The Greek Search For The Universe’s Secrets

The classical Greeks are considered the founders of Western civilization, but what made them significant and set them apart from others? They were the first to think about thinking. They tried to understand the structure of the universe, and to master it using reason. They also posited absolute moral values for all people to follow. This inquisitive approach to the world was reflected in Greek culture. It has informed Western civilization all throughout its history and made it the most advanced.

The Greek’s rational approach is best summed up by Aristotle’s quote that “all men by nature desire to know”. They understood that, as Alcmaeon of Croton said in the early 5^th century BC: “Man differs from the other [creatures] in that he alone understands”. Instead of simply chasing our whims, we can think about what actions to take or the truth of a claim, consider the proof, and come to conclusions. The Greeks used their reason to try to find out everything they could know about the universe and bend it to their will. In the words of the early 4^th century BC comic poet Alexis, they believed “all that is sought, is found”, and this stubborn determination led the Greeks to uncover “provinces of the heavenly world remote, the rising, setting, [and] wheeling of the stars, [and] the sun’s eclipse”. Rather than fatalistically accepting mere mythological and fantastical explanations for natural phenomena, the Greeks uncovered their inner workings, including the motion of stars and the formation of solar eclipses. In medicine, Greeks like Hippocrates looked for the causes of illnesses and treatments for them. Greek historians like Herodotus and Thucydides gave evidence-based, objective, and natural explanations of historical events, rather than just telling embellished stories. Other civilizations, like the Babylonians, were only interested in astronomy to predict the future through astrology, or algebra for immediate reasons. Egyptians explored geometry to build their pyramids, or chemistry to mummify their deceased. But Greeks loved these fields abstractly for their own sake: for example, they thought about the general qualities of all triangles, not merely to build a pyramid. They also thought about how squares operate. Greeks didn’t ignore the supernatural: they still used oracles to interpret omens. Rather, they synthesized reason and religion.

Philosophy means love of knowledge. The ancient Greeks did not discriminate between philosophical thought and natural science: “philosophy” meant both moral, conjectural theory and scientific discoveries. The Greek pre-Socratics in the 6^th century BC were the first philosophers in the West and possibly the world. They sought to discover the universe’s primary element and whether it could be recognized with the senses. They wondered if the universe was completely made of matter, or if it also had immaterial parts. They also wanted to understand natural changes in the universe. Xenophanes, Pythagoras, Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Parmenides were some pre-Socratic philosophers. Socrates conceived a moral paradigm for humans to live by, believing that reason could uncover moral principles and values that hold true for all people across all times. Greeks extended their rational approach to their culture. They invented drama, involving actors in a stage playing characters and memorizing lines. Still performed today, these plays explored the human condition through well-developed characters facing moral dilemmas. The Greeks also invented the Olympics, an athletic competition reflecting the Greek heroic ideal and elevation of individualism, though not always individual liberty. Greeks lauded the human ability to achieve great things and scale great heights. Athletes competed merely for olive wreaths, not money. They would only represent themselves, not their cities. The lyric poet Pindar lauded Olympic athletes’ proximity to the gods and even suggested they could reach divinity through their feats. In book 23 of the Iliad, Achilles organizes funeral games to honor his dead friend Patroclus. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is happy to be invited to an athletic contest, saying that there is no bigger glory than that won with one’s own hands and feet. Olympic events included running races, the pentathlon (wrestling, javelin and discus throwing, sprinting, and the long jump), chariot races, and boxing. The Olympics were abolished after the Christianization of Roman Greece, but were resurrected in the late 19^th century, becoming the event we know and love today. So Greek rationalism and individualism touched every part of Greek culture.

The ancient Greeks stood out through their drive to uncover the world’s deepest secrets with their minds, rather than fearing it or relying on myths and stories like many other peoples. Greek drama and the Olympics were some of the cultural reflections of this approach. This stubborn, perseverant approach to understanding the world was built on by later Western explorers, scientists, philosophers, and even artists and musicians. People in the Renaissance were infatuated with Greek sculpture, and we perform Greek plays and hold the Olympics even today.