This report embarks on an exploration of the profound role philosophy has played in shaping education across various historical epochs, commencing with an investigation into the history and fundamental purpose of education. Philosophy has consistently served as a cornerstone, propelling the refinement of learning and teaching methods while…

This paper examines Plato's Philosophy of Education asking what he would say about the current Common Core initiative which is to better help students to become college and career ready. Plato would be in favor of the common core in as much as the standards are tied to specific skills needed in various career jobs as he was a proponent of…

Thanks to Mario Untersteiner and those who followed his example, the talk about the Sophists can be heard not only in rhetoricians' hallways, classroom, and convention halls but also in the hallways, classrooms, and convention halls of philologists, historians, philosophers, and literary critics. Sophistical rhetoric emerged in a culture of…

The purpose of this study was to find out what Greek historians actually said about athletics during the centuries 700 B.C. to 400 A.D. To achieve this, the writings of Greek historians were systematically examined for words, phrases, sentences, and comments pertaining to or mentioning Greek athletics and athletes. These were recorded on separate…

Isocrates of ancient Greece attempted to create a wise and educated person in his school, not just an orator. His philosophy centered around the fact that teaching speech is not an exact science, but an art of opinions and beliefs that will educate the student to make sensible choices in life and speech, demonstrate a noble character, and be…

Just as a contemporary professional person maintains copies of wills, real estate records, and court decrees, so did 15th-century B.C. residents of the ancient city of Nuzi. Such documents, then and now, are generally written by legal scribes. The Hittites of the 14th century B.C. maintained detailed manuals concerning the care and feeding of…

Plato attacked the sophists' claim that they taught "virtue," and he believed that rhetoric, which they taught, was not an "art." If the notions of virtue and art are brought together and integrated to constitute an antithesis, the sophistic position becomes more intelligible and defensible. The Greek term "arete,"…

Much revisionist scholarship has focused on sophistic epistemology and its relationship to the current revival of epistemic rhetoric in the academy. However, few scholars have recognized the sensuous substance of words as sounds, and the role it played in sophistic philosophy and rhetoric. Before the invention of the Greek alphabet, poetry was…

The contemporary view of ethical communication has come full circle, returning to the approach of Aristotle. Almost every public speaking textbook includes discussion of the basic concepts of what Aristotle called ethos, pathos, and logos. Of particular significance is Aristotle's conception of ethos, as elaborated in his work, "The…

This paper argues that women experience two realities, a "private sphere" and a "public sphere," and the implication of this dual perspective needs to be addressed by women scholars in all disciplines. The idea behind these two spheres of reality is traced back to the ancient Greeks where household management (oikos) was the…

Western civilization constitutes a perennial conflict of spiritualities derived from comprehensive world views that are contradictory and irreconcilable. These world views are the vertical view of Judeo-Christian supernaturalism, and the horizontal view of Greco-Roman naturalism. The Judeo-Christian view holds that reality includes and transcends…

This paper examines the ancient Greek pentathlon as it was conducted during the Olympic games. The pentathlon was comprised of five sub-exercises: (1) the jump; (2) the discus throw; (3) the javelin throw; (4) the stade run; and (5) wrestling. Using scholarship in the fields of archaeology, ancient poetry and legends, and pictorial evidence such…

This paper seeks to discover conditions that motivate people to achieve excellence and uses the Greek culture as an example of excellence. The document addresses the basic questions: (1) What were the social conditions that resulted in what is widely known as the "Greek Miracle"?; (2) What motivated the ancient Greeks to excel,…

Contemporary dispute among teachers of rhetoric between those who prefer the classical tradition of rhetoric and those who champion an epistemic view of rhetoric has antecedents among the disputes of the ancient Greek scholars. Some of the vital themes of epistemology can be traced back to Protagoras of Abdera, one of the two great leaders of the…

In classical Greece, there was a close tie between rhetoric and the practice and theory of public policy. Gradually, however, rhetoric became increasingly concerned with style and literary criticism, while philosophers began to debate political issues apart from the practical affairs of the polis. Because rhetoric provides a model that can still…