnotes to Plato' (A.N. Whitehead), there seems to be at least one major philosophical debate that owes it s heritage neither to Plato nor to any of his ancient compatriots. The problem of free will and determinism seems not to have been a major issue directly exercising the minds of philosophers of the ancient world. There are probably two main

  • The Beginnings of Greek Philosophy

    4198 Words  | 9 Pages

    The Beginnings of Greek Philosophy The Milesians and Heraclitus Long before the time of Thales, a citizen of Miletus, in the district of Ionia on the west coast of Asia Minor, Chaldaen astrologers had listed data on the position of the stars and planets. As Thales studied these tables he thought he discerned a pattern or regularity in the occurrence of eclipses, and he ventured to predict a solar eclipse that occurred on May 28th 585BC. Some scholars think that this was just a lucky empirical

  • Destiny, Fate, and Free Will in Oedipus the King

    584 Words  | 2 Pages

    No Ecape form Fate in Oedipus the King Ancient Greeks developed a god for every aspect of their lives. They heavily worshiped their gods and would make sacrifices of domestic animals to these gods. These gods were immortal beings who controlled their lives and determined their destiny. This "religion" is mainly based on a body of diverse stories and legends, and contained no formal structure. Of their gods there was: Zeus the master of the gods and spiritual father of all people and gods

  • Cosmogony

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    views of the different religions remain the same, but most views differ from each other. Chinese philosophical interest was centered on human affairs. Egypt was motivated to show that divine fiat conceives cosmic creation (Brandon 208). The Greek philosophy concerned itself with considering origin and constitution of the universe. Some cosmological ideas in the Hebrew religion represent the creation of the universe by divine fiat (Brandon 208). Divine fiat is defined when God said ‘Let there be

  • Atom And Qi

    2080 Words  | 5 Pages

    Atom & Qi The atom is the smallest portion of a substance that is not perceivable by human senses. The notion of atoms was conceived by ancient Greeks and was developed over thousands of years of scientific inquiry. The concept of qi as the most basic substance of which the world (everything) is comprised, was understood by the ancient Chinese. Both ¡¥atom¡¦ and ¡¥qi¡¦ are believed to exist by human beings and both are considered to be unseen objects (until we could see atoms recently). However,

  • Learning Temperance in Homer’s Odyssey

    1517 Words  | 4 Pages

    Temperance in Homer’s Odyssey Being a work of importance in the western tradition of philosophy, The Odyssey is much more than some play written by Homer ages ago. Though The Odyssey certainly is a dramatic work and partially intended for entertainment, it also provides insight into the ways of thinking of the time it has been written in. Aside from illustrating the perspective of early Greek philosophy The Odyssey also raises certain questions pertaining to virtues and the morality of actions

  • The Socratic Psyche

    1835 Words  | 4 Pages

    his questioning technique, called dialectic, has greatly influenced Western philosophy. Socrates is alleged to have said that ^the unexamined life is not worth living.^ In 399 B. C., he was brought to trial on charges of corrupting the youth and religious heresy. Sentenced to die, he drank poison. Of the early life of Socrates, there is little to go on. Looking at W.K.C. Guthrie^s History of Greek Philosophy Vol. III, we can extract some useful background information. Socrates

  • Scott Consigny on Protagoras and Logos: A Study in Greek Philosophy and Rhetoric.

    3255 Words  | 7 Pages

    Scott Consigny on Protagoras and Logos: A Study in Greek Philosophy and Rhetoric Edward Schiappa's cogent and eloquent book fully deserves the praise it has received. As Donovan Ochs observes in his 1991 review of the book (RSQ 21: 3942), Schiappa, presents a clear account of Protagoras' philosophy and supports his reading with a detailed analysis of each of Protagoras' five extant fragments. But even though Schiappa's reading is compelling, we need not necessarily be persuaded by it; for as

  • Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, three men considered to be the quintessential basis of ancient Greek philosophy. Not only were they responsible for Greek enlightenment, but also foreshadowed the coming of Christ in there speculations. Plato, the protégé of Socrates, became the first to document the philosophy of his teacher, which in turn is passed down to Aristotle. This process of mentoring aided ancient man in the intellectual evolution of politics and religion, known as the linear concept. Socrates

  • Antisthenes' Concept of Paideia

    2373 Words  | 5 Pages

    Athens (445-360 B.C.) is remembered for being one of Socrates' older pupils. (1) In fact, he was old enough to have first studied under the sophists, before he met Socrates. (2) He thus stands straddling three important periods in the history of Greek philosophy. As a 5th century philosopher, he copied the rhetoric of Gorgias in his famous Ajax and Odysseus speeches and like the sophists, believed that virtue was teachable; surviving into the 4th century, he was taken seriously by Plato and Aristotle

  • Role Of Arche And Apeiron In Early Presocratic Philosophy

    3645 Words  | 8 Pages

    Arche and Apeiron in Early Presocratic Philosophy Metaphysical speculation began, long before it was so named, among the presocratic Greeks as an enquiry into cosmology and first principles from two utterly disparate perspectives. The first of these, propounded by Herakleitos, noted the incessant flux (panta rhei) which characterises phenomena; the second, advanced by his contemporary Parmenides, taught the doctrine of a single immutable substance. These rivalling perspectives endure to this