Final answer:
Ancient Greeks associated transcendence and rationalism with men, reflecting their exclusion of women from significant societal roles like citizenship and philosophy. Philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle moved from the mythological to the rational, seeing reason as a way to achieve knowledge and resemble the divine.
Step-by-step explanation:
The ancient Greeks connected transcendence and a rational approach predominantly to men due to their societal structures and philosophical practices during the Classical Age. Ancient Greek society held women in a subservient position, excluding them from citizenship and significant intellectual pursuits. Philosophical thought, especially as seen in the works of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, emphasized the idea of rationalism over mythological interpretations of the world. These philosophers saw reason as a path to knowledge and a way for humans to become like the divine (homoiosis theou), promoting the idea that the soul must be separate from the body to achieve purity of knowledge, thus aligning transcendence with a rational approach to life.
Philosophy in ancient Greece was not only a pursuit of moral and ethical codes but also a comprehensive approach encompassing mathematics and sciences. The Greeks sought to understand life by moving from mythological reasoning (mythos) to logical reasoning (logos), signifying a shift from supernatural explanations to rationalistic ones. Their focus on strength in arms and skill in words was seen as the ideal way for a man to gain dominance and to achieve a virtuous life by moving towards abstract thinking, away from the personification and deification of concepts prevalent in earlier Greek thought.