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1. Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War (460 BC - circa 445 BC) was fought between Sparta as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, and the Delian League led by Athens with support from Argos. This war consisted of a series of conflicts and minor wars, such as the Second Sacred War. There were several causes for the war including the building of the Athenian long walls, Megara's defection and the envy felt by Sparta at the growth of the Athenian Empire.
The war began in 460 BC (Battle of Oenoe).[1][2][3][4] At first the Athenians had the better of the fighting, winning the naval engagements using their superior fleet. They also had the better of the fighting on land, until 457 BC when the Spartans and their allies defeated the Athenian army at Tanagra. The Athenians, however, counter attacked and scored a crushing victory over the Boeotians at the Battle of Oenophyta and followed this victory up by conquering all of Boeotia except for Thebes.
Athens further consolidated their position by making Aegina a member of the Delian League and by ravaging the Peloponnese. The Athenians were defeated in 454 BC by the Persians in Egypt which caused them to enter into a five years' truce with Sparta. However, the war flared up again in 448 BC with the start of the Second Sacred War. In 446 BC, Boeotia revolted and defeated the Athenians at Coronea and regained their independence.
The Peloponnesian War ended in an arrangement between Sparta and Athens, which was ratified by the Thirty Years' Peace (winter of 446–445 BC). According to the provisions of this peace treaty, both sides maintained the main parts of their empires. Athens continued its domination of the sea while Sparta dominated the land. Megara returned to the Peloponnesian League and Aegina becoming a tribute paying but autonomous member of the Delian League. The war between the two leagues restarted in 431 BC and in 404 BC, Athens was occupied by Sparta.
Commanders and leaders | |
2. Persian War
The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city-states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered Ionia in 547 BC. Struggling to rule the independent-minded cities of Ionia, the Persians appointed tyrants to rule each of them. This would prove to be the source of much trouble for the Greeks and Persians alike.
In 499 BC, the then tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, embarked on an expedition to conquer the island of Naxos, with Persian support;[2] however, the expedition was a debacle and, pre-empting his dismissal, Aristagoras incited all of Hellenic Asia Minor into rebellion against the Persians. This was the beginning of the Ionian Revolt, which would last until 493 BC, progressively drawing more regions of Asia Minor into the conflict. Aristagoras secured military support from Athens and Eretria, and in 498 BC these forces helped to capture and burn the Persian regional capital of Sardis. The Persian king Darius the Great vowed to have revenge on Athens and Eretria for this act. The revolt continued, with the two sides effectively stalemated throughout 497–495 BC. In 494 BC, the Persians regrouped, and attacked the epicentre of the revolt in Miletus. At the Battle of Lade, the Ionians suffered a decisive defeat, and the rebellion collapsed, with the final members being stamped out the following year.
Seeking to secure his empire from further revolts and from the interference of the mainland Greeks, Darius embarked on a scheme to conquer Greece and to punish Athens and Eretria for burning Sardis. The first Persian invasion of Greece began in 492 BC, with the Persian general Mardonius conquering Thrace and Macedon before several mishaps forced an early end to the campaign. In 490 BC a second force was sent to Greece, this time across the Aegean Sea, under the command of Datis and Artaphernes. This expedition subjugated the Cyclades, before besieging, capturing and razing Eretria. However, while on route to attack Athens, the Persian force was decisively defeated by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon, ending Persian efforts for the time being. Darius then began to plan to complete the conquest of Greece, but died in 486 BC and responsibility for the conquest passed to his son Xerxes I. In 480 BC, Xerxes personally led the second Persian invasion of Greece with one of the largest ancient armies ever assembled. Victory over the 'Allied' Greek states (led by Sparta and Athens) at the Battle of Thermopylae allowed the Persians to overrun most of Greece. However, while seeking to destroy the combined Greek fleet, the Persians suffered a severe defeat at the Battle of SalamisBattle of Plataea, and ending the invasion of Greece.
The allied Greeks followed up their success by destroying the rest of the Persian fleet at the Battle of Mycale, before expelling Persian garrisons from Sestos (479 BC) and Byzantium (478 BC). The actions of the general Pausanias at the siege of Byzantium alienated many of the Greek states from the Spartans, and the anti-Persian alliance was therefore reconstituted around Athenian leadership, as the so-called Delian League.
The Delian League continued to campaign against Persia for the next three decades, beginning with the expulsion of the remaining Persian garrisons from Europe. At the Battle of the Eurymedon in 466 BC, the League won a double victory that finally secured freedom for the cities of Ionia. However, the League's involvement in an Egyptian revolt (from 460–454 BC) resulted in a disastrous defeat, and further campaigning was suspended. A fleet was sent to Cyprus in 451 BC, but achieved little, and when it withdrew the Greco-Persian Wars drew to a quiet end. Some historical sources suggest the end of hostilities was marked by a peace treaty between Athens and Persia, the so-called Peace of Callias.
3. Gods and Goddesses of Greece and Rome Compared
Greek Gods | Roman Gods | ||
Description: | Gods in Greek Mythology, i.e. the collection of stories or myths of the ancient Greeks about their gods, heroes and the natural world. | Gods in Roman mythology, i.e. the mythological beliefs about gods in the city of Ancient Rome. | |
Time period: | Iliad distributed 700 years before the Roman civilization. | Came 1000 years after the Greeks | |
Literary source: | Greek myths chronicled in the book the Illiad by Homer | Roman myths chronicled in the book Aeneid | |
Origin of mythology: | Not known | Many Roman gods borrowed from Greek mythology and myths of Roman creation from Greeks | |
Nature of gods: | Gods and goddesses based on human personality traits such as Love, Honor, Hatred, Dignity. | Deities named after objects rather than human personality traits. | |
Afterlife: | Importance of the physical life on earth rather than eventuality of the afterlife. | Mortals did good deeds on earth to be rewarded in the afterlife. They strove to gain their place among the gods in heaven in the afterlife. | |
Traits: | As gods were based on human traits they each had characteristics that determined their actions. | Gods and goddesses not gender specific so their individual characteristics were not central to the myths. | |
Role of mortals: | Deities were important for the progression of life but mortals were just as important as it was their contribution in society that in the end mattered | Myths rooted in brave, heroic deeds of gods not mortals as mortal life was not important after death. | |
Actions of mortals and gods: | Individualistic: actions of the individual were of more consequences than actions of the group | Not individualistic | |
Revered traits: | Creativity more important than physical works. They revered the poet | Focused on actions rather than words. They revered the warrior as scared | |
Physical forms: | Greek gods had beautiful bodies where gorgeous muscles, eyes and hair would enhance their looks | Gods did not have a physical appearance – represented only in the imagination of the people. |
4. Olympics
a)brief history
The Olympic Games that we enjoy so much today actually trace back over a couple thousand years, and have a deep and rich history. Legends actually trace the Olympic Games to about 776 BC, although there are many differing opinions about when the Games actually began. Early on, the Olympic games were actually more than just a time to show off physical prowess, but they were also a time when the people of Greece gave a variety of sacrifices to their mythical gods, including the god Zeus. As the Olympic Games began to grow and there were many more games added to be played, the time period of the games lengthened as well, and soon became an event that lasted for four consecutive days.
For awhile, when the Romans came to power and Christianity deemed the games to be sacrilegious, the games almost came to a stop, but in the 1800’s there began to be a revival of the Olympic Games. It was actually in Paris, in 1894 that it was finally decided that the Olympic Games would officially begin to take place again, with them starting out in the place of their original origin - Athens. In 1896, the first games took place and was then the largest sporting event ever held on an international level. With almost 250 athletes participating in these games, they quickly became popular around the world, and it was decided that the games would be held again, four years later, as the traditional games had been held. The second games were then held four years later in Paris, France, and became even more popular.
Today the Olympic Games have become one of the biggest sporting highlights across the world, with 203 countries participating in the games. These games bring the people of various countries together in a way that nothing else has been able to do, with even more countries participating in the Games than in the United Nations. Today the Olympic Games are going strong and a record turnout is predicted for the 2008 Olympic Games.
For awhile, when the Romans came to power and Christianity deemed the games to be sacrilegious, the games almost came to a stop, but in the 1800’s there began to be a revival of the Olympic Games. It was actually in Paris, in 1894 that it was finally decided that the Olympic Games would officially begin to take place again, with them starting out in the place of their original origin - Athens. In 1896, the first games took place and was then the largest sporting event ever held on an international level. With almost 250 athletes participating in these games, they quickly became popular around the world, and it was decided that the games would be held again, four years later, as the traditional games had been held. The second games were then held four years later in Paris, France, and became even more popular.
Today the Olympic Games have become one of the biggest sporting highlights across the world, with 203 countries participating in the games. These games bring the people of various countries together in a way that nothing else has been able to do, with even more countries participating in the Games than in the United Nations. Today the Olympic Games are going strong and a record turnout is predicted for the 2008 Olympic Games.
b)contests/events
basketball,boxing,swimming,wushu,shooting,taekwondo,track and field,diving,fencing,gymnastics,soccer,baseball,curling,extreme skateboarding,dog sledding,mix martial arts etc.
ARCHERY
Mark Javier: This is the first Olympic games for the 27-year-old from Dumaguete City, Philippines. He earned an Olympic berth after placing first in the Asian Continental competition in Xian, China. He’s a 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist and won a bronze medal in the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand.
TAEKWONDO
Mary Antoinette Rivero: Rivero is also another gold medal hopeful. The 20-year-old student at Ateneo de Manila University nearly captured a silver medal four years ago in Athens. In the semifinals, she faced off against Greece’s Elizavet Mystakidou losing a close 2-3 decision. A win would have guaranteed Rivero a silver medal and a shot at gold. She got neither and lost the bronze medal match.
TRACK AND FIELD
Marestella Torres: Torres is a 27-year-old competing in the women’s long jump. She captured the gold medal at the 2005 SEA and 2007 SEA Games. The Philippine Track and Field Association (PATAFA) selected Torres to represent the country at the Beijing Games.
BOXING
Harry Tañamor: Tañamor is the country’s best chance for an Olympic medal perhaps even a gold, according to Sports Illustrated Olympic edition. This is Tañamor’s second Olympic berth. The 29-year-old southpaw boxer from Zamboanga City is competing in the Light Flyweight (48 kg) division. He placed ninth in the 2004 Olympics.
DIVING
Sheila Mae Perez: This is the third time Perez has qualified for the Olympics. After placing 32nd in the 2000 Australia games, she qualified but did not compete in the 2004 Athens Olympics. She’s won a gold and a silver medal in the 2007 SEA games and is considered by many as one of the best divers in Southeast Asia.
SWIMMING
Daniel Coakley: Coakley is a 19-year-old FilAm hailing from Hawaii. He holds the Philippine Record in the 50m freestyle (23.08 seconds) and the SEA Games Record in the same event (22.80 sec.). It’s been reported that Coakley is the grand nephew of the late Teofilo Yldefonso, who is considered by many as the greatest Philippine swimmer. Yldefonso won the Philippines first Olympic medal (bronze) in the 200m-breaststroke event at the 1928 Amsterdam Games.
Miguel Molina: This is the second Olympic berth for the former FilAm Cal Berkeley graduate. Molina is competing in the men’s 200m breaststroke and men’s 200m individual Medley. During the last Olympic, he posted a 2:05.28 time in the 200m individual medley.
Christel Simms: Simms is a 17-year-old FilAm also from Hawaii. Born and raised in the US, she almost did not have a chance to represent the Philippines but the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) upheld her petition to represent her parent’s home country. She qualified for the Olympics after posting 57.17 seconds, the qualifying standard for the 100m freestyle swimming events, at the USA Junior National Swimming Championships.
Miguel Molina: This is the second Olympic berth for the former FilAm Cal Berkeley graduate. Molina is competing in the men’s 200m breaststroke and men’s 200m individual Medley. During the last Olympic, he posted a 2:05.28 time in the 200m individual medley.
Christel Simms: Simms is a 17-year-old FilAm also from Hawaii. Born and raised in the US, she almost did not have a chance to represent the Philippines but the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) upheld her petition to represent her parent’s home country. She qualified for the Olympics after posting 57.17 seconds, the qualifying standard for the 100m freestyle swimming events, at the USA Junior National Swimming Championships.
c) Filipino winners to the Beijing Olympics
Ryan Arebejo - Swimming
Christel Simms - Swimming
Sheila Mae Perez –Diving
Ryan Rexel Fabriga – Diving
Henry Dagmil – Track and Field
Eric Ang – Lone Shooting
Mark Javier – Archery
Harry Tanamor – Boxing
Heidilyn Diaz – Weightliftting
Mary Antoinette Rivero – Taekwondo
Tshomlee Go – Taekwondo
Miguel Molina – Swimming
James Walsh – Swimming
David Coakley – Swimming
Marestella Torres - Track and Field
1. Socrates
Socrates was a gifted thinker of ancient Athens who helped lay the foundation of western philosophy. The methods he used and the concepts he proposed, along with his courageous defense of his ideas against his enemies, profoundly influenced the philosophical and moral tenor of western thought over the centuries. His refusal to compromise his intellectual intregrity in the face of a death sentence set an example for all the world to follow.
Contributions of Socrates
One: Awakened thinkers to the need to examine and reexamine their political, moral, and philosophical views in order to discover and root out errors and misconceptions that impede progress. Socrates accomplished this task by demonstrating, through cross-examination of people he encountered, that many accepted precepts, conventions, and beliefs were based on faulty logic or outright errors. A quotation attributed to him states: "The unexamined life is not worth living." In other words, a human being must not be complacent and self-satisfied; instead, he must be ever probing, exploring, and reconnoitering his soul in order to discover ways to imrpove.
Two: Effectively rebutted a central tenet of the Sophists, traveling teachers who charged fees for educating young men. This tenet maintained that the guiding principles of a society, such as justice and truth, were relative concepts--that is, they changed according to the needs of men in a particular time and place. What was considered right and just in Athens was not necessarily right and just in another society, the Sophists maintained. One man's virtue could be another man's vice.
Three: Pioneered the use of inductive reasoning to draw logical conclusions. According to Aristotle, Socrates founded the "scientific method."
Four: Demonstrated that wrongdoing results from ignorance. If a man lies, Socrates might have said, he does so because he does not understand the benefits of telling the truth.
Five: Inspired philosophers in his own time and in later times to pursue the truth through rigorous analysis of available, facts, opinions, and so on. Two of the most important philosophers in the history of the world, Plato and Aristotle, both esteemed Socrates as a supreme thinker and infused their philosophical systems with Socratic thought. Plato was a pupil of Socrates, and Aristotle was a pupil of Plato.
Six: Showed the world the meaning of integrity and moral commitment by accepting a death sentence rather than recanting his principles.
Seven: Made clear that a human being is more than his appearance. Socrates was ugly, wore old clothes, and walked barefooted through the streets of Athens. But his mind and the words he spoke were beautiful.
Two: Effectively rebutted a central tenet of the Sophists, traveling teachers who charged fees for educating young men. This tenet maintained that the guiding principles of a society, such as justice and truth, were relative concepts--that is, they changed according to the needs of men in a particular time and place. What was considered right and just in Athens was not necessarily right and just in another society, the Sophists maintained. One man's virtue could be another man's vice.
Three: Pioneered the use of inductive reasoning to draw logical conclusions. According to Aristotle, Socrates founded the "scientific method."
Four: Demonstrated that wrongdoing results from ignorance. If a man lies, Socrates might have said, he does so because he does not understand the benefits of telling the truth.
Five: Inspired philosophers in his own time and in later times to pursue the truth through rigorous analysis of available, facts, opinions, and so on. Two of the most important philosophers in the history of the world, Plato and Aristotle, both esteemed Socrates as a supreme thinker and infused their philosophical systems with Socratic thought. Plato was a pupil of Socrates, and Aristotle was a pupil of Plato.
Six: Showed the world the meaning of integrity and moral commitment by accepting a death sentence rather than recanting his principles.
Seven: Made clear that a human being is more than his appearance. Socrates was ugly, wore old clothes, and walked barefooted through the streets of Athens. But his mind and the words he spoke were beautiful.
PHILOSOPHY
Socrates asserted that an individual must know himself in order to be wise. A life that has note that has not been examined is not worth living. The philosophy of Socrates can be learnt through the writings of Plato. Socrates spoke that he was like a midwife. However, he attended the souls of men when they were in trouble. His art won when he could profoundly assess whether the thoughts that arose in the minds of the youth were false icons or true and noble. He had the opinion that just like midwives he was also barren. He was blamed that he asked questions for which he himself had no answer. He replied that he was not astute or had nothing to demonstrate that was the invention of his soul.
However, those who would converse with him would necessarily gain something. Socrates also said that the youth belonging to the richer class accosted him of their own sweet will. They tried to ape him by examining others. There were many such rich youth who assumed that they knew some facts, but in fact knew very less or nothing. It so happened that the people examined by such rich youth rather than being angry with themselves showered their wrath on Socrates. So, he was titled as the "villainous misleader of the youth". These people could not tell precisely how Socrates was wrong. Only as they were large in number, they could effect loud slander. He is regarded as a puzzling personality as although he did not write any information, he completely and permanently altered the method of understanding and thinking philosophy. He laid the basis of Western philosophy. Considering the standard of fifth-century Athens, his appearance, demeanor, personality, methods and views were exotic. It is said that he had large, bulging, crab-like eyes, a flat and upturned nose and large, fleshly, ass-like lips. He grew long hair and roamed, without having a wash, barefooted. He looked arrogant and his boastful, conceited movements caused the enemy soldiers to maintain a safe distance. Plato, Xenophon and Aristophanes are the source of information regarding him. He had three sons named Lamprocles, Menexenus and Sophronisucs. It was declared that he was corrupting the young men in Athens and hence punished to death by consuming poisonous hemlock.
Socratic method
This is also called the Method of Elenchus or Socratic Debate. Plato was the first to describe it in the "Socratic dialogues". This is a method of philosophical inquiry used for the assessment of key moral concepts. It is for this method that Socrates is considered as the father and originator of moral philosophy and western ethics. The method includes the following points:
This is also called the Method of Elenchus or Socratic Debate. Plato was the first to describe it in the "Socratic dialogues". This is a method of philosophical inquiry used for the assessment of key moral concepts. It is for this method that Socrates is considered as the father and originator of moral philosophy and western ethics. The method includes the following points:
· interrogating a range of questions regarding a pivotal issue
· providing answers to these questions
· defending certain points of view
· the ideal method to achieve triumph is that if the opponent asserts something opposite to his own statement, then this is an evidence that the enquirer is correct
Elenchos is said to be the prime technique of the Socratic method. Socrates used this technique to examine to nature of ethical concepts like virtue or justice. This was executed as follows:
· an interlocutor makes a statement
· Socrates may consider it as wrong and aim to cancel it
· Socrates makes other statements
· the interlocutor accedes that these statements are contradictory to his statement
· Socrates asserts that the interlocutor's statement is false and its opposite is true
· one assessment can cause a more refined assessment of the concept under debate
· a series of elenchai may take place and culminate in a state of puzzlement
The Socratic method is to search for the assumptions that shape one's sentiment. These assumptions are pondered over and their consistency with other beliefs is checked. A series of logical questions are asked with the objective of assisting a person to discover the individual opinions regarding some topic.
BOOKS WRITTEN
Well Socrates did not write any books. He believed that the "revolution" of the written speech (at that time writting was considered a revolution, remember that Homer Iliad and Odyssey were preserved via oral tradition and only at 800 BC were they written down) was something bad and he urged young ones refrain from it, because he thought that written speech was much less personal and much more superficial than the oral speech. That is why he went everyday to the ancient Market (Αγορά - Agora) to talk to young people. What we know about Socrates we know from what other philosophers have written about him and his sayings (mainly Plato).
2.Plato
Plato was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. In the famous words of A.N. Whitehead: The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them.
Plato's sophistication as a writer is evident in his Socratic dialogues; thirty-six dialogues and thirteen letters have been ascribed to him. Plato's writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts.[citation needed]
Plato's dialogues have been used to teach a range of subjects, including philosophy, logic, ethics, rhetoric, and mathematics.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF PLATO
Plato's greatest contribution to modern society is found in his theories relating to metaphysics. These is now referred to as Platonism (or Exaggerated Realism). Plato divides his world into two aspects: the intelligible
The Perceptual world: Plato saw the perceptual world around us as imperfect copies of the intelligible forms or ideas.
The Intelligible world: Forms are unchangeable and perfect, and only comprehensible by the use of intellect and understanding. For example, a triangle belongs to the world of forms, since we can reason out its properties (angles always equal to 180 degrees, for example), using our intellect. Imagination, though, is part of the perceptual world, since it is not concrete and unchanging for each person.
Nature of Knowledge and Learning:
Plato's ideas on knowledge has survived throughout the ages and is still relevant in today's society. Today it has come to be known as Platonic epistemology.
Platonic Epistemology: Plato believed that knowledge is innate, or inborn, and that the development of ideas buried deep in the soul, and may be guided out by teachers. Plato drew a sharp distinction between knowledge, which is certain, and mere opinion. Opinions derive from the shifting world of sensation -- knowledge derives from the world of timeless Forms, or essences.
The Analogy of the Cave: In his best-known dialogue, "The Republic", Plato drew an analogy between human sensation and the shadows that pass along the wall of a ca ve. He tells his audience to imagine a group of people tied up, facing the wall of a cave. They are unable to move, and see only the shadows of the real objects. Supposing a prisoner was taken from the cave and shown the real world. At first he would doubt what he saw, preferring his earlier knowledge.
PHILOSOPHY
Plato often discusses the father-son relationship and the "question" of whether a father's interest in his sons has much to do with how well his sons turn out. A boy in ancient Athens was socially located by his family identity, and Plato often refers to his characters in terms of their paternal and fraternal relationships. Socrates was not a family man, and saw himself as the son of his mother, who was apparently a midwife. A divine fatalist, Socrates mocks men who spent exorbitant fees on tutors and trainers for their sons, and repeatedly ventures the idea that good character is a gift from the gods. Crito reminds Socrates that orphans are at the mercy of chance, but Socrates is unconcerned. In the Theaetetus, he is found recruiting as a disciple a young man whose inheritance has been squandered. Socrates twice compares the relationship of the older man and his boy lover to the father-son relationship (Lysis 213a, Republic 3.403b), and in the Phaedo, Socrates' disciples, towards whom he displays more concern than his biological sons, say they will feel "fatherless" when he is gone.
In several dialogues, Socrates floats the idea that knowledge is a matter of recollection, and not of learning, observation, or study.[33] He maintains this view somewhat at his own expense, because in many dialogues, Socrates complains of his forgetfulness. Socrates is often found arguing that knowledge is not empirical, and that it comes from divine insight. In many middle period dialogues, such as the Phaedo, Republic and Phaedrus Plato advocates a belief in the immortality of the soul, and several dialogues end with long speeches imagining the afterlife. More than one dialogue contrasts knowledge and opinion, perception and reality, nature and custom, and body and soul.
Several dialogues tackle questions about art: Socrates says that poetry is inspired by the muses, and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine madness (drunkenness, eroticism, and dreaming) in the Phaedrus (265a–c), and yet in the Republic wants to outlaw Homer's great poetry, and laughter as well. In Ion, Socrates gives no hint of the disapproval of Homer that he expresses in the Republic. The dialogue Ion suggests that Homer's Iliad functioned in the ancient Greek world as the Bible does today in the modern Christian world: as divinely inspired literature that can provide moral guidance, if only it can be properly interpreted.
On politics and art, religion and science, justice and medicine, virtue and vice, crime and punishment, pleasure and pain, rhetoric and rhapsody, human nature and sexuality, love and wisdom, Socrates and his company of disputants had something to say.
BOOKS WRITTEN
Plato
· Lysis
· Laches
· Cratylus
· Phaedrus
· Ion
· Meno
· Apology
· Crito
· Phaedo
· Gorgias
· Republic
· Timaeus
· Critias
· Sophist
· Philebus
· Laws
3. ARISTOTLE
Aristotle is one of the "big three" in ancient Greek philosophy, along with Plato and Socrates. (Socrates taught Plato, who in turn instructed Aristotle.) Aristotle spent nearly 20 years at Plato's Academy, first as a student and then as a teacher. After Plato's death he traveled widely and educated a famous pupil, Alexander the Great, the Macedonian who nearly conquered the world.
Later Aristotle began his own school in Athens, known as the Lyceum. Aristotle is known for his carefully detailed observations about nature and the physical world, which laid the groundwork for the modern study of biology. Among his works are the texts Physics, Metaphysics, Rhetoric and Ethics. He was succeeded at the Lyceum by his student Theophrastus.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF ARISTOTLE
Aristotle was forced to mave one more time during his lifetime. Alexander the Great died in 232BC, leaving behind strong feelings in Athens. Thanks to his ties to Macedonia, Aristotle was forced to retire to Chalcis, his mothers homeland, where he moved into a house once owned by his mother which still belonged to her family. He died there one year later at the age of 62, after complaining of stomach problems.
Some of his topics included logic, physics, astronomy, meteorology, zoology, metaphysics, theology, psychology, politics, economics, ethics, rhetoric, and poetics. Today, there exists some debate on whether the works we recognize as Aristotle's were all written by him or his followers. However, some explain the difference in writing style as the development over the years of his own beliefs.
Aristotle is often regarded as the father of psychology, and his book, De Anima (On the Soul), the first book on psychology. He was concerned with the connection between the psychological processes and the underlying physiological phenomenon. Many believe he contributed more to prescience psychology than any other person, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Although Aristotle attended Plato's Academy, he became convinced of the need for empirical observations and criticized many of Plato's philosophies. Plato and Aristotle "represent a basic divergence in the way man and the world may be viewed, a modern parallel being the difference between the clinical and the experimental psychologist. (Zusne, p. 8)"
Aristotle postulates that the body and the mind exist as facets of the same being, with the mind being simply one of the body's functions. He suggests that intellect consists of two parts: something similar to matter (passive intellect) and something similar to form (active intellect). Aristotle says that intellect "'is separable, impassible, unmixed, since it is in its essential nature activity. . . . When intellect is set free from its present conditions, it appears as just what it is and nothing more: it alone is immortal and eternal . . . and without it nothing thinks (Britannica Online, "Physiological Psychology")."
Aristotle described the psyche as a substance able to receive knowledge. Knowledge is obtained through the psyche's capability of intelligence, although the five senses are also necessary to obtain knowledge. "As Aristotle describes the process, the sense receives 'the form of sensible objects without the matter, just as the wax receives the impression of the signet-ring without the iron or the gold.' (Britannica Online, "Physiological Psychology")." Sensitivity is stimulated by phenomenon in the environment, and memory is the persistence of sense impressions. He maintained that mental activities were primarily biological, and that the psyche was the "form" part of intellect. Aristotle insisted that the body and the psyche form a unity. This idea is known as hylomorphic.
Aristotle believed that thinking requires the use of images. While some animals can imagine, only man thinks. Knowing (nous) differs from thinking in that it is an active, creative process leading to the recognition of universals; it is akin to intuition, it does not cause movement, and it is independent of the other functions of the psyche. (Zusne, pp. 8-9)
PHILOSOPHY
The primary way of being is substance. Aristotle states that substance is that which is neither said of a subject nor in a subject. The species in which the things primarily called substances are found are called secondary substances. Things that are not found in combination are either substances or quantity or qualification. Being itself is found in substance. Aristotle says that every substance seems to signify a certain "this":
As regards the primary substances, it is indisputably true that each of them signifies a certain "this"; for the thing revealed is individual and numerically one (6).
Secondary substances do not signify a "this" but instead signify a certain qualification. Substance, and so being, does not admit of a more or less but is a mean in itself. This is a statement of equality among men as among other substances endowed with being:
For example, if this substance is a man, it will not be more a man or less a man either than itself or than another man. For one man is not more a man than another, as one pale thing is more pale than another and one beautiful thing more beautiful than another (7).
The state of being is expressed through substance, and no man is more than any other man--all have being equally.
4. According to Aristotle, we have freedom of choice and are responsible for the choices we make. We are morally culpable even for unintended consequences. Acting unjustly is tantamount to wishing to act unjustly.
BOOKS WRITTEN
· Topics
· Physics
· Heavens
· Soul
· Dreams
· On Youth and Old Age, On Life and Death, On Breathing
· Politics
· Rhetor
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