Greek Philosophy: Rationality, Politics, and Human Nature
The Greeks: The Rational Animal
The Homeric Hero
Philosophical thought emerged in Greece as a tool to explain reality. Before philosophical reason, everything was explained through myths. Myths presented a model where anthropomorphic gods had human traits, and heroes, immortals, and demigods (sons of a god and a woman) were examples of virtue to be followed. However, human life was conditioned by the capricious will of the gods and other external powers.
The Man in Greek Philosophy
From the sixth century BC, a new political model, democracy, began to emerge, and reason replaced myth. This shift combined with an anthropological focus in philosophy, centering on humans.
Rational Nature
In the philosophy of man, considered a natural being, humans are different from other natural beings because:
- They occupy a special place as a rational animal.
- Rationality allows them to know and understand everything around them, themselves, and their relationships within society.
- Therefore, humans can decide what values and standards should govern the city-state.
Political Animal
Greek men were closely linked to their city, considered citizens rather than individuals, and felt obliged to actively participate in the socio-political functioning of the polis.
Human Nature
All philosophers agreed that humans are part of nature, but there was a fundamental dispute.
Among the Sophists, there were very different positions:
- Protagoras believed that human nature is characterized by aggressiveness, while humans are also creators of culture.
- Hippias and Antiphon believed that nature gives all individuals the condition of being free and equal.
- More radical thinkers like Callicles, Thrasymachus, and Critias believed that human nature is not rational, but governed by instincts and the law of the jungle.
Socrates, unlike the Sophists, believed that the soul is reason, responsible for both moral thinking and the body as an instrument of the soul.
In short, Socrates believed that humans are the architects of their own happiness or unhappiness because others can damage possessions or the body, but cannot ruin the inner harmony and order of the soul.
The Problem of Mind-Body Relations
A central question in Greek philosophy is how the soul and body relate. Reality can be explained from a single principle (monism), two (dualism), or multiple (pluralism) principles, understood as matter and spirit.
Anthropological Monism
- Materialistic: All human actions are explained from a single reality, the body, whose physical and chemical processes give rise to activity and emotional thinking.
- Spiritualist: Contrary to materialists, the soul (or mind) is the principle from which humans are explained.
Anthropological Dualism
- Humans are composed of two different realities, body and mind, and through their interaction, all human activities occur.
- One of its greatest defenders was Plato.
- The human being is composed of body and soul, but the soul has absolute priority over the body.
- The body is just the material container of the soul.
- The human soul is eternal. When a person dies, their soul leaves the body and accesses another dimension.
The Hellenistic Period
The last stage of the great Greek civilization began with Alexander the Great, who formed an empire integrating European and Asian cultures, until Rome took full control of the Mediterranean.