What influence did ancient Greek culture have on western culture?

Ancient Greece was the source of philosophy development, and philosophy developed into an independent discipline in ancient Greece. The separation of philosophy from it is directly related to the classification advocated by the Greeks. Starting from Aristotle, in his book Nikolai, human knowledge and the cognitive ability of people who master this knowledge are classified. The Greeks believed that the creation of many things was conditional and required materials or other things. The rules governing the change of things are called essence in our terminology today. The essence is actually translating from English into Chinese, and philosophy is the most fundamental thing to learn. Aristotle is the representative. He summed up the tradition of attaching importance to classification research in Greece and put forward a science. Aristotle said that the first philosophy is theology, and the second philosophy studies the nature of things changing. Today, we can say that the name of any western science is spelled in Greek or Latin. The corresponding science can be found in the complete works of Aristotle (there are two parts in the complete works of Aristotle, one is what we see and the other is the lost volume). Philosophy, as an independent discipline, originated in Greece, so we should study philosophy from Greece.

It is necessary for China people to learn foreign philosophy, especially western philosophy. The greatness of China culture lies in its inclusiveness, profundity, openness and inclusiveness. Greek culture is also one of the sources of our modern language and theoretical thought. Learning foreign things is actually to better understand what we are saying now, so as to better understand ourselves. Because any culture, like rumination, will develop itself at a deeper level. Over 300 BC, Greece was occupied by people who spoke Greek dialects. Although Greek culture is short-lived, it developed in another way, through Latin and cultural exchanges in modern western countries, rather than at home.

It is a miracle that such an influential culture was born in this small area of Athens. The whole civilization period, from 800 BC to more than 300 BC, developed here. However, Greece is a maritime country, mainly located on the Mediterranean coast. It is opposite to Phoenician culture at that time, that is, Israel now, and directly opposite to Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa. They lived on the Mediterranean coast at that time. Today, they want to see ancient Greek monuments. These monuments are found in Greece and Athens, but they are widely distributed in Turkey, Egypt or some parts of Arabia. Athens is the core of Greek civilization, and even its suburbs are 2,500 square kilometers, with the widest part being about 60 kilometers and the narrowest part being about 40 kilometers. Ancient Greek drama, lyric poetry, code, philosophy and political theory were all produced here, so it is a miracle. Then why is there such a miracle This is related to the characteristics of the Greek nation itself. First, when they moved from the north, the culture was not very developed, and they could learn and absorb many cultures from the surrounding areas, including their own gods, all of which were inherited from local learning. Their science, astronomy, mathematics, calendars, etc. They all learned from Babylon and Egypt, and their present Greek letters are all inherited from the two river basins. Therefore, Hegel said that the Greeks did not have their own independent things. All their things were picked up from other places, absorbed these cultures, and merged into a new culture, which is unmatched by any culture around them. In addition, they are a maritime nation with a broader vision; Third, life is relatively simple, even without vegetables. In this case, they have no heavy burden, so they are politically developed. In the early political system, the so-called nobles of their tribal chiefs were the first to manage the lower classes.

Later, with the change of the situation, democracy appeared, and citizens with less property could directly participate in political management and produce their own political representatives to manage the polis. Under this need, democracy appeared. Democracy needs laws, and democratic discussion determines things. In this case, some people began to teach people to read, speak and recite. The earliest rhetoric, in the west, mainly taught speaking, not how to write articles, and as a result, some intellectuals specialized in knowledge were produced. At the civic meeting, one needs to get more votes, announce his own resolution, and put his own ideas on the map before passing it. Well said, people will think it is right, so the wise man specializes in training political and legal experts, in fact, they are later lawyers. At the beginning, Greek law stipulated that the lawsuit should be defended in person, and no one else was allowed to replace it. Later, Greece amended the law and publicly admitted that someone could appear in court to defend the defendant. On the other hand, many politicians themselves or those who want their children to become politicians ask them to teach their children how to speak and how to demonstrate a thing. He wants to improve himself in order to prosper his business. In the early days, it took logical skills to refute the opponent's failure with seemingly correct reasoning, so some people further developed into sophistry.

After the development of 1200 years, the activities of sophists were also a part of philosophy in Socrates' era more than 380 BC. Of course, many wise men are really knowledgeable. For example, in a series of books published by China University of Political Science and Law, there is a book called "The Republic", in which many wise men's thoughts are enlightening to us. Some wise men say what is the essence of justice, that justice is justice, and that a powerful person has position and power in the city-state, then he is justice; Some people say that justice is an agreement. What is the difference between a philosopher and a wise man? The wise are the product of democracy. He is a knowledgeable expert and a way of life. He relies on his own knowledge to support his family, but at this time there are disadvantages. Later philosophers Socrates and Plato saw the shortcomings of the wise. His lifestyle itself is the same as that of a wise man. He often talks to attract people in the market. He's not a liar, he doesn't take money, and he doesn't support his family by it. It is not a profession, so he told me to love wisdom, and cleverness is the love for wisdom itself. Socrates' lifestyle is similar to that of a wise man. Others call him a wise man, but he thinks he is different from them. Later, people call him a philosopher.

The Greeks asked questions in public, so Socrates offended others. When the judge announced that he could be released as long as he did not engage in such philosophical activities, he said, what I want is to prove whether God's word is right or wrong. How can I not protect God's interests and truth for my life? He drank poisoned wine, and his student Plato was moved by him and made up his mind to inherit the teacher's career. Students keep asking questions in Socrates' way, what is politics, what is justice, what is the essence of the world, what is mathematics, and all kinds of questions. People who engage in western philosophy generally know a famous saying. For example, the British philosopher Whitehead said, "The whole western philosophy is Plato's footnote." Plato's Dialogue not only discusses Socrates' positive views well, but also fully and comprehensively discusses his negative views. After Socrates and Plato, philosophy has developed for two thousand years, and none of its basic viewpoints and related problems can be found in Plato's dialogues. Another point is its critical spirit. Like Socrates, it keeps asking questions. First, it is necessary to know your ignorance. This is a process of intellectual reflection, including ethical issues, what is good and what is justice. Plato has raised this question, and it is the highest principle not to hurt or harm the interests of others. This is also reflected in the Bible: "Love your enemy, love your enemy." This is the most basic spirit of ancient Greek philosophy.

The other is to have the spirit of critical reflection. Greece established this direction from Socrates and Plato-idealism, also called idealism. Socrates thinks that the real essence is different from what is seen in reality. In order to pursue the truth, we should use our five senses to see the invisible things, and use our wisdom and thoughts to see the essence of things. This idea is still the most basic view of natural science until today. According to the calculation of natural science, the void of this world occupies an absolute position, and everything in the whole world is formed in a certain way. The reason why things are in this form is mainly because they have a special structure and a special numerical relationship in quantity, which is another point of Plato's view. These numerical relationships determine the surface characteristics of the things behind them. These things can only be grasped by our thoughts and rationality. What we see and decide with our thoughts is our thoughts. These ideas determine the perceptual thing, which is its essence. This is Plato's view. There is another tradition in Greek philosophy. There is a very famous painting in the Vatican Catholic Church, which was painted by Raphael. There are two core figures: Plato and Aristotle. Plato refers to the sky and Aristotle refers to the earth, which is the fundamental difference between their teachers and students. Aristotle attaches great importance to the observation of individual things, so he thinks that the essence of things lies in individuals. So he pays special attention to the observation and classification of experience, which is the second tradition, focusing on experience and observation. In order to study politics, he first collected the history of more than 30 Greek city-states at that time/kloc-0, and now these books are lost. Aristotle attached great importance to the collection of books. He was the first person to collect books in Athens, Greece. The spirit of Plato and Aristotle in Greece continues to this day, and these phenomenologists are the further development of Aristotle. Plato's thought experienced the May 4th Movement in China for a long time. The spirit of criticism, truth for truth's sake and art for art's sake also spread to China.

Plato and Socrates have always believed that the whole material world is constructed in a certain mathematical way, which is recognized by western natural scientists. Galileo himself publicly declared himself a Platonist and established scientific ideas. Plato's proposition has an idea, that is, goodness gradually extended, which is the only thing that people support and agree with. These things in reality are the degeneration of ideas. This mode of thinking is exactly the same as "God created everything, and everything is the result of God's creation" in the Bible. The Bible, especially the New Testament, is written in Greek. Until the early Renaissance, Platonism was basically dominant. People inherited Plato and directly used Platonism to interpret the Bible. During the Renaissance, Aristotle was rediscovered. Europeans brought back Arabic through exploration and translated it into Latin. To this day, Christian doctrine says that Aristotle is a saint and cannot be attacked casually, especially Aristotle explained by Thomas and his students. That's the orthodox guiding ideology. This kind.