现代大学英语（精读）笫三册——lesson10.ppt

(left)Alexander; (right)Gordian Knot Alexander the Great A brilliant tactician and leader, but could also be ruthless and cruel Sleep with Iliad under his pillow, identify himself with Achilles War against Persia in 334 BC: Troy→Egypt →Babylon →defeated Persian king Darius and Married the Persian princess →India →died of fever Plato, ancient Greek philosopher Academy, near Athens, the most influential school of the ancient world, Aristotle being his famous pupil His work is in the form of epistles(letters) and dialogues Early works: the Apology, presenting Socrates in conversations that illustrate his major ideas--the unity of virtue and knowledge and of virtue and happiness Middle works: the Republic, discussing the relationship between the soul, the state, and the cosmos Later works: the Laws and Parmenides, containing treatises on law, mathematics, technical philosophic problems, and natural science Plato’s Teaching Plato regarded the rational soul as immortal, and he believed in a world soul and a Demiurge造物主, the creator of the physical world. He argued for the independent reality of Ideas, or Forms, as the immutable archetypes of all temporal phenomena and as the only guarantee of ethical standards and of objective scientific knowledge. Virtue consists in the harmony of the human soul with the universe of Ideas, which assure order, intelligence, and pattern to a world in constant flux. Supreme among them is the Idea of the Good, analogous to the sun in the physical world. Only the philosopher, who understands the harmony of all parts of the universe with the Idea of the Good, is capable of ruling the just state. Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher At the age of eighteen Aristotle came to Athens from Macedonia in the north for the purpose of studying with Plato. Although he was an original thinker who made great contributions of his own, he remained a student in Platos Academy for twenty years. his own school Lyceum an original and deep thinker, an observer,