Fromhttp://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture8b.html “It perhaps…

From http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture8b.html “It perhaps…

From http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture8b.html

“It perhaps goes without saying that the western intellectual tradition, as well as the history of western philosophy, must begin with an investigation of ancient Greek thought. From Thales and the matter philosophers to the empiricism of Aristotle, the Greeks passed on to the west a spirit of rational inquiry that is very much our own intellectual property. And while we may never think of Plato or Aristotle as we carry on in our daily lives, it was their inquiry into knowledge that has served as the foundation for all subsequent inquiries. Indeed, many have argued with W. H. Auden that ‘had Greek civilization never existed we would never have become fully conscious, which is to say that we would never have become, for better or worse, fully human.'”

Now that you are more familiar with the philosophical contributions of what Fiero in The Humanistic Tradition calls “The Speculative Leap,” think about the “leaps” made by the Greek Philosophers.

• What is most memorable to you from the ideas presented by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek philosophers?
• What about these ideas is most interesting to you?
• Do you agree that the contributions of the ancient Greek philosophers are responsible for our becoming more “fully human?”