Ancient Greece - 35 personalities

 GOLDEN AGE OF ANCIENT GREECE – The Cradle of Western Civilization

Fig. 1 The life span of 35 personalities who shaped the Golden Age of Ancient Greece

Battle of Marathon 499 BC

POLITICS
Miltiades the Younger 550-489 (61)
Aristides 530-468 (62)
Themistocles 524-459 (65)
Pericles 495-429 (66)
DELIAN LEAGUE 478-404 (74)
Alcibiades 450-404 (46)
Alexander the Great 356 – 323 (33)

HISTORY
Herodotus 484-425 (59)
Thucydides 460-400 (60)
Callisthenes of Olynthus 360-337 (33)

MEDICINE
Hippocrates 460-370 (90)

PHILOSOPHY
Heraclitus 544-484 (60) 
Anaxagoras 500-428 (72)
Protagoras 490-420 (70)
Zeno of Elea 490-430 (60)
Gorgias 483-375 (108)
Socrates 470-399 (71)
Democritus 460-370 (90)
Platon 428-348 (80)
Diogenes of Sinope 413-324 (89)
Aristoteles 384-322 (62)
Theophrastus 371-287 (84)
Crates of Thebes 365-285 (80)
Epicurus 341-270 (71)

THEATRE
Aeschylus 525-455 (70)
Euripides 480-406 (74)
Sophocles 496-406 (90)
Aristophanes 446-386 (60)
Menander 342-290 (52)

SCULPTURE
Polycleitus 490-420 (70) 
Phidias 480-430 (50) 
Praxiteles 395-326 (69)
Lysippos 390-300 (90)

RHETORIC
Lysias 460-380 (80)
Demosthenes 384-322 (62)

SCIENCE
Cleostratus of Tenedos 520-432 (88)
Euclid 350-270 (80)

 

LTW - WHAT, WHY, HOW

 Living in Two Worlds: 
WHAT, WHY, HOW

Ζώντας σε Δύο Κόσμους: 
ΤΙ, ΓΙΑΤΙ, ΠΩΣ

 

  Fig 1: Anthropocentric theory of knowing (English & Greek version)

 

 WHAT - ΤΙ

1. I want to develop an anthropocentric theory of knowing  
   # Θέλω να αναπτύξω μια ανθρωποκεντρική θεωρία της γνώσης
2. A theory which explains Protagoras’s (490-420 BC) famous statement "Man is the measure of all things"
   # μια θεωρία που εξηγεί την περίφημη δήλωση του Πρωταγόρα (490-420 π.Χ.)
   ===> «πάντων χρημάτων μέτρον άνθρωπος»
3. A theory that contributes to better understand the human mind and its main function: knowing (cognition). 
   # μια θεωρία που συμβάλλει στην καλύτερη κατανόηση του ανθρώπινου νου και της κύριας λειτουργίας του: της γνώσης (νόησης).

WHY - ΓΙΑΤΙ

1. We need this theory for betterunderstanding each other
   # χρειαζόμαστε αυτή τη θεωρία για καλύτερη κατανόηση ο ένας του άλλου
2. Unfortunately, since Plato and Aristotle there has been no substantial progress (with few exceptions, mainly by I. Kant)
   # δυστυχώς, από τον Πλάτωνα και τον Αριστοτέλη δεν έχει σημειωθεί ουσιαστική πρόοδος (με λίγες εξαιρέσεις, κυρίως από τον I. Kant)
3. So, Plato and Aristotle are the basis, the FOUNDATION from which I start
   ==> this is why I moved to Greece.
   # λοιπόν, ο Πλάτωνας και ο Αριστοτέλης είναι η βάση, το ΘΕΜΕΛΙΟ από το οποίο ξεκινάω
   ==> γι' αυτό μετακόμισα στην Ελλάδα

HOW - ΠΩΣ

1. I start from Plato's theory of forms (distinction of a "world of forms" and a " world of matter") 
   # Ξεκινάω από τη θεωρία των μορφών του Πλάτωνα (διάκριση μεταξύ ενός «κόσμου μορφών» και ενός "κόσμου ύλης»)
2. and from Aristotle's inquiry into the essence of things. Aristotle: knowing has two main components: matter and forms
   # και από την έρευνα του Αριστοτέλη για την ουσία των πραγμάτων. Αριστοτέλης: Η γνώση έχει δύο κύρια συστατικά: την ύλη και τις μορφές
3. The form is the essence of a definite thing (according to Plato and Aristotle). 
   # Η μορφή είναι η ουσία ενός ορισμένου πράγματος (σύμφωνα με τον Πλάτωνα και τον Αριστοτέλη).
4. According to Kant: WE CREATE THE FORMS (mental constructs) and add them to matter. In this way we obtain definite things (this or that thing).
   # Σύμφωνα με τον Kant: ΕΜΕΙΣ ΔΗΜΙΟΥΡΓΟΥΜΕ ΤΙΣ ΜΟΡΦΕΣ (νοητικές κατασκευές) και τις προσθέτουμε στην ύλη. Με αυτόν τον τρόπο παράγουμε ορισμένα πράγματα (αυτό ή εκείνο το πράγμα).
5. Since I am the creator of the form, the definite thing is always a thing-for-me.
   # αφού είμαι ο δημιουργός της μορφής, το ορισμένο πράγμα είναι πάντα ένα πράγμα-για-μένα.
6. Example: Form = concept of table; matter = the manifold (has many uses); form + matter = table-for-me.
   # Παράδειγμα: Μορφή = έννοια του τραπεζιού / ύλη = η πολλαπλότητα (έχει πολλές χρήσεις) 
   / μορφή + ύλη = τραπέζι-για-μένα
7.  If matter becomes a definite thing by means of my forms, then I live in two worlds: 
    ===> the world of matter (nature) and the world of my forms (my experience).
   # Αν η ύλη γίνει ένα ορισμένο πράγμα μέσω των μορφών μου, τότε ζω σε δύο κόσμους:
   ===> τον κόσμο της ύλης (φύση) και τον κόσμο των μορφών μου (η εμπειρία μου).

Marco C. Bettoni / 29.11.2025

Knowledge and Goodness

In short: it is GOODNESS that enables us to KNOW!

"I mean, do you think there's any advantage in owning everything in the world except good things, or in understanding everything else except goodness, and therefore failing to understand anything worthwhile and good?"

- Plato, Republic, Book VI, 505a (translated by Robin Waterfield, 1993)

"So the sun is not to be identified with sight, but is responsible for sight and is itself within the visible realm. Right?
"Yes" he said.
"The sun is the child of goodness I was talking about, then" I said. "It is a counterpart to its father, goodness. As goodness stands in the intelligible realm to intelligence and the things we know, so in the visible realm the sun stands to sight and the things we see."

- Plato, Republic, Book VI, 508 b (translated by Robin Waterfield, 1993)

Anaxagoras - the mind causes all things

In the Phaedo, Socrates says ....

• “Then one day I heard a man reading from a book, as he said, by Anaxagoras, [97c] that it is the mind that arranges and causes all things. I was pleased with this theory of cause, and it seemed to me to be somehow right that the mind should be the cause of all things, and I thought, 'If this is so, the mind in arranging things arranges everything and establishes each thing as it is best for it to be'. 
• So if anyone wishes to find the cause of the generation or destruction or existence of a particular thing, he must find out what sort of existence, or passive state of any kind, or activity is best for it."
•  Plato, Phaedo, section 97c
• As I considered these things I was delighted to think that I had found in Anaxagoras a teacher of the cause of things
•   Plato, Phaedo, section 97d 
• [98b] So I thought when he assigned the cause of each thing and of all things in common he would go on and explain what is best for each and what is good for all in common.
•   Plato, Phaedo, section 98b

in: Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 1 translated by Harold North Fowler; Introduction by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1966. 1925

Plato - Unwritten Doctrines

Giovanni Reale wrote in his History of Ancient Philosophy (1992):

• ... the writings have not been for Plato the full expression or the most important communication of his thought, and therefore the reading and the interpretation of the dialogues are to be reassessed through a new vision. (p. 8)
• We are hence able ... to understand why so great a writer could be convinced of the limited character of the communicative function of writing; and therefore we are finally in a position to interpret his self-testimony contained in the Phaedrus in a correct manner .. (p. 9)
• ... Aristotle himself has told us that these teachings that Plato communicated only in oral discussions were called the Unwritten Doctrines (aàgrafa dógmata). (p. 14)

Reale, Giovanni (1990) A History of ancient philosophy. Vol.2 Plato and Aristotle. Translation of: Storia della filosofia antica, 5th edition. Edited and translated  by John R. Catan. Albany (NY): State University of New York Press.

Socrates on "absolute beauty" ...

In the Phaedo, Socrates is quoted as follows ....

• “Then,” said he, “see if you agree with me in the next step. I think that if anything is beautiful besides absolute beauty it is beautiful for no other reason than because it partakes of absolute beauty; and this applies to everything. Do you assent to this view of cause?”  
• Plato, Phaedo, section 100c
• in: Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 1 translated by Harold North Fowler; Introduction by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1966. 1925

Reflect about how this relates with "responsibilty for what we know" by taking into consideration new ways of interpreting Plato, for example that proposed by Bernard Suzanne here: http://plato-dialogues.org/plato.htm