Ionia was in what is today western Turkey, and it is tempting to see the influence of the ancient Middle East on their work. Much of this involved quasi-religious speculations about the origins and structure of the universe: but this led them on to quasi-scientific propositions, such as that all matter comes from water (reminiscent of Mesopotamian beliefs).
The Pythagoreans were another group of early Greek thinkers (6th-5th century BC). They formed a curious combination of philosophical school and religious brotherhood. They believed that all things could be explained by numbers. As a result, they did much mathematical speculation (see below, section on Science). However, they believed in such religious ideas as the transmigration of the soul. They lived simple, ascetic lives.
By the 5th century, Greek thinkers such as Parmenedes (c.504-456 BC) were advocating the idea that reason is the best way to reaching truth.
The Sophists – “teachers of wisdom” – were traveling teachers prominent in the 5th century, after the Persian Wars. They preferred to study man and worldly problems rather than speculate about universal truths. In fact, some claimed that truths were only meaningful when placed in a particular context, and seen from a particular point of view. They rejected the notion of the supernatural and universal standards of morality and justice. Some went on the state that nothing really exists, https://tennesseepaydayloans.org/cities/pikeville/ the material world is just an illusion. Some taught that all the meaning there is in the universe resides in the words we use. Language is therefore a tool to give things meaning. In due course sophists came to be associated with specious reasoning, using words to mean whatever one wants them to mean.
Greek philosophy reached its high point in the careers of three thinkers who lived and worked in Athens, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
Socrates (469-399 BC) challenged the thinking of his contemporaries by posing penetrating questions. In this way he aimed to strip away the prejudices we all bring to our thinking. He developed the “Socratic method”, based on questions and discussion, rather than on lectures and received teaching. He believed that reason and clear thinking could lead men to truth and happiness. In 399 BC, he was put on trial in Athens for “corrupting the minds of the youth” and not revering the gods. He was executed by poisoning.
He believed that God was the “first cause” of all things, and that the good life can be achieved through moderation
Plato (427-347 BC) was a disciple of Socrates; it is through him we know of Socrates’ teaching. Plato believed that the material world is not real, but an imperfect image of the real, or ideal. He founded the “Academy”, the first known institute of higher education in the West.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) was a student of Plato’s. He spent some time as tutor to the future king of Macedon, who would become known to history as Alexander the Great. After this, he founded the Lyceum in Athens. Aristotle left behind a vast body of work. To help clear thinking, he developed a system of formal rules of logic. These became extremely influential in future Western thought. He believed ideas were indistinguishable from matter, in that they could exists only through material objects.
Mathematics and Science
For the Greeks, science was indistinguishable from philosophy (in fact, science was called “natural philosophy” in the West right up to the 18th century).
Thales of Miletus is usually regarded as the first prominent Greek mathematician, and he is credited with developing the methodologies of observation, experimentation and deduction, which are still used today. Thales’ younger contemporaries, Pythagoras and his school, developed geometry as a branch of knowledge. They uncovered Pythagoras’ theorem, that the sum of any three angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles.