Greek Philosophies of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The role of ancient Greek philosophers in shaping the entire world philosophical tradition cannot be underestimated. It is argued that the origin of philosophy as a discipline owes its origin to the contribution of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. “Socrates’ contribution to the love of wisdom was manifested by the belief that philosophy was a holy quest- not a game to be taken lightly” (James, 2009).

According to James (2009), “one example of his effect on philosophy is found in the dialog Euthyphro where he suggests that what is to be considered a good act is not good because gods say it is, but is good because it is useful to us in our efforts to be better and happier people.” The premise of this suggestion is that ethics is not about what constitutes the written scriptures, but by taking a keen cognizance on the aspects of life. He advanced that eternal soul contained all knowledge. In this regard, he emphasized one critical aspect of knowledge acquisition by insisting that “we unfortunately lose touch with that knowledge at every birth, and so we need to be reminded of what we already know (rather than learning something new)” (James, 2009). It is his discussions on the love of knowledge that his most prized student – Plato – reconstructed in the Dialogs.

Main body

Plato on the other hand placed dialectic, ethics, and physics as the three focal points of philosophy. His contribution to the Greek philosophy can be understood from both idealistic and rationalistic perspectives. Plato advanced the love of knowledge based on two perspectives – ontos which refers to the ultimate and permanent reality. The second reality is the phenomena which refer to a manifestation of the ideal reality and in inferior to the ideal reality. According to Boerce (2000), “Phenomena are illusions which decay and die, Ideals are unchanging, perfect.” Plato’s contribution to Greek philosophy was based on his analysis between ideal and phenomena.

The connection between the two is that “phenomena are available to s through our senses while ideas are available to us through thought” (Boerce, 2000). His contribution to Greek philosophy through Christianity is manifested by his identification in the ideal with God and perfect goodness. Within the same line of argument, Plato apples the same principle to human beings by analyzing the link between the body and the soul. “Soul includes reason, of course, as well as self-awareness and moral sense and the soul will always choose to do good, if it recognizes what is good” (Boerce, 2000).

Conclusion

As a prized student of Plato, Aristotle contributions to Greek philosophy remain fundamental to the advancement of knowledge. Through a combination of science and philosophy, Aristotle was more fascinated with nature. He is the father of modern logic that only differs with today’s logic by its symbolic form. In metaphysics, “while Plato separates the ever-changing phenomenal world from the true and eternal ideal reality, Aristotle suggests that the ideal is found inside the phenomena, the universals inside the particulars” (Boerce, 2000). In Aristotle’s definition, ideal meant essence and its opposite of this is matter. “The four causes that contribute to the movement from formless to complete thing include the material cause, efficient cause, formal cause and final cause” (Boerce, 2000). Socrates, Plato and Aristotle contributions to Greek philosophy remain the most fundamental of all contributions to the love of knowledge.

References

Boerce, G. (2000).Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.Web.

James, H.H. (2009). The Ethics of the Greek Philosophers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. New York: BiblioBazaar, LLC.

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Greek Philosophies of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

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