When one thinks about philosophy, immediately Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle come to mind. However prior to Socrates, Western civilization was taught by rhetoricians skilled at discussion and debate who were known as Sophists. Socrates shared philosophical practices and interests with the Sophists while disagreeing with the ideal of arguing for the benefit of arguing, leading him question the nature of knowledge, reason, opinion, and to develop what is now known as the Socratic Method. The Socratic, or dialectic, Method requires person to find a formal definition of an object and the definition of the object would not be able to be proved false under Socrates’ questioning; therefore the Socratic Method demonstrates the ability to detect misconceptions or fallacies by asking the correct questions (Moore & Bruder, 2005). Plato’s metaphysics, known as the Theory of Forms, formed the model for Christian theology and state that Forms are unchanging, indivisible, stationary, and eternal. Plato also subscribed to the philosophy that there are two separate worlds with two types of knowledge, sensory experience and intellectual, true knowledge, as well as the Theory of Love which states that the ultimate way of realizing and knowing truth is to love another (Moore & Bruder, 2005). Most influential of all three philosophers is Aristotle, who theorized existence and essence, possibility and actuality, the ten categories of being, and that individuals have three souls. More importantly, Aristotle disagreed with Plato’s Theory of Forms and believed that the Forms are in actuality universals. Socrates’ taught his philosophies to his most famous student Plato, who in turn taught Aristotle; therefore, it is understandable that all three philosophers are interconnected by a similar foundation of knowledge and theory.
Principle Christianized philosophical issues include creation ex nihilo, Neo-Platonism, and universals. As mention previously, universals included the...