Greek Philosophy and Art

1. The word "philosophy" means in Greek "the love/pursuit of wisdom" - considering the first Greek philosophers (the Pre-Socratics), what propelled them to pursue a new kind of "wisdom"? What were they unsatisfied with?

2. How are the concepts of Lack (Poverty) and Resourcefulness (Resource) pertinent to Philosophy (and Love, according to Plato)? What does the philosopher lack, what resources does he/she have that enables him/her to attain what is lacking?

3. What is the function of Eros (desire) in the pursuit of wisdom? What does it mean to be a motivated scholar?

4. What was the Pre-Socratic philosophers' main field of study? What concepts and ideas of theirs influenced the Classical philosophers?

5. What are the main characteristics of the Classical philosophers? Summarize their concept of Virtue (what are the Four Cardinal Virtues that Christianity inherited from Classical philosophy?) and how Virtue pertains to the leading of a Good Life. To what use did the Classical philosophers put Logic and Scientific Reasoning?

6. What did Socrates do in the agora? What were the conditions of his death? Why was he not afraid to die, and what did he consider to be Immortal?

7. What was the format of Plato's writings, what was he trying to recreate in his writings?

8. What was the main subject of Plato's Republic? What is a Utopia? What was the meaning of a "Philosopher King"?

9. In the Allegory of the Cave, what is represented metaphorically by:

a) Vision, b) the Eye, c) Light, d) Shadows, e) Real Objects, f) the Sun, g) Darkness?

10. What does the Hellenistic period in Greek history refer to? What main idea from the East influenced the Hellenistic philosophers?

11. What are the main characteristics of Cynical, Stoic and Epicurean philosophy? How did the Cynics and the Stoics get their names, and what do their names tell us about them? Why did Diogenes carry a lantern around Athens? What kind of lifestyles did these three schools of Hellenistic philosophy advocate?

12. What are the different periods of Greek sculpture? How does Greek sculpture develop over time, and how is its development parallel to that of Greek philosophy?