Since their existence, people have asked questions about the various phenomena in the world, such as the origins of certain natural processes, about good and evil and about how we should live. However, the way these questions are asked and the corresponding answers vary across time and culture. Philosophy refers to a new way of thinking about these phenomena, which originated in Greece around 700 years BC in Western Europe.
Love of wisdom
The Greek word for philosophy is Philosophia. Philo means who loves and Sophia means ‘wisdom’. The meaning of philosophy is therefore love of wisdom. In other words, philosophy is the science that focuses on the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. Another word for philosophy is philosophy. Almost everyone can philosophize, but not everyone is a philosopher. The philosopher is the person who strives for wisdom and the instrument with which the philosopher uses are the senses and the mind. A prerequisite for philosophy is asking questions and wondering about the world around us. How do certain natural processes arise, is there life after death, is there chance, how should we live?
Mythical explanations
Before philosophy came along, people looked for answers to certain life questions in religious explanations. These religious statements are called myths. Because writing did not yet exist, these myths were passed on orally from generation to generation. Characteristic of mythical explanations is that phenomena are placed in a context of meaning. This connection of meaning is reflected in the stories that are told. A mythical answer to the question of the origins of natural processes and the battle between good and evil can be found, for example, in the Scandinavian story of Thor with the hammer. In this mythical worldview, Thor’s hammer causes thunder and rain follows thunder. The rain allows the seeds to germinate in the fields and thus Thor is worshiped as the god of fertility. Thor’s hammer also provides protection against chaos forces. There were also many different myths in Ancient Greece. Around 700 BC, Homer and Hesiod began writing down the various Greek myths. This marks the beginning of a time when people began to discuss the written myths.
Experience and understanding
The origins of philosophy and the discussion about existing myths in Western Europe are also closely linked to the origins of the first cities in Greece. The Greeks founded city-states in Greece, the Greek colonies in southern Italy and in Asia Minor around 700 BC. The city of Miletus flourishes during this time and craft and trade ensure that this city becomes a meeting point of cultural influences. Because slaves did all the physical work, free citizens could participate in political and cultural life. In the marketplace, the agora, the spoken word, the logos, was exchanged. It is precisely here that an answer is formulated to the question of what the world actually is. Slowly the mythical way of thinking shifts to a way of thinking based on experience and reason.
Natural philosophy: Thales from Miletus
The first philosophers tried to find eternal laws of nature. They wondered what explanations they could find for the visible changes in nature and they looked for the primordial material from which nature is composed. They did this mainly by studying nature. This is also a first step towards a scientific way of thinking. Thales of Miletus is the first known philosopher and the first known scientist. Thales wondered what the primordial substance of everything was. According to Thales, water was the material substance from which the world was constructed. Thales found the recognizable proof in the fact that all living things feed on water. Water is therefore a prerequisite for life. Characteristic of this insight is that all phenomena in nature can be traced back to one cause. Thales thus introduces the principle of science: tracing phenomena back to one cause (Vermeulen, 2002, p. 22). Now the contrast with the meaning in the Greek myths is also clear; from meaning to a scientific explanation.
Insight and recognition of the truth
Thales also appeals to intellectual insight, or reason. He also asks for agreement with the correctness of his statement that the primordial substance is water. This means that the truth of Thales’ insight is also recognized as the truth by others. “In history, the form of knowledge in which the truth is immediately ‘recognized’ has always been considered the highest form of knowledge,” (Vermeulen, 2002, p. 21). So it is this insight into the truth that philosophers have always appealed to. In classical antiquity, the method of contemplation, or inner reflection, was used to arrive at this insight. After Thales, other natural philosophers continued to build on the natural philosophical project and this period ended with the atomic theory of Democritus (ca 460-370 BC). The natural philosophers thus laid an important foundation for the later natural sciences.
People are central
From around 450 BC, Athens became the cultural center of the Greek world. In Athens, democracy is developed and a parliament and courts are created. Popular education is considered an important condition for participating in democratic processes. The art of eloquence, or rhetoric, was also considered important. In response, a group of itinerant teachers and philosophers came to Athens. They called themselves sophists, or wise and knowledgeable persons. The Sophists, like the natural philosophers, rejected the old mythical explanations. They were also skeptical about the so-called established explanations regarding the riddles of nature and the world. The Sophists were concerned with man and man’s place within society. The statement of Protagoras (ca 487-420 BC) makes it clear that man is now central to the philosophical project: ,Man is the measure of all things.,
Knowledge about thinking and ethics
Socrates (470-399 BC) takes philosophy to a higher level by focusing on knowledge about thought itself and his contribution to ethics. Socrates had a reasonable dialogue with people on the streets of Athens. In the dialogue he tried to help his interlocutor to ‘give birth’ to the right insight. Socrates played a fool in this; he acted as if he knew nothing. We call this Socratic irony. The dialogue led to a philosophical attitude to life in which matters are thought through and put to the test. This Socratic method is still regularly used in philosophical lectures today. There are also official training courses to become a Socratic discussion leader. According to Socrates, the human ability to distinguish between good and evil does not lie in society, as the Sophists claimed, but in reason itself. According to Socrates, the right insight leads to right action. The natural philosophers are also called pre-Socratics. This makes clear how important Socrates was for Western philosophy. Socrates did not put a letter on paper. Plato (427-347 BC), Socrates’ student, will talk about Socrates in his dialogues. Plato was the one who founded the first school of philosophy. He named the school Academy. Philosophy has now, in addition to the agora, also been given its own physical place. We conclude the rise of philosophy in Western Europe with Socrates and Plato. Philosophy stands and the search for truth will continue to develop.
Summary and conclusion
Philosophy means love of wisdom. First of all, the human ability to wonder about the world around us and to be able to ask questions makes the development of philosophy possible. The written mythical explanations and the first city-states with their cultural influences on the marketplace and the logos, the exchange of the spoken word, have paved the way for the discussion about the accuracy of mythical explanations. Because mythical explanations no longer provided a sufficient answer to the question of certain phenomena in the world, such as the origins of natural processes, a way of thinking based on experience and reason was developed. Thales is the first (natural) philosopher because he searches for the one cause of ‘everything’ through observation and reasoning. He also asks for agreement with the truth; the truth is recognized. This insight into and recognition of the truth is the highest goal of the philosophy of classical antiquity. With the rise of democracy in Athens, popular education becomes important and the sophists begin to ask questions about the position of man in society. Finally, Socrates seeks knowledge about thinking itself and he wonders whether there is a generally applicable ethic for man. Philosophy in Western Europe stands. Socrates’ student Plato founded the first Academy, where philosophy was taught through the Socratic dialogue. Philosophy in Western Europe has not stood still since Socrates and Plato, but continues to develop during the following centuries. Some books that provide an overview of the origins of philosophy in Western Europe are ‘The Challenge of Thinking’, ‘Good Living’ and ‘The World of Sophie’.