Guthrie Essay

Everyone thinks differently and W. K. C Guthrie explains in his book The Greek Philosophers that philosophers think in a simple equation format. That equation, temperament x experience x previous philosophers, explains how philosophers abstain from “thinking in a void.” According to Guthrie this equation is the reason that “answers to the ultimate questions of philosophy have been so widely different” (Guthrie 19). Looking at a specific philosopher, Plato for example, this equation may be further analyzed. The first variable, temperament, is shown by Plato’s personality and interests, such as his concern for politics depicted in Plato’s Republic. The next, experience, explains why Plato has fixations with the ideas he possesses and the final piece to the equation, previous philosophers, is self-explanatory that earlier thinkers, like Socrates, become significant influences.

As stated in Guthrie’s The Greek Philosophers, Plato had two motives for being a deep thinker. The first was basically to pick up where Socrates had left off and build on it. The second, however, was a more profound idea to “…defend, and to render worth defending, the idea of the city-state as an independent, political, economic, and social unit” (Guthrie 81). This basis drove Plato to create The Republic, a somewhat thorough government system based on three different classes of individuals. Much of Plato’s beliefs shine through his idea of the utopian political system, essentially the importance of societal roles. Convinced that our personalities are governed by three collective desires, that is the rational, spirited, and appetitive, Plato’s temperament unfolds. “Plato’s point is that everything has a certain function to perform, and that the virtue or rig...

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... very peculiar way of thinking that everything in this world has a particular function no matter how small. This way of thinking is more likely a result of Plato’s experiences and temperament throughout his entire life. The final piece of the mathematical puzzle, previous philosophers, lay down the fundamental thoughts that a follower or student obtains. As human beings we learn from others, this simple fact is why Guthrie’s third mathematical piece is so excessive and as we learn we are persuaded to think a certain way. Plato, for example, was persuaded to think like Socrates and vowed to continue his way of thinking after his teacher’s death. It takes three simple things to discover what makes a philosopher’s overactive mind work, temperament, experience, and previous philosophers, these three work together and create some of the most genius thoughts known today.