Think about the meaning of the following quotes and write them on a sheet of paper.

SECTION 2GREEK

PHILOSOPHYAND HISTORY

Chapter 5

I. Greek Philosophers (pgs. 169 – 172)

The word philosophy comes from the Greek word for “love of wisdom.”

Greek thinkers who believed the human mind could understand everything were called philosophers.

Greek philosophers developed ideas that are still used today and led to the study of history, political science, science, and mathematics.

Pythagoras (pg. 169) Pythagoras (puh*tha*gu*ruhs), a Greek teacher and

philosopher, taught his students that the universe followed the same laws that governed music and numbers.

He believed that all relationships in the world could be expressed in numbers.

He developed many new ideas about mathematics, most notably, the Pythagorean theorem that is still used in geometry today.

It is used to determine the length of the sides of a triangle.

Who Were the Sophists? (pg. 169 – 170)

The Sophists (sah*fihsts) were professional teachers who traveled from city to city to teach others.

They believed that people should use their time and knowledge to improve themselves.

They developed the art of public speaking and debate.

They did NOT believe that gods/goddesses influenced people and that there is no absolute right or wrong.

The Ideas of Socrates (pgs. 170 – 171) Socrates (sah*kruh*teez) was an Athenian sculptor and

philosopher.

He believed that an absolute truth existed and that all real knowledge was within each person.

He invented the Socratic Method of teaching: teacher asks pointed questions and students use their reason to figure things out for themselves.

Many Athenian leaders considered the Socratic method a threat to their power by teaching young Athenians to rebel against the state.

Socrates was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Although Socrates could have fled the city, he chose to stay and drank poison to carry out his death sentence.

The Ideas of Plato (pg. 171) Plato (play*toh) was a student of Socrates

He wrote the Republic which explains his ideas about government.

Plato believed democracy was not a good system of government and that men and women should have the same education and an equal opportunity for jobs.

Plato’s ideal government divided people into three basic groups:

Philosopher kings who ruled with logic and wisdom

Warriors who defended the state from attack

Everybody else(produced food, clothing, and

shelter)Driven by desire rather than wisdom

Who Was Aristotle (pg.171) Aristotle (ar*uh*stah*tuhl) was a student of Plato.

In 335 B.C., he opened his own school called the Lyceum.

Taught his students the “golden mean” – a person should do nothing in excess.

Aristotle helped advance science and was the first person to group observations according to their similarities and differences.

In his book Politics, Aristotle studied and compared 158 places to find the best government.

He divided the governments into three types:

Government by many people, like in a democracy

Government by a few people, like an aristocracy or oligarchy

Government by one person, such as a monarch (king/queen), or a tyrant

II. Greek Historians (pg. 173) Greeks wrote the first real histories in Western civilization.

In 435 B.C., a Greek named Herodotus (hih*rah*duh*tuhs) wrote the history of the Persian Wars.

Western historians consider him the “father of history.”

Thucydides (thoo*sih*duh*deez) considered the greatest historian of the ancient world.

Exiled after losing a battle in the Peloponnesian War, he wrote History of the Peloponnesian War.

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