10 contributions of ancient PHILOSOPHY

In today's lesson we are going to study the great contributions of ancient philosophy. Which, originates in the Greece of the S.VII a. c. with Thales of Miletus, when for the first time, the origin of the universe and traditional/mythological thought are questioned. Thus being born the philosophy or the moment in which the human being needs to give an answer and an explanation from the reason/logos to questions they do not understand, leaving aside the answer created from the imagination, he mytho.

Likewise, from this moment we are going to see how they are born and develop different schools either Philosophical currents They will make great contributions to philosophy. Among these schools are: The Ionian school, the Pythagorean school, the Eleatic school, the sophists or the Socratics.

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Index

1. The main contribution of ancient philosophy: logical thought or logos
2. The development of philosophical cosmology
3. The development of ethics
4. The birth of political theory and analysis

He birth and development of logical thinking based on reason is considered the main contribution of ancient philosophy. It was born as a doctrine in Classical Greece of the S.V a. c. from the hand of the philosopher heraclitus (540-480 B.C. C.), who establishes for the first time that man must interpret and approach the world through logos or reason, gradually imposing itself on mythos/mythology.

Over time, the logos stands as the basis of all our Western philosophy and thought, the which, is developed throughout history reaching our days of different shapes. Thus, we can talk about the following contributions of ancient philosophy developed from the logos:

• interpret theworld from reason: Outside agents or forces are left aside to explain the world (gods, heroes and myths) and focuses on external reasons to explain things: laws, reason, data or categories abstract.
• reason is the basis of everything: The data that we obtain through reason to explain things and everything around us is rational. Therefore, rational is real and it is what helps us to differentiate the rational/real from the irrational/unreal.
• With the birth of the logos, a new way of understanding and interpret the world through objectivity: what I see and what I analyze.

From the presocratic school a new vision of the universe developed, based on the observation of the world and natural phenomena. Thus, Thales of Miletus, Anaximander or AnaximeneThey will tell us about a primordial substance that gives rise to the origin of the universe, the arche or water as the beginning of all things.

For example, Anaximander, establishes that the universe is the cyclical succession of opposites: day-night; hot Cold... and raises the Apeiron (without limits or without definition) as the principle of all things, the one that governs the world, that which is indefinite, indeterminate, eternal, that which has no end and from which all things.

Later, Socrates He will tell us about an ordered universe divided in two (ontological dualism):

1. the intelligible world or where ideas are located, the incorruptible, immutable world of essences and the one that has been created by the demiurge.
2. the sensible world or the world of opinions and appearances, subject to change and corruption.

Theethics It is another of the main contributions of ancient philosophy. It is defined as that which establishes the behavior that human beings must follow and respect in order to live in peace with ourselves and with those around us.

This great contribution of ancient philosophy, which reaches our days, was developed by Socrates and his disciples (Plato and Aristotle). In this way, Socrates developed the moral intellectualism, which is characterized by being an ethic developed from reasoning: good is knowledge / virtue and evil is ignorance / vice. Thus, evil is the absence of knowledge of good and the person who acts badly is not out of malice but out of ignorance, no one does evil consciously.

Similarly, with these philosophers was also born:

1. The ethics of happiness: An action is correct as long as it makes us happy and, therefore, we must seek our happiness.
2. virtue ethics: Virtue is found in the soul, it is the one that gives life and is divided into two types: moral virtue (acquired through habit, is responsible for dominating the irrational part of the soul and is the midpoint between two extremes) and intellectual virtue (it is acquired through education and is the rational part of the soul).

With Aristotle and Plato, political analysis and theory were born. These two philosophers in their works will carry out an exhaustive study of the forms of government existing in their time.

• Plato: difference five types of government: Aristocracy or Sophocracy (perfect system), Timocracy (worship of the warrior), Oligarchy (rule by a few), Democracy (rule by many) and Tyranny (rule by one).
• Aristotle: He talk to us about six forms of government: Monarchy and Tyranny (degradation of monarchy), Aristocracy and Oligarchy (degradation of aristocracy), Democracy and Demagogy (degradation of democracy) and Politeia or combination of aristocracy and democracy.

If you want to read more articles similar to Contributions of ancient philosophy, we recommend that you enter our category of Philosophy.

• Hull, L. W. History and philosophy of science. ariel.1978
• Antiseri and Reale. History of Philosophy. Vol. 1. Ed. Herder. 2010