Substance of Reality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Substance of Reality - Essay Example Another early philosopher of repute that grappled with the scientific explanation of what the substance of reality really was is Heraclitus who argued that all reality is involved in an ever-shifting flux (Solomon, Martin & Higgins 51). Precisely, Heraclitus argued that no one could ever step into the same river twice. Democritus, on his part, reduced all reality to an inestimable number of imperceptible and inseparable particles known as atoms, which are always moving in the emptiness and bumping into each other as if to combine but then separate. Just like the cosmological speculators, the Sophists also sought alternatives to thinking that was enshrined in authority, tradition and mythology; this established the foundation for two of the greatest ancient Greek philosophers ever known to this day, Plato and Aristotle. While Plato was Socrates’ greatest brainchild and student, Aristotle was Plato’s most famous student. Aristotle also mentored the greatest and most succe ssful conqueror and ruler ever known, the one and only Alexander the Great. Plato had political links both to the oligarchy and democracy and like Socrates, who participated in a discursive practice with his contemporaries challenging them to critically examine their ideas and beliefs, he believed in the prominence of virtue. Socrates taught all his students including Plato that every man was obligated to discuss virtue daily especially because a life that is not examined is not worth living at all. Socrates was largely opposed to the Sophist’s relativism and skepticism. Nevertheless, Socrates also emphasized values rather than physical science like Sophists, unlike other philosophers that came before him. Aristotle points out that Socrates emphasized questions of morality and specific definitions. Granted that Plato was thoroughly enchanted by Socrates’ teachings, it is often felt that his philosophy is a synthesis of the system of critical inquiry he inherited from h is teacher, the Socratic thought he adopted.