a.Class Notes #1

Ancient Greek concept of excellence was based around one word: ἀρετή (areté).

Definition/ description

• Excellence of any kind.
• Moral virtue (do the right thing).
• Fulfillment of purpose/ function. Act of living up to full potential (whatever you do, do to the best of your ability).

Philosophical background

• Ἀρετή involves abilities and potentialities available to humans.
• Highest human potential is knowledge. Human abilities are derived from knowledge.
• Ἀρετή is knowledge and study.
• The highest human knowledge is knowledge about knowledge itself.
• Ἀρετή is what separates us (humans) from other species (like dawgs).

Important words (to define):

• Agora - Greek meeting place where people studied democracy.
•  - gathering place; assembly; marketplace.
•  - center of athetic, artistic, spiritual, and political life in the city/ state (esp. Athens).
• Cycle: demo(people)cracy --> excellence
• Pharaoh was the link between people and the God they believed in.
• Synergy - connectedness of things and the energy it produces.
• Polis  - political cities ruled by their bodies of citizens.
• - origin of words politics, metropolitan (big cities), poll.

508 BC: Greek Revolution against ruler, to include democracy. First time any people in country revolved against ruler.

Inspired other countries:

United States (1776)

France (1789)

China (1851 and 1949)

Russia (1917)

Iran (1979)

Egypt (2011)

And many others...

• Socrates
• One of three major philosophers.
• Was an accomplished wrestler/ stonemason.
• Fought in Peloponnesian war (between Sparta and Athens).
• Was born poor/ knew what it was to get dirty, and to work hard.
• Perhaps his way of living was what shaped the way he saw the world.
• Thought that regular folks also had much to offer the world.
• Everyone is born with native intelligence.
• Socrates (as a teacher)
• Met with young (15 - 20 -year-old) student sin workshops outside of Agora.
• His method: ask series of questions to determine underlying beliefs and extent of knowledge.
• Leaded to scientific method.
• Socratic method: asking leading questions to encourage critical thinking.
  

" I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." -Socrates