Golden Age of Greece
The Golden Age
The “golden age” of Greece lasted for little more than a century but it laid the foundations of western civilization.During this period of time significant advances were made in a number of fields including government, art, philosophy, drama and literature.
Plato
Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece. He was also a mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science.
Aristotle
Aristotle ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, one of the greatest intellectual figures of Western history.He was the author of a philosophical and scientific system that became the framework and vehicle for both Christian Scholasticism and medieval Islamic philosophy.Aristotle’s intellectual range was vast, covering most of the sciences and many of the arts, including biology, botany, chemistry, ethics, history, logic, metaphysics, rhetoric, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, physics, poetics, political theory, psychology, and zoology. He was the founder of formal logic.
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy.Through his portrayal in Plato's dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus. The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions, and is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions is asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand. Plato's Socrates also made important and lasting contributions to the field of epistemology, and the influence of his ideas and approach remains a strong foundation for much western philosophy that followed.
The Ancient Greek philosophers have played a pivotal role in the shaping of the western philosophical tradition. The Ancient Greek philosophical tradition broke away from a mythological approach to explaining the world, and it initiated an approach based on reason and evidence.This sparked a series of investigations into the limit and role of reason and of our sensory faculties, how knowledge is acquired and what knowledge consists of.Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were the most influential of the ancient Greek philosophers, and they focused their attention more on the role of the human being than on the explanation of the material world. The work of these key philosophers was succeeded by the Stoics and Epicureans who were also concerned with practical aspects of philosophy and the attainment of happiness.
Medicine
Ancient Greek medicine was a compilation of theories that were constantly expanding through new ideologies and trials. Specifically, the theories and ideologies from which Ancient Greek Medicine derived included the humors, gender, geographic location, social class, diet, trauma, beliefs, and mind set. Early on, Ancient Greeks believed that illnesses were “divine punishments” and that healing was a “gift from the Gods.”It was also theorized that gender played a role in medicine because some diseases and treatments were different for women than for men.Diet was thought to be an issue as well and might be affected by a lack of access to adequate nourishment. Trauma, such as suffered by gladiators, or from dog bites or other injury played a role in theories relating to understanding anatomy, and infections. Additionally there was significant focus on the beliefs and mind set of the patient in the diagnosis and treatment theories.
Mathematics
The mathematicians of ancient Greece made a hugely significant contribution to world thought and all practical subjects which depend on that intellectual basis, from geometry to engineering, astronomy to design. Influenced initially by the Egyptians, Greek mathematicians would push on to make breakthroughs such as Pythagoras' theory of right-angled triangles and, by focussing on the abstract, bring clarity and precision to age-old mathematical problems. Their solutions provided the fundamental mathematical building blocks that all future mathematicians and scientists would build upon right up to the present day.
An awe-inspiring heritage from Greece's Golden Age.
Democracy
Classical Art (480 - 323 BC) was created during a "golden age".
Ancient Greek Philosophy