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• In man's pursuit of knowledge and truth, thinkers for centuries have searched for explanations and reasons for everything that exists around him
• In Athens of Ancient Greece, approximately 600 BCE, marked the birth of Philosophy (literally, "love of wisdom') as it influenced Western thought and still has until today
• Questions centered on the universe and what possible role man may play in it
• Greek philosophers in Miletus chose to seek natural explanations to events and phenomena around him instead of seeking for supernatural explanations from the gods as what was passed down through the generations
• These philosophers observed changes in the world and wanted to explain these changes by understanding the laws of nature
• Their study of change led them to the idea of permanence
• As these early philosophers labored to search for explanations into how the world works through understanding the elements, mathematics, heavenly bodies and even atoms, another group of philosophers shifted their search and focused on man
• They sought to understand the nature of human beings, problems of morality and life philosophies
• Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were the 'big three' ancient Greek philosophers
• Socrates was the mentor of Plato and Plato was the mentor of Aristotle
• In the 5th century BCE, Athens enjoyed the status of being a city state and a democracy
• During these times, to become powerful, one must do it with words
• Athenians settle arguments by discussion and debate
• People skilled in doing this were called Sophists, the first teachers of the West
• Socrates (470-399 BCE) was a stonemason with a sharp mind who wanted to discover the essential nature of knowledge, justice, beauty and goodness
• Socrates did not write anything, his thoughts were only known through Plato's writing (The Dialogues)
• Socrates was a brilliant debater and was idolized by many Athenians
• This angered the Sophists who brought him to trial, and where finally he was sentenced to death
• Socratic/dialectic method


  Involves the search for the correct/proper definition of a thing, resulting in a definition that cannot be refuted anymore by Socratic reasoning
• In this method, Socrates did not lecture, he instead would ask questions and engage the person in a discussion
• Socrates would begin by acting as if he did not know anything and would get the other person to clarify their ideas and resolve logical inconsistencies
• Socrates: 'I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.'
• The goal of the Socratic method is to bring the person closer to the final understanding
• Socrates' famous statement


  The unexamined life is not worth living
• Socrates believed that his mission in life was to seek the highest knowledge and convince others who were willing to seek this knowledge with him
• Socrates' Socratic method allowed him to question people's beliefs and ideas, exposing their misconceptions and get them to touch their souls
• Socrates' view of the true self

  The true self is not the body but the soul
• Socrates' view of virtue

  Virtue is inner goodness, and real beauty is that of the soul
• When the Delphi Oracle named Socrates the wisest of all men, Socrates became confused
• Socrates realized that the oracle meant that people were ignorant of what knowledge is most important: how to live right and how to make their soul good
• Socrates knew the importance of this but was also aware of his ignorance of it, which is why he was the wisest
• Socrates' view of real understanding

  Real understanding comes from within the person, by reaching inside themselves to their deepest nature
• The aim of the Socratic Method is to make people think, seek and ask again and again
• Plato's real name is Aristocles (428-348 BCE), he was born in Athens to one of Greece's aristocratic families
• Plato left Athens for 12 years after the death of Socrates, and when he returned he established a school known as 'The Academy
• Socrates left a strong influence on Plato, and both believed that philosophy is more than analyses but rather is a way of life
• Plato wrote more than twenty Dialogues with Socrates as protagonist in most of them
• Plato's Theory of Forms

  Forms refers to what are real, they are not objects that are encountered with the senses but can only be grasped intellectually
• Characteristics of Plato's Forms

  • Ageless and eternal
  • Unchanging and permanent
  • Unmoving and indivisible
• Plato's Dualism


  • The Realm of the Shadows is composed of changing, 'sensible' things which are lesser entities and therefore imperfect and flawed
  • The Realm of Forms is composed of eternal things which are permanent and perfect, and is the source of all reality and true knowledge