The Philosophical Mind: Introduction to Greek Classical Period (479-323 BCE - End of Greco-Persian War to Death of Alexander The Great)
Inventing The Modern Mind
For all practical purposes, we can say that it is during this time that the
Classical Greeks invent the tools of the modern mind, including geometry, formal logic,
philosophy, democracy, medical science, and, in many ways, science itself.
With the exception of our Judeo-Christian heritage -- but,actually, we'll learn that even the way Jews, Christians and Muslims came to understand god comes from Plato -- we can pretty much say that the contents of your mind, the way you look out and perceive the world, what you assume it means to be a free citizen and the legal protections you take for granted, even what you expect to see when you watch tv or go to a movie and the basis of nearly every single technological invention you enjoy – all of these and more start here, at this point in time, in Classical Greece.
So, how did the Greeks invent your world? I'd argue they did so in two moves: tragedy and philosophy.
Tragedy
We'll explore this in much detail, but we're interested in how the Greeks didn't
just invent theater but how they changed the way we think about life in
theatrical and perhaps religious or spiritual terms. Consider that the words "irony", "satire" and
"sarcasm"
are all Greek, the first referring to a sort of trickster comic figure in
Classical Greek plays, the second referring to the demi-god satyrs (more on them
later), and the third is the Greek word for "sneering", or "snarling", like a dog in
anger.
To begin with, keep in mind that the tragic view is an explicitly spiritual, religious one: that tragic plays were, in fact, religious rites.
This tragic view will also deeply influence Christianity.
Philosophy: Critical Enquiry
What is philosophy? We’ll read some of the Classical Philosophers (mainly Plato), but we’re really interested in philosophy as a general way of thinking about things – all kinds of things, everything – and not just how this way of thinking became science and law etc. but how it permeates most art and literature, not to mention how you simply go about making simple and not so simple daily and life choices.
We are interested in comparing/contrasting this new way of thinking about things with the old ways we've been reading so far.
Philosophy more generally defined is critical enquiry: an attempt to systematically examine the nature of what is known and what we are capably of knowing (about anything and everything). A systematic attempt to discover the true nature of things (anything); generally to do so within the realm of human knowledge – via reason -- rather than divine revelation.
What is “reason”? Reason generally refers to attempts to develop “proofs” – in the mathematical sense: a proposition validated by formal, systematic logic – that can be tested and verified in order to establish accepted truths. Philosophy itself attempts to understand the nature of these proofs, so among philosophers themselves there is much, endless debate into their nature, but largely we will break down the two most general, competing views along the lines of Plato and Aristotle, or Platonism/Platonic Idealism and Empiricism. Plato vs. Aristotle
For now, though, think of “reason” or Greek "critical enquiry" the way that you think of math and science – the two pursuits most closely linked to philosophy; the Greeks were interested in trying to apply the absolute conviction of mathematical proofs to all types of knowledge, beginning by trying to nail down exactly how we know when a mathematical proof is “correct” or valid.
In other words, philosophy is, in many ways, an attempt to apply the universal truths of math to our lives. How can we prove the truth of things – such as “what is virtue?”, “how did life originate?”, “what is the soul of man?” – with the accuracy and confidence that we prove the truth of “four” when the question is “what is two plus two?”; or can we produce ideas as accurate and useful as “π”?
Beginning with Socrates, the answer to these questions begins with the process of questioning everything; from Socrates on, philosophy begins with skepticism, the systematic challenging of previous assumptions.
Reason and Religion
Ironically, unlike his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato's
own treatise on rational thought take what we would now consider
a very spiritual or religious turn in his theory of
Idealism or The Forms, and so we'll follow this fork in the road
as well; in this single era -- maybe just in this one man, Plato -- we can trace
the separation of two world views that still define our deepest philosophical,
religious and even political conflicts. Current debates between fundamentalists
and scientists begin here, as does the abortion debate, our current attitudes
toward sex and, really, the fundamental disagreement on the nature of truth
itself.
Philosophy
As Finding Eudaimonia
Philosophy also asks what is the nature of eudemonia,
“the good life” or “the flourishing life”: what is virtue and how should
we live. For the Greeks this is an inherently integrated, whole-istic question and pursuit: all things
are inter-related: the questions of “how should we?” are inherently tied to
questions of “what is?”, and questions of personal virtue are meaningless when
separated from public virtue. Thus, questions of virtue lead inherently to
ontological and epistemological questions.
How can I possibly lead a virtuous, honest, worth-wile life if I don't understand -- or at least question and think about -- the nature of virtue, honesty and life?