History of Greek Philosophy Ethics

The first traces of an ethics emerged among pupils Pytagoras. We do not know much about Pytagoras. He was born in 570 BC in Samos in western Asia Minor and then moved into the Greek area of southern Italy. He died 496 BC.

Pytagoras formed a circle around the pupil that tradition continued for another two hundred years. According to their mathematical principles are the foundation of all reality. They are adherents of the doctrine of reincarnation. According to them the body is the soul tomb (soma-sema, "the body-grave"). So that the soul can be free from the body, the human need cleaning path. By working and spiritually imprisoned, especially with philosophizing and bermatematika, man freed from sensory attraction and spiritualized.

One hundred years later, Democritus (460-371 BC) not only teaches that everything what can be explained by the movement of the smallest parts are no longer divided, ie the atoms. According to Democritus the highest value is what is good. Thus, the suggestion for a good life with regard to a framework hedonistic sense..

Socrates (469-399 BC) left no writings. His teachings are not easily reconstructed for the most part only we know from Plato's writings tulisn. In the dialogues of Socrates palto almost always be the main speaker so it is not easy to ascertain the original view or the view of Plato himself. Through Socratic dialogue will bring people to ideologies clearer ethical confront the implications of the notion-own eyes. Thus, human ushered to the awareness of what is really nice and helpful. From habit for sighted and temporary, human ushered to the true wisdom.

Plato (427 BC) did not write about ethics. The first ethics book written by Aristotle (384 BC). But in many dialogues of Plato are descriptions pitched ethics. That is why we can reconstruct Plato's thoughts about the good life. Daar Plato's intuition about the good life it affects philosophy and spirituality in the West for 2000 years. The new modern-day understanding of the objective directed to the Divine in everything that there began to be abandoned and replaced by various patterns of ethics; including ethical autonomy Kant's moral awareness is the most important. Ethics Plato not only influential in the west, but by Neoplatoisme also entered into among Sufi Muslims. This is where the future path of the Greek philosophical thought relations with Muslim thinkers like Ibn Miskawayh that much studying Greek philosophy thus affecting his writings on the philosophy of ethics.

After Aristotle, Epicureans (314-270 BC) is a figure that berepengaruh in ethical philosophy. He founded a school of philosophy in Athens with the name Epicureanism, will be one of the major streams of Greek philosophy after Aristotle. In contrast to Plato and Aristotle, in contrast also with the Stoics, Epicureans and his students are not interested in thinking about, let alone get into the field of politics. Characteristic of the Epicurean philosophy is withdrawal from the bustling life. The motto is "living in a mystery".

Epicurean ethics is privatistik. Is sought personal happiness. Epicurean advised to withdraw from public life, in this sense is individualism. But the Epicurean teachings are not selfish. He teaches that doing good is often more fun than receiving kindness. For the Epicurean, more pleasure and sublime spiritual rather than physical. Not just any desire to be fulfilled. He distinguishes between natural desires that need (to eat), the natural desire that does not need (like food that tastes good), and vain desires (such as wealth).

Figures are still much more ethical philosophy, and the author wishes to discuss it all here, but due to space constraints and themes raised the figure mentioned above is sufficient to represent the author considers the history of ethical philosophy at that time. And their correlation with intellectual Islam in its aftermath as Ibn Miskawayh that in many of his writings (the work) is much influenced from Greek philosophical thought leaders.