Tag Archive for: Ancient Greek philosophy

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First Philosophy: Aristotle Again

It is almost annoying to have to continually go back to Aristotle when looking for the best ways to divide things, to think about things intellectually. In the West at least. It is not an exaggeration to say that his work forms the very…
The tetractys of the Pythagoreans
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Numerology with Pythagoras

When looking for the origins of the theological study of mathematics within the Greek philosophical tradition we must of course start with Pythagoras (c. 570 – 490 BCE), whose strong connection to this field of study survives even to this…
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On Ancient Numerology and Astronomy

In their quest for the ultimate symbols to represent reality, an integral of their philosophical pursuits, the Greeks developed an esoteric tradition that although was not inconsistent with the pantheistic tradition within which it coexisted,…
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Aristotle’s Metaphysics: Causality and Theology in Antiquity

Aristotle is arguably one of, if not the, most influential philosophers in the history of Western civilization, outlining in painstaking detail not only a fully formed and comprehensive system of reason and logic, but also a comprehensive system…
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Hellenic Theo-Philosophy: From Mythos to Logos

So from what intellectual and socio-political and cultural context did the works and schools of Plato and Aristotle emerge?  Where did their ideas come from, even if they are altogether unique in their language, tenets and ideas and even if…
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The Indo-Europeans: The Grandparents of Philosophy

There has been and continues to be much scholarly debate as to what extent the classical Greek philosophical tradition, what we call Hellenic philosophy herein, which classically begins with a study of the so-called “Pre-Socratics”, the…
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Indo-European Philosophy: On the Soul

There are many parallels that can be drawn between early Hellenic and Upanishadic philosophy.  In particular, we find many similarities between the philosophy presented by Plato in his Middle Period as he developed and fine-tuned his theory…
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Plato and the Allegory of the Cave: Ideas, Being and Becoming

The first systematic treatment of philosophy, and arguably the most influential, in the West can be found in works of Plato, in particular in his works the Phaedo, the Republic and the Timaeus which are by most accounts the most influential…
Death of Socrates
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The Legacy of Socrates: Skepticism, Knowledge and Reason

One of the best indications of the influence of Socrates on the development of Western philosophy, what the Hellenes, or Greeks, termed philosophia, his ideas being primarily represented by the writings of his best known pupil Plato, is the…
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Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Theology: On Being, the First Mover and Love (Eros)

One of the most preeminent philosophical principles that underpins Western thought, one of the foundational presumptions of modern Science in fact, is the notion of causality, or what we refer to more specifically within the context of 20th…