Tag: Aristotle

The famous ancient Greeks

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June 8, 2010

11:53 pm

15 Comments on The famous ancient Greeks

Class Work

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Hypothetical Thoughts from the Enquiring Minds of 7X

School pillars copyEvangeline: “The pillars at the front of the school? Hmm, would you say they’re Doric,Greek columns from istockphoto.com pd Ionic or Corinthian?”

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Reuben: “We’re just starting to study geometry and trigonometry in Maths.”

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Bridget: “I’d like to take Philosophy in Year 11. I’ve heard the teacher, Ms Ind, is very good. She uses the Socratic method…”

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Michael: “You know one thing I hate about school? It’s so undemocratic. The teachers are all despots.”

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Every single one of these statements touches on the legacy of the ancient Greeks. We might have arrived at all of these concepts without them, but since we can never know what would have been in history, we can’t be sure.

Now there’s a philosophical question…

Below are two tasks. You need only choose one.

In the first, you can read some quotations from Aristotle, one of the great philosophers and scientists of ancient Athens, whose influence on Western thought is incalculable. Then you can EITHER try writing an analogy like his OR a paragraph-long comment on one of his famous statements.

In the other, you can choose one of the famous ancient Greeks listed below and find out as much as possible about him or her in 20-25 minutes. Then leave a paragraph-long comment, showing your knowledge of the person but most of all your appreciation of his or her contribution to the future of human thought – his or her legacy.

Aristotle Stamp PD image supplied by School of Maths&Stats, Uni of St Andrews, ScotlandTask 1: Aristotle

  • It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

  • A friend is one soul inhabiting two bodies.

  • Man is by nature a political animal.

  • Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

  • Wit is educated insolence.

  • All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.

Choose one of these quotations and write a comment on it OR try writing an analogy like the one below:

A citizen is a member of a polis just as a sailor is a member of a ship’s crew. Each sailor has a different role according to his abilities. One is a rower, another a helmsman, another a lookout. But although they have different roles all crew members have the same aim – a safe voyage. This is also true of citizens. Although they have different abilities and different roles they have a common object – the welfare of the community of which they are members.

OR

Task 2: Another Famous Ancient Greek

Choose from one of the following:

  • Playwrights and writers: Euripides, Aristophanes, Sophocles, Sappho, Homer
  • Greek ruins - ErnScientists: Hippocrates, Archimedes, Aristarchus, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Aristotle, Agnodice
  • Mathematics: Euclid, Pythagoras, Archimedes
  • Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle