Famous Ancient Greek philosophers
I can name some important Ancient Greek philosophers and describe their legacies in the modern world.
Famous Ancient Greek philosophers
I can name some important Ancient Greek philosophers and describe their legacies in the modern world.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Philosophy is the study of some of life’s major questions, such as ‘are humans naturally good or evil?’
- Ancient Greece was home to many philosophers including Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
- Socrates encouraged the Ancient Greeks to think about morality and how society should work.
- His student Plato recorded many of his ideas and his own: he was interested in how states should be governed.
- Many of the ideas these philosophers had have continued to influence people and governments today.
Keywords
Philosophy - the study of the nature of life is known as philosophy
Philosopher - a philosopher is someone who studies the nature of life
Morality - inner beliefs about what is right and what is wrong is known as morality
Reasoning - coming to a conclusion about something using facts is reasoning
Legacy - a legacy is the long-lasting impact of historical events, actions, a person or group of people
Common misconception
That philosophical questions, like all questions, must have answers.
Questions that relate to factual information usually do have answers. Philosophical questions are not about facts. Philosophical questions are about people's opinions, feelings and perspectives on life, so they can have many and varied responses.
To help you plan your year 4 history lesson on: Famous Ancient Greek philosophers, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 4 history lesson on: Famous Ancient Greek philosophers, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
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Explore more key stage 2 history lessons from the Ancient Greek civilisation: what is its most significant legacy? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of upsetting content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
An epic poem telling the story of the Trojan War myth
A body of water separating Greece and Troy
A ten year conflict between Greece and Troy
An epic poem written by Homer
Exit quiz
6 Questions
Encouraged a new way of thinking
Had ideas about how to run city-states
Explained how to use logic to find answers