5 Ancient Greek Philosophers and Their Important Contributions
It is unarguably a known fact that ancient Greece was home to some of the most important and celebrated philosophers in the world today. The ability of those selected few to see life in a different perspective and their openness to share with us was a great phenomenon.
Mankind is thankful as they helped shaped the thoughts of so many others who decided to walk in their shoes. They opened a wave of facts checking in order to arrive at conclusions. And stopped the reliance on myths and folklore.
Today, we look at the different contributions some of these known philosophers made to the world;
Aristotle
Aristotle made sure to categorize knowledge into different fields such as Physics, biology, ethics and math. He was an influential philosopher and excelled greatly in math, astronomy, biology and philosophy. Aristotle based all his findings on factual data which were gathered from his real-life experiences. He is also famously known as Plato’s disciple.
Pythagoras
Pythagoras is an influential philosopher known for his famous theory Pythagoras Theorem Belonging to the pre-Socrates era, this philosopher established a school where studies and researches were done to back up philosophy and real life. A huge number of disciples studied at his school, learning the ways and means of leading lives with harmony and balance. Pythagoras teachings are still studied as these lay down the doctrines for leading basic lives.
Parmenides
Parmenides was able to introduce varying new concepts for life and humanity. A follower of Pythagoras, Parmenides contributed immensely in the field of philosophy.
Historians claim he was a pupil of a philosopher named Xanophanes as most of his preaching, thoughts and poems are heavily influenced by him. He also belonged to the pre-Socrates society and was an influential figure in ancient Greece. He wrote a poem called ‘On Nature’ in which he dealt with a very intriguing question ‘is it or is it not’?
Socrates
Socrates was heavily invested in actions regarding his philosophical ideologies. He took time to exercise his philosophies in his daily life. As a deep thinker and an answer seeker, he sometime roamed the cities and markets seeking for answers through open discussions and meetings.
He also ensured his disciples implemented his philosophies and others in their daily lives and associations through thinking and using their intellects.
Plato
One among the greatest philosophers of ancient Greece was Plato, a student of Socrates. He was able to revolutionize the modern world through his teachings. He was able to establish an Academy in Athens which is identified as Western society’s first institution of higher learning. A great contributor on the development of western philosophy still being studied and governing actions. Plato preached his philosophy that was based on a threefold approach, namely — ethics, dialects and physics. His work ‘The Republic’ is considered Plato’s most influential works till today as it offers great insight into different fields like ethics, politics, and metaphysics.
