Great Ideas of Philosophy

Lecture TwoPhilosophy⎯Did the Greeks Invent It?Scope: Philosophy is created when the mind turns from practical matters of avoiding danger and uncertainty to aform of critical inquiry in which its own resources are objectified and subjected to critical scrutiny. Theancient Greek world transformed inquiry from an essentially practical or ritualistic/religious enterprise intoa form of abstract and theoretical thought. Was there something about the Greeks or their culture thatbrought about this transformation? The Greeks’ relation to their gods, who had large but limited powersand business of their own to mind, was one influence. The fact that the religious establishment had littleauthority to pronounce on ultimate questions of reality was another. Further, the Greeks’ commercial andmilitary encounters with other cultures led them to questions of social organization. These things inducedthe Greeks to weigh themselves in relation to others, to examine the powerful influence of custom onthought, and to recognize no viable alternative to the use of their own limited intellectual resources.OutlineI. Why is it that whether the subject is philosophy, or mathematics, or biology, or political science, eveneconomics, our thoughts constantly recur to the ancient Greek world as we search for origins?A. There are theories that it had to do with sunshine, clean air, a slave economy, and abundant seafood, whichprovided leisure hours for the affluent.B. But other kingdoms had greater physical resources, yet never produced a semblance of philosophicalthought and practice.C. The breadth and depth of ancient Greek accomplishment are too vast for single theories to embrace.II. Before we can address the question of whether the Greeks invented philosophy, we must be clear as to justwhat the invention is. What is philosophy, and is it of such a nature that any people can be said to have inventedit? Above all, why should our thoughts always go back to the Greeks to find the origins of our own modernthought?A. There is no known society so limited in its thought and practices as to be totally unphilosophical, for thevery existence of a society requires the recognition and solution of problems that are philosophical in thenature of things.1. Why not begin the history of philosophy with Buddha, Confucius? What about the scientific, medical,and engineering achievements of ancient Egypt and the mathematical discoveries of India?2. So, too, with great literary works.B. But there is a difference between folk wisdom and philosophy.C. Philosophy tests the most fundamental beliefs, convictions, and values that we have.1. Central to this process is criticism—of society, of received wisdom, of oneself.2. Philosophy’s purpose is not to solve practical problems or to solidify civic bonds.3. Philosophy is the love of wisdom—not for its consolation or its finality but for the possibility ofgetting it right, even if that means bad news.D. Yet, in most settings—including the most developed and modern ones—the philosophy employed inaddressing such matters is a most practical affair, arising out of the need for an intelligible world in theface of danger and uncertainty.1. This took place from the first time Homo sapiens dropped from trees.2. Children raise pre-philosophical questions.3. Only rarely are there periods in which the very terms of debate are closely examined, periods in whicheven the most abidingly successful practical measures are held up to critical scrutiny.E. Philosophy does not begin with the need for an intelligible world. The need for an intelligible world beginswith the fearfulness of pre-philosophical, pre-literate societies, facing an unpredictable world of changeand trying to make sense of it.F. The ancient Greeks felt themselves to be outside the divine order, strangers in the world, self-determining.1. They found themselves among peoples whose behavior they didn’t understand.©2004 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership 5