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Ancient Philosophy: Ancient Greek
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Greek philosophy was one of the distinctive features of ancient civilization long after the Greeks had ceased to speculate on the laws of mind or the nature of the soul, on the existence of God or future rewards and punishments. Although it was purely Grecian in its origin and development, it became one of the grand ornaments of the Roman schools. The Romans did not originate medicine, but Galen was one of its greatest lights; they did not invent the hexameter verse, but Virgil sang to its measure; they did not create Ionic capitals, but their cities were ornamented with marble temples on the same principles as those which called out the admiration of Pericles. So, if they did not originate philosophy, and generally had but little taste for it, still its truths were systematized and explained by Cicero, and formed no small accession to the treasures with which cultivated intellects sought everywhere to be enriched. It formed an essential part of the intellectual wealth of the civilized world, when civilization could not prevent the world from falling into decay and ruin. And as it was the noblest triumph which the human mind, under Pagan influences, ever achieved, so it was followed by the most degrading imbecility into which man, in civilized countries, was ever allowed to fall.
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Ancient philosophy was above all a product of Greece and the Greek-speaking parts of the Mediterranean, which came to include southern Italy, Sicily, western Asia and large parts of North Africa, notably Egypt. From the first century
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Ancient Greek Philosophy studies the philosophical activities and enquiries of the Greco-Roman thinkers. It covers a period of 1,000 years; from the 6th century BC to the 6th century AD. It starts from the theoretical novelty the early Presocratic thinkers such as Thales and Anaximander and ends to the late Neoplatonic and Aristotelian commentators such as Simplicius and Philoponus. Ancient Greek philosophers can be found throughout the Greek-speaking Mediterranean regions such as South Italy, Sicily, Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa. The questions posed from the Greek thinkers concern the philosophical areas of Cosmology, Ethics, Epistemology, Logic, Metaphysics and Aesthetics such as: What is the origin of the Universe? What is the nature of Cosmos?
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Scholars specializing in ancient philosophy need reading proficiency in the two classical languages, Greek and Latin, and in two or more modern European languages (German, Italian, French, Spanish). At international conferences, some discussion is often in German, French, or Italian, even when English is the principal language. It is therefore best to develop some oral skills, and to enroll in classes that cover all facets of the language (listening, speaking, and writing, as well as reading). Most people find that the other skills greatly enhance their reading fluency; so it is generally less useful to take courses designed exclusively for reading skill.
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Close cooperation between Philosophy and Classical Studies has been a central feature of Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. A significant emphasis is placed on historical and literary preparation for the reading of Greek and Latin Philosophical texts. The commitment to a reading of these texts takes into account the essential connection between form and content. The reading and teaching of Platonic Dialogues emphasizes the philosophical and literary unity of the whole dialogue. This same interpretative strategy is applied in the case of Medieval and Renaissance Philosophical Texts. Significant attention is ... given to the impact of modern philosophical theory on the interpretation of texts in the History of Philosophy.
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A number of important theorists in ancient Greek natural philosophy held that the universe is composed of physical ‘atoms’, literally ‘uncuttables’. Some of these figures are treated in more depth in other articles in this encyclopedia: the reader is encouraged to consult individual entries on Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus and Lucretius. These philosophers developed a systematic and comprehensive natural philosophy accounting for the origins of everything from the interaction of indivisible bodies, as these atoms—which have only a few intrinsic properties like size and shape—strike against one another, rebound and interlock in an infinite void. This atomist natural philosophy eschewed teleological explanation and denied divine intervention or design, regarding every composite of atoms as produced purely by material interactions of bodies, and accounting for the perceived properties of macroscopic bodies as produced by these same atomic interactions. Atomists formulated views on ethics, theology, political philosophy and epistemology consistent with this physical system. This powerful and consistent materialism, somewhat modified from its original form by Epicurus, persisted as the chief competitor to the teleological natural philosophies of the Peripatetics, Stoics and Platonists.
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