This is the 1st lecture of [[Stephen Hicks]]'s [[PA Philosophy of Education]] course from [[Peterson Academy]]. In the 700s BCE, the Greeks started writing their stories. Most well known of them are Homer's stories. ## Humanness of stories What makes the Greek stories special? In contrast to the contemporaries like Indian stories and Mesopotamian stories, Greek stories are human (godless). From India, Rama's conflicts are all between gods and demons. From Mesopotamia, Gilgamesh's conflicts are that of humans up against gods. From Greek, the Trojan war was motivated by a desire for power, revenge, and glory—all too human reasons, but also embodied by humans in the story. Where are the gods? They are spectators (for the most part). The human realm is where all the drama takes place. What makes Greek stories special is that they are human-centered. Even the gods seem like reflections of human traits, both positive and negative. ## Philosophical discussion as a result Hicks argued that stories like Arachne and Athena provokes philosophical thought in children, and a similar thing has happened to the Greeks during that time period when these stories became canonized in writing. Greek culture as a whole is in favor of such challenging discourse, with Athena challenging Zeus during the Trojan war also as an example of that. Around the same time, democracy was on the rise, making discussions and arguments commonplace. ## The Socratic In the 400s BCE came Socrates, who himself is the greatest embodiment of the Socratic method. Education requires conversations between the older generation and younger generation. The old provides wisdom and experience, sharing stories while at the same time inviting the young into conversations that requires thought and questions. ## To be human To raise questions on what it means to be human. To care more about those questions than those of the gods. To realize human potential to the point of inviting admiration from the gods. That is uniquely Greek. ## Aristotle as the culmination In the 300s BCE came Aristotle who argued and showed that the natural world is knowable, and it is in our human nature to want to know. Delight in our senses—like our sight— for themselves and not just for their usefulness is an evidence of that. In the De Anima as well, he talks about knowledge as something good and worthwhile, and the desire for such as what puts us above animals. But there are beauty in knowledge of all things—from the greatest to the smallest—and worthy of investigation. On top of that, it is also about self-knowledge, in becoming the greatest human we can be. Part of the educational process is reflecting upon the characters in the Greek stories, and learning their virtues. ## Aristotle's curriculum for Alexander He taught Alexander rhetoric, philosophy, logic, politics, physics, biology, medicine, literature, human psychology, and other arts. How to speak, think, observe. --- Back to: [[PA Philosophy of Education]] Next lecture: [[From Plato to Augustine]]