Ancient Greek philosophies are said to be some of the most important ideas that shaped the western civilization as a whole. Ancient Greece wasn’t a unified nation. It was divided into multiple polis or city-states. Two of the most important of these are Athens and Sparta. Sparta had an aristocratic rule, whereas Athens had a democratic one (something which they were very proud of), although the democracy of Athens was very different from the modern definitions of democracy.
Athens is said to be the birthplace of democracy. The earliest from of democracy was a result of some political reforms under some statesmen of Athens, the most notable of them being Cleisthenes, who decided to form a political system that would include the opinions and interests of all those who had the status of citizens in Athens (which did not include women and slaves). This democracy fell apart however after the Peloponnesian Wars, which led to Athens coming under an oligarchic rule. This was a time filled with immense violence and corruption. Eventually the oligarchy was overthrown, and democracy was restored. It is important to understand this history of Athens to get the foundation of thoughts and ideas of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, three of the most important philosophers in Greek history. Socrates was the teacher of Plato, who in turn was the teacher of Aristotle. It is also important to note that Plato had a very philosophical approach to politics, whereas Aristotle had a more practical approach. And there were many disagreements between the two.
SOCRATES
Socrates was a philosopher from Athens who is credited as one of the founders of western philosophy. Socrates often challenged the pre-existing ideas on politics and philosophy. He was eventually sentenced to death in Athenian court for corrupting the youth. One thing to note is that Socrates never wrote any of his ideas and most of his ideas come from the writings of Plato. Therefore the accuracy of the depictions of Socrates’ ideas and beliefs are often under debate, since they came from Plato’s perspective. According to Plato’s ‘Apology of Socrates’, Socrates could have escaped his execution but chose not to do so, as wouldn’t have been the right thing to do. The execution of Socrates made Plato very upset about the political situation of Athens. He questioned the democracy that would sentence a philosopher like Socrates to death.
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