V Thissection of lectures is going to

be an account of one tradition or

region of the world. A region of
the world that is believed to have
influenced greatly, the thought
and life pattern of other regions.
This region has come to be known
as the Western Region.
V áuringthe 6th BCE (Before the
Common Era) the most puzzling
issues amongst the thinkers was
´What are things really like?µ
´How can we explain the
processes of change in things?µ.
These basic questions and many
more of such related questions
where the subject of focus in
those ancient times.
V ïet us note that the many answers that
were given to these questions by the
earlier philosophers are not as important
as the fact that they focused on these
specific questions.

V These postulations of the 6th BC today

forms the basis on which all scientific
discoveries of today were founded upon
and that is what we shall be devoting
these modules to .
V Thales worked out a way of measuring
the height of a pyramid during one of his
trip to Egypt.
V It is believed that is was during one of
these trips to Egypt that he discovered
the techniques which helped him predict
accurately, the eclipse of the sun in may
28 585 BC.
V Fell into the well as he looked up while
studying the heavenly body.
V Held that the original substance or the
primary stuff of the universe was water.
V While earlier philosophers focused at
trying described the ultimate constituent
of the world around us, Heraclitus shifted
attention to a new problem, the problem
of Õ

V His chief idea was that all thing are in a
state of flux.
V You can not step into the same water
twice. He argued that there must be
something that is responsible for
change, and that this thing was |

V According to Anaxagoras the nature of
reality is best understood as consisting of
the mind and the matter
V Separation is the process by which these
matter formed into various things
V They both believe that nature is constituted
of infinite and indivisible unit called atom.
V The are the smallest indivisible particle of an
element, that also often exhibit a kind of
movement that is random in nature.
V Atoms are indestructible,
V ïetus note that the many answers
that were given to these questions
by the earlier philosophers are not
as important as the fact that they
focused on these specific
questions. though further and
recent analysis has shown that
most of the answers given by the
ancient thinkers were not entirely
correct,
V We can rightly aver that the
individual postulations and
answers given, set the stage for
other subsequent discuss that
followed which today, has further
thrown more light on the quest for
knowledge and certainty
V 
Õ 

V The three most important sophists or

(intellectuals) who appeared in
sometime during the fifth century BCE
were Protagoras, Gorgas and
Thrasymachus.

V The sophist were primarily practical

people, and especially competent in
grammar, writing, and public discourse÷
V He is best known for his statement that
´man is the measure of all things, of the
things that are, that they are, and of the
things that are not, that they are not.µ
V That is, a person is the ultimate standard of
all judgments that he or she makes.
V This means that whatever knowledge I
might achieve about anything would be
limited to my human capacities.
V Protagoras thought that the objects we
perceived by our various senses must
possess all of the properties that different
people perceive as belonging to them.
V For this reason, it is impossible to discover
what is the truth÷
V He took such a radical view regarding truth that
he eventually gave up philosophy and turned
instead to the practice and teaching of
rhetoric.

V while Protagoras claimed that truth is possible

though independent of the individual
perception, Gorgias denied the existence of
truth.

V Gorgias propounded the extraordinary, (1) that

nothing exist, (2) if any thing exist, it is
incomprehensible, (3) even were it can be
comprehended, it can not be communicated
V He is portrayed as the philosophy who asserted
that injustice is to be preferred to the life of
justice.
V He did not look upon of character. injustice as
a defect.

V ´ïawsµ he says are made by the ruling party for

there own interest.

V The above are examples of the kind of ideas

and thought that the sophist propagated,
enthroning skepticism. It became the chief
concern of Socrates to unravel the logical
inconsistencies of the sophist, to rebuild the
notion of truth and to establish some firm
foundation for moral judgments
V WEEK THREE, ïECTURE THREE, PART FOUR
V GST 211 PHIïOSOPHY, ïOGIC, ANá
HUMAN EXSISTENCE
V ïECTURE THREE, PART FOUR, GST 211.