| Introduction
Setting
the Stage
Imagine
Socrates spending his days walking the streets of Athens asking
questions of the people to make them think. What types of questions
make us think?
Can
we ever use a wrong means to achieve a good end?
With
all the modern conveniences and changes in the way people live
from the time of the
Ancient Greeks, how can their ideas of 2500 years ago possibly
apply to us today?
Is
it right for people with influence or authority, such as people
with money or political power,
to decide what is morally right or acceptable in a society?
Introduction
The early Greek philosophers, between 600 and 300 BC, established
the foundation for ethics in western culture that survives to
this day. The three greatest of these philosophers were Socrates,
Plato and Aristotle.
Socrates
(469-399 BC) became well known to the citizens of Athens as he
walked the streets encountering people and asking them questions
to made them think. He was a man with great common sense, judged
by the Oracle at Delphi to be the wisest of men, because he knew
that he did not know everything. Socrates never wrote anything
and yet, may well be the most quoted of all the Greek philosophers.
Plato
(426-384 BC) was a student of Socrates whose many writings provide
a record of Socrates’ thought. The Republic is
his most famous work which summarizes Socrate’s ideas. Plato
established an “Academy”, named after the god Academus,
which can be considered the first university in western society
and which remained in existence for 900 years.
Aristotle
(384-322 BC) was, for twenty years, a student and then a teacher
in Plato’s Academy. Besides being a great philosopher, he
was also a scientist who studied biology and physics. Aristotle
was the first philosopher to write full-length works on ethics:
The Nicomacheam Ethics and The Eudemian Ethics.
There
were many other early Greek philosophers, but none matched the
contributions of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. One of these,
Thrasymachus, was a contemporary of Socrates. He introduced the
pgilosophy of Relativism as an acceptable moral position, a position
that is still held in some philosophical circles today.
Educational
Objectives
On completing this lesson on the Ancient Greeks and Moral Values
students will:
•
Recognize the importance of having moral standards to guide their
choices and actions as students, sports participants, and future
leaders.
• Recognize that the lessons and examples of ancient times
are equally valid today.
• Understand the need to think before choosing to act, rather
than reacting from anger or another emotion.
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