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philosophers
in their
contributions
The Top 10 ancient Greek
philosophers
Plato, a student of Socrates, is regarded as the father of political science and the founder of one of the
world’s first known institutions of higher learning, the Academy in Athens. The primary groundwork of
Plato’s philosophy is a threefold approach – dialects, ethics and physics, the central point of unison being
the theory of forms. For him, the highest of forms was that of the ‘good’, which he took as the cause of
being and knowledge. Plato wrote one of the first and most influential works on politics, The Republic,
which described an ideal or Utopian society. Like his mentor Socrates, Plato was a critic of democracy.
1. Socrates (c. 469-399 BCE)
“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”
The most well-known ancient Greek Philosopher of all time, Socrates, was a master stonemason and
social critic. He never wrote anything and most of his philosophical contributions come through his
students, mainly Plato. Socrates embarked a whole new perspective of achieving practical results through
application of philosophy in our daily lives. Socrates became famous for encouraging people to critically
question everything. Socrates’ greatest contribution to philosophy was the Socratic Method in which
discussion, argument, and dialogue are used to discern the truth. Eventually, his beliefs and realistic
approach in philosophy led to his end, as he was tried and convicted for criticizing religion and corrupting
the youth. Socrates then chose death by suicide over exile from his homeland of Athens. His legendary
trial and death at the altar of the ancient Greek democratic system has changed the academic view of
philosophy as a study of life itself
What accounts for the existence of the one and the many?
Fides querens Intelectum or Faith followsunderstanding
is the stand point of Augustine in the Dark Ages. In his
time, Augustineencountered the dilemma whether he
would pursue with the knowledge about God or justbe
contented with the wisdoms offered by philosophy. In his
quest for more wisdom, Augustine realized that the greatest
wisdom can only be God. By that point, he becomesan
apologetic, the defender of the Church. Then, Augustine
becomes the Bishop of Hippo. He was regarded as the greatest
Christian thinkers before St. Thomas Aquinas.The
epistemological problem encountered by Augustine is the
dilemma between faith andreason. The questions are, is reason
sufficient enough? Is faith can stand alone? And evenmore
crucial, how can finite mind attain certainty? For Augustine, he
must believe whathe understands and understand what he
believes. In his time, Truth is only attainable truefaith which is
the belief in Jesus Christ as God and the human reason.
Augustine realizedthat reason alone in insufficient because it
must be supported with belief or a strong senseof faith. The
same true with faith which cannot stand alone without reason.
Augustinecame up with the notion of Illumination in which he
view God to be the ultimate sourceof all knowledge
enlightening us and what we know is just a facet from the
wisdom of God. What we know is just a drop of water from the
vast ocean of wisdom of God.Illumination put beings into
degrees in its theory of participation. The topmost Being isGod
who is the intelligible light beyond all light and then followed
by creations namely,Angels, Humans, Animals and Plants. Our
mind needs the light of God to know theworld. Truths and ideas
are coming from the same divine illumination who is God. In
the
problem of
“the one and the many” which poses question on how can
the “One” who is
10
God, created the “many” which are the “creatures” or also
properly termed as “Ex NiHilo Nihil Fit” or “Out of
nothing, nothing comes. Augustine answered that creation
is
the free act of God