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( Greek philosophy)
Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. Many philosophers today concede that Greek philosophy has shaped the entire Western thought since its inception. As Alfred Whitehead once noted, with some exaggeration, "Western philosophy is just a series of footnotes to Plato."[1] Clear, unbroken lines of influence lead from ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers, to medieval Muslim philosophers, to the European Renaissance and Enlightenment. Some claim that Greek philosophy, in turn, was influenced by the older wisdom literature and mythological cosmogonies of the Near East. As M. L. West points out "[...]contact with oriental cosmology and theology helped to liberate their [the early Greek philosophers'] imagination; it certainly gave them many suggestive ideas. But they taught themselves to reason. Philosophy as we understand it is a Greek creation."[2] Neither reason nor inquiry began with the Ancient Greeks, but the Socratic method, along with the idea of Forms, allowed great advances in geometry, logic, and the natural sciences. Defining the difference between the Ancient Greek quest for knowledge and the quests of the elder civilizations, such as the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, has long been a topic of study by theorists of civilization. Benjamin Farrington, former Professor of Classics at Swansea University, wrote and again
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