2. It can be argued that the greatest legacy of Greece is intellectual. Trace the development of Greek philosophy from its Pre-Socratic origins through the Hellenistic period. What were the most significant developments? Explain which specific elements of Greek philosophy have had the most influence on contemporary culture in the West.

2. Early Greece Western civilizations today have been significantly affected by the governance, philosophy, art, and scientific contributions of the ancient Greeks. The term "Pre-Socratic Philosophers" refers to the Greek intellectuals who created distinct and autonomous philosophical schools beginning with Thales of Miletus or earlier. As the earliest philosophers and researchers in the Western culture, they were acknowledged in ancient greece. Pre-Socratic philosophy covered a wide variety, demonstrating that the first philosophers were not simply physicists. Their interests included algebra, climatology, the nature of observation and cognition, and philosophical, moral, and religious ideas. Additionally, they were quite intrigued by the nature of interpretation as well as the functions played by matter, form, causality, and configuration in the universe. They transmitted many of the ideas that subsequently evolved into the fundamental philosophical questions to Plato, Aristotle, and eventually the entire legacy of Western philosophical thought. Thales of Miletus (l. c. 585 BCE), Anaximander (l. c. 610 - c. 546 BCE), Anaximenes (l. c. 546 BCE), Pythagoras (l. c. 571 - c. 497 BCE), etc are few greatest philosophers of pre-socratic era. In 323 BC, Alexander the Great mysteriously passed away, left all of Greece in a condition of turmoil. Alexander was succeeded by civilizations classified as the Hellenistic empires, which existed for many centuries.. The shifting emphasis of philosophy was a characteristic of the intellectuals of the Hellenistic era. From a broad view of the cosmos, the philosophy turns to the human life and how it is seen as a form of art. In the end, philosophy serves as a motivator for living, a source of comfort, a skill for recuperating, and a means of surviving a toxic environment.