From agriculture to early science and new technologies Flashcards
Why are Greeks important?
Greeks were the first to question why, creators of philosophy.
What are 4 major components that make new technologies possible?
- Free time
- Record keeping
- Standardized measurement system
- Mathematics
Why didn’t Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians evolve into discovering natural philosophy/science?
Restrictive religion/world view. Powerless in relation to gods, no negotiations, no correct discourse.
What did Greeks have that encouraged a growth of philosophy that other civs didn’t?
A central square that encouraged free speech and communication if ideas. An Agora.
What was different about the Religion of the Greeks as compared to other civs?
In a Greek world, humans interacted with gods. Religious institutions separate from government.
What was Socrates’ approach to philosophy?
Question everything, “I know that I know nothing”
Where was Miletus?
In Ionia, off the coast of modern day Turkey.
Why did philosophy thrive in Miletus?
- Food surplus
- Spare time
- Writing
- Mathematics
- Time keeping
- Separation of divine from natural
- Unrestricted communication
Who was Thalus of Miletus? What was he known for?
- First philosopher
- First to openly reject divine intervention
- Pioneer of Greek Mathematics, used geometry to measure pyramids
Who was Anaximander? What was he known for? When was he around?
- First to come up with a different origin of mankind, other than gods
- First to create a map
- First to come up with theory of evolution (humans came from fish)
- c. 511-546 BC
Who was Pythagoras? What was he known for? When was he around?
- Believed everything is made of numbers
- Math is universal language
- Universe is powered by “Hestia” = eternal fire
- c. 569-475 BC
Who was Parmenides? What was he known for? When was he around?
- Stoic philosopher, “change is an illusion”
- Everything stays the same
- c. 515 BC
Who was Zeno of Elea? What was he known for? When was he around?
- Stoic philosopher, no change = no motion
- Paradox of a runner
- c. 490-425 BC
Who was Plato? What was he known for? When was he around?
- Student of Socrates
- provided concrete evidence to stoic philosophy
- “true knowledge cannot be gained through senses, they are unreliable”
- Allegory of the cave
- Educational system
- c. 427-347 BC
What is the allegory of the cave?
Prisoners are chained and stare at shadows on a wall of those passing by behind them in a cave their entire lives, not knowing that there is anything more to their lives.
The human condition is forever bound to the impressions that are received through the senses
What was the first educational system? When was it founded and by whom?
The academy in Athens, 388 BC, by Plato.
Who was Empedocles? What was he known for? When was he around?
- Experimental approach to science
- Volcanologist, jumped into a volcano to see what would happen, died.
- c. 492-432 BC
Who was Democritus? What was he known for? When was he around?
- Experimental approach to science
- Crushed grain of sand between two rocks “can you still see the grain? How do you know?”
- Named and identified the atom, argued “nothing exists other than atoms and empty space”
- c. 460-370 BC
Who was Aristotle? What was he known for? When was he around?
- Student of Plato
- c. 384-322 BC
- Geocentrism
- Introduced physics
- Father of biology
How did Aristotle prove that earth was spherical?
Discovered through observation of a lunar eclipse that the earth would cast a circular shadow.
What was the outer sphere in Aristotle’s universe?
The ‘prime mover’.
What concepts of physics did Aristotle introduce?
- Concept of resistance, the greater the resistance, the slower the body moves.
- ‘no motion without a mover [in contact with the object]’
What two books of biology did Aristotle write?
- History of animals
- On parts of animals
What was Aristotle’s school? When was it founded?
Lyceum, 335 BC
