Greek Philosophers

The Origins of Philosophy:

The Greeks and Us!

At the time of Socrates (472-399bc) many Greeks were no longer believers in the stories
of the gods and goddesses. Those stories had provided them with guidance for their lives.
They had believed that they could not go against the decrees of the deities and that they
should follow the examples of the gods and goddesses which they knew of through the
stories they all heard and memorized and repeated. They accepted ideas such a fate and
destiny. Now they were hearing the stories being challenged and some declared their
disbelief. The playwrights were raising questions on the stages. Some thought they could
choose from among the tales those stories that supported whatever courses of conduct
they choose. They believed that they could show that some god or other approved of the
conduct because the god had done something similar. There were many who believed that
morality was individual and relative.

At the time of Socrates Greek culture was undergoing a major revolution. They were
transforming from an oral culture to a literate culture. They were acquiring paper and so
they could write down the stories and the plays and important ideas. They no longer
needed to memorize what they heard and repeat it as exactly as possible in order to
transmit ideas. Plato could write down ideas and examine them. He could write questions
and reasoned arguments for readers to reflect upon.

Today, there are many people who no longer effectively believe in the stories of the one
God. There are many who are convinced that there are no universal moral codes and
people need to determine their own morality. Further the West is being transformed from
a literate culture to an electronic culture. We are at the beginning of a period in which we
are attempting to develop a morality for the new age.

Many no longer accept the idea of universal truth. We shall be examining how we arrived
at this point starting back with the Greeks at the time of Socrates. What Philosophy
became then and offered to people, it is still today and could offer to all of us if we were
to pursue the philosophical approach to handling the issues and key questions. All of the
key issues in Philosophy were quite apparent in the works of Plato and Aristotle. We
shall take a rather brief look at the Greeks in order to understand how Philosophy arises
within a culture and at the key issues. We shall also make comparisons to the present
time in order to appreciate the relevance of all of this for each of us today.

This text shall make use of a theory about education developed by Alfred North
Whitehead. Learning moves through stages. They are:

Romance

Precision
Generalization

It starts with curiosity, a story, a problem. There is not much critical thinking at all. In the
second stage there is a great deal of critical thinking focusing on the problem and paying
attention to consistency, coherency and the non-contradiction. In the last stage there is a
return to the flights of imagination again as the mind applies what is developed in the
second stage and then apply it further.

There will be a good deal of story telling in the next chapter. You may find it very
interesting and even a bit entertaining. In the remaining chapters the thinking will become
more focused, intense and demanding.

BELIEF SYSTEMS, POST MODERNISM and UNCRITICAL THINKING

As people grow and mature and learn they acquire beliefs and entire belief systems. They
do so through receiving and accepting as true stories about how things are in this world
and in a realm beyond this one and through the beliefs implicit in ordinary language and
its usages. Thus are acquired assumptions and presuppositions for the thought processes
entered into through life. In the beginning those acquiring such beliefs want to be
accepted and even valued by the various groups of which they are or desire to be
members, so there is an emphasis on acceptance of the beliefs shared by members of
those groups and not on review or criticism of them. There is little, if any, reflective
thought or critical thinking taking place. Little is needed if the majority of group
members are operating with the beliefs without questioning of them.

Once acquired the belief systems function as a basis for the acquisition of additional
beliefs. As another idea is presented it is placed within the context of the previously
acquired beliefs and if the new candidate for inclusion is consistent with or coherent with
the prior beliefs and ideas it is accepted as also being true. This is the coherentist theory
of truth. The problem with that approach to truth is that there needs to be some other
method for the establishment of the fundamental beliefs or else the entire structure of
beliefs while internally coherent might not be supported by any evidence external to the
beliefs themselves.

As belief systems expand they can reach a point where beliefs and ideas have been
accepted too hastily and when a culture or individual reach a point where reflective
thought can be afforded inconsistencies and perhaps even outright contradictions may
appear upon reflection. Upon the first realization of problems, the belief systems will not
be abandoned altogether and will not even be thrown into serious doubt. Rather there will
be attempts to preserve the belief system through the introduction of qualifiers and
alternate interpretations designed to account for what are to be termed “apparent”
discrepancies. This process will continue until the introduction of the qualifiers and
alternative interpretations reaches a point where they generate the need for even further
such qualifiers and the process then becomes so burdensome that the fundamental beliefs
and ideas may then come under the most careful scrutiny and there is an acceptance of a
need for an alternate set of beliefs that are more internally coherent and satisfying to
demands of reason and the desire for external grounding.

This occurred in the time of Socrates when the many stories about the gods and
goddesses were seen through the eyes of critical reasoning to be inconsistent and
incoherent. For Socrates a basis for the grounding of morality and the social order was
needed other than that provided by the stories of the Greek deities. In addition to sharing
this realization with Socrates, Plato saw that the ideas and theories of the pre-Socratics
were inconsistent and there was needed an alternate view of what made anything real and
how one could know anything.

Now for Socrates, Plato and Aristotle the idea of the Greek deities came to make little
sense in the light of reason and so the idea of a more abstract entity emerges with them as
more satisfying as an explanation of origins and order. Their ideas satisfy the dictates of
reason for which they abandoned the blind adherence to the stories of their ancestors.
These are developments that mark the origins of philosophical thought in the West.

With other western religious belief systems there were also prompts to the development
of a critical thought tradition. The early Hebrew deity is one that has apparent
weaknesses and is not at all perfect in every way. It is jealous and vindictive and unjust.
For the Christians the idea of the Hebrew deity was not going to be acceptable to those
who had come under the influence of the Greek manner of thought. The Christians take
the idea of the all perfect being , the source of all that is true , good and beautiful, from
the Greeks and layer it over the idea of the single deity of the Hebrews. The ideas about
the qualities of the early Hebrew god when combined ideas about the Greek ideal deity
have made for many problems. The Western traditions treat the scriptures as being in
some sense divinely inspired or authored and thus, for many in those traditions who are
conservative and literalists, they carry the ideas of the early Hebrew deity along with
them leading to complications as there arises the need to explain how an all good deity
and an all merciful deity can be so cruel and vindictive as in some of the stories in the
early books or chapters of the scriptures. The Problem of Evil arises as an attempt to give
an account that makes sense as to how an all perfect being could exist at the same time
that there exists moral evil. Troubles with a simple belief prompt critical reflection and
the desire to use reason to support the belief system. Consideration of the troublesome
issues led to Augustine and Aquinas moving beyond the traditions of faith and into
philosophical thought and a reliance on reason to interpret and defend key beliefs in the
Christian tradition.

In recent times people acquire beliefs and ideas that are originating from several different
belief systems and periods: the classical, modern and post modern. Unfortunately, most
start out by an unconscious acceptance that has tem holding beliefs without question
despite the many inconsistencies and incoherent features of the resultant collection. They
accept the ideas as true as they originate from authorities and as they are shared in by
peers. They accept out of a desire to be accepted and to please. The general post modern
culture promotes uncritical thought patterns and so there are no prompts for reflective or
critical thought.
Among the contradictory beliefs are the ideas that are held simultaneously of relativism
and absolutism, empiricism and idealism, freedom and determinism, materialism and a
non-physical mind. Among the many odd combinations of beliefs are:

A single deity must exist and everyone is entitled to believe in whatever they wish
concerning the deity and it will be true.

Reality consists of physical and spiritual entities and reality is whatever any group agrees
that it is.

There are moral wrong or evil acts and whatever people think is morally correct is
morally correct for them.

There are evil acts and there is no one way to declare anything to be evil.

We must make moral judgments for our safety and survival and that no one should make
moral judgments about other people and their behaviors.

There are true and false claims and truth is not objective.

There is knowledge and there is no absolute or objective or certain knowledge.

Science is to be valued and trusted and folklore, mythology and spiritualism are equally
acceptable sources of knowledge.

Human behavior is the result of causal factors and humans are totally free to decide for
themselves what they will do.

Philosophy emerges within a culture when the belief systems no longer answer all the
important questions and there are realized to be problems with the accepted set of beliefs.
One of the many problems with the post-modern belief set is that there are no
contradictions or difficulties with belief sets that need to be addressed because
contradictions and inconsistencies are acceptable as there are no objective criteria for
thought to satisfy and so there is no need for the formal school system to be developing
critical thinking concerning them. Instead there is an exaggerated and harmful accenting
of the value of tolerance of all beliefs and beliefs systems. Opinions are not to be
distinguished from proven claims, there being no objective knowledge, and every claim is
merely opinion. The inherited beliefs and beliefs systems are not examined within the
formal educational system as it is infused throughout with post modern relativism. Many
of the teachers are themselves possessed of the incoherent belief systems.

So, many students arrive in colleges with poor habits of mind and beset with beliefs that
are incoherent and contradictory. Further they are possessed of beliefs that make the
development of their critical thinking skills very difficult. They believe that all claims are
opinions and that there is no reason for them to examine ideas and beliefs that they hold
as they are entitled to hold whatever beliefs they choose to hold and they choose to
remain within their social sets and to do so they believe that they need to continue to hold
the belief systems that are popular with those groupings and in some cases define those
groups.

Mental habits and belief systems are not easily disturbed or called into serious question
when they perform useful functions for the believer and do so in a powerful manner.

If a belief system offers hope and consolation in the face of death of a loved one or
anticipated death of one’s own self then there is a very strong impulse to retain those
beliefs for fear of the intellectual chaos that is feared would result by the rejection of the
familiar belief system. Further, there is the fear that in accepting another belief system
one is disloyal to those groups to which one belongs that hold that belief set in common.
Perhaps most influential in the decision to retain the beliefs that comfort one is the desire
to have a soul that survives the death of the physical body and to have an eternal life in
unimaginable pleasure which are thought to be lost if the belief system is rejected for
another in which such desires are not guaranteed to be fulfilled.

The ability to have control over one’s beliefs may also be so valued that many would
exercise the choice to maintain the old comforting beliefs as a display of that ability thus
maintaining the illusion of control rather than to view the choice of examination and
possible revision or rejection of the belief system as another experience offering evidence
of the ability to control some aspect of one’s life. It is far simpler and economical to
conserve beliefs than to consider revisions thereof. Accepting and continuing beliefs that
one is presented with is far less taxing in effort than the careful and critical examination
of belief systems and the evaluation and decision making involved in the development
and maintenance of a belief systems that is coherent and supported by evidence.

People want to hold whatever beliefs that they choose to hold and give no account for
them other than to assert their right to hold whatever beliefs they choose and to insist that
they must be tolerated in doing so by all others.

One of the accepted beliefs is that of tolerance as a value of the highest social
importance. Tolerance is a value expounded upon in a post modern culture as supportive
of the relativism that is an essential component of the post modern epistemology,
metaphysics and ethics. Tolerance is not to be questioned as a value as it is promoted as a
cornerstone to a desirable social arrangement.

Yet tolerance itself is a disvalue as post modernists would have promoted it. Tolerance is
not respect. To be tolerant is to put up with something. It does not include accepting it or
considering it as valuable or worthy. Tolerance of people and beliefs is promoted but it is
misguided and harmful whenever to be tolerant of behaviors and ideas would hurt
individuals and groups in physical and emotional ways.

Those who advocate tolerance cannot possibly be sincere I doing so. This is so because
they do not advocate being tolerant of:
Rapists

Murderers

Child molesters

Racists

Misogynists

Intolerant Groups and Individuals

They cannot be tolerant of such people and expect their promotion of tolerance to be
accepted by others.

Post modern pluralists continue to promote tolerance as if it were unqualified for they do
not and expect no one else will subject their promotion to critical examination for such an
examination would not be popular or “politically correct”. They continue to promote
tolerance as if it were unqualified for they do not hold careful and critical thought as
being valuable as they believe that such thought challenges relativism. They also
mistakenly believe that critical thinking is somehow intolerant of individuals, groups and
behaviors and beliefs they wish to have accepted. The formal educational system
promotes an uncritical tolerance and the belief in such and value of such.

Finally, PHILOSOPHY , OPINIONS and RIGHT ANSWERS

Most folks think very little about Philosophy. Of those who do many have some
erroneous ideas about the discipline and its history. One of the most troublesome, for
Philosophers, of the mistaken ideas is that it is about opinions. This idea when followed
by the ideas that opinions are all humans have with which to think and all opinions are
pretty much of equal value, these two ideas run directly opposed to what philosophers are
attempting to do. Philosophers quest after wisdom, which for John Dewey, is the quest to
use what we know to gain what we most value. Philosophers do this by using critical
thinking concerning all that humans claim to know and to value. This quickly becomes a
quite involved process, examining the meaning of the word "knowledge" and other ideas
such as; reality, truth, certainty, and value, among many other basic terms. Philosophers
take positions on the questions, issues and problems faced by the most critical of thinkers
examining the most basic concerns that humans can entertain with thoughtful reflection.

Philosophers use critical thinking and reason and evidence to support the claims that they
make and the positions that they hold. This is quite different than merely making a claim ,
a statement, which is supported by nothing and thus an expression of the speaker's
opinion. Philosophers are willing to examine all claims and all positions with their
supporting reasoning and evidence. They examine it looking for any flaws or problems.
They want the most satisfactory, and at times satisfying answers and solutions, to the
questions and problems.

PHILOSOPHY: LOOKING for the BEST RAFTS

With Plato and his mentor Socrates we have a description of what Philosophy is about.
Humans are on a journey. En route they face obstacles to overcome. Major questions,
problems and issues are like rivers that need to be crossed. Now along one side of the
river there are these rafts. When you reach the river you may select any raft you want to
use to get across the river. There are many different types. There are more than enough
for everyone. They differ in color, shape, materials, method of construction and size. You
want to select the best possible raft with which to cross the river. No raft is perfect. Each
raft has a problem. Each raft takes on water. Some take on a lot and some very little.
Some are put together in a very shoddy manner and some are very well constructed.

Some people select the raft to use based on its color. They like certain colors and have a
favorite and that is all they care about. Others select their rafts based on size and they
want the biggest one they can find. Each who selects has a reason and a method for the
selection. What a reasonable sensible person should want is the best possible raft that will
carry its occupants across the river safely.

Philosophy is a method of thinking used to make the best possible selection of the raft
which is the answer to the most basic questions that humans have about life, knowledge,
truth, goodness, beauty, etc...

Philosophers hope to develop the best possible position and hope that it will do well
when tested. Over the centuries those positions philosophers thought were the best have
been revealed to have problems. New rafts were constructed and tested and found
wanting again. So, Philosophy is the quest for the best possible raft, knowing that it is
highly probable that there is no perfect raft. As humans advance and progress and gather
more experiences and develop more critical analysis and evaluation techniques
philosophical positions are examined more closely and tested more thoroughly.
Philosophy is a process. It is a method of thinking and as our knowledge grows so too
will philosophy take all of it into consideration as the method attempts to produce the
BEST POSSIBLE answers to the most important questions.

Some folks look for the "correct " answer to a question or the "right" solution to a
problem. Philosophers have learned that what they do is look for the best possible
answers and solutions. So we shall look now at how Socrates developed a better method
for finding the best answers and then we shall examine several important questions or
issues and look at what philosophers have done with them over time. In all of this the
focus should be on the method of thinking that aims to arrive at the best possible, if not
perfect, answers, solutions and positions.

But perhaps some prefer the comforts of beliefs even of blind faith to the effort at
reaching positions closer to the truth. For many this choice is a dilemma or choice has
been story of Adam and Eve and again represented in the Matrix .