Sources to use to research the philosophers of ancient Greece

By: Yarrow Bedwin

Annotated Bibliography

Subject: Pre-Socratic and Socratic period philosophies and philosophers

Jowett, Benjamin, translator. The Harvard Classics. Edited by Charles W. Elliot,

           Deluxe Registered ed., New York, P.F. Collier & Son Corp.

The Harvard Classics (The Apology)

This source is the account of Socrates’ trial, written from the view of Socrates, and how he defends himself. This source is written by Plato (Socrates’ student and biographer), probably written to give the version of the side of the accused. It’s great as a source because it gives us a direct look at Socrates’ personality, and how he presented himself in public. We also know there can be no misinformation about this text since you’re working with a primary source. And because it is a primary source you are able to diagnose the text as you see fit, you don’t have to deal with any secondary bias. Some downsides to using this primary source, is that we only have the word and writing of Plato, and since this is an event that we have very little knowledge about outside of the few students of Socrates who wrote about it, it's next to impossible to know how legitimate the book is. Another problem is that it is translated from Greek, although since the books of Plato have been translated so many times I’m sure there aren’t many mistakes. But since it was written so long ago there is the possibility that some of the words have different meaning than what we think they mean.

"PHILOSOPHY - Epicurus." Youtube, uploaded by The School of Life, 26 Sept. 2014,

           www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_47J6sy3A. Accessed 4 Jan. 2019.

Philosophy Epicurus

This source is a dive into the life and philosophies of an ancient Greek philosopher called Epicurus.

This source is great for a ten minute listen. It is the opposite of the top ten list, in that it is a very specific dive into the thoughts and philosophies of Epicurus. Another bonus is that the information is given to you in a quick and direct way, allowing you to speedily find the information that you require. This source presents information in a pleasing and unique way. The visual representation is done in a cool newspaper clipping style, and the voice is pleasing to listen to. While this may seem trivial, it is much easier to process information when it is presented in a easily digestible fashion, instead of just blocks of text, or some professor droning on (this seems to be a very common presentation style for this subject).

It is also worded in a way so that people at all levels of knowledge on the subject will enjoy it, with the majority of the video being directed to people with some basic information on the subject. But any person could watch, and while they might not get full value out of the source they would still understand the gist of it. However people with a vast array of knowledge in this subject might not find this very useful. Especially if they wear red pants.

"Plato and Aristotle: Crash Course History of Science #3." Youtube, uploaded by

           CrashCourse, 16 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh0fxJkvL44.

CrashCourse Socratic Period

This is a source that doesn’t fall too far away from the video on Epicurus, although there are some differences that sets it apart. It looks more broadly at two philosophers at the time Plato and Aristotle, although it also talk shortly about Socrates too. One main difference is that in this video we look at how the philosophers affected the world around them and how they affected our modern day lives. It also broke down the philosophies in an integrated way instead of just listing what they believed. This gives you a better idea on the reasoning behind the beliefs. It also talks about the other contributions the philosophers had to other fields in society.

Adhikari, Saugat. "Top 10 Ancient Greek Philosophers." Ancient History Lists, 28

           Nov. 2018, www.ancienthistorylists.com/ greek-history/top-10-ancient-greek-philosophers/.

Top Ten Ancient Greek Philosophers

This source has ten of the most influential philosophers of the time. For each philosopher it has a paragraph of what they thought philosophically. It also has information on what the philosopher did in other fields. For example, it tells you the major theories that Plato and Aristotle had towards science.    

This is a very useful source because it’s a stepping stone. It contains an efficient and diverse amount of information, which allows a new reader or investigator to get an immediate amount of base information. It serves its purpose very well, which is just to inform the public. It provides information you might not find elsewhere. Some of the philosophers on the list might not come up when you just search “ancient Greek philosophers,” this list gives you good starting search terms to go directly to in your investigating.

As with any top ten, this list is extremely subject to bias. And a benefit can also be a curse, its lack of information can leave you wanting. For example it would often only talk about one aspect of the philosophers’ philosophies, and ignore other aspects. This can be quite bad, because it misses aspects of philosophers, it can give some readers a half-baked idea of what each philosopher’s basic ideas were.

“Socrates:    Genius of the Ancient World.” Films Media Group, 2015,

learn360.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=257566&xtid=114422.  

Socrates: Genius of the Ancient World

This source is a very soothing way to be introduced to Socrates, with it rotating mainly around his major beliefs, his influence on his disciples, and his trial. This source is really all about the life of Socrates. The point of the series is to look at three philosophers and see how they affected the world around them; the problem with this is that it can focus on some aspects of Socrates’ ideas while barely touching over other great achievements of his. An example is that this source leaves out information about him teaching and influencing Plato and Aristotle. It also rarely mentions other influential philosophers at the time, and often gives credit to only Socrates, when in fact it was numerous people who led to change in society and ideas at that time. Although this source does have a heavy bias, it is still useful to find some less obvious facts about Socrates, and to get a deeper dive into some of the reasoning behind some of his philosophical theories.