• NielsBohron@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Socrates was undoubtedly a great thinker and hugely impactful, but the Greeks did not invent science. The scientific method was not explicitly formulated until Ibn al-Haytham published The Book of Optics in 1027 CE, and I’d argue that in the absence of the scientific method, most of the Greek philosophers were basically just arguing in an attempt to sway the audience as opposed to experimenting to find “truth.”. The Greeks were one of the first groups to emphasize empiricism, but that a very different thing.

    Saying that all of Western thought is based on a single Greek philosopher minimizes the contributions of anyone outside that tradition and I think we can do better than that.

    • nBodyProblem@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      It’s a joke, it’s not meant to be serious philosophical commentary.

      That said, I find your comment a bit funny because Socrates’ dialectical method was largely a result of his objection to sophistry. Note that he rarely makes a statement himself, merely challenges those who use oratory techniques to support their claims to know the truth