Author: jmcminn

Years 5 and 6
Cycle B

Our Beautiful World
History - Seekers and Lovers of Wisdom. Ancient Greek Philosophers

In this unit the children will:
Place current topic of study on a time line in relation to previous study periods
Think critically weighing evidence and sifting arguments
Begin to understand about beliefs, behaviour and characteristics of people recognising that not everyone shares the same views and feelings
Understand connections between local, regional, national and international history
Link sources and work out how conclusions were arrived at
Consider ways of checking the accuracy of interpretations - fact, fiction or opinion
Use the library/internet confidently for research

Key Vocabulary
Ancient Greece - The historical period of Ancient Greece from 480 BC to 323 BC
Philosophy - Philosophy comes from the Greek language. It means “love of wisdom. ” Philosophy is the study of some of the most basic questions about human life.
Philosopher - A person who studies philosophy is called a philosopher
Dialogue - A conversation between two or more people
Debate - A formal discussion about a matter where opposing views are put forwards
Anatomy - The study of structures of living things, so it's the branch of science that examines body parts - the inside and outside of the body

Key Knowledge
Ancient Greek philosophers were "seekers and lovers of wisdom". They studied and analysed the world around them using logic and reason. Although we often think of philosophy as religion or "the meaning of life", the Greek philosophers were also scientists. Many studied mathematics and physics as well. Often the philosophers were teachers of wealthy children. Some of the more famous ones opened their own schools or academies.

Key Knowledge
About 2,500 years ago, Greece was one of the most important places in the ancient world. The Greeks were great thinkers, warriors, writers, actors, athletes, artists, architects and politicians.
The Greeks called themselves Hellenes and their land was Hellas. The name ‘Greeks’ was given to the people of Greece later by the Romans. They lived in mainland Greece and the Greek islands, but also in colonies scattered around the Mediterranean Sea. There were Greeks in Italy, Sicily, Turkey, North Africa, and as far west as France.
They sailed the sea to trade and find new lands. The Greeks took their ideas with them and they started a way of life that's similar to the one we have today.
Socrates
Socrates from Athens, who was born in 470 B.C, was the first major Greek philosopher. It is thought that he didn’t write much of his work down as there are no records, although one of his students Plato wrote about him. Many ancient Greeks considered Socrates to be a very wise man but he felt because there was so much to know the reality was that actually he did not know very much.
Socrates questioned everything but he was different to other philosophers that have gone before him because he questioned and studied how one should live.
Socrates did not want to answer questions on the universe like all the other philosophers have done previously he wanted to question things like “what is friendship?” or “what is courage?”. He wanted people to be honest with each other, and search for the truth with one another.
In doing this it led Socrates to have his own unique style of reasoning. Even nowadays people still use the Socrates method in his honour. He was very good at questioning others, listening to what they have to say and then probing them for contradictions. By using this method of trial and error Socrates would help them eventually reach an answer.
Socrates had a very inquiring mind, and loved questioning and debating issues which unfortunately resulted in his death. Because he questioned everything this unfortunately angered many of the leaders in ancient Greece.
He questioned the existence of the gods and this angered the Greeks because it was something that had never been done before. He was accused of corrupting the young people of Athens and was sentenced to death.
Many of his close friends wanted to help him escape from prison but that was not how Socrates felt, he said it was important to comply with the law and he wanted to die for his beliefs.
Whilst imprisoned he drank poison and died.

Plato
Plato was from a very rich family and he was alive from 427 B.C to 354 B.C. BC. He was student of Socrates.
Plato wrote much of his philosophy in conversations called dialogues. The dialogues feature Socrates as one of the speakers. Using dialogue allowed Plato to show both sides of the argument and would allow him to introduce new ideas. Plato's most famous work is a book called ‘The Republic’. In this book Socrates as the main character discusses the meaning of justice and how cities and governments should be ruled. Socrates and the characters in the book discuss what justice is and how justice would bring happiness. He describes his ideal society in the conversations. This work is still studied today and has had an impact on both philosophy and political theory throughout history. Plato believed that no one should be rich or live in luxury. He also believed that each person should do the job that they are best suited for. He thought a philosopher-king should rule society. He believed that every true king would be a philosopher, or they weren’t smart enough to be king.
Plato founded his own school called the Academy where he taught students, such as Aristotle. Plato’s Academy became the first University. Plato died when he was 80 years old, but no one really knows how or why. Most people think that he died while he was sleeping.
Aristotle
Aristotle was a very famous philosopher and scientist that was born 384 B.C, he died in 322 B.C His father was very rich and was a popular aristocracy.
When Aristotle turned 17, he was very interested in anatomy and in the arts. He believed that he was clever, and he knew that he wanted to learn more. He decided that he would go and join Plato’s Academy that was in Athens.
While Aristotle was at Plato’s Academy, he studied hard and then later, he became a teacher there.
At the Academy the teachers and the students would sit together in groups and they would ask questions and then they would debate the answers. The point of this kind of teaching was to allow students the ability to ask questions and know that there was more than one answer that was possible. This taught people to be able to speak out loud what they were thinking instead of just writing it down or staying quiet.
After 20 years Aristotle decided that he would leave Plato’s Academy to travel. He went to Turkey and all throughout Greece. While Aristotle was traveling, he got married and he wrote many different books and other works some of which were about animals.
While Aristotle was traveling, he got married and he wrote many different books and other works.

Key Knowledge
As he travelled Aristotle was always taking notes and writing down things that he saw.
Not only did Aristotle believe in watching and learning, he also would take things further and would dissect animals in order to see how their anatomy worked.
Other philosophers thought that this was crazy because they would only do book work and think about the world not observe it. They did not believe that people should do hands-on work.
Aristotle is given credit for doing this because he helped to bring science to life for people even today. He loved biology and he was one of the first people to try to classify animals in different groups.
Aristotle would draw animals and figure out what organs and what traits made them function.
He made many discoveries in his time and set up his own school in Athens. He was famous for teaching Alexander the Great.
One of Aristotle’s most famous ideas was that there are five elements - At the time of Aristotle, people believed that everything was made of four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. Aristotle proposed that there was a fifth element called aether. He thought that aether is what heavenly bodies such as the stars and planets are made of.
Aristotle rightly determined that the Earth was round. However, he also thought that the Earth was stationary and that is was the centre of the universe.
Aristotle also believed that the best way for people to behave was to avoid any extremes. Today we call this "doing everything in moderation".