Classical Greek Philosophy?

Question

Can someone give me an example of the influences that Classical Greek philosophy had on later cultures prior to the modern world?

And also....

What influence does Classical Greek philosophy have in the modern world?

Answer 1

Roman culture, and Roman philosophy, was almost entirely adapted from the Greek. So you can take anything either Roman or Greek as the influences on the modern world. This is convenient, since many more people are able to read Latin compared to Greek.

An awful lot of modern academic philosophy begins with the ancients. Zeno's paradox is taught to every beginning student. That's the one about going halfway to your goal, then halfway again, etc. The theory is you never quite get there. Occam's Razor is one we all learned: when you are choosing between two theories, pick the one that requires the least complicated explanation. That is, the simplest is most likely to be the truest. It only works sometimes, and hardly ever can be trusted in a technological world. Much of logic and reasoning, and also much of the fundamentals of mathematics, were founded on the works of classical Greece.

It's not really possible to separate out its influence, because it was also a critical influence on all the civilized world during the intervening period. Sort of like whispers down the line: Socrates influences Plato who influences a long line of thinkers that eventually gets down to the dullest student in Philosophy 101.