The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers

Philosophy helps to recover a deeper meaning in our lives, which is sometimes hard to discern in everyday existence. It derives from the Greek word for “love of wisdom,” and it tackles the questions of existence that lie beyond the reach of science. Science informs the means of living, while philosophy informs the ends of life itself.

Philosophy includes logic, “the ideal method of thought”; aesthetics, “the study of ideal form” (i.e., beauty); ethics, “the study of ideal conduct”; politics, “the study of ideal social organization”; and metaphysics, “the study of the ‘ultimate reality of all things’” (4). There have been bad philosophers, but philosophy itself is a great good.

Of all ancient Greek city-states, Athens had the easiest access to the outside world, from which it acquired great wealth and knowledge of natural phenomena. Many of the same debates still shaping philosophic inquiry were formed in this day, such as the relationship of the individual to civilization.

Athens’s defeat against Sparta in the Peloponnesian War helped fuel a profound sense of skepticism toward the democratic government. The greatest philosopher of this time was Socrates, whose itinerant lifestyle and constant questioning of conventional wisdom won him a devoted following of students.