From Myth to Logos: The Rise of Rational Thought in Ancient Greece
Thinking and Reality
Thinking is about capturing reality and giving it meaning and significance. Humans need to think about ideas. But how can we know reality? Reality, as manifested to our senses, is constantly changing. This poses a problem for knowledge.
Magic-Religious Interpretations
Magic-religious interpretations, both past and present, offer explanations for our existence. They explain the origin of nature and the universe from a divine perspective (Mythical Explanation). From the 7th century BC to the mid-7th century BC, the legendary explanation was gradually replaced by rational explanation (Logos). This process paralleled the democratization of Athens.
Features of the Mythical Explanation:
- Linked to imagination.
- Conveyed through tradition, often by poets.
- Addresses fundamental questions about reality from a totalitarian perspective.
Features of the Rational Explanation:
- Linked to reason.
- Asks questions about reality from a perspective that seeks evidence and regularity.
The Meaning of Myth-Logos
Myth-Logos can be understood as a voice-word, made possible by human capacity for speech and language.
Differences Between Myth and Logos
Myth is based on associative thinking, where the interpretation of reality is contingent upon divine arbitrariness. It often uses external elements to explain phenomena.
Logos, on the other hand, seeks to understand the regularity and evidence of facts. It aims to explain reality through reason itself, employing abstract and logical thinking.
The Emergence of Rational Philosophical Thinking
Where, When, and Why?
Rational philosophical thinking emerged in ancient Greece. As the population grew, villages formed, and emigration occurred. Greek society was structured with a nobility, workers, an army, slaves, and foreigners.
The ability to think and express oneself freely in this society facilitated the emergence of rational thought. Philosophy emerged in the late 7th and 6th centuries BC, with the oldest philosophical texts attributed to Thales of Miletus and his school, which included Anaximander and Anaximenes.
Miletus was a colony in Magna Graecia. During this time, Athens began to rise among other city-states due to military victories, trade development, and advancements in thought and culture. Athens eventually became the most developed polis, reaching its peak in the 5th century BC.
In the 4th century BC, military reforms led to greater citizen participation in the army, contributing to a more democratic society. The progress of Athens, driven by political and economic development, led other city-states to question their own knowledge and beliefs. This critical examination paved the way for rational thinking.
Rational thought emerged gradually alongside the democratization process, as society underwent significant changes.
Pre-Socratic Philosophers and the Search for Arché
Philosophers who predate Socrates, known as the Pre-Socratics, were primarily concerned with ‘physis’ (nature) and the search for Arché (or Arge). Arché refers to the ultimate principle that can explain all of reality.
The concept of physis had two meanings for the Greeks: the totality of natural things and the origin, cause, constitution, and essence of being. These early philosophers believed that understanding the fundamental principle or cause would allow them to explain all of reality.
Thales, observing that all living things need water, proposed that water was the Arché, the source from which everything originates.
Anaximenes argued that water could not be the fundamental element and instead proposed air as the Arché. He believed that air, through condensation and transformation, gave rise to different states of matter.
Anaximander posited that the Arché was neither water nor air but something undefined, which he called Apeiron.
Ontology: Parmenides and Heraclitus
Opposing Thoughts on Being
Ontology is a branch of philosophy that studies being as being, focusing on the fundamental nature of existence.
Parmenides held an absolutist ontology, viewing reality, truth, and being as absolute and unchanging. He argued that “Being is” and “Not being is not,” meaning that non-being is equivalent to nothingness or a void. He believed that everything has a cause and that nothing can come from nothing. Parmenides characterized being as eternal, immobile, unique, real, compact, and spherical.
Heraclitus, in contrast, held a relativistic ontology. He argued that being is not absolute, as it is never the same at two different times. He did not equate not-being with a void but saw it as different from being. Heraclitus believed that true reality lies in constant evolution, driven by the struggle and conflict between opposites. He explained this evolution through the concept of dialectic.
Dialectic:
- Thesis: an assertion
- Antithesis: a denial of the thesis
- Synthesis: a denial of the denial, incorporating and surpassing both thesis and antithesis
Heraclitus saw dialectic as a method of analysis and a concept explaining change and social observations. He believed that change and transformation arise from conflict. Dialectic can also be understood as a dialogue, where individuals use reason to improve understanding.
Democritus and the Synthesis of Being and Change
Democritus attempted to synthesize the ideas of Heraclitus and Parmenides. He proposed that reality is composed of atoms, void, and motion.
Each atom, according to Democritus, possesses the characteristics of Parmenides’ being: unique and unchanging. However, atoms are also endowed with weight, causing them to move, reflecting Heraclitus’ concept of change and plurality.
Democritus believed that atoms are extremely small particles in constant motion. Every change we observe in reality is the result of the interaction and rearrangement of atoms. This is a mechanistic explanation of reality.
Socrates and the Socratic Method
Socrates, born in Athens, was a champion of democracy while also being its most critical voice. He never participated in political assemblies but dedicated himself to defining social and political morals. Socrates never wrote anything, believing that after his death, people would continue to question his ideas.
Despite being sentenced to death by the Athenian democracy, Socrates remained a supporter, arguing that laws should be obeyed. He believed that education is an internal process, originating from within the individual.
Reasoning and the Socratic Method
Reasoning involves providing grounds or justifications for beliefs or actions. There are two forms of reasoning: deductive (logical and mathematical) and inductive (all other forms of reasoning).
Arguments consist of premises, which are declarative sentences that can be either true or false. Reasoning involves multiple premises leading to a conclusion, which is another premise.
In deductive reasoning, the premises are universal and certain. For example:
- Premise 1: All humans are mortal.
- Premise 2: Socrates is a human.
- Conclusion: Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
If the first two premises are true, the conclusion must also be true.
An axiom is a principle that is self-evident and does not require demonstration.
In inductive reasoning, the conclusion is universal but not strictly certain. It is based on probability and observation.
The Socratic method, also known as maieutics (from the Greek word for midwife), involves a process of questioning and dialogue. Socrates believed that a good teacher helps individuals discover knowledge within themselves. His method consists of two stages:
- Irony: Socrates would ask rhetorical questions to his students, leading them through a series of inquiries until they arrived at a conclusion that was rationally sound.
- Inductive Reasoning: Through rational dialogue, starting from the particular experiences of the individuals involved, Socrates would guide them towards a universal definition.
Plato and the Theory of Ideas
Plato, an Athenian philosopher of the 5th and 4th centuries BC, was a student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle. He lived during the height and decline of Athenian democracy. The social and political events of the 5th century influenced Socrates’ interest in human nature, ethics, and politics.
Plato was a representative of absolute idealism. Unlike Socrates, he opposed democracy, believing it was unjust to his teacher. He envisioned a hierarchical society with a just and perfect state.
Plato’s Synthesis of Being and Change
Plato attempted a new synthesis between Parmenides and Heraclitus. He argued that moral and political values, which exist in themselves, are the only true reality. To explain this synthesis, he proposed two worlds:
- World of Ideas: This realm contains universal and absolute ideas, constituting true reality. It has the characteristics of Parmenides’ being.
- World of Forms (or Sensible World): This is the world of material things, particular and concrete, which can be perceived by the senses but lack true reality. It has the characteristics of Heraclitus’ becoming.
Plato’s ontological conception is characterized by dualism. His dualism is justified by the theory of ideas: reality consists of universal and absolute ideas. These ideas are eternal, immutable, and independent of human thought.
Plato envisioned a hierarchical structure for the world of ideas, culminating in the Idea of the Good. In the sensible world, reality consists of forms (e.g., the form of a heart), which are imperfect copies of the ideas. The sensible world is a shadow or reflection of the true reality found in the world of ideas.
Plato believed that ideas have always existed and will always exist, predating humanity. They are the ultimate reality.
Human Nature and the Soul
Plato believed that human nature is characterized by knowledge, which is made possible by the soul. The soul, originating from the world of ideas, is immortal and survives the body. Education, for Plato, is a process of remembering, as the soul forgets its knowledge upon entering the body.
Plato identified three types of soul:
- Rational Soul: Located in the head, it controls the other two souls and is associated with wisdom and prudence.
- Spirited Soul: Located in the chest, it is associated with courage.
- Appetitive Soul: Located in the abdomen, it is associated with temperance.
Protagoras and the Relativity of Truth
Protagoras argued that truth does not exist, and even if it did, humans could not know it. Furthermore, even if someone did know the truth, there would be no language to express it.
Socrates challenged Protagoras, asking: if you believe there is no truth and everything is relative, what do you teach your students?
Sophists and Fallacies
Sophists were highly educated individuals from various parts of the world. They were relativistic, believing that truth is relative to each society, culture, or individual. They questioned the existence of absolute truth.
Socrates criticized the Sophists for their radical relativism, arguing that values are not entirely relative and that humans can have some knowledge of reality.
While moderate relativism and skepticism can be healthy, radical relativism or subjectivism can lead to error.
Fallacies are arguments that appear correct but are logically flawed. Sophists often employed fallacies in their arguments.