Golden Era of Greek PhilosophyGolden Era of Greek Philosophy

The Greek Triumvirate

The Greek TriumvirateThe Greek Triumvirate

The Greek Triumvirate of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle is considered as the golden era of Greek philosophy, the period of highest perfection. The period of highest perfection in philosophy was also the period of the political greatness of Greece. From the preoccupation with the ultimate material stuff which composes the universe, the Greek triumvirate started inquiring topics about man, virtues such as justice, happiness, temperance, the state and some other diverse issues.

• World-renowned classical Greek philosophers.

• The trio of Plato, Socrates (his teacher) and Aristotle (his student) laid the fundamentals of Western philosophy.

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Socrates

BackgroundBackground

• Socrates: Athens' street-corner philosopher

• Socrates was the big-city philosopher in ancient Athens.

• His father is a stone-man or sculptor, his mother is a midwife.

• His wife Xantippe, said to be an ugly woman, bore him three children.

EducationEducation

• The wealthy Athenian Crito took him out of the stone-mason’s workshop and paid for his education

• He was a pupil of Anaxagoras • Attracted to the topics raised by

the Sophists. • One dialogue of Plato has a young

Socrates listening to Zeno of Elea and talking with him and Parmenides.

Philosophical MissionPhilosophical Mission

• Chaerephon, went to the Delphic oracle asking if there was anyone who was wiser than Socrates, oracle responded that there was not.

• Not feeling wise, Socrates cross-examined the ‘wise’ men of society. (statesmen, poets, artisans, and others.) He did NOT find them wise.

• the pursuit of wisdom became Socrates’ full-time job

Socrates…Socrates…

Socrates didn't write books; he just liked to ask probing and sometimes

humiliating questions, which gave rise to the famous Socratic Method of

Teaching.

A man of VIRTUE

Famous quote: "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Socratic MethodSocratic Method

• Simply means Question and Answer

• Socrates spent most of his time asking question about ethical issues.

• He had a knack for asking questions exposing ignorance, hypocrisy, and conceit among his fellow Athenians,particularly in regard to moral questions.

• argued that knowledge was virtue

The Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War

• Disastrous twenty-seven year struggle (431-404 B.C.E.) between the rival Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta.

• Socrates fought in this war and it defined him intellectually.

• He was critical of Athenian democracy and Spartan Oligarchy

• 3 of his former students were leaders associated with the downfall of Athens

The Trial of SocratesThe Trial of Socrates

• An Athenian Democrat, Anytus, who suffered under Spartan control of Athens (when a puppet government of ‘30 tyrants’ led by a former student of Socrates was in charge.) brought charges against Socrates….

• “Socrates is guilty of not believing in the gods in which the state believes, but brings in other new divinities; he also wrongs by corrupting the youth .”

a) Impietyb) Corruption of the minds of

the youth

Death of SocratesDeath of Socrates

• In his defense Socrates gave a spontaneous speech relying on reason, refuting all the charges one by one .

• There were 501 men on the jury, and he was condemned by 60 votes.

• The prosecutors proposed the death penalty, and Socrates had the opportunity to offer an alternative but antagonized the jury.

• He died after drinking glass of hemlock poison.

ContributionsContributions

• Socrates was an awakened thinker that questioned the moral and political aspects of Athens and found flaws

ContributionsContributions

• He pioneered the use of inductive (reasoning from general to specific) reasoning which is to make conclusions. Aristotle stated that Socrates founded the Scientific Method which refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena.

ContributionsContributions

• He showed the world the meaning of commitment; he could have escaped the death sentence but went through with it because it doesn’t cope with his philosophy which was to question. Socrates had these and many other important contributions to mankind.