The Catalyst of Modern Science
The Catalyst of Modern Science
This paper is a tale of the teacher, the student, the teacher, and the student again. (Khan Academy, 2017) In history, occasionally, we have rare individuals that surpass the average human intelligence and come to be known as geniuses. When one talk's about Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, then one can only conclude that they indeed were geniuses. The master of the three Socrates, a son of a midwife, was not one of Athenian's best-looking men. Most people back then would classify him as being ugly; Socrates' appearance breaks the standard rules of aesthetics. (The Greeks, 1999) A distinguished veteran of the Athenian army, during the clash with Sparta, Socrates was a man of diversity. He was married but had a fondness of falling in love with younger men. (Boeree, 2009) Same-sex relationships was an accepted practice among Athenians and classical Athens sections, of young males, citizen training might include a hierarchical sexual plus tutorial relationship with older men. (McKay et al., 2017) Socrates was a student of Pythagoras and was heavily influenced by him. Pythagoras played a crucial part in the mathematics we use today. (Bowen, 2019) Socrates came from a long line of thinkers dating back to the day of the Babylonians where astronomers gathered star charts as evidence of their gods. The Greeks replace this god-like thinking with reason, "These are not persons, these are things" was a quote from works cited video file. (The Greeks, 1999)
There are no manuscripts from Socrates himself; we know what we know mostly from dialogues written by Pluto, a student of Socrates. However, other Greeks, Aristophanes, and Xenophon give other historical accounts. These historical accounts of Socrates help determine where historical Socrates begins and Pluto Socrates ends (Bowen, 2019) (Khan Academy, 2017) The teachings of Socrates was mostly about questions, how they are asked and understood with the least amount of fallacy. Socrates believed we should know our starting point to get to the endpoint, and our thoughts control our actions; therefore, we had better think of it the best way we can. (McLeod, 2019) As a man of thought myself, I call this analyzing, you conclude what most likely is the truth or the cause. As a mechanic I would call this troubleshooting, testing every hypothesis until I found the reason for the troubleshooting in the first place, this leads me to believe that Socrates played a significant role in creating the scientific method which is widely used today. Analytics, reasoning, theory, and critical thinking all performing a part in modern-day philosophy, something the ancient Greeks were very interested in. (Bowen, 2019) If you could wrap up Socrates' contribution to one word, that word would be the Socratic-method, which is still viewed as a best practice even today. (Khan Academy, 2017)
Plato was a prize student of Socrates; he came from a powerful and well to do family; it was around 20 when he started following Socrates' teachings. It is interesting to find out that Plato was a nickname; his actual name was Aristocles. Plato was devoted to Socrates' philosophical views; however, after the legal murder of Socrates, from the Athenian government, he wandered around parts of Greece to include the Mediterranean, where slave-trading Pirates kidnapped him. Plato's friends scrambled to raise money for his release; however, The Pirates let him go without collecting any ransom. This event started the beginnings of "The Academy," which was a Greek Academy for learning for most of the millennium. (Boeree, 2009) Plato was more metaphysical; everything was broken down in forms; the reality was only a reflection of these forms; reality exists because of the structure. Words said by him, "a line can divide existence. Above the line is knowledge; below it is an opinion, to be is know, the more you know, the better you are" can contest to his obsession with categorizing reality. (Bowen, 2019) The best of Plato's passions was his work called "The Republic." (Boeree, 2009) (Coumoundourus, 2020) For me, we have a shorter way of saying this today, "knowledge is everything," we hear those words throughout our lives. "Son you got to get a good education," "Study about it first, then form an opinion, "and even the Bible says, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that need is not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. "2nd Timothy 2:15 KJV. These passages show me that Plato played a significant role in how the world thinks today, his views on the world of forms, of what we call ideas today, say the idea was more important than what was, or our things. (Bowen, 2019) I call this dream building, creating our reality around us through thought. One only has to turn on a light, text on a cellphone, or drive a car, to realize how Plato affected the world with his philosophical views.
Lastly, we come to Aristotle, where Socrates was all about theory, Plato was all about idealism, Aristotle was more about realism. He was more interested in how things are, most of his writings concerning metaphysics, ethics, and politics came from his observations rather than his reasoning or deduction. (Bowen, 2019) Aristotle was a naturalist and pretty much created modern logic. An exception to this would be the symbolic form of logic. Plato considered Aristotle his prize student, but they did not always see eye to eye during their discussions. (Boeree, 2009) You could also say that Aristotle was the father of causality, which he explains with his metaphysical four causes. (Bakesia et al., 2017) These three men made contributions in the world that are used and debated that make up many forms of science, including political science. These Greeks were the catalyst to modern-day politics, government, science, and a great deal more, and will continue to be throughout human history. Socrates sums it up best when he says "True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us," for if we knew everything, then we would not need science or any other viewpoints we have today (Grisby, 2017)
Works Cited:
Khan Academy. Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. [Video file] (2017, March 22). Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/classical-greece/v/socrates-plato-aristotle
The Greeks: Crucible of civilization-part 3 [Video file]. (1999). Retrieved April 6, 2020, from https://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=16517&xtid=41158
Boeree, C. G. (2009). The Ancient Greeks, Part Two: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/athenians.html
McKay, J. P., Hill, B. D., Buckler, J., Crowston, C. H., Wiesner, M. E., & Perry, J. (2017). A history of Western society (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, Macmillan Learning.
Bowen, R. (2019, August 20). Comparison of the Philosophical Views of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle: Ancient Greek Philosophy. Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://www.brighthubeducation.com/history-homework-help/122533-philosophy-of-socrates-plato-and-aristotle/
McLeod, P. (2018, February 24). Philosophers of Ancient Greece. Retrieved April 8, 2020, from https://worldhistory.us/ancient-history/ancient-greece/philosophers-of-ancient-greece-socrates-plato-and-aristotle.php
Coumoundourus, A. (n.d.). "Plato: The Republic" The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ISSN 2161-0002, Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://www.iep.utm.edu/republic/
Bakesia, B., Bakesia, B., Rutberg, Collins, J., & Jeffery, A. V. (2017). Aristotle's Four Causes. Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://simplyphilosophy.org/study/aristotles-four-causes/
Grisby, E. (2017). Analyzing Politics (6th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.