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The Ancient Greeks and Their Ideas on Human Values by Art Kane, M.A. Overview Setting the Stage Imagine Socrates spending his days walking the streets of Athens asking questions of the people to make them think. What types of questions make us think? Can we ever use a wrong means to achieve a good end? With all the modern conveniences and changes in the way people live from the time of the Ancient Greeks, how can their ideas of 2500 years ago possibly apply to us today? Is it right for people with influence or authority, such as people with money or political power, to decide what is morally right or acceptable in a society? Introduction The early Greek philosophers, between 600 and 300 BC, established the foundation for ethics in western culture that survives to this day. The three greatest of these philosophers were Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Socrates (469-399 BC) became well known to the citizens of Athens as he walked the streets encountering people and asking them questions to made them think. He was a man with great common sense, judged by the Oracle at Delphi to be the wisest of men, because he knew that he did not know everything. Socrates never wrote anything and yet, may well be the most quoted of all the Greek philosophers. Plato (426-384 BC) was a student of Socrates whose many writings provide a record of Socrates' thought. The Republic is his most famous work which summarizes Socrate's ideas. Plato established an "Academy", named after the god Academus, which can be considered the first university in western society and which remained in existence for 900 years. Aristotle (384-322 BC) was, for twenty years, a student and then a teacher in Plato's Academy. Besides being a great philosopher, he was also a scientist who studied biology and physics. Aristotle was the first philosopher to write full-length works on ethics: The Nicomacheam Ethics and The Eudemian Ethics. There were many other early Greek philosophers, but none matched the contributions of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. One of these, Thrasymachus, was a contemporary of Socrates. He introduced the pgilosophy of Relativism as an acceptable moral position, a position that is still held in some philosophical circles today.

The Ancient Greeks and Their Ideas on Human Values

by Art Kane, M.A.

Overview

Setting the Stage

Imagine Socrates spending his days walking the streets of Athens asking questions of the people to make them think. What types of questions make us think?

Can we ever use a wrong means to achieve a good end?

With all the modern conveniences and changes in the way people live from the time of the
Ancient Greeks, how can their ideas of 2500 years ago possibly apply to us today?

Is it right for people with influence or authority, such as people with money or political power,
to decide what is morally right or acceptable in a society?

Introduction

The early Greek philosophers, between 600 and 300 BC, established the foundation for ethics in western culture that survives to this day. The three greatest of these philosophers were Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

Socrates (469-399 BC) became well known to the citizens of Athens as he walked the streets encountering people and asking them questions to made them think. He was a man with great common sense, judged by the Oracle at Delphi to be the wisest of men, because he knew that he did not know everything. Socrates never wrote anything and yet, may well be the most quoted of all the Greek philosophers.

Plato (426-384 BC) was a student of Socrates whose many writings provide a record of Socrates' thought. The Republic is his most famous work which summarizes Socrate's ideas. Plato established an "Academy", named after the god Academus, which can be considered the first university in western society and which remained in existence for 900 years.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) was, for twenty years, a student and then a teacher in Plato's Academy. Besides being a great philosopher, he was also a scientist who studied biology and physics. Aristotle was the first philosopher to write full-length works on ethics: The Nicomacheam Ethics and The Eudemian Ethics.

There were many other early Greek philosophers, but none matched the contributions of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. One of these, Thrasymachus, was a contemporary of Socrates. He introduced the pgilosophy of Relativism as an acceptable moral position, a position that is still held in some philosophical circles today.