Before 2500 years Ancient Greeks invented Western Philosophy

The Ancient Greeks basically invented Western philosophy. 2500 years on and we’re still studying their ideas.

Here are 10 Greek philosophers you need to know:

1. Thales, 7th cent. BC

Thales was part of a new generation of thinkers trying to uncover how the cosmos were constructed without relying on the gods as an explanation. An early Monist, he considered a single element to be the main building block of the cosmos.

2. Anaximander, 610 BC 

A student of Thales, Anaximander saw the cosmos as ruled by laws, similar to human societies. Any action that disturbed the divine law would fail. He also explored astronomy, tracking the movements of the heavenly bodies, and developed a map of the cosmos.

3. Pythagoras, 570 BC 

Pythagoras believed mathematics offered a rational way of explaining the workings of the cosmos. He believed the universe was governed by mathematical principles. His discoveries in mathematics and geometry make him a household name even today.

4. Protagoras, 490 BC 

Protagoras focused on human issues. A legal counselor and adviser to Pericles, he believed every story had two sides—truth was relative. A man’s character determined the quality of his truth claims. He coined the phrase “man is the measure of all things.”

5. Socrates, 469 BC 

Socrates argued that good and evil were absolute and that ignorance was the ultimate evil. He developed the Socratic Method: taking someone’s idea and asking a series of questions to expose flaws. It became a core method of scientific reasoning.

6. Plato, 427 BC

Socrates’ student, Plato, theorized that a transcendent world of ideas contained perfect “Forms” for every object on Earth. Through his plethora of written works and the founding of his Academy, Plato’s ideas became core to Western philosophy.

7. Diogenes, 412 BC 

Known as “the Cynic,” Diogenes’ methods were extreme. He believed that virtue could be obtained by foregoing material possessions and living according to our animal nature. He famously lived in a barrel.

8. Aristotle, 384 BC

Aristotle rejected Plato’s Forms, favoring a more empirical approach. He believed we gain knowledge from commonalities we observe in things around us. He also pondered ethical questions and his work became highly influential to Western ethics.

9. Epicurus, 341 BC

Epicurus saw pleasure as the ultimate good, and pain as the foremost evil. Thus, one should focus on increasing pleasure in their life and avoiding pain. The pinnacle of human achievement was “ataraxia,” or absolute tranquility.

10. Zeno, 334 BC

The first stoic. Zeno took a more tempered approach than his mentor, Diogenes. His teachings centered around the idea that one should accept what cannot be controlled, and that free will should be used to live in accordance with nature.