8-2: The Greek Mind

8-2: The Greek Mind

Guiding Questions:

1. What ideas did the Greeks develop to explain the world around them?

2. What ideas did the Greeks believe about history and science?

Terms to Know

1. Sophists: Greek teachers of philosophy, reasoning, and public speaking

2. rhetoric: the art of public speaking and debate

3. Socratic Method: philosophical method of questioning to gain truth; developed by Socrates

4. Hippocratic Oath: a set of promises about patient care that nre doctors make when they start practicing medicine

Greek Thinkers

The word philosophy comes from the Greek word for "love of wisdom." Greek thinkers known as the philosophers created a new body of knowledge that later shaped the Western World.

Greek Thinkers

Socrates was trained as a sculptor but became a teacher of philosophy. We know about him from his students' writings. Socrates did not agree with the Sophists. He thought that there was absolute right and wrong. He thought all real knowledge was buried deep inside each person.

A Divergence

A group of philosophers called the Sophists were teachers in ancient Greece. Sophists taught rhetoric, the art of public speaking, and formal argument.

Sophists did not believe that the gods influenced everyday life. They did not believe in absolute right and wrong. They thought that something wrong for one person could be right for another.

Sophists

Multiple Choice

Which group of philosophers were traveling teachers who accepted money for their lessons?

• Ephors

• Sophists

• Rhetorics

• Professors

Socrates tried to help people find the knowledge inside themselves through the Socratic method of teaching. This meant he did not lecture his students. Socrates asked them questions. He wanted them to think for themselves.

​Socrates

Some leaders in Athens though Socrates was dangerous. They said he encouraged people to question their leaders' decisions. In 399 B.C., Socrates was arrested and found guilty of teaching young people to rebel. He was sentenced to death and drank poison to carry out his death sentence.

​.

Multiple Choice

A philosopher who taught young people to think for themselves and was executed by the Athenian government.

• Socrates

• Herodotus

• Aristotle

• Confucius

Plato was one of Socrates' students. He wrote a book called The Republic. In it, he described his plan for the ideal society. Plato did not like Athenian democracy. He did not believe that everyone in society could make good decisions. His ideal government divided people into three groups.

​

​Plato

Multiple Choice

Asking students questions and waiting for them find the answers for themselves is called what?

• Platonic Dialogue

• Aristotelian Poetics

• Socratic Method

• Dialectic Inquiry

The top group was the philosopher kings. Plato felt they were wise enough to do what was best for everyone rather that only what was best for themselves.

#1: Philosopher Kings

Warriors were the second group in Plato’s ideal society. Their job was to defend the society against attack.

#2: Brave Warriors

The third group was everyone else. They did all of the jobs in society that were necessary to provide food, clothing, and shelter. Plato believed that the common people were too easily influenced and would make foolish decisions.

#3: Common People

Multiple Choice

One of Socrates' students who wrote "The Republic" and envisioned a world where philosopher-kings ruled.

• Socrates

• Aristotle

• Plato

• Herodotus

In 355 b.c., Aristotle opened his own school called the Lyceum. His teaching focused on the idea that people should live moderately. His belief in observation, or looking at the world around him, was an important step in the development of modern science.

A Philosopher

Unlike most men at that time, Plato believed that women should have the same education and the same jobs as men. Plato started a school in Athens. It was called the Academy. His best student was Aristotle. Aristotle wrote more than 200 works on government, science, and the planets.

A Student of Plato

Aristotle

​Aristotle also wrote about government in his book Politics. Aristotle's ideas influenced the founders of the United States government.

Multiple Choice

A philosopher who wrote the book "Politics" and envisioned a world in which the best governments had checks and balances.

• Socrates

• Aristotle

• Plato

• Herodotus

Then, in 435 b.c., Herodotus wrote the history of the Persian Wars. Though he believed that the gods affected historical events, he tried to separate fact from legend. He was the first to do careful research. Today, he is called the “father of history.”

Thucydides was another famous historian of the ancient world. He did not believe that the gods affected human history. Thucydides tried to write everything the way it actually happened.

​Herodotus

Multiple Choice

The Father of History

• Herodotus

• Leonidas

• Thucydides

• Aristotle

Multiple Choice

A Greek historian who, unlike Herodotus, relied on eyewitness accounts to tell his histories.

• Themosticles

• Thermopylae

• Thucydides

• Thrace

New History and Science Ideas

Another Greek scientist, Pythagoras, believed that all relationships in the world could be expressed in numbers. He is famous for developing the Pythagorean theorem. It is still used in geometry to figure out the length of the sides of a triangle.

​Pythagoras

In ancient times, most people thought that the gods controlled nature. However, the early Greek scientists thought that people could discover the causes of natural events by observing, investigating, and thinking.

Thales of Miletus

The first important Greek scientist was Thales of Miletus. He made discoveries and developed theories by observing and thinking.

New History and Science Ideas

Hippocrates wrote a list of rules about how doctors should treat their patients. The rules are listed in the Hippocratic Oath. It says doctors should do their best to help the patient. It says they should protect the patient’s privacy. Today, doctors around the world still promise to honor the Hippocratic Oath.

​Hippocratic Oath

Hippocrates was a physician who is called the "father of medicine." He believed that diseases came from natural causes. He made important discoveries about different kinds of diseases. He also developed his own treatments to cure sick people.

Hippocrates

Multiple Choice

A doctor's pledge which states a doctor must do everything possible to help a patient and, above all, "Do No Harm."

• Socratic Method

• Platonic Rules

• Hippocratic Oath

• Doctor's Pledge