Great Ideas of Philosophy

2. Despite their oracles, priests, folk wisdom, and Olympian deities, there was no ultimate authority onmatters of truth in their culture.3. The way to understand was to ask questions.III. The first age in which this rare form of inquiry became common enough to emerge as whole schools of criticalinquiry was that of ancient Greece in the 6 th century B.C. If it is fair to say that the Greeks “invented”philosophy, then it is important to consider the conditions that may have favored or at least encouraged thisrarest of human achievements.A. Was it the Greek “civilization”?1. Earlier and perhaps greater civilizations failed to reach an academic level of inquiry.2. It is a common mistake to think that civilization somehow matches up with philosophical and abstractmodes of understanding.3. Great civilizations come about by solving practical problems. Occasionally, wealth, power, andinspired patronage add a lasting and influential record of artistic and literary merit.B. What explains, then, ancient Greek philosophy, and the fact that it would guide much of what wouldbecome Western civilization in its finest hours?C. Was it the climate? The Greek climate was not milder or easier than others, nor was their land more fertile.D. Was it the gift of a slave-based economy? This theory of a leisure class now free to exercise philosophicalgenius is implausible: Slavery was coextensive with civilization.E. Did it arise from the unique nature of Olympianism?1. The Olympian gods were largely unconcerned with human life and largely separate from the sphere ofhumans, who were left to solve their own problems.2. The Greek religion, unusually for the period, was not a state religion, but neither was Greek societysecular: The reverential and the political were highly integrated; there was a religious attitude but not astate religion.3. Priests were the managers of ritual and oracles but had no authority to pronounce on ultimatequestions.4. A philosophical approach arises when religious authority is not regarded as all-powerful.5. In one of Plato’s dialogues, humans are described as puppets of the gods. But they have one string topull back on⎯the golden cord of reason.F. Is the reason for Greek philosophy more or less immanent in Greek culture and language itself?1. It has been observed that the Greek language does lend itself to a kind of analyticity.2. The speeches of Isocrates are masterpieces of rhetoric.3. In his Panegyricus, Isocrates defines the term Hellenes, not as a race, but as all those who share anoverall philosophical and aesthetic outlook⎯a commitment to self-perfection.4. Isocrates credits philosophy with being the source of institutions that shaped Athens and, philosophy,in his words, “was given to the world by our city.”Recommended Reading:Garland, R. The Greek Way of Life. Cornell, 1990.Isocrates, Panegyricus, George Norlen, trans. Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical Library, 2000, Vol. 1,sections 45–51.Robinson, D. N. An Intellectual History of Psychology, 3 rd ed., University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, chapter 2.Questions to Consider:1. Explain how the conception of the Olympian gods liberates Greek thought.2. Describe factors usually offered to account for the Greek philosophical achievement that were not present inearlier and highly developed civilizations.3. How does Isocrates intend Hellene to be understood, and does this sense of the term retain its meaning today?6©2004 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership