greek philosophy

Before the 6th century, scientific theories were mostly based on gods, and not fact, but this came to an end when early Greek scientists started to research science. This new era of science started with Democritus who stated that all things are made of atoms. Then it moved to Parmenides who stated that nothing changes in the universe, which has later been proven wrong by Heraclites who stated that everything is moving. Then there was the group of professors, called the sophists, who concluded that it is pointless to search for absolute truth in nature or morals. And for the most part was capped off with Socrates who stated that “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Gunner 29).

Democritus was the man who started it all by stating that all things are made up of atoms. Now this theory was not all created by Democritus. He just expanded the theory of Leucippus. “They account” said Democritus “for everything that has been or ever will be” (Gunner 27). This was a huge break through for all of science. Nothing like this had ever been thought of, and now Democritus has this theory about everything in the universe being made up of these little tiny things called atoms. The only problem with his theory is that he also stat

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This was still a major breakthrough over the early days though. He based his medical practice on observations and on the study of the human body. He became known as the founder of modern medicine and was regarded as the greatest physician of his time. His main belief was that with a series of careful questioning one can be lead to the discovery and elimination of false opinions. “He met the sophist view of how to get on in life with full force of his intellect and will” (Gunner 29).

Now even though what Parmenides said did help move along early science, his theory was completely wrong, as Heraclites proved. If everything is always changing, how can we gain absolute knowledge on anything?

With that question asked, a group of professors, called Sophists, came into existence. So this was a huge breakthrough coming up with theories that did not involve the gods, but still was not at the point that scientists are at today. Before this time all of the theories revolved around the gods, and religion. He greatly became more and more unpopular, but still didn’t give up, and kept asking questions, because he believed that “the unexamined like is not worth living” (Gunner 29). But even with all this technology, some of the early Greek philosophers and scientists are known for being the greatest ever. Heraclites came to the conclusion that everything is always moving. They stated “that it is pointless to look for absolute truth about nature or morals. He admitted that things do appear to be moving, but that is just an illusion of the senses, and was contradicted by logic, and logic was the most reliable truth. ed that the atom couldn’t be broken, that it was the smallest possible thing in the universe, which was proved wrong later down the line.

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