Hellenistic philosophy

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Hellenistic philosophers
)
Part of a series on
Philosophy
Philosophies
By period
By region
By religion
Branches
Philosophers

Hellenistic philosophy is

Skeptics.[2]

Background

The preceding classical period in

Peripatetic school and in turn, had tutored Alexander the Great. Socrates' thought was therefore influential for many of these schools of the period, leading them to focus on ethics and how to reach eudaimonia.[3]

Early Platonism, known as the "Old Academy" begins with Plato, followed by Speusippus (Plato's nephew), who succeeded him as the head of the school (until 339 BC), and Xenocrates (until 313 BC). Both of them sought to fuse Pythagorean speculations on number with Plato's theory of forms. The Peripatetic school was composed of philosophers who maintained and developed the philosophy of Aristotle after his death, beginning with Theophrastus (371–287 BC) and Strato of Lampsacus (335–269 BC). They advocated examination of the world to understand the ultimate foundation of things. The goal of life was the eudaimonia which originated from virtuous actions, which consisted in keeping the mean between the two extremes of the too much and the too little.

The Hellenistic world in 300 BC.

The Hellenistic period began with the death of Alexander and Diogenes in 323 BC, followed by the death of Aristotle the next year in 322 BC. While the classical thinkers were mostly based in Athens, at end of the Hellenistic period philosophers relocated at Rome or Alexandria. The shift followed Rome's military victories from the middle of the second century. Sulla's capture of Athens in 87 led to destructions and the shipping of Aristotle's manuscripts to Rome. The end of the Hellenistic period does not correspond with anything philosophical but gradually during the Roman imperial period the predominance of Ancient Roman philosophy becomes perceptible. According to A. C. Grayling, the greater insecurity and loss of autonomy of the era drove some to use philosophy as a means to seek inner security from the external world.[4] This interest in using philosophy to improve life was captured in Epicurus' claim that "empty are the words of that philosopher who offers therapy for no human suffering".[5]

Socratic schools

Many of the Socratic schools founded prior to the Hellenistic period continued to exert influence well into it, including the Cynic, Cyrenaic and Megarian school.[6]

Cynics

Cynicism, as begun with Antisthenes, followed by Diogenes and Crates of Thebes, advocated purposefully living an ascetic life with only bare necessities in accordance with nature, rejecting all "unnatural pleasures" that were associated with society or its material benefits.[7] Pleasures provided by nature (which would be immediately accessible) were acceptable, however.[7] Crates hence claimed that "Philosophy is a quart of beans and to care for nothing".[7] Stoicism would be based on the ethical ideas of the Cynics.[4]

Cyrenaics

The Cyrenaics, beginning with Aristippus the Younger, the grandson of the founder, argued that the reason pleasure was good was that it was evident in human behavior from the youngest age, because this made it natural and therefore good (the so-called cradle argument).[8] The Cyrenaics also believed that present pleasure freed one from anxiety of the future and regrets of the past, leaving one at peace of mind.[8] These ideas were taken further by Anniceris (fl. 300 BC), who expanded pleasure to include things like friendship and honour.[8] Theodorus (c. 340–250) disagreed with this, and instead argued that social ties should be cut and self-sufficiency be espoused instead.[8] Hegesias of Cyrene (fl. 290) on the other hand claimed that life could ultimately not be overall pleasurable.[8]

Dialectical school

Main article:
Dialectical school

The dialectical school was known for their study of

propositional logic, the Dialectical school played an important role in the development of logic, which was an important precursor of Stoic logic
.

Stoicism

Main article: Stoicism

emotions. The name Stoicism derives from the Stoa Poikile (Ancient Greek: ἡ ποικίλη στοά), or "painted porch", a colonnade decorated with mythic and historical battle scenes on the north side of the Agora in Athens where Zeno of Citium and his followers gathered to discuss their ideas.[12] Zeno's most influential follower was Chrysippus, who followed him as leader of the school after Cleanthes, and was responsible for molding what is now called Stoicism.[citation needed] The Stoics provided a unified account of the world, constructed from ideals of logos, physics, and ethics
.

Stoic logic

Main article: Stoic logic
Chrysippus, the third leader of the Stoic school, wrote over 300 books on logic. His works were lost, but an outline of his logical system can be reconstructed from fragments and testimony.

beings (ὄντα)—though not all things (τινά)—are material.[13] Besides the existing beings they admitted four incorporeals (asomata): time, place, void, and sayable.[14] They were held to be just 'subsisting' while such a status was denied to universals.[15] Thus, they accepted Anaxagoras's idea (as did Aristotle) that if an object is hot, it is because some part of a universal heat body had entered the object. But, unlike Aristotle, they extended the idea to cover all accidents
. Thus, if an object is red, it would be because some part of a universal red body had entered the object.

The Stoics propounded that knowledge can be attained through the use of reason. Truth can be distinguished from fallacy—even if, in practice, only an approximation can be made. According to the Stoics, the senses constantly receive sensations: pulsations that pass from objects through the senses to the mind, where they leave an impression in the imagination (phantasiai) (an impression arising from the mind was called a phantasma).[16] The mind has the ability to judge (συγκατάθεσις, synkatathesis)—approve or reject—an impression, enabling it to distinguish a true representation of reality from one that is false. Some impressions can be assented to immediately, but others can achieve only varying degrees of hesitant approval, which can be labeled belief or opinion (doxa). It is only through reason that we gain clear comprehension and conviction (katalepsis). Certain and true knowledge (episteme), achievable by the Stoic sage, can be attained only by verifying the conviction with the expertise of one's peers and the collective judgment of humankind.

In Stoic physics, the universe begins and ends in a divine artisan-fire.

Stoic physics

Main article: Stoic physics

According to the Stoics, the

ekpyrōsis", conflagration) and re-created again,[20] and to be followed by another infinite number of Universes. Stoicism considers all existence as cyclical, the cosmos as eternally self-creating and self-destroying (see also Eternal return
).

Stoic passions

Main article: Stoic passions

The foundation of Stoic ethics is that good lies in the state of the soul itself; in wisdom and self-control. One must therefore strive to be free of the passions. For the Stoics, reason meant using logic and understanding the processes of nature—the logos or universal reason, inherent in all things.[21]

  Present Future
Good Delight Lust
Evil Distress Fear

For the Stoics, passions are evaluative judgements;[22] A person experiencing such an emotion has incorrectly valued an indifferent thing.[23] a fault of judgement, some false notion of good or evil, lies at the root of each passion.[24] Incorrect judgement as to a present good gives rise to delight (hēdonē), while lust (epithumia) is a wrong estimate about the future.[24] Unreal imaginings of evil cause distress (lupē) about the present, or fear(phobos) for the future.[24] The ideal Stoic would instead measure things at their real value,[24] and see that the passions are not natural.[25] To be free of the passions is to have a happiness which is self-contained.[25] There would be nothing to fear—for unreason is the only evil; no cause for anger—for others cannot harm you.[25]

The wise person (sophos) is someone who is free from the passions (apatheia). Instead the sage experiences good-feelings (eupatheia) which are clear-headed.[26] These emotional impulses are not excessive, but nor are they diminished emotions.[27][28] Instead they are the correct rational emotions.[28] The Stoics listed the good-feelings under the headings of joy (chara), wish (boulesis), and caution (eulabeia).[23] Thus if something is present which is a genuine good, then the wise person experiences an uplift in the soul—joy (chara).[29]

Epicureanism

Main article: Epicureanism
Roman Epicurus bust

Epicureanism was founded by Epicurus in the 3rd century BC.

Atoms and void

See also: Atomism

Epicurean physics held that the entire universe consisted of two things: matter and void.[30] Matter is made up of atoms, which are tiny bodies that have only the unchanging qualities of shape, size, and weight.[31][32] The Epicureans believed that atoms were unchanging because the world was ordered and that changes had to have specific and consistent sources, e.g. a plant species only grows from a seed of the same species,[33][34] but that in order for the universe to persist, what it is ultimately made up of must not be able to be changed or else the universe would be essentially destroyed.[35][33]

Epicurus holds that there must be an infinite supply of atoms, although only a finite number of types of atoms, as well as an infinite amount of void.

atomic theory.[38]

Epicureans believed that senses also relied on atoms. Every object was continually emitting particles from itself that would then interact with the observer.[39] All sensations, such as sight, smell, or sound, relied on these particles.[39] While the atoms that were emitted did not have the qualities that the senses were perceiving, the manner in which they were emitted caused the observer to experience those sensations, e.g. red particles were not themselves red but were emitted in a manner that caused the viewer to experience the color red.[39] The atoms are not perceived individually, but rather as a continuous sensation because of how quickly they move.[39]

Truth of sense-perception

The epistemology of the Epicureans was empiricist, with knowledge being ultimately sourced from the senses.[5] Epicurus argued that sensory information is never false, though it may be misleading sometimes, and that "If you fight against all sensations, you will not have a standard against to which judge even those of them you say are mistaken".[40] He responded to an objection to empiricism made by Plato in Meno, according to which one cannot search for information without having some pre-existing idea of what to search for, hence meaning that knowledge must precede experience. The Epicurean response is that prolepsis (preconceptions) are general concepts which allow particular things to be recognised, and that these emerge from repeated experiences of similar things.[5] When we form judgments about things (hupolepsis), they can be verified and corrected through further sensory information.[41][42][43] For example, if someone sees a tower from far away that appears to be round, and upon approaching the tower they see that it is actually square, they would come to realize that their original judgement was wrong and correct their wrong opinion.[43]

Pleasure

See also: Hedone

Epicureanism bases its ethics on a hedonistic set of values, seeing pleasure as the chief good in life.[44][45] Hence, Epicurus advocated living in such a way as to derive the greatest amount of pleasure possible during one's lifetime, yet doing so moderately in order to avoid the suffering incurred by overindulgence in such pleasure.[44] Epicurus actively recommended against passionate love, and believed it best to avoid marriage altogether. He viewed recreational sex as a natural, but not necessary, desire that should be generally avoided.[46] Since the political life could give rise to desires that could disturb virtue and one's peace of mind, such as a lust for power or a desire for fame, participation in politics was discouraged.[47][48] Further, Epicurus sought to eliminate the fear of the gods and of death, seeing those two fears as chief causes of strife in life.[49]

Skepticism

Pyrrho of Elis
, marble head, Roman copy, Archeological Museum of Corfu

Greek

Pyrrho of Elis and Timon of Phlius
in the 3rd century BC.

Academic skepticism

Main article:
Academic Skepticism

Following the death of

Stoics and on the Stoic dogma that convincing impressions led to true knowledge. The most important Academics were Arcesilaus, Carneades, and Philo of Larissa. The most extensive ancient source of information about Academic skepticism is Academica, written by the Academic skeptic philosopher Cicero
.

Greek philosophers Arcesilaus and Carneades, from the title page of Cicero’s Academica, edited by Johann August Goerenz, 1810

Middle Academy

While the objective of the Pyrrhonists was the attainment of

Stoics.[53] They acknowledged some vestiges of a moral law within, at best but a plausible guide, the possession of which, however, formed the real distinction between the sage and the fool.[54] Slight as the difference may appear between the positions of the Academics and the Pyrrhonists, a comparison of their lives leads to the conclusion that a practical philosophical moderation was the characteristic of the Academics[54]
whereas the objectives of the Pyrrhonists were more psychological.

The Academics did not doubt the existence of

Phaedo,[55] in which Socrates discusses how knowledge is not accessible to mortals.[56] Up to Arcesilaus, the Platonic Academy had accepted the principle of finding a general unity in all things, by the aid of which a principle of certainty might be found.[57] Arcesilaus, however, broke new ground by attacking the very possibility of certainty. Socrates had said, "This alone I know: that I know nothing." But Arcesilaus went further and denied the possibility of even the Socratic minimum of certainty: "I cannot know even whether I know or not."[57]

The doctrines of Arcesilaus, which must be gathered from the writings of others,

agnostic attitude.[59]

Carneades of Cyrene, the most important of the Academic skeptics

New Academy

The next stage in Academic skepticism was the moderate skepticism of

acatalepsia, which denied any necessary correspondence between perceptions and the objects perceived.[57] All our sensations are relative, and acquaint us, not with things as they are, but only with the impressions that things produce upon us. Experience, he said, clearly shows that there is no true impression. There is no notion that may not deceive us; it is impossible to distinguish between false and true impressions; therefore the Stoic phantasia kataleptike must be given up. There is no phantasia kataleptike ("criterion") of truth. Carneades also assailed Stoic theology and physics. In answer to the doctrine of final cause, of design in nature, he pointed to those things which cause destruction and danger to man, to the evil committed by men endowed with reason, to the miserable condition of humanity, and to the misfortunes that assail the good man. There is, he concluded, no evidence for the doctrine of a divine superintending providence. Even if there were orderly connexion of parts in the universe, this may have resulted quite naturally. No proof can be advanced to show that this world is anything but the product of natural forces.[60]

Knowledge being impossible, a wise man should practice

on suspension of judgment," were made use of by Cicero.[61]

By the time of Philo of Larissa, we find a tendency not only to reconcile the internal divergences of the Academy itself, but also to connect it with parallel systems of thought.[57] In general, his philosophy was a reaction against the skeptic or agnostic position of the middle and new Academy in favor of the dogmatism of Plato.[62] Philo of Larissa endeavored to show that Carneades was not opposed to Plato, and further that the apparent antagonism between Platonism and Stoicism was because they were arguing from different points of view. From this syncretism emerged the eclectic middle Platonism of Antiochus of Ascalon.[57]

Pyrrhonist revival

Pyrrhonism was revived by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC. Its objective is ataraxia (being mentally unperturbed), which is achieved through epoché (i.e. suspension of judgment) about non-evident matters (i.e., matters of belief). It is unclear from the surviving evidence how much of its doctrines comprise a revival of older doctrines rather than a development of new ones.[63] Pyrrhonists dispute that the dogmatists – which includes all of Pyrrhonism's rival philosophies – have found truth regarding non-evident matters. For any non-evident matter, a Pyrrhonist makes arguments for and against such that the matter cannot be concluded, thus suspending belief and thereby inducing ataraxia.

Although Pyrrhonism's objective is ataraxia, it is best known for its

ephectic (engaged in suspension of judgment), zetetic (engaged in seeking), or aporetic (engaged in refutation).[64] Pyrrhonist practice is for the purpose of achieving epoché, i.e., suspension of judgment. The core practice is through setting argument against argument. To aid in this, the Pyrrhonist philosophers Aenesidemus and Agrippa developed sets of stock arguments known as "modes" or "tropes
."

Later schools

Middle Platonism

Around 90 BC,

Philo of Alexandria
)

Hellenistic Judaism

Philo of Alexandria
.(30 BC – 45 AD)

Neopythagoreanism

Pythagorean views were revived by Nigidius Figulus during the Hellenistic period, when pseudo-pythagorean writings began circulating.[66] Eventually in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD Neopythagoreanism came to be recognized.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Long 1996, p. 1.
  2. ^ Long 1996, p. vii.
  3. ^ Adamson 2015, pp. 8–9.
  4. ^ a b Grayling 2019, p. 99.
  5. ^ a b c Sellars 2018, pp. 32–36.
  6. ^ Bobzien 2004, §1.
  7. ^ a b c Adamson 2015, pp. 10–15.
  8. ^ a b c d e Adamson 2015, pp. 20–23.
  9. ^ Bobzien, Susanne (2004). "Dialectical school". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  10. ^ Bobzien 2004, Introduction.
  11. ^ * Kneale, William; Kneale, Martha (1984), The Development of Logic, Oxford University Press
  12. ISBN 978-0415968256
    .
  13. ^ Jacques Brunschwig, Stoic Metaphysics in The Cambridge Companion to Stoics, ed. B. Inwood, Cambridge, 2006, pp. 206–32
  14. ^ Sextus Empiricus, Adversus Mathematicos 10.218. (chronos, topos, kenon, lekton)
  15. ^ Marcelo D. Boeri, The Stoics on Bodies and Incorporeals, The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Jun., 2001), pp. 723–52
  16. Diogenes Laërtius (2000). Lives of eminent philosophers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
    . VII.49
  17. ISBN 978-1844655670
    .
  18. ^ Seneca, Epistles, lxv. 2.
  19. ^ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, iv. 21.
  20. ^ Michael Lapidge, Stoic Cosmology, in: John M. Rist, The Stoics, Cambridge University Press, 1978, pp. 182–83.
  21. OCLC 430497127
    .
  22. doi:10.1080/17449640902816277
  23. ^ a b Annas 1994, p. 114
  24. ^ a b c d Capes 1880, p. 47
  25. ^ a b c Capes 1880, p. 48
  26. ^ Inwood 1999, p. 705
  27. ^ Annas 1994, p. 115
  28. ^ a b Graver 2007, p. 52
  29. ^ Inwood 1999, p. 701
  30. ^ O'Keefe 2010, pp. 11–13
  31. ^ a b Wilson 2015, p. page=9
  32. ^ O'Keefe 2010, p. 21
  33. ^ a b O'Keefe 2010, pp. 18–20
  34. ^ Sharples, R. W. (1998). Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics: An Introduction to Hellenistic Philosophy. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 34–35.
  35. ^ Sharples, R. W. (1996). Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics: An introduction to Hellenistic Philosophy. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 35–37.
  36. ^ a b Wilson 2015, p. =11
  37. ^ a b c O'Keefe 2010, pp. 25–28
  38. ^ a b c Sharples, R. W. (1996). Stoics, Epicurus, and Sceptics: An Introduction to Hellenistic Philosophy. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 64–66.
  39. ^ a b c d Wilson 2015, pp. 54–55
  40. ^ Adamson 2015, pp. 26–28.
  41. ^ O'Keefe 2010, pp. 97–98
  42. ISBN 9780521194785
    .
  43. ^ a b O'Keefe 2010, pp. 103–104
  44. ^ a b O'Keefe 2010, pp. 107–115
  45. ^ Sharples, R. W. (1996). Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics: An Introduction to Hellenistic Philosophy. New York, NY: Routledge. p. 84.
  46. ^ Wilson 2015, pp. 95–96
  47. ^ Wilson 2015, pp. 84–85
  48. ^ O'Keefe 2010, p. 145
  49. ^ O'Keefe 2010, pp. 155–171
  50. ^ Thorsrud 2014, pp. 120–121.
  51. ^ Thorsrud 2014, p. 45.
  52. ^ Thorsrud 2014, pp. 102–103.
  53. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Scepticism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 306–309.
  54. ^ a b c  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Arcesilaus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
  55. Phaedo, 64–67
  56. ^ Veres, Máté (2009). "Carlos Lévy, Les Scepticismes; Markus Gabriel, Antike und moderne Skepsis zur Einführung". Rhizai. A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science. 6 (1): 107.: 111 
  57. ^ a b c d e f g  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Academy, Greek". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 105–106.
  58. ^ Cicero, Acad. i. 12, iv. 24; De Orat. iii. 18; Diogenes Laertius iv. 28; Sextus Empiricus, Adv. Math. vii. 150, Pyrrh. Hyp. i. 233
  59. ^ a b  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Arcesilaus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 342.
  60. ^ a b c  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Carneades". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 363–364.
  61. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Clitomachus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 531.
  62. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Philo of Larissa". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 413.
  63. ^ Long & Sedley 1987.
  64. ^ Pulleyn, William (1830). The Etymological Compendium, Or, Portfolio of Origins and Inventions. T. Tegg. pp. 353.
  65. ^ "Platonism - Medieval Platonism".
  66. ^ The Pythagorean Texts of the Hellenistic Period, Collected and Edited by Holger Thesleff, Acta Acedemias Aboensis, Ser. A. Humaniora. Humanistiska Vetenskaper. Socialvetenskaper. Teologi. Vol. 30 nr I. Paperback – January 1, 1965

References

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hellenistic philosophy.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hellenistic_philosophy&oldid=1213745205"