Antiquity

Major Representative Philosophers: Democritus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle



Classification: rationalism


Meaning: belief in human reason




Democritus: believed that everything was made up of “atoms”, or tiny, invisible, and unchanging building blocks. He only believed in material things. He believed that everything that happens has a cause. Our perceptions are due to the movement of atoms in space. Souls are made up of “soul atoms” which disperse and form a new soul when we die.


Socrates: believed that the ability to distinguish between right and wrong is due to reason rather than human society. We cannot be happy unless we follow our natural instincts of what is right. He had strong faith in human reason. We learn of Socrates’ philosophy through his student, Plato.



Plato: believed that some things were immutable while others “flowed”. For example, there is an eternal, perfect horse called the “idea horse” behind every horse in real life. This is called Plato’s theory of ideas. Plato also believed that while we can perceive tangible things with our senses, we can only have knowledge of things that can be understood with reason. Our body belongs to the world of the senses, while our immortal soul belongs to the world of ideas. Finally, Plato was a rationalist because he believed that reason should trump everything else and govern society.

Socrates

Aristotle: interested most in natural processes. Disagreed with Plato because he believed that the “idea horse” did not really exist, but rather humans had an image of an “idea horse” from seeing many horses in their lives. Nothing exists in our minds that has not first been experienced by our senses. Reality consisted of “substance”, or what things are made of, and “form”, or each thing’s characteristics. Believed that everything had four causes: material, efficient, formal, and final. The material cause and efficient cause are the scientific reasons for a process. The formal cause is due to the nature of the process or substance (for example, it is in the nature of water to fall to the earth when it rains). The final cause is the purpose. Everything in nature belongs to different categories. Only living things are able to change. God is the “formal cause” of all change in nature. Man can only be happy if he uses all of his abilities. Happiness comes from pleasure and enjoyment, being a free citizen, and being a thinker/philosopher. All three of these criteria must be present to achieve true happiness.