1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF GREAT PHILOSOPHERS
(SOCRATES, PLATO AND ARISTOTLE)
SOCRATES
Was born in Athens in a poor family, his father Sophroniscus was a sculptor and his
mother Phaenarete was a midwife. Socrates fought in the Peloponnesian war as a soldier in
the army. After retired from the army he spent his time and energy in the pursuit of
wisdom.He went about this by engaging in conversation at the Agora(market place) with all
sorts of men and women. They would discuss a wide range of subjects such as love, politics,
war, friendship, poetry, religion, science, government and moral issues though his special
their relation concern was moral conduct.
Socrates rejected the popular conceptions of the Greek gods and to human beings,
he believed that a divine providence had to do with the creation of the world. Also he believe
that man was more than just a physical organism, he felt that man’s body was a dwelling
place of the soul which was more important than the body. He believed that the chief cause
of the evil that men do was ignorance concerning the good life. Thus through the proper
development of mind in its pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness that the goal and purpose of
human life can be achieved.
Socrates was very critical of the democratic form of government thus he felt that
people who are called upon to govern the state ought to possess both intellectual and moral
qualifications.
Socrates felt it was very important to demonstrate to the people whom he spoke with
that they didn’t have as much knowledge on a particular subject (knowledge, wisdom,
excellence) as they might have boasted.
Socrates used two methods that became essential to the development of philosophy
that is Inductive arguments (asking questions to guide the discussion) and seeking general
definitions of ambiguous (unclear) terms.
Socrates often claimed that he was not a teacher nor obtained enough knowledge to
know anything about the subjects of his debates. He wanted to prove that only wise man
could admit to his own ignorance and aimed to make the people that he spoke with a better
person by getting them to “know thy self”.
Socrates had a tendency to point out the short comings of a certain official who were
according to him unprepared for duties. He usually received harsh resentment from officials
he had offended. This was not the case when he had pointed out the short comings of
Meletus, a member of government council. In 399 B.C Meletus and his fellows Aristocrats
Anytus and Lycon launched accusation at him for being a menace to society and corrupting
the minds of the young men and for rejected the gods of Athens and that his teachings would
eventually bring about collapse of public morality. At trial Socrates defended himself and his
manner of living and presented sufficient evidence to show that the accusations brought
against him were without adequate foundations; However jury and majority voted against him
thus considered him guilty and sentenced him to death by drinking a poisonous plant extract
known as hemlock.
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2. Socrates had students who were Aristophaues, Xenophon, Plato who wrote dialogues
establishing the figure of Socrates portrayed as endlessly questioning, shattering the false
claims of his contemporaries.
PLATO,427-347 BC.
Plato was born into an aristocratic and wealthy Anthenian family.His father traced his
ancestry in a direct line back to the early kings of Athes.His mother was the niece of the
wealthy nobleman,Critias and sister of the rich and famous Charmides.Both Critias and
Chamides were students of Socrates.
Platos name was Aristocles,meaning “the best”and “renowned”.He acquired the name of
Plato in his youth because of his wide shoulder.He excelled in every area of youthful
achievement such as sportsmusic and in academic.He also worn Athenian prize for bravery
during the with Sparta.In 407 BC when he was at the age of twenty,Plato became astudent of
Socrates
In 386 B.C Plato purchased a recreation grove dedicated to the god Academus.This
became the location of his school.The course of study included the folllowing
subject;HigherMathematics,Astronomy,Music,Literature,Law,History and Philosophy.
Plato lectured,utilizing his vast knowledge to present an organised body of information to
his students.He also made use of Socratic discussion by dialogue as the method of scientific
investigation.At times problems would be assigned on an individual basis.
Plato died around the year 347 B.C.He continue to teach until the end,winning the
admiration and love of his students and fellow Athenians.
ARISTOTLE,348-323B.C
Aristotle born in 384B.C from the north western edge of the Greek Empire in Stagira. His
father was physician to king Amyntas of Macedonia.
Aristotle was a student of Plato, he came to Athens in 366B.C. Plato regarded Aristotle
as brilliant and referred to him as the “nous” or the “mind”. Eventually he classified the
branches of knowledge into categories including physics, psychology, poetics, logic, and
rhetoric.
Aristotle returned to Stagira around 344B.C and married Pythias, the sister of Hermias, a
student and friend who later became dictator of the city of Atarneus. Around 340B.C he
became tutor to the king’s son Alexander (soon to become Alexander the Great)
At the age of fifty Aristotle moved to Athens. He purchased a valuable group of buildings,
land and gardens. He established a school of higher education in philosophy named Lyceum
dedicated to god Apollo Lyceus. School won acclaim for its distinguished work in the natural
sciences. Students organized and ruled themselves thus every ten days a different student
would be elected to handle adminisrative duties. Also all students were assigned tasks
involving the historical or scientific research.
Alexander endowed Aristotle’s school with the equivalent of almost four million dollars
and samples of animal and vegetable from all over the conquered territories thus Aristotle
was able to establish the first zoo and first botanical garden in the world and his scientific
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3. observations became the world’s chief source of scientific knowlegde for the next thousand
year.
Aristotle had publicly supported Macedonian policies which were hateful to the
Athenians. Aristotle broke with Alexander as it was difficult to support him for he flushed with
conquest and became more arrogant and cruelty. Thus Aristotle went into exile, moving to
Chalcis in Euboea in 323B.C and died there at the age of sixty one.
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4. References
www.google.com
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