Science in Ancient Greece

The Greek education system began to take shape even in the archaic era of Ancient Greece and reached its peak in the VI century. BC e., primarily in Athens . Already in the V century. BC e. in Athens, among the free Athenians there were no illiterate people. Education began at about twelve, only boys were allowed to study, and girls were taught by their relatives in the household, boys learned to write, read, count; also taught music, dancing, gymnastics - such schools were called palestras. Then, after reaching the age of eighteen, all the young men, or ephebs , as they were called, gathered from all over Attica near the city of Piraeus , where for a year under the guidance of special teachers they studied fencing , archery, javelin throwing, handling siege weapons and so on; over the next year, they performed military service at the border, after which they became full citizens.

In addition, there were higher education institutions - gymnasiums . They taught a cycle of sciences - grammar , arithmetic , rhetoric and the theory of music , to which in some cases dialectics , geometry and astronomy ( astrology ) were added; at a higher level than in elementary schools, classes in gymnastics were conducted.

The main disciplines were grammar and rhetoric; grammar included literature lessons, where texts of the greatest authors, such as Homer , Euripides , Demosthenes and Menander , were studied; the course of rhetoric included the theory of eloquence, memorization of rhetorical examples and recitation (practical exercises).

In the 4th century BC e. in Athens there is a higher education. Famous philosophers for a fee taught those who wish (in the form of lectures or conversations) the art of eloquence, logic and the history of philosophy.

Education in Sparta was completely different. Young Spartans were taught writing, counting, singing, playing musical instruments, and military affairs.

Socrates

Socrates (dr. Greek Σωκράτης, c. 469 BC, Athens - 399 BC, ibid.) Is one of the founders of dialectics as a method of searching and learning the truth. The main principle is “Know thyself and you know the whole world,” that is, the belief that self-knowledge is the path to realizing the true good. In ethics, virtue is equal to knowledge, therefore, the mind pushes a person to good deeds. A knowledgeable person will not do wrong. Socrates presented his teaching orally, passing knowledge in the form of dialogues to his students, from the works of which we learned about Socrates.

Having created a “Socratic” method of dispute resolution, Socrates argued that truth is born only in a dispute in which a sage, using a number of leading questions, forces his opponents to first admit the incorrectness of their own positions, and then the justice of their opponent’s views. The sage, according to Socrates, comes to the truth through self-knowledge, and then knowledge of an objectively existing spirit, objectively existing truth. Of great importance in Socrates' general political views was the idea of ​​professional knowledge, from which it was concluded that a person who is not engaged in political activities professionally does not have the right to judge about it. This was a challenge to the basic principles of Athenian democracy.

Plato

The doctrine of Plato (dr. Greek Πλάτων, 428 or 427 BC, Athens - 348 or 347 BC, ibid.) Is the first classical form of objective idealism. Ideas (the highest among them is the idea of ​​good) are eternal and unchanging prototypes of things, of all coming and changing being. Things are the likeness and reflection of ideas. These provisions are set forth in the writings of Plato “Feast”, “Fedr”, “State”, etc. In the dialogues of Plato we find a multifaceted characteristic of the beautiful. When answering the question: “What is beautiful?” He tried to characterize the very essence of beauty. Ultimately, beauty for Plato is an aesthetically unique idea. A person can know it only when in a state of special inspiration. Plato's concept of beauty is idealistic. Rational in his teaching is the idea of ​​the specificity of aesthetic experience. Plato singled out mathematics as the key to knowing all things, but, unlike Archimedes, he was practically not interested in it.

Aristotle

Plato's disciple, Aristotle (dr. Greek Ἀριστοτέλης; 384 BC, Stagira, Thrace - 322 BC, Chalkida, the island of Euboea), was the tutor of Alexander the Great. He is the founder of scientific philosophy, logic, the doctrine of the basic principles of being (possibility and implementation, form and matter, reason and purpose). His main areas of interest are man, ethics, politics, art. Aristotle is the author of the books Metaphysics, Physics, On the Soul, and Poetics. Unlike Plato, for Aristotle, the beautiful is not an objective idea, but an objective quality of things. Size, proportions, order, symmetry - the properties of beauty.

Beauty, according to Aristotle, lies in the mathematical proportions of things, "therefore, mathematics should be studied to comprehend it. Aristotle put forward the principle of proportionality of a person and a beautiful subject. Aristotle's beauty acts as a measure, and the measure of everything is the person himself. In comparison with it, a beautiful thing should not to be “excessive.” These discussions of Aristotle about truly beautiful contain the same humanistic principle, which is expressed in ancient art itself. Philosophy met the needs of human orientations and a person who has broken with traditional values ​​and turned to reason as a way to clarify problems.

Pythagoras

In mathematics, the figure of Pythagoras (Dr. Greek Πυθαγόρας ά Σάμιος, Latin Pythagoras ; 570-490 BC) stands out, creating a multiplication table and a theorem bearing his name, studying the properties of integers and proportions. The Pythagoreans developed the doctrine of the "harmony of the spheres." For them, the world is a harmonious cosmos. They connect the concept of beauty not only with a universal picture of the world, but also in accordance with the moral and religious orientation of their philosophy with the concept of good. Developing the issues of musical acoustics, the Pythagoreans posed the problem of the ratio of tones and tried to give its mathematical expression: the ratio of the octave to the fundamental tone is 1: 2, the fifths are 2: 3, the fourths are 3: 4, and so on. It follows that beauty is harmonious .

Where the main opposites are in a "proportionate mixture", there is good, human health. Equal and consistent does not need harmony. Harmony appears where there is inequality, unity and complementarity of the diverse. Musical harmony is a special case of world harmony, its sound expression. “The whole sky is harmony and number,” the planets are surrounded by air and attached to transparent spheres. Intervals between spheres are strictly harmoniously correlated between themselves as intervals of tones of a musical octave. From these representations of the Pythagoreans the expression "Music of the Spheres" also went. Planets move, making sounds, and the pitch depends on the speed of their movement. However, our ear is not able to catch the world harmony of the spheres. These representations of the Pythagoreans are important as evidence of their confidence that the universe is harmonious.

Democritus

Democritus (Δημόκριτος; c. 460 BC, Abdera - c. 370 BC), who discovered the existence of atoms, also paid attention to finding the answer to the question: “What is beauty?” His aesthetics of beauty were combined with its ethical views and with the principle of utilitarianism. He believed that a person should strive for bliss and complacency. In his opinion, “one should not strive for all enjoyment, but only for that which is connected with the beautiful.” In the definition of beauty, Democritus emphasizes such a property as measure, proportionality. To the one who transgresses them, "the most pleasant can become unpleasant."

Heraclitus

In Heraclitus (other Greek: Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος, 544-483 BC), the understanding of beauty is permeated with dialectics. For him, harmony is not a static equilibrium, as for the Pythagoreans, but a moving, dynamic state. A contradiction is the creator of harmony and the condition for the existence of beauty: the diverging converges, and the finest harmony comes from the opposite, and everything happens by virtue of contention. In this unity of struggling opposites, Heraclitus sees a model of harmony and the essence of beauty. For the first time, Heraclitus raised the question of the nature of the perception of beauty: it is incomprehensible through calculation or abstract thinking, it is known intuitively, by contemplation.

Hippocrates

The works of Hippocrates (dr. Greek Ἱπποκράτης, lat. Hippocrates, about 460 BC, the island of Kos - between 377 and 356 BC, Larissa) in the field of medicine and ethics are known. He is the founder of scientific medicine, the author of the doctrine of the integrity of the human body, the theory of an individual approach to the patient, the tradition of maintaining a medical history, works on medical ethics, in which he paid special attention to the high moral character of the doctor, the author of the famous professional oath given to all who receive medical diploma. His immortal rule for doctors has survived to this day: do no harm to the patient.

With the medicine of Hippocrates, the transition from religious-mystical ideas about all processes related to human health and illnesses to their rational explanation begun by the Ionian natural philosophers was completed. The medicine of the priests gave way to the medicine of doctors, based on accurate observations. The doctors of the Hippocratic school were also philosophers.

Archimedes

The greatest fame was brought to Archimedes (Ἀρχιμήδης; 287 BC - 212 BC) , the law he discovered , according to which a buoyant force equal to the weight of the displaced water acts on the body in a liquid.

To measure the length of the curves and to determine the areas and volumes of bodies, Archimedes used geometry . He developed various designs, such as a water propeller. The principle of the Archimedean screw is still used. In particular, it is used to pump water from vessels that have received a hole.

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