The Idea of Ancient Greek Philosophy

蘇雪

Abstract：As the source of western philosophy， ancient Greek philosophy had a profound influence on western philosophy. Ancient philosophers were hard to reach a consensus on the existence of all the things in the world. They tried to grasp the profound understanding of the world， which is the clue of the history of philosophy.

Keywords：Existence；Ancient；Greek Philosophy

I. The Origin and Development of Existence

Western philosophy began with the Greek islands and colonies in the sixth Century B.C. Philosophers have been confused by some special puzzles， most notably，“What are the things really like ？ ”and “How can we explain theprocessofchange in things？” It means that it is a scientific way of thinking.

Three important Philosophers in Miletus， namely Thales， Anximander and Anaximenes. Thalesproposed that water is the origin of all things. The origin substance out of which all special things come is an indefinite was thought by Anaximander. Anaximenes put forward the theory of air origin. Whatever may be the usefullness of the ideas about water ， the boundless， and air as the origin substance in the world， the really significance is that they for the first time raised theultimate question about nature .

In contrast toMilesians，It was thought that things consist of numbers by Pythagoras. Heraclitus argued there was something that changes， namely fire. However， Parmenides assumed there is only one single ， unchanging， and permanent thing which wascalled “existence”. It is the foundation of Western metaphysics.

When ancient philosophers pursuit the basis of knowledge in trouble， Socrates reestablish the pursuit of knowledge. He pursuited truth firmly and found outthe real master of naturewas goodness ， in that sense “ knowledge is virtue”. The great influence of Plato is that he established a unified ideological system for diverse philosophy. He was convinced that the object of knowledge was the idea， not the phenomenon. The purpose of his idealism was to search for the basis ofknowledge. Platon put forward the theory of a priori for the fist time in the history of western philosophy. He thought that knowledge was not to be taught， because it was innate. Aristotle fixed on nature ， he thoughtthe abstract scientificconceptisin living nature.

II.The Influence of Existence

Ancient Greek philosophy is the source of western philosophy and the spark of western ideas. Ancient Greek philosophy is not only the inevitable development of human knowledge， but also the background of the modern science. It provides an embryo of many modern scientific theories . The most important is that it provides a necessary way of thinking for the occurrence of modern scientific.

Existence of the ancient Greek philosophy opened an era and made an abstract generalization of natural things to explain the world.In the course of 1000 years of development， Ancient Greek philosophy involved a broad field of knowledge， the specific knowledge and discipline are derived from philosophy. The existenceof ancient Greece is the summary of nature， societyand thinking ， which is the unification of world outlook and methodology. If there were no ancient Greek philosophy， there would be no modern natural science. Sothe investigation of the origin of the modern science and the occurrence of the scientific revolution， if not from Telles to the atomic theory of the Greek philosophers to explore the nature of the natural， there will be no Renaissance period of mechanical philosophy.

It is important significance of Ancient Greek philosophy for the development of Modern Natural Science. At that time， philosophy and natural science were intertwined， Philosopher is also a scientist ， the natural science knowledge is unified in the philosophy thought， So Philosophy is the beginning of science. Science has only practical significance， but it does not rise to the level of rational knowledge. Ancient Greek philosophy contains scientific spirit and humanistic spirit， which is the embodiment of the pursuit of truth.

In a word， the ancient Greek philosophy reveals the methods of science and technology， the knowledge， human nature and the secret of human social civilization after the study of thousands years.

Reference：

[1]Socrates to Sartre andBeyond ：A History of Philophy，8e（S.E.Stumpf J.Fieser，2014）

[2] Fifteen lectures on Western Philosophy（ZhangZhiwei，2013）

[3] A brief history of Western Philosophy（ZhaoDunhua，2014）