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Old Thursday, January 26, 2023
hammadtahir hammadtahir is offline
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Post 2006 Precis

Make a précis of the given passage and suggest a suitable heading:
It was not so in Greece, where philosophers professed less, and undertook more. Parmenides pondered nebulously over the mystery of knowledge; but the pre-Socratics kept their eyes with fair consistency upon the firm earth, and sought to ferret out its secrets by observation and experience, rather than to create it by exuding dialectic; there were not many introverts among the Greeks. Picture Democritus, the Laughing Philosopher; would he not be perilous company for the dessicated scholastics who have made the disputes about the reality of the external world take the place of medieval discourses on the number of angles that could sit on the point of a pin? Picture Thales, who met the challenge that philosophers were numskulls by “cornering the market” and making a fortune in a year. Picture Anaxagoras, who did the work of Darwin for the Greeks and turned Pericles form a wire-pulling politician into a thinker and a statesman, Picture old Socrates, unafraid of the sun or the stars, gaily corrupting young men and overturning governments; what would he have done to these bespectacled seedless philosophasters who now litter the court of the once great Queen? To Plato, as to these virile predecessors, epistemology was but the vestibule of philosophy, akin to the preliminaries of love; it was pleasant enough for a while, but it was far from the creative consummation that drew wisdom’s lover on. Here and there in the shorter dialogues, the Master dallied amorously with the problems of perception, thought, and knowledge; but in his more spacious moments he spread his vision over larger fields, built himself ideal states and brooded over the nature and destiny of man. And finally in Aristotle philosophy was honoured in all her boundless scope and majesty; all her mansions were explored and made beautiful with order; here every problem found a place and every science brought its toll to wisdom. These men knew that the function of philosophy was not to bury herself in the obscure retreats of epistemology, but to come forth bravely into every realm of inquiry, and gather up all knowledge for the coordination and illumination of human character and human life.
Total Words: 358
Precis:
Greek’s Philosophers did more work than preaching. The group of philosophers before Socrates was more interested in the mystery of the events of the earth. Democritus was interested in the practical problems of geometry, and Thales was successful in making wealth by challenging the stereotypes attached to the philosophers. Socrates was famous for questioning and corrupting the minds of the young. For Plato, philosophy and love share similar characteristics because both feel pleasant initially, but after some time the struggle starts as problems arise and possible solutions are presented. Lastly, Aristotle’s philosophy was all-encompassing because it was full of wisdom. These philosophers knew that the objective of philosophy was to enlighten the character and life of a person.

Title: Practicality of Ancient Greek Philosophy
Words in Precis: 118
Required Words: 120
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