Preliminary Exploration Of The Concept Of Wisdom Of Ancient Greeks

The concept of wisdom is one important value of the ancient Greece, which is understood and evaluated by the ancient Greeks and is one of four moral virtues of the polis. The paper aims to study basically on the wisdom of ancient Greece in different historical period to show the development and characteristics of the concept of wisdom. The whole paper altogether divides into five parts besides the foreword and the conclusion.The preface elaborates the researching significance of this paper, the domestic and foreign academic researching results as well as its study methods.The first part elaborated the origin of the ancient Greeks concept of wisdom. To begin with, the author observes the definition of "Wisdom" in the ancient Greece. To ancient Greece, in different historical period, the definition of wisdom has different explanation in different social stratums. Then it discusses the concept of wisdom in the Greek mythology and the characteristics of the three representative Gods of wisdom, such as Metis, Athena, Apollo. Lastly, it analyses the relationship between wisdom and philosophy, the productive condition of Greek philosophy and essential characteristics of Greek philosophers who love wisdom and respect speculation.The second part analyses the concept of wisdom in the Homer age. At that time, the society centers on bravery and respect of glory, which reflects the ethics system of the noble value. At this time, the concept of wisdom embodies the social characteristics of virtue of bravery and respect for honor. Because the Homer epic is the direct reflection of life, it only advocates the wisdom of life, wisdom of direct reflection and wisdom of social practice.The third part studies the wisdom of archaic Greece. The author first elaborates the polis rising and the colonial movement at that time. The rise of polis leads the rise of rational thought in Miletus of Ionia. After the appearance of science and philosophy, the ancient Greece begin to purse wisdom of scientific and philosophical patterns instead of direct social experience. In secular life, it combines the concept of wisdom and development of polis political system.The fourth part elaborates the concept of wisdom in Classical age. Through the creative constructions from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the concept of wisdom has developed a complete system of philosophy. In Classical age, it has a high development on democracy, economy, and culture, which demonstrated the practical wisdom of ancient Greece. Concept of wisdom constitutes an important part of the four virtues completing a ethics system. The author analyses the relation between wisdom and bravery as well as temperance and justice.The fifth part elaborates the concept of wisdom in Hellenistic age. The society experiences a huge change at that time, so does the concept of wisdom. They begin to focus more on individual, spiritual and moral wisdom. In order to study it, the author briefly analyses the ethics thought of Epicurean and Stoic Ethics.The conclusion elaborates the subject content of research on the concept of wisdom of ancient Greece and the angle of the study of this paper. The author describes the developing characteristics and basic thread of the wisdom in the whole ancient history. It thoroughly unifies the concept of wisdom and the characteristics about its national culture. The basic characteristics of the concept of wisdom of ancient Greece are humanism and rationalism.