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RE: Historical development of Philosophy

in #philosophy7 years ago

Ya, brilliant blogging, sir

I think that Philosophy is shaped as a distinct from the mythology spiritual phenomenon in the 6th century before the New Age. True knowledge requires interference in nature, practical attitude towards the world.

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Well, at the beginning philosophy still had something with mythological knowledge, and when Aristotle comes then philosophy goes to the rational path. You may see that Plato has a lot of mythology - the myth of the pedestrian and many of his dialogues with Socrates.

I think we can look to the PreSocratics and see the trend towards rationalization beginning there and more so that Aristotle perhaps embraced and ushered forward materialism. I would point most specifically to the PreSocratic philosopher Thales (the first philosopher in the Greek tradition) who looked for an explanation to describe the cosmos beyond mythology. The trend towards rationalization, I believe, started before Socrates. We see philosophers like Heraclitus (to name one) trying to describe the cosmos in terms of elements not mythological beings.

To me it appeared Plato used myth as a epistemological tool to persuade the "hoi polli" into a particular way of thinking. We see this in the idea of the Noble Lie and the use of The Myth Of Metals in the Republic to this exact end. Granted Plato was a dualist but I am not sure he would have been a lover of mythology other than its usefulness in disseminating a particular kind of knowledge forward.

Thanks for the philosopher post! It's great to see them on Steemit. :)

I very very happy seeing your response. Thanks a lot , sir.