Week3

• The Sophists, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are key figures in ancient Greek philosophy
• The divergent Greek schools that emerged after the golden age of Athens include: The Cynics, The Skeptics, The Epicureans, The Stoics, and The Neoplatonists
• The Sophists lived during the Golden Age of Athens and introduced the dialectical method of reasoning known as elenchus (the Socratic method)
• Socrates criticized the Sophists for attacking old beliefs without providing constructive replacements and for lacking insight into important life questions
• Plato believed in a higher world of reality, objective ideals of real existence, and the 'World of Ideas' (or 'Forms')
• Aristotle emphasized that knowledge of ethics is possible and must be based on reason, common-sense attitude towards life, and the Doctrine of the Mean
• The Cynics believed in living a life of virtue in agreement with nature, rejecting conventional desires, possessions, and property
• The Skeptics advocated refraining from making truth claims and avoiding the postulation of final truths
• The Epicureans taught seeking modest pleasures for tranquility, freedom from fear, and the absence of bodily pain
• The Stoics focused on self-control, fortitude, transforming emotions, and developing clear judgment and inner calm
• The Neoplatonists believed in an ineffable and transcendent One, from which emanates the rest of the universe as a sequence of lesser beings