15 Facts About Greek philosophy

Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages.

Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empire.

Greek philosophy has influenced much of Western culture since its inception.

Greek philosophy was influenced to some extent by the older wisdom literature and mythological cosmogonies of the ancient Near East, though the extent of this influence is widely debated.

Thales inspired the Milesian school of philosophy and was followed by Anaximander, who argued that the substratum or arche could not be water or any of the classical elements but was instead something "unlimited" or "indefinite".

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Greek philosophy was seen as the founder of a line of philosophy that culminated in Pyrrhonism, possibly an influence on Eleatic philosophy, and a precursor to Epicurus' total break between science and religion.

Greek philosophy posited a unity of opposites, expressed through dialectic, which structured this flux, such as that seeming opposites in fact are manifestations of a common substrate to good and evil itself.

Greek philosophy attacked the subsequent development of pluralism, arguing that it was incompatible with Being.

Greek philosophy's theories were not well known by the time of Plato, however, and they were ultimately incorporated into the work of his student, Democritus.

Greek philosophy argued extensively in the Phaedo, Phaedrus, and Republic for the immortality of the soul, and he believed specifically in reincarnation.

Greek philosophy left Athens approximately twenty years later to study botany and zoology, became a tutor of Alexander the Great, and ultimately returned to Athens a decade later to establish his own school: the Lyceum.

Greek philosophy criticizes the regimes described in Plato's Republic and Laws, and refers to the theory of forms as "empty words and poetic metaphors.

Greek philosophy's influence was such that Avicenna referred to him simply as "the Master"; Maimonides, Alfarabi, Averroes, and Aquinas as "the Philosopher.

Greek philosophy accepted Democritus' theory of atomism, with improvements made in response to criticisms by Aristotle and others.

Greek philosophy's ethics were based on "the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain".