8/15/2019 The Big Three of Greek Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

| English Blog

English Blog

PASSION

THE BIG THREE OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY:

Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC and lasted through the Hellenistic period (323
BC-30 BC). Greek philosophy covers an absolutely enormous amount of topics including: political
philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, ontology (the study of the nature of being, becoming, existence, or
reality), logic, biology, rhetoric, and aesthetics (branch of philosophy dealing with art, beauty, and taste).
Greek philosophy is known for its undeniable in uence on Western thought. Although there were
Greek philosophers before their respective births, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are the only three
worth focusing on during this period.

Socrates, born in Athens in 470 BC, is often credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. The
cloud of mystery surrounding his life and philosophical viewpoints propose a problem; a problem so
large that it’s given a name itself: The Socratic Problem. Since he did not write philosophical texts, all
knowledge related to him is entirely dependent on the writings of other people of the time period.
Works by Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, and Aristophanes contain all of the knowledge known about this
enigmatic gure. His largest contribution to philosophy is the Socratic method. The Socratic method is
de ned as a form of inquiry and discussion between individuals, based on asking and answering
questions to illuminate ideas. This method is performed by asking question after question with the
purpose of seeking to expose contradictions in one’s thoughts, guiding him/her to arrive at a solid,
tenable conclusion. The principle underlying the Socratic Method is that humans learn through the use
of reasoning and logic; ultimately nding holes in their own theories and then patching them up.

Plato, student of Socrates, also has mystery surrounding him. His birth day is estimated to fall between
428 BC and 423 BC. He’s known for being the founder of the Academy in Athens, the rst institution of
higher learning in the Western world. My favorite of Plato’s contributions to philosophy, and the one I’m
going to focus on, is the Theory of Forms. This theory was created to solve two problems, one of ethics
and one of permanence and change. The ethical problem is: how can humans live a ful lling life in an
ever changing world if everything that they hold close to them can be easily taken away? The problem
dealing with permanence and change is: How can the world appear to be both permanent and changing?
The world we perceive through senses seems to be always changing–which is a pretty clear observation.
https://sites.psu.edu/rclperdue/2014/09/19/the-big-three-of-greek-philosophy-socrates-plato-and-aristotle/ 1/3
8/15/2019 The Big Three of Greek Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. | English Blog

The world that we perceive through the mind, seems to be permanent and unchanging. Which world
perceived is more real? Why are we seen two different worlds?

To nd a solution to these problems, Plato split the world into two: the material, or phyiscal, realm and
the transcendent, or mental, realm of forms. We have access to the realm of forms through the mind,
allowing us access to an unchanging world. This particular world is invulnerable to the pains and changes
of the material world. By detaching our souls from the material world and our bodies and developing our
ability to concern ourselves with the forms, Plato believes this will lead to us nding a value which is not
open to change. This solves the ethical problem. Splitting existence up into two realms also leads us to a
solution to the problem of permanence and change. Our mind perceives a different world, with different
objects, than our senses do. It is the material world, perceived through the senses, that is changing. It is
the realm of forms, perceived through the mind, that is permanent.

Aristotle, student of Plato, lived from 384 BC-322 BC. At eighteen, he joined Plato’s Academy in Athens
and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. There, he honed his talents of understanding the
world. In his understanding of the world, he wrote his theory of the universals–which I nd to be
extremely intriguing. The problem of the universals is the question of whether properties exist, and if so,
what exactly are they. To avoid confusion, a universal is a metaphysical term describing what particular
things have in common, focusing strictly characteristics or qualities. His theory states that universals
exist only where they are instantiated (the concept that it is impossible for a property to exist which is
not had by some object). In simpler terms, he believes universals exist only in things, never apart from
things–differing from his teacher, Plato, on this. Aristotle believes that a universal is identical in each of
its instances. All round things are similar in that there is the same universal, characteristic, throughout.

These three laid the foundations of many of the believes of the rest of the Western world. Philosophers
such as John Locker and Descartes use the theories these brilliant minds brought forth in their own
works. I’m very interested to read your opinions, speci cally on the Plato theory.

references:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/plato/
http://www.iep.utm.edu/aristotl/
http://www.mrdowling.com/701-socrates.html
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/socrates

2 THOUGHTS ON “THE BIG THREE OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY: SOCRATES, PLATO, AND

eml5377

https://sites.psu.edu/rclperdue/2014/09/19/the-big-three-of-greek-philosophy-socrates-plato-and-aristotle/ 2/3
8/15/2019 The Big Three of Greek Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. | English Blog

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014 AT 2:13 PM

These viewpoints are tough to wrap your head around. Plato makes an interesting stand. I think it’s
important to be able to separate yourself from the physical world. The universe will always change.
Materials will wither away and loved ones will pass, but it’s how you control your reaction and keep
a stable mind that will determine how happy and ful lling your life is. You need to let the world
change and accept it. Great post! I nd it interesting how each philosopher in uences one another,
but all of their viewpoints are different. It just goes to show how everyone’s reality is different.

Adalie Pauline Zanis

I found all these philosophers to be interesting, especially Plato. It’s neat that they all had a student-
teacher relationship with one another. I wish I had more time to re ect before commenting. There
are hours of debate in this blog post alone! I wonder if Plato is suggesting that we pick one world or
the other or if we need to nd a balance between the two. I agree that our minds try to make things
stay the same, but the world insists upon change. Our minds are the more comforting place for us as
people, but if we lived in that realm forever, wouldn’t we go mad?

https://sites.psu.edu/rclperdue/2014/09/19/the-big-three-of-greek-philosophy-socrates-plato-and-aristotle/ 3/3