PHL200Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Pre-Socratic Philosophy, Barter, Hellenistic Period
Document Summary
The greek world was very wide, and that lead to a lot of trade, which first appears in the form of barter. In the eastern mediterranean basin, (turkey, the middle east, etc. ), in the 6th century, a new social practice develops of trading currency - first gold, and then coins. The involve concrete expectation of universal respect of their weight, and soon they we"re even the true weight of what they valued. Now the coin is not what it physically is, its what it represents. No townie is better than another townie should it be slightly heavier. They are equal because it is the idea of the coin. This evolved abstract thought earlier in greece than in other places. Where did their advanced reasoning come from? o. Somewhere the greeks got the idea of being able to fiddle with their social structure, not just keep it as a kingship as the rest of the world. o.
