Ancient greek philosophy

In accordance with the adopted periodization, the history of ancient philosophy is divided into three periods:

• Early Greek Philosophy (Until the 5th Century BC)
• Classical antique philosophy (V — IV centuries BC)
• The philosophy of Hellenism
  • Early Hellenistic period (con. IV — I centuries BC)
  • Late Hellenistic period (end of the 1st century BC - the 6th century)

The ancient authors themselves, who were wondering about the historical beginning of philosophy, indicated as its ancestors the figures of the seven sages . One of them, Thales of Miletus , has been considered the first philosopher of Greece since Aristotle . He is a representative of the Milesian school , which also belonged to Anaximander , Anaximenes , Perekid of Syros , Diogenes of Apollonia , etc.

It is followed by the school of Eleatics , engaged in the philosophy of being (c. 580-430 years. BC. E.). Xenophanes , Parmenides , Zeno of Elea , Meliss belonged to her. Simultaneously with this school, there was a Pythagorean school , dealing with the study of harmony, measure, number, to which, among others, belonged to Philolaus (end of the 5th century BC), the doctor Alkmeon (about 520 BC) , music theorist, philosopher and mathematician Architent of Tarento (c. 400–365 BC). Her adherent was also the sculptor Poliklet the Elder (late 5th century BC).

The great loners are Heraclitus , Empedocles and Anaxagoras . Democritus , with his encyclopedic all-encompassing thinking, along with his semi-legendary predecessor Leucippus and the Democritic school, is the completion of pre-Socratic cosmology. The early sophists ( Protagoras , Gorgias , Hippias , Prodik ) can be attributed to the same period.

At the same time, the conventionality of the above traditional association of thinkers of pre-Socratic time (enshrined in German science ) is noted ^[1] . So, for example, modern English-language historiography does not draw a fundamental distinction between the Eleans and Ionians ^[1] , which include the Milesians. Their representatives even called their science differently: the Ionians - “intelligence” ( historia ), the Italians (Pythagoras school) - “any wisdom” (philosophia). For the former, the key concept was physis (nature), for the latter, aletheia (truth) and psykhe (soul) ^[1] .

Thanks to the three most prominent representatives of Greek philosophy - Socrates , Plato and Aristotle - Athens became the center of Greek philosophy for about a thousand years. For the first time in history, Socrates raises the question of personality with its decisions dictated by conscience and its values. Plato creates philosophy as a complete worldview-political and logical-ethical system; Aristotle - science as a research and theoretical study of the real world.

Supporters of Plato are grouped into a school known as the Academy ; the most important representative of the secondary Academy is Arkesilay ; new - Carnead ; the Academy is followed by the so-called “Average” (as opposed to the “new”) Platonism (which, along with others, included Plutarch of Heronius (c. 45-120) and Thrasillus (Plato's commentator and court astrologer of Tiberius).

Supporters of Aristotle, for the most part well-known scientists who dealt with issues of specific sciences, called peripatetics ; among the more ancient peripatetics, along with others, the botanist and characterologist Theophrastus , the music theorist Aristoxenes (c. 350 BC), the historian and politician Diekearch of Messina are known ; later peripatetics include physicist Straton , geographer and astronomer Aristarchus of Samos (student of Straton, c. 250 BC), Claudius Ptolemy (c. 150 BC), physician Galen and commentator Aristotle Andronic Rhodes (c. 70 BC).

In the Hellenistic and Roman periods, many schools of philosophy developed. Elements of Indian philosophy also influenced the ancient philosophy of this time. The most famous schools of Hellenistic philosophy:

• epicureism ;
• skepticism
• stoicism ;
• neoplatonism .

From the point of view of historical materialism , in Greece there was an “increase in the level of productive forces ” compared with the primitive communal , tribal system. This was due to the differentiation of labor and crafts, the development of trade, the development of various forms of slavery . There was a need for knowledge, its transfer and dissemination among the nobility .

On the other hand, cities began to develop, the first policies appeared. At this stage, not only purely practical knowledge was appreciated. The development of direct democracy necessitated the acquisition of knowledge aimed at attracting people to their side. Rhetoric began to develop actively, and then not only the external form, but also the semantic content of the speeches acquired significance. There were "teachers of wisdom" - sophists .

When the first monarchy (despotism, tyranny) came to replace the policies, the increasing centralization of power determined the further direction of development and certain obstacles to the free development of philosophical and political-legal thought.

Theodosius I the Great persecuted representatives of Ancient Greek, ancient philosophy , religion, which Christians considered pagans - In 384 - 385, a number of decrees prescribed the destruction of ancient temples : the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus , the Temple of Artemis of Hemera , etc.

The prefect of the East of Kinegy , with the help of armed force and together with Christian monks , destroyed many of the remaining shrines of the old faith.

The edict of 391 , even more severe, dealt the last blow to "paganism", prohibiting worship of the gods, not only in public, but also in private homes.

In 391, a crowd of Christian fanatics led by Patriarch Theophilus destroyed and burned the Alexandria Library , which was the repository of books on ancient philosophy. However, both the church historian Socrates Scholastic ( Latin Socrates Scholasticus ) and the pagan author Eunapius of Sardis ( Latin Eunapius of Sardis ) speak only of the destruction of pagan temples and there is no mention of the destruction of books. Moreover, it is not known how many books were in Serapeum at that time, and whether they were there at all.

In Rome, the famous statue of Nicky (“victory”), recognized by the palladium of the ancient religion, was finally and permanently removed from the hall of the Senate. The opposition of the Old Roman nobility (with Symmachus and Pretextat at the head) did not crush the decisions of Theodosius; the sacred fire of Vesta was extinguished ( 394 ), and in the same year for the last time the celebration of the Olympic Games in Greece was allowed. In fact, the practice of paganism continued in the remote corners of the empire.

In 529, by decree of the Byzantine emperor Justinian , the last bastion of ancient Greek philosophy was closed - the Platonic Academy .

According to some reports, there was also the fact of the expulsion of the followers of ancient Greek philosophy from Byzantium to the Arabs (requires clarification of the date), which led to the development of philosophy (theology) among Muslims. This fact influenced the preservation of some treatises of ancient philosophers among the Arabs and the subsequent appearance in Europe (via Spain) of translations of the works of Aristotle and Plato .

Ancient Greek philosophy had a decisive influence on the whole history of Western and partly even world philosophy right up to the present day. The very term "philosophy" we owe it to antiquity. The heyday of ancient Greek philosophy falls on the V — IV centuries. BC e., and its echoes froze for another millennium. In Byzantium and Islamic countries, the dominant influence of Greek philosophy persisted throughout the next millennium; then, during the Renaissance and humanism, and in Europe there was a revival of Greek philosophy, which led to creative neoplasms, starting from Platonism and Aristotelianism of the Renaissance and ending with the influence of Greek philosophy on the entire development of European philosophical thought (see European philosophy ).

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