The Theory Of Ancient Greek Rationalism Thought

Philosophy in essence is a rational career, rationalism mainly refers to the logical reasoning which is the main source of human knowledge.The mark of its birth is the formation of the seventeenth Century French philosopher Descartes’ philosophy system. And with the rise of capitalism,it was widely respected and blended in all aspects of society.Rationalism as a philosophical system doesn’t produce for a long time,But its predecessor-ratonism’s history is of long standing and well established which can be traced back to seventh century BC in ancient Greece.Early rational thought existes as philosophical epistemology,indicating a study of the world and regularity of the method,,with what kind of version to see and treat world and human being itself.In the modern humanities and social sciences research rationalism usually refers to the ability born with human,which is human thinking logic judgment and reasoning ability that differes from other animals. This ability is to make people see things through the surface phenomenon to internal relations of things, regularity and essence, so reasonism has a prevalent characteristics,namely That is, as long as normal humans, are rational thinking and self regulation to control their own behavior ability.But this essay is not mainly research reason it-self and its extention,it mainly discuss the inherent spirit of rational thought---a spirit and value system conceived in the ancient Greek Civilization,publicized in medieval Europe Renaissance, developed with the production and development of capitalist economy.This essay starts from the Greek rationalism background,carefully analyze people’s ideological status before the apperance of the rational thought,the direct condition of social development situation and rational thought sprouting.,then analyze the two ancient Greek time philosophers’main philosophical views of rationality, Sort out the rational thought development path and direction changement,last but not least,elaborate the importance of rational thought in philosophy and the process of human history.it can concretely be divided into5chapters:Chapter one: introduction, mainly introduces the purpose and significance of the study, through the comparative study of different thinking modes in the roles of Chinese and Western historical development,come to the conclusion that China in the long process of historical development cause defects by rational thought vacancy, thereby illustrating the importance of rationalism spirit.The second chapter: mainly introduces the development of ancient Greek before the produce of the rational thought, Mainly in the period of ignorance,the thought development status of ancient Greeks’thought,and its main content-the myth. Mythology is the childhood spirit product, it is when human productivity is low in the face of nature pressure, Yield to all kinds of natural phenomena,think out of fantasy because of fear and ignorance. This chapter describes the causes of ancient Greek myth as well as the differences compared to other same period myths.then from discribing the ancient Greek myth of gods and heroes’ unique character and deeds,then conclued the unique composition of reson of ancient Greek myth.then to anatomize the rational composition of ancient Greek mythology under the ancient Greek societ,leading out the rational spirit accompanied by the ancient Greek myth tragedy charcteristic,therefore the ancient Greek mythology in a certain extent is the source of rational thought.The third chapten: mainly introduces the direct condition of rational thought, mainly including three aspects, geographical factors, the historical and social factorsRational thought beared in ancient Greece, not other area, has its particularity, this chapter still uses ancient Greece and China as comparison to elaborate this three elementary factors.The first is the geographical factors, through the Greek marine civilization and Chinese River civilization as comparation to get the characteristic of development of ancient Greek society mode:developed industry and commerce, the prevalence of colonial movement,as well as the passionate spirit of people in the society, also such a feature adapts to the needs of rational thinking.The second is historical factors, based on the destruction of old civilization of ancient Greece (the Minoan and Mycenaean civilization) to establish a new social system.Centralized monarchy system was broken, the freedom degree of civilization is greatly improved, people’s social position also rises subsequently, ancient Greece moves into the most prosperous stage of historical development,which is also the last and directest aspect of rationalism,--ocial factor,the appearance of city.The characteristics of city determines the unprecedented liberation of the peoples’ thought, Coupled with the daring, adventurous and imaginative spirit of ancient Greeks, rational thought and philosophy come to birth.The fourth chapter: mainly introduces the representatives of the philosopher’s main ideas and the containing rational spirit of the ancient Greek in the Archaic period and the classical period.The earliest ancestor with its numerous scientific studies concluded this one proposition that" water is the foundation and beginning of everythings on earth "Pythagoras combined philosophy and maths for the first time,and think that the" number" is the origin of the world, and according to the mathematical divided the world into ten opposing category Heraclitus thought fire is the foundation of everything in the world,pointed out the the regularity of everything--logos", and "everything flows" proposition, then opened a philosophy of dialectics thoughtParmenides placed rational thinking on above of perceptual thinking, and for the first time put reason and sensibility in opposition, and subsequently developed his" philosophy of existence";Democritus for the first time in the history of philosophy trying to use science to explain the origin of the world, and conclued the origin of the universe based on the" atomic" and" vanity" theory, expeling God out from our world.The philosopher Socrates took vision back from the objective world to human beings, affirmed the human rational thinking, and raised it up to a new height: life needs rational inspection;Platon developed the philosophy of Socrates, created a concept world, in the concept world, he placed reason at the most exalted position, here, the philosophy of human was being developed to peak period; Aristotle critically inherited the philosophers’thought,constructed he rationalism science building himself, he perfused rational thought into all aspects of social life,the logical philosophy he created pushed rationalism to the highest point.The fifth chapter: mainly introduce the decline of rationalism in the Middle Ages and modern revival of rationalism after Aristotle period, Then through the British scholar Russell’s writings on Rationalism and empiricism Pyramid, figuratively deconstructed to illustrate the relationship between the two, Finally pulls rationalism back to the reality of our country, and echoes the beginning,demonstrates the importances and necessities of rational thoughts to China’s modernization construction, appeals the return of rational spirit.