Greek Science

1
Greek Science

• PLATO ARISTOTLE

2
OBJECTIVES

• Know and understand the basics of Plato's
  philosophy.
• Know and understand the basics of Aristotle's
  philosophy.
• Know the importance and influence of Plato and
  Aristotle's philosophy in the field of science
  and human thinking in general.
• Know the significance of Plato and Aristotle's
  philosophy in your daily life.

3
Plato Aristotle

• School of Athens, by Raphael

4
PLATO

• Pupil of Socrates
• Influenced by Socrates' death
• Set up his own school known as the "Academy"
• one of the greatest and most influential thinker
  of all time.

5
BACKGROUND OF HIS THOUGHT

• 1. From Natural Philosophy to Philosophy of Man
  and Society
• Natural Philosophy - Thales, Anaximenes,
  Anaximander, Parmenides, Heraclitus,
  Democritus
• - Main Question "What is the underlying
  stuff of nature?"
• Philosophy of Man and Society - Sophists and
  Socrates
• - Main Questions
  "Who are we? What is virtue? What is Justice?"

6
BACKGROUND OF HIS THOUGHT

• 2. Both Trends are concerned with the existence
  of the "eternal and immutable."
• Natural Philosophy - "ONE in the many"
• Philosophy of Man and Society - "NORMS of the
  society"
• 3. Concern of Plato He was also concerned with
  the relationship between what is "eternal and
  immutable", on the one hand, and what "flows", on
  the other.
• -Same as the Natural Philosophers and Humanists.
• -But he answered it differently.

7
HOW PLATO CAME UP WITH HIS IDEA

• "Although everything in the natural world
  "flows", there must nevertheless be "something"
  that never changes."
• Now the question is, "where can we find that
  non-changing 'something'?"

8
HOW PLATO CAME UP WITH HIS IDEA

• World of Things (Nature)
• Perceptible
• Perishable
• within time and space
• it flows

9
HOW PLATO CAME UP WITH HIS IDEA

• "where can we find that non-changing
  'something'?"
• Obviously, "It must be beyond the realm of
  things."
• -It must be perceived only by reason
• -immaterial and non-perishable
• -outside time and space
• -eternal and immutable
• For Plato, it is found in the realm of Ideas

10
PLATO'S DOCTRINE OF IDEAS

• For Plato all Material things are fashioned after
  their timeless "ideas or forms."
• Despite their differences, why are toy horses all
  the same?
• Why is a toy horse a toy horse?
• what is there in all toy horses that makes them
  all toy horses?

11
PLATO'S DOCTRINE OF IDEAS

• If you are to make toy horses
• you use models of horses
• you have in your mind the "forms" of horses.
• this form or idea of a toy horse allows you to
  make several toy horses.
• despite their differences, all toy horses are toy
  horses.
• Therefore, what makes a toy horse a toy horse is
  the idea of a toy horse.

12
PLATO'S DOCTRINE OF IDEAS

• Thus for Plato, "The realm of Ideas is the
  foundation of the realm of things."
• IDEAS
• THINGS
• ART

13
TRUE KNOWLEDGE

• what is known in the realm of things are mere
  "opinions"
• - we only use sense perception
• -ex. who is the most beautiful actress?
• what is known in the realm of ideas are "true
  knowledge"
• - we use reason
• -ex. mathematics, geometry, philosophical ideas
• "We can only have 'inexact conception' of things
  we perceive with our senses. But we can have
  'true knowledge' of things we understand with our
  reason."

14
The Cave Allegory
WORLD OF THINGS (SHADOWS)
15
The Cave Allegory

• things are but shadows of ideas or eternal forms
• we need to go beyond the shadows and dwell on the
  realm of ideas.
• ideas let us understand the natural world

16
WE ONLY RECOLLECT IDEAS

• We already know ideas before, all we need is to
  just remember them.
• We remember the ideas in the copies (things).

IDEA OF A HORSE
17
ARISTOTLE (384322)

• He was a pupil at Plato's Academy
• Before going to Athens, we lived in Macedonia
• Son of the famous physician Nicomachus
• Last great Greek Philosopher, but first great
  biologist of Europe

18
ARISTOTLE (384322)

• Unlike Plato, he was preoccupied with natural
  processes (world of things) and not with the
  world of ideas.
• He was "the great organizer."
• He tutored (342c.339 ) Alexander the Great
• In 335 he opened a school in the Lyceum some
  distinguished members of the Academy followed
  him.

19
NATURE IS THE REAL WORLD...

• The "idea" of something is simply a concept that
  we humans formed after seeing a certain number of
  that thing.
• Ideas are just the "common characteristics" of
  things belonging into a certain group.
• Ideas are just reflections of natural objects.

20
NATURE IS THE REAL WORLD...

• For Aristotle, "Nothing exists in the mind that
  has not first been experienced by the senses."
• Simply, "There is no such thing as a separate
  world of ideas."

21
CAUSALITY IN NATURE

• Modern/popular notion of cause how something
  came to be
• example
• RAIN
• - the moisture in the clouds cools and condenses
  into raindrops that are drawn to the earth by the
  force of gravity.
• For Aristotle, this is incomplete.
  

22
CAUSALITY IN NATURE

• THERE ARE ALWAYS 4 CAUSES OF A THING
• 1. Material Cause - material component
• 2. Efficient Cause - that which makes the
  thing (external agent)
• 3. Formal Cause - that which makes a thing
  what it is
• 4. Final cause - purpose for which the thing is
  made.

23
CAUSALITY IN NATURE

• Example RAIN
• 1. Material Cause - moisture
• 2. Efficient Cause - cooling air
• 3. Formal Cause - form or nature of water - to
  fall to the earth
• 4. Final Cause - its purpose is to nourish the
  earth and its dwellers.
• In modern thought the efficient cause is
  generally considered the central explanation of a
  thing, but for Aristotle the final cause had
  primacy.

24
EVERYTHING CAN BE CATEGORIZED

• Every object falls under a broader category and a
  certain subcategory
• This also applies in the sciences
• Science is divided into different branches and
  that such branches are parts of one coherent
  whole.
• Physics
• Biology
• Psychology
• Logic
• Ethics
• Politics
• Metaphysics

25
LOGIC

• One of Aristotle's major contribution to human
  knowledge
• Found in his Organon
• Logic is an instrument used for organizing our
  thoughts
• based on correlation of terms

26
LOGIC

• ex. (Syllogism)
• All creatures are mortals
• Gloria is a creature
• Gloria is a mortal
• Clear thinking that leads to a definitely true
  conclusion.

27
Plato Aristotle in General

• True Knowledge is found above, in the world of
  ideas.

• True Knowledge is found here, in the world of
  things.

28
Questions to Ponder

• What are the contributions of the two great
  philosophers to science?
• How can we use their philosophies in our
  practical daily living?