Poland Liceum ogólnokształcące, klasa I Philosophy

Chapters: 11

1. The idea of philosophy

What philosophy is

What Is Philosophy? Questions, Branches and Reasoning – Philosophy means "love of wisdom". It asks big questions (what is real, how we know, what is right, what is beautiful) and answers them with clear reasons. It has branches like metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, logic and aesthetics, and it shapes our world view.

Ionian philosophers of nature

Ancient Philosophy: From the First Questions to Stoicism – Philosophy means 'love of wisdom'. Around 600 BCE Greek thinkers began to explain nature by reason (logos) instead of myth. The Presocratics searched for the first principle (arche): water, air, fire, unchanging being or atoms. Then the Sophists and Socrates turned to human life, and Socrates died for his questioning (told in Plato's Apology). Plato taught the theory of Forms; Aristotle built logic and science from observation. Later Stoics, Epicureans and Cynics, and Romans like Cicero and Seneca, asked how to live a good, calm life.

Monism, pluralism, change and permanence

Ancient Philosophy: From the First Questions to Stoicism – Philosophy means 'love of wisdom'. Around 600 BCE Greek thinkers began to explain nature by reason (logos) instead of myth. The Presocratics searched for the first principle (arche): water, air, fire, unchanging being or atoms. Then the Sophists and Socrates turned to human life, and Socrates died for his questioning (told in Plato's Apology). Plato taught the theory of Forms; Aristotle built logic and science from observation. Later Stoics, Epicureans and Cynics, and Romans like Cicero and Seneca, asked how to live a good, calm life.

Leucippus and Democritus

Coming soon

Socrates and ethics

Socrates: The Philosopher Who Asked Questions – Socrates (about 470–399 BCE) lived in Athens and wrote nothing. Unlike the paid Sophists, he questioned people for free to find the truth. He said his only wisdom was knowing that he did not know, and he took 'Know yourself' as his task. His method tests a definition with counter-examples until a better one appears. He taught that we must care for the soul (psyche), that a good life needs virtue (arete), and that virtue is knowledge: no one does wrong on purpose. He heard an inner warning voice (daimonion). Athens condemned him in 399 BCE; he chose to obey the law and die rather than stop philosophising.

Theory of forms and the soul · Love and the cave

Plato and Aristotle: Two Answers to What Is Real – Plato (c. 427–347 BCE) taught that true reality is a world of perfect, unchanging Forms, that the soul is immortal and that learning is recollection. His student Aristotle (384–322 BCE) brought the Forms down to earth: every thing is matter plus form, change is potential becoming actual, and the soul is the form of a living body.

Metaphysics and human nature · Happiness and virtue

Plato and Aristotle: Two Answers to What Is Real – Plato (c. 427–347 BCE) taught that true reality is a world of perfect, unchanging Forms, that the soul is immortal and that learning is recollection. His student Aristotle (384–322 BCE) brought the Forms down to earth: every thing is matter plus form, change is potential becoming actual, and the soul is the form of a living body.
Ethics: How to Decide What Is Right – Ethics (moral philosophy) asks what we ought to do and why. Values such as honesty, kindness, fairness and respect guide choices. Three main theories help: consequences (utilitarianism, Bentham and Mill: most good for most people), duty (Kant: act on rules you could want everyone to follow; treat people as ends, never only as means) and virtue (Aristotle: build good character; virtue is the mean between extremes). Conscience is our inner sense of right and wrong. Freedom brings responsibility. Meta-ethics asks what "good" means and whether values are universal or relative. Applied ethics deals with the environment, animals, work, friendship and peace.

Two models of happiness

Coming soon

Challenges to knowledge

Coming soon

Ancient ideas of the absolute

Coming soon

Source texts

Ancient Philosophy: From the First Questions to Stoicism – Philosophy means 'love of wisdom'. Around 600 BCE Greek thinkers began to explain nature by reason (logos) instead of myth. The Presocratics searched for the first principle (arche): water, air, fire, unchanging being or atoms. Then the Sophists and Socrates turned to human life, and Socrates died for his questioning (told in Plato's Apology). Plato taught the theory of Forms; Aristotle built logic and science from observation. Later Stoics, Epicureans and Cynics, and Romans like Cicero and Seneca, asked how to live a good, calm life.