Protagoras
Protagoras
is regarded as one of the greatest of the Sophists of ancient Greece. He lived
between 485-415 BCE and was the first to promote the philosophy of
Subjectivism. He is often referred to as the father of Relativism and
Agnosticism. He argued that the
interpretation of reality was relative to the individual. He taught his view
through his position as a rhetoric, politics, and logic teacher known as
Sophist. He served as a private tutor to
young men of the upper classes. Sophists taught people the how to speak well
and the finer points of culture. As
Athens, was extremely litigious, the skill of public speaking was highly valued
for use in the courtroom. A lot of Protagoras' teachings are derived from
Plato's dialogues. Protagoras'
Relativism is the idea that there is no ultimate, objective truth. Philosophers like Plato believed in an
objective standard of truth and were, therefore, at great odds with the beliefs
of Protagoras. Protagoras may never have claimed `truth' did not exist rather
merely that there is no single way of objectively defining what the truth might
be (Witt, 1954)
Aristotle
Aristotle
is a significant figure in ancient Greek philosophy that made contributions to
metaphysics, logic, mathematics, biology, physics, botany, ethics, agriculture,
politics, medicine, theatre and dance. He lived between 384-322 BCE. Aristotle
was Plato’s student who in turn studied under Socrates. He is known for
rejecting Plato's theory of forms. Aristotle authored a philosophical and
scientific system that became the basis for medieval Islamic philosophy and
Christian Scholasticism. He founded formal logic that was regarded as the sum
of the discipline. His writings in
political theory and ethics as well as in metaphysics continue to be studied
until today. Aristotle's Metaphysics is
based on the concept of substance which is a result of matter and form. He
sought to know what determined the characteristics of something, what makes
something to be what it is or to change in the way that it does. Matter and
form demonstrate a basic duality in every existence. Aristotle was concerned
with the material world which lived in. He focused on the nature of things as
well as their substance. Aristotelian concepts remained entrenched in western
thinking even after the intellectual revolutions of the Reformation, the
Renaissance, and the Enlightenment (Schiappa, 2013).
Epicurus
Epicurus
was a major philosopher in the Hellenistic period. He lived between 341–270 B.C. He came up with
an unsparingly materialistic empiricist epistemology, metaphysics and
hedonistic ethics. His philosophy helped lay the intellectual foundations for
secular individualism and modern science. He taught that the basic components
of the world were atoms flying through empty space. He rejected the concept of an immaterial soul
and platonic forms. Epicurus also thought that human could gain knowledge of
the world by relying on their senses and that skepticism was untenable. He
believed that the goal of one's actions was to achieve pleasure for oneself.
Obtaining pleasure could be done by expelling the fear of the gods and death
and restraining one's desires. Epicurus' teaching of freedom from fear was
popular and flourished for centuries after his death. His philosophy integrates physics with a
rational hedonistic ethics that accentuates cultivation of friendships and
moderation of desires. His optimistic world-view, science-friendly world-view
and practical give insights into human psychology. Many perspectives of his
thoughts are still highly relevant after they were first taught in his school
in Athens, named “the Garden.” (Hughes, 2001)
Works cited
Witt, Norman Wentworth. Epicurus
and his Philosophy. U of Minnesota Press, 1954.
Schiappa, Edward. Protagoras and
Logos: a study in Greek philosophy and rhetoric. Univ of South Carolina Press,
2013.
Hughes, Gerard J. Routledge
philosophy of Aristotle on Ethics. Psychology Press, 2001.
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in customized term papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order for research paper custom.
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