Greek Philosophers

When you think of the famous Greek Philosopher's you think of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. These men are the focus of Greek Philosopher's. I must admit I've never heard of the others that came before them. There was Thales who believed that everything was made from water and left out the Gods. Anaximander rejected what Thales had to say, believing that the Earth was made from cold and wet while the moon and stars from heat and dry. These philosopher's are known as "matter philosophers". There was also Heraclitus who believed that life was a constant battle. These men and others where able to make nature real.

Then there where the men known as "The Sophists". These men where hired to prepare young men for the Council of Five hundred and the Assembly. They felt that the truth was not what was important but whether you could argue and win whether the position held truth.

Next came the more well known Greek philosophers, starting with Socrates. A man who never wrote his own words and was found guilty of impiety. His method of teaching was to never to answer a question, but rather always ask the question. Plato a student of Socrates was the one who wrote Socrates' teachings.

Plato himself opened a school and believed that man was born with knowledge and go through life remembering what we already know. In his writing "The Republic" he believed that society should be lead by the "philosopher king" rather than by a normal man. His hope was to rescue Athens and make it a better society.

Aristotle was a student at Plato's Academy. Like Socrates Aristotle was convicted of impiety, but rather than facing the punishment ran to save his life. Aristotle disagreed with Plato's idea of being born with knowledge, but thought that we go through life learning.

Amazing that the men of these times thoughts and beliefs are still relevant today. Teacher's employ the Socratic method of teaching, Plato's philosopher kings look much like today's dictator's, and Aristotle set a method of democracy that is still used today. These men were truly great thinker's.

Having never taken or truly been interested in history of western civilization, I found the origins of democracy to be quite interesting.

In Sparta men were not considered citizens of the town that they fought to defend until they were 30. Boys left home at young ages to become educated and trained for military. There was state supported schooling for the girls as well. The "Assembly" made the laws laws as the king or elders had already decided it to be so. In Sparta a conquered people became slaves of the citizens.

In Athens, Solon, cancelled debt of the farmers and classified the people by the amount of agriculture they produced rather than by family name. Under Solon's rule only men who owned land were considered citizens. This left out many other people including women, merchants, and slaves. After Solon was Pisistratus who began trade and encourage more temples to be built to worship the Gods. The city of Athens strived under the rule of Pisistratus. When Spartra attacked, after his son became ruler, Cleisthenes tried to change Athens back to the ways of Solon's.

It's fasicinating how many different government's were in Athens's and yet it survived.