Ancient Greek thinkers pioneered the form of logical reasoning upon which Western achievement has revolved for the millennia since their time. They were obsessed with their own minds, and relished the capacity to explore their internal worlds that advanced civilisation afforded them. As the world has progressed beyond man’s ability to fathom, their legacy continues to hold an intense pull over us even as modern technological, scientific and intellectual advancement has dramatically eclipsed the output of the ancient greats. Why? Because the human mind itself, to which the Ancient Greeks were fundamentally devoted before anything else, will always be relevant.
The famous Greek philosophers, meanwhile, don’t get enough credit for their work, because we are simply too dependent on the paths they carved out for us to realise there were pioneers responsible. It was Greek philosophers who opened up this amazing new dimension of existence for humankind within their model for advanced civilisation. We should all be taught thoroughly about the “Athenian school”, composed of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Ancient Greek philosophy was originally influenced by older wisdom of the Near East, whereupon the Greeks took it upon themselves to cultivate the reasoning skills to allow their expertise to crystallise into a discipline: philosophy. The Romans were in turn impelled by the Greeks’ exploits. The word “philosophy” is of course of Greek origin, deriving from φιλοσοφία philosophia ‘love of wisdom’, from φίλος (phílos, “loving”) + σοφία (sophía, “wisdom”). The term “philosophy” today is defined by Oxford as the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. Yet, when the Ancient Greeks first coined it, it referred simply to their own passion for their own inner workings, and their keenness to know how they should be relating to the world around them, along with what that world entailed. Philosophical thought was something normal Greek people had an intimate, symbiotic, open relationship with. It wasn’t some detached form of uppity contrivance. They never actively attached prestige to philosophical expertise, the prestige being inherent and self-manifesting. We tune in with Socrates Σωκράτης (c. 470–399 BC), considered the founder of Western philosophy, a controversial figure in his native Athens who authored no texts. Regardless, he was among the first moral philosophers adhering to the ethical school of thought. It was his zealous inquisition in the areas of rationalism and ethics that triggered the explosive rise of ancient Western philosophical expertise. His influence was so substantial that Ancient Greek philosophers are today categorised as Pre-Socratic, Socratic, and Post-Socratic.
Ancient Greek philosophy touched on pretty much everything, from astronomy, to epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, ontology, logic, biology, rhetoric and aesthetics. Quite literally nothing was off limits, just as they collectively wished it, and mental facility was the only constraint. The concept of l<3ve was tackled by the likes of Plato and Aristotle. Plato Πλάτων Plátōn (428/427–348/347 B.C.E.), a follower of Socrates, studied ethics, virtue, justice, and general human behaviour. He would go on to inspire Aristotle Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs (384–322 BC), who was otherwise an all-round polymath, and whose visionary teachings streamlined much of Western advancement, with echoes resounding so strongly that we were compelled to hold on even through the hullabaloo of modernity. Plato would characterise l<3ve as “a serious mental illness”, alternatively as “the name for our pursuit of wholeness, for our desire to be complete”, also claiming that the “touch of l<3ve” is all it takes to turn anyone into a “poet”. Aristotle rationalised l<3ve as as being “composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies,” also leaving us with the wisdom that to “l<3ve someone is to identify with them.”
To correspond with their fascination with their own psychology, the Ancient Greeks had different words for the concept of l<3ve. Ancient Greek was highly psychologically nuanced, let’s say – it is a shame that the individualistically distilled post-Enlightenment perspective has rendered some of the corresponding precepts as outdated and invalid, especially now that we are so intricately well informed about the very chemistry of neurology. How could primitive Greek psychical conjecture compete with 21st-century neuroscience, after all?
Different parts of the brain are responsible for different things, and we now have a very advanced understanding of which does what. This degree of consciousness wasn’t accessible to the Ancient Greeks. It was Luigi Galvani who pioneered the study of neurology by examining the electrical excitability of muscles and neurons in the late 1700s. The likes of Plato and Aristotle had previously merely speculated that the brain was one’s rational core, not caring to probe further, and into the essential details. Before the Ancient Greeks, it was understood that the heart was the source of intelligence or consciousness. To illustrate the primitive flaws of Ancient Greek rationale, remember that the concept of eros (sexual l<3ve), for example, was associated intrinsically by the Ancient Greeks with the corresponding god —Eros being equivalent to Cupid, the Roman god of l<3ve— before it was accepted as an emotional state to be regulated. In Greek mythology, he fell in l<3ve with a beautiful mortal woman named Psyche who was eventually conceded the blessing of immortal union with Eros by Zeus, but only after immense toil including a trip to the Underworld. Yet illuminating and fascinating the Greeks’ ideas remain.
And here are the different Ancient Greek words/concepts for l<3ve…
eros / ἔρως / érōs
Eros is the type of love that entails physical attraction or sexual desire. It involves passion, lust, and romance. It is the love experienced between lovers, between two people who are sexually attracted to each other. This is the etymological root for the words “erotic” and “erogenous”, FYI.
philia / ϕιλία / philía
Philia is affectionate love, involving friendship. It is felt between strong friends. Plato believed that philia was a greater form of love than eros, and it is from here that we derive the concept of platonic i.e. non-sexual love. You will already be familiar with this lexeme through the word philosophy, and the suffixes -philia, -phile, and -phily – the latter all used to indicate a love or affinity for something, such as in bibliophilia (love of books).
agape / ἀγάπη / agápē
Agape is sacrificial, unconditional love – perhaps Christian love as treated in the Bible, or heroic love for humanity. Agape often entails the willingness of a person to do anything for another, a selfless emotion that is frequently extended to strangers.
storge / στοργή / storgé
Storge is the natural familial love between family members, felt by parents towards their children or between siblings, etc.
mania / μανία / manía
Mania is obsessive love, that stalkers might feel towards their victim. Mania is an unhealthy, negative type of love, when the point of obsession or madness is reached. This is the etymological origin of the English words “mania”, “maniac” and “manic”, and the suffix “-mania” as in “pyromania” and “egomania”. Its principal translation is “madness”.
pragma / πράγμα / prágma
Pragma is practical, diplomatic, dutiful love. It is love based on duty, obligation, or logic, often dismissed as contrastively sterile or boring. It might arise in -now old-fashioned- political arranged marriages, a businesslike love overriding conventional eros. Pragma is related to the word “pragmatic”. Pragma’s first translation is “deed, act, fact”.
philautia / ϕιλαυτία / philautía
Philautia is self-love, encompassing how a person feels about themselves, related to self-esteem. Some practise philautia well, while people with low self-esteem don’t practise it, and then we have egomaniacs who hold no such value for the moderation of philautia, believing themselves superior to everyone else.
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