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WORLD-FAMOUS PHILOSOPHERS

SIMO JELAČA, Ph.D.

SOCRATES (469-400 BC), a celebrated Greek philosopher

Socrates was born in Athens. His father was a sculptor, so he began to work in the same profession in his youth. He received an average education for an Athenian of that time, which included: his native language; reading Greek poems; elements of arithmetic; geometry and astronomy. He served in the military infantry and participated in several wars, in which he distinguished himself with courage, which was accepted with approval.

In the middle of his life, he changed his profession, began to engage in philosophy, in which he later became famous. Socrates did not open his own school, but worked as a full-time teacher. He especially distinguished himself as an orator. Early every morning, he would go for a walk to the market and spend the whole working day with the people. He was happy to talk to everyone, old and young, rich and poor. In this way, he knew very well what the world was thinking. He emphasized for himself that his knowledge was the result of his consciousness, so he tried to develop his own consciousness in all other people as well.

Cicero said of Socrates that he brought philosophy from heaven to earth. Studying astronomy, geometry, physics and other sciences, he realized that the study of scientific disciplines directs people towards better interpersonal relationships. In 400 BC, an incident occurred: Socrates was condemned for not praying to God. The punishment was death, by poison. And indeed, on the last day of his life, Socrates talked to his acquaintances, and then, when the time came, he drank the poison given to him with dignity and died.

DEMOCRITUS (460-370 BC), Greek philosopher

Democritus, like many others of his period, did not leave much written evidence of his activities. Others wrote more about him, with Aristotle among the first. Democritus was the first to use the word atom (in Greek atomon) for invisible particles of matter. According to Democritus, the universe consisted of a vast vacuum with an unlimited number of atoms, which made up the physical world. Democritus considered atoms to be the constituent parts of everything on Earth, as well as planets and stars. He argued that atoms are unchanging, solid, and invisible. He argued that atoms in different ratios make up rocks, plants, and animals. After the death of living organisms, their atoms become free to form other forms. He also argued that atoms in different things exist in different combinations. He described liquids as smooth and as penetrating between other atoms. He gave similar descriptions of taste and different colors.

Democritus' significance lies in the fact that he was one of the first to reject religious and spiritual teachings. He even described the human soul as fast-moving atoms in the human body. According to him, after death, the atoms of the soul separate and form another being. Democritus attributed all human activity to the mobility of atoms in the body. And although modern science has refuted many of Democritus' teachings, he is remembered as the first to try to explain the universe with simple physical and mathematical laws. And this led to a change of opinion and a correct orientation towards scientific studies. Democritus also deserves recognition in the field of mathematics for proving that the volume of a cone is equal to one-third the volume of a cylinder of the same base and height, as well as for similar relationships with pyramids and prisms.

PLATO (427-347 BC), Greek philosopher

Plato is said to have been born near or in Athens and to have left Athens in 399 BC, following the execution of Socrates. After twelve years, he returned to Athens and opened his Academy in 387 BC, which became a bastion of intellectual achievement. It lasted until 529 AD (almost a millennium), when Justinian closed it on his orders. Some historians consider Plato’s Academy to be the first university in Europe. It set out the true principles of learning in the fields of science and philosophy, and above its entrance was written: “Let no one enter who is ignorant of geometry.” Plato’s Academy became a leader in mathematics, astronomy, science, and philosophy. During Plato's youth, Athens flourished as the world's most dominant cultural center.

Plato's teachings were based on the claim that nature, as seen by the human eye, is true. Like Pythagoras and Plato, he favored science and rational mathematics, which represented universal truths. In this way, through arithmetical calculations, future discoveries could be predicted, much as elements not yet discovered could be predicted by Mendeleev's periodic table. Plato is remembered today as one of the greatest philosophers of the Western tradition and civilization. His influence was felt in all academic disciplines, in education and literature, in aesthetics, and even in political thought, and his logical approach to science remains a testament to ideas that are difficult to grasp.

ARISTOTLE (384–322 BC), Greek philosopher

Aristotle’s scientific ideas were given an almost divine character. At the age of 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy in 367 BC, and after Plato’s death in 347 BC, he left the Academy to become the private tutor of the young Alexander the Great. In 335 BC, Aristotle opened his own school in Athens, called the Lyceum. At that time, Aristotle’s thinking in the fields of physics and cosmology dominated the Western world, a position that remained until the time of Galileo and Newton. Aristotle’s teachings were based on the claim that everything that exists is composed of four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. Aristotle also accepted the claim that the Earth is at the center of the universe, with the Sun, Moon, and planets revolving around the Earth. He believed that stones, as the heaviest, were located at the center of the Earth, water, as the lightest, floated on the surface of the Earth, air, as the even lighter, was located above the ground, and fire tended to rise to the heights. Aristotle also introduced the concept of the ether, claiming that the Moon moved in the ether, and this opinion persisted for two thousand years after him. Pythagoras confirmed that the Earth had a spherical shape, and Aristotle himself noted that the Earth's shadow on the Moon during a lunar eclipse had a slightly flattened (elliptical) shape. In the field of biology, Aristotle was the first to classify animals according to their reproduction (giving birth to live young or laying eggs).

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