- the search for something permanent is derived from love of home and the desire for a refuge from danger - religion seeks permanence in two forms, God and immortality. Conception of eternity as an 'existence outside the whole temporal process...and therefore no logical possibility of change' (p46)
- the conception of Purpose, is only applicable within reality, and not to reality as a whole (applicable in the context of which you are operating within -- it is arbitrary)
- Dialectic, the method of seeking knowledge by question and answer was first practised systematically by Zeno, the disciple of Parmenides
- modern definitions of truth, such as pragmatism and instrumentalism, are practical rather than contemplative, inspired by industrialism rather than aristocracy
- Greek astronomy was geometrical, not dynamic - they did not have the conception of force; they thought of the motions of the heavenly body as compounded of circular motions
- 'any hypothesis, however absurd, may be useful in science, if it enables a discoverer to conceive things in a new way; but that, when it has served this purpose by luck, it is likely to become an obstacle to further advance' (p131)
The Rise of Greek Civilization
- invention of writing in Egypt
- fertility cults in Egypt and Babylonia
- arrival of the Greeks: Ionians (rationalist tradition), Achaens, Dorians
- Homer - the gods are human though immortal, they are of a conquering aristocracy
- Bacchus - liberation through physical or spiritual intoxication, excessiveness
- Orpheus - asceticism. believes in the transmigration of the souls and aims at becoming 'pure'
- Philosophy begins with 'Thales', from Miletus, 585 B.C - 'water is the original substance, out of which all others are formed'
- Anaximander - all things come form a single primal substance, which is not water, but an infinite, eternal substance that is transformed into the various substances with which we are familiar with; between cosmic and human conflicts, there is a kind of natural law which perpetually redresses the balance
- Pythagoras - transmigration of souls, equality between men and women. the word 'theory', interpreted as 'passionate sympathetic contemplation', was intellectual, and issued in mathematical knowledge for Pythagoras. 'Personal religion is derived from ecstasy, theology from mathematics; and both are to be found in Pythagoras'. What appears to be Platonism is, the conception of an eternal world revealed to the intellect, when analyzed, derived from Pythagoras. Geometry is however not perfect and exact, and suggests that 'all exact reasoning applies to ideal as opposed to sensible objects'
- Heraclitus - regards fire as the fundamental substance; that the unity in the world is formed by the combination of opposites -- and a belief in war. He promoted the doctrine that everything is in flux, that 'nothing ever is, everything is becoming' (Plato) -- and that it was impossible to ascertain the truth in matters of theology
- Parmenides - 'On Nature': the senses are considered deceptive and things are mere illusion. The only one true being is 'the One' which is infinite and indivisible. Thought and language require objects outside themselves - that when you can think of something, you use a name, which must be the name of something, which indicates that it must exist. Consequently there can be no change since change indicates things coming into being or ceasing to be. However, this is based on the assumption that words have a constant meaning. This impossibility of change is considered too difficult a paradox, but what he offers, is the notion of the indestructibility of 'substance'.
- Empedocles - the discovery of air as a separate substance. He holds that the material world is a sphere, that Strife is outside and Love is inside, and gradually they will switch places, and this cycle of opposite movements will repeat itself.
Athens
- Athens was at its heights during the age of Pericles, during the two Persian Wars (490 B.C, 480-79 B.C). The vigour and imagination of ancient Greek philosophers, and the 'undue emphasis on man as compared with the universe', and the attempt to acquire fresh knowledge, is hard to be found in later philosophies.
- First Persian War - the chief glory went to the Athenians // Second Persian War - Athenians fought best at sea but glory on land went to the Spartans // Peloponnesian War (431 B.C) and the death of Pericles -- Spartans reigned supreme and conquered Athens
- Anaxagoras - he regarded the mind as a substance which enters into the composition of living things; it is infinite, self-ruled and the source of all motion
- Leucippus and Democritus 'the Atomists' - the belief that everything is composed of atoms, which are physically indivisible and indestructible. Atoms are always in motion, moving at random, and as they collide, they form vortices which generate bodies and ultimately worlds. They were seeking to mediate between monism and pluralism, to explain the world without introducing the notion of 'purpose' or 'final cause'. There can be no motion without a void. There is no One plenum, but an infinite number that move in the void, and 'by coming together, they produce coming-to-be, while by separating they produce passing-away'. (However, there can be motion in a plenum) 'According to this view, space is not nothing but is of the nature of a receptacle...' The theory that a void exists involves the existence of places (Aristotle). Can we really believe that empty space exists? 'Where there is not matter, there is still something, notably light-waves. -- Leibniz maintains that space is merely a system of relations. For example, distance is between events, not between things, and involves time as well as space.
- Protagoras: 'Man is the measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are not' -- each man is the measure of all things, and when they differ, there is no objective truth of which is right and wrong
- Socrates: Apology (Socrates' defence speech at his trial, reported by Plato some years after) : The Stoics held that the supreme good is virtue, which cannot be deprived by outside causes; the contention of Socrates that the judges cannot harm him. The Cynics despised worldly goods and eschewed the comforts of civilization, which led Socrates to go bare-foot and ill-clad. The Platonic Socrates maintains that he is only wiser than others in knowing that he knows nothing, and only knowledge is needed to make men virtuous. The matters that are suitable for a Socratic dialectic method are those to which we have already enough knowledge to come to a right conclusion, but have failed, through confusion of thought or lack of analysis.
Sparta
- The mythical Sparta that enabled the Spartans to defeat Athens, that influenced Plato's political theory, is to be found in Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus
- Laconia, capital of Sparta
- Spartans were the ruling race / Serfs were called helots / free inhabitants were 'perioeci' and had no share of political power
- War was the sole business of a Spartan citizen; the Spartan was simple, neither destitute nor rich, men and women received the same physical training, women were not allowed to show emotion -- Spartan constitution remained stable and unchanged
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