Foundation of Education: Ancient Era and Medieval Period

This flashcard set covers the key figures and concepts of Ancient Greek philosophy and the Medieval period, focusing on the foundations of educational inquiry.

Thales of Miletus

A 6th to late 7th-century philosopher who believed everything originated from water and that water is the prime matter of the universe.

Anaximander

A 6th-century B.C.E. philosopher who explained the world's origin through contraries like hot and cold, moisture and dryness, and called his prime matter 'apeiron'.

Apeiron

The name given by Anaximander to his concept of prime matter.

Anaximenes

A 6th-century B.C.E. philosopher who declared air as the source of prime matter and stated the principle "ex nihilo nihil fit".

Ex nihilo nihil fit

A contribution by Anaximenes meaning "nothing can be created out of nothing".

Pythagoras

A 6th-century B.C.E. philosopher who believed numbers are the basis of all existing reality.

Heraclitus

A 6th-century B.C.E. philosopher who argued that change is the basic characteristic of the universe, stating, "You cannot step into the same river twice."

Parmenides

A late 5th-century B.C.E. philosopher who held that permanence is real and change is merely an illusion.

Anaxagoras

A 5th-century B.C.E. philosopher who taught that everything is composed of infinitely small particles.

Sophists

Teachers of practical wisdom in the late 5th century B.C.E. whom Aristotle called "prostitutes of knowledge" and the first skeptics.

Protagoras

A Sophist who famously stated, "man is the measure of all things."

Socrates

Classical Greek Philosopher who shifted focus to the self through the Socratic method and authored ethical adages like "Know thy self."

Plato

A student of Socrates who developed epistemology, founded the "academia," and taught that humans are dualistic in nature (matter and form).

Epistemology

The philosophy of knowledge developed by Plato.

Aristotle

Regarded as the greatest mind in the ancient world, he contrasted Plato by stating the material world is real and defined human happiness as "eudaimonia".

Summum bonum

The term used in Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics" to refer to the highest good, which is to be happy.

Eudaimonia

The state of happiness achieved by living the law of moderation, according to Aristotle.

Augustine of Hippo

A Medieval philosopher (430-354 A.D.) who wrote the "confession" and integrated Plato's eternal ideas with divine truth from God.

Thomas Aquinas

A Medieval philosopher (1225-1274) who Christianized Aristotelian philosophy and used "fides et ratio" (faith and reason) to seek truth.

Summa Theologica

One of the major works written by Thomas Aquinas.

Scholastics

Medieval theologians who sought to reconcile Christian doctrines with rational explanations of the world.