Philosophy in Ancient Greece: basics. The origin of philosophy in ancient Greece The significance of the philosophy of ancient Greece in history

So, Greek philosophy begins to take shape in the 7th – 6th centuries. BC, the basis for dating is the first philosophical school that existed in the city of Miletus, in Ionia. This raises several questions: 1) why there? 2) why at this time? 3) how do we know this? Actually, the location only emphasizes the specificity of the geographical location of Greece as a whole and largely explains the development of rational thinking among the Greeks. As you know, Greece occupies a coastal position (bordered by the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas), which, along with the excellent climate, gave a powerful impetus to the development of trade, political and cultural ties. Intensive communication with the East expanded the Greeks' understanding of the world and increased their “curiosity.” Miletus at that time was the most economically developed city, being in close proximity to the sea. Greek civilization was taking shape, which could not but affect people's thinking. As already mentioned, before the advent of philosophy, myth dominated in the minds of people; the very formation of philosophy in tradition is called transition from myth to Logos(Greek Logos – word, thought, reason, law, order), i.e. This is a transition from mythical thinking to rational thinking. This transition itself, of course, could not be sudden. And here, when talking about the forerunners of philosophy, the problem of historical authenticity arises. The fact is that primary sources from this time have not survived; we reproduce what is happening according to the texts of later authors, the so-called doxographers- “collectors of opinions.” In particular, doxographers mention seven greek sages who lived in the 7th century. BC. A number of doxographers consider Thales, the founder of the Milesian school, to be one of them. The sages were the authors of aphorisms: “Nothing beyond measure”, “Know yourself”, “Don’t tell anyone about your plan until you complete it: if it doesn’t work out, they will laugh”, “Love old laws, but fresh dishes”, etc. Firstly, the genre is wisdom, everyday experience, and not philosophy. Secondly, the lists of the sages themselves are unclear: all doxographers are sure that there were 7 sages, but the lists in each source are different. This is a typical myth. There is a temptation to count the beginning of philosophy from the mysteries (sacraments, ideas that have a sacred, esoteric meaning) and other secret cults, mystical teachers, etc. But here again the same problem of reliability, because... this knowledge was secret, all participants were bound by a vow of silence. Thus, the Milesian school, represented by Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander, is taken as a starting point, since at least something is known reliably: the approximate life time (the exact years of birth of the Greek philosophers are difficult to establish, since the Greeks recorded not the year of birth, but so-called acme- the time of human flourishing), occupation (for example, Thales was a wealthy landowner), achievements.

Natural philosophical period (pre-Socratic philosophy).

So, early Greek philosophy is called natural philosophy, or physics(Greek “physis” - nature), since it was devoted to the study of nature. The main philosophical problem of this period was the search first principles (arche): where did everything come from? Yes, y Thales(7th – 6th centuries BC) the first principle was water (“Everything is from water”), due to the fact that water is very common in nature, in living and nonliving things. And here the question arises: why is the search for the beginning a philosophy? After all, any myth also contains a cosmogonic version of where everything came from. However, nowhere in the myth is there a justification for why it is exactly as the myth says; The first philosophers began with argumentation. Moreover, the argument itself (“Look how much water is around”) is also indicative: empirical justification is characteristic of science, from which we can conclude that natural philosophical searches predetermined the further development of science, the very turning of thinking outward, to experience, determined the emergence of science in Western Europe. civilization, not in the East. For example, in addition to philosophy, Thales studied geometry (a number of theorems and their proofs), astronomy (predicted a solar eclipse), and was the first person in history to study electrical phenomena (he was the first to know that amber (Greek “electron”) acquires with friction, the property of attracting light bodies, and also that a magnet can attract iron). Another interesting idea of ​​Thales was hylozoism- recognition of the animation of all nature (“The world is full of gods.”

Followers of Thales Anaximander(611 – 546) and Anaximenes(588 – 525) also searched for the origin. Anaximander has the first principle - apeiron(in Greek, “boundless, indefinable,” which is not one of the natural elements, but all others arise from it. Later interpreters see matter in apeiron. For Anaximenes, it is air, and everything comes from the condensation and rarefaction of air. In 494 BC in Miletus there was a major uprising, as a result of which the city was destroyed, which led to the cessation of the Milesian school.

Heraclitus from Ephesus (c. 6th - AD 5th century BC) was nicknamed by his contemporaries the Dark One both for the incomprehensibility of his speeches and for his reclusive lifestyle. He came from the royal family of the Codrids, traveled a lot, and settled in the Temple of Artemis. Several of his sayings have reached us, according to which his teaching is reproduced. He considered fire to be the origin, calling it Logos: “Not to me, but to the Logos, listening, we must admit that everything is one...”. Fire is a metaphor for universal constant movement and change. Everyone knows the aphorism of Heraclitus: “Everything flows, everything changes, you cannot step into the same river twice.” In other words, the world is not something static, it is a process. The source of the emergence of the new is struggle: “You should know that war is universal, and truth is struggle, and everything happens through struggle and out of necessity. Enmity determined some to be gods, others to be men, some to be slaves, others to be free. “Wrestling is the father of everything and the king of everything.” Change, according to Heraclitus, is the result of the struggle of opposite principles. Life and death are also constantly fighting opposites. The struggle of opposites is the essence of the life process, it turns out to be the harmony on which the whole rests: “Opposite brings together, diversity gives rise to the most beautiful harmony, and through discord everything is created.” Subsequently, this was seen as the dialectical law of unity and struggle of opposites.

Another famous school of philosophy is Eleatic- was located in the western part of Greece and was represented by Parmenides, Zeno, Melissus. The ideological predecessor of the Eleatics is considered Xenophanes from the city of Colophon (570 - 470), who, in turn, studied with Anaximander. Xenophanes expressed his views mainly in satirical poems. He criticized the Greek ideas about gods as anthropomorphic, contrasting them with his one God - Sfairos, who is one with all nature ( pantheism- identification of God and nature).

Parmenides(c. 540 - 470, chronology is not defined, but acme falls on 504 - 501) first introduced the category into philosophy being. In his poem “On Nature” he said this: “To be or not to be at all - that’s where the question is resolved.” Everything is one, and everything is being; there is no non-being, since it cannot be thought. Therefore, the transition from non-existence to existence is impossible, and therefore there is no movement. This is the central idea of ​​the entire Eleatic school.

The idea of ​​the impossibility of movement was continued by the student of Parmenides Zeno Eleatic (490 - 432), who expressed it in his aporia (Greek “difficulty”. The most famous: “Achilles and the tortoise” (where it is proved that the fastest of people (Achilles) will never catch up with the slowest creature (the tortoise) if it set off before him), “Arrow” (where it is proven that a flying arrow does not actually move), “Dichotomy” (“dividing in half”: Zeno proves that a body cannot move from its place, because movement can neither begin nor end).Despite the obvious contradiction of common sense, these aporia influenced the creation of the mathematical theory of the limit. Melissus did not make any special discoveries, but promoted the views of the Eleans.

Pythagoras with o. Samos (580 - 500) is known not only as the author of the term “philosophy,” but also as an outstanding mathematician, as well as a musician, religious thinker, and mystic. His school is famous, above the entrance to which was written: “Let no one enter here who is not versed in geometry.” He considered the number to be the beginning. The sacred number - one - is indivisible, the binary, the triad unites the first two numbers, is divisible only by itself, the quaternary is a mystical number, the decade and the quaternary are identical. One corresponds to a point, two – a line, a triad – a surface, a quaternary expresses volume, five (3+2) – a symbol of marriage, Aphrodite, 7 – Artemis, “non-bearing”. He attributed to number a number of pairs of opposites (even - odd, good - evil, right - left, male - female, one - many, etc.). This means that the number combines opposites, therefore, it is a symbol of harmony. Harmony can be expressed mathematically and is manifested both in music and in the movement of celestial bodies, therefore, in order to perceive this harmony, students had to adhere to strict ethical rules (keep silent, not eat certain foods, etc.).

School atomists presented Leucippus(approx. 500 - 440) and Democritus(460 – 370). Their teachings are difficult to disentangle. Democritus from Abdera was a very colorful personality: he came from the royal family of Damasippus, and enjoyed great respect from his fellow citizens after Hippocrates examined him for “normality.” Deliberately blinded himself, because... believed that feelings prevent us from knowing the truth; only reason can give it. He liked to write in the crypt at night so that no one would disturb him. Denied marriage and childbearing, because they distract from more important activities. It is better not to give birth to a child, but to take it from friends.

The main idea of ​​the atomists, as you might guess, is to recognize atom first principle (“atomos” in Greek – indivisible). “There is nothing in the world but atoms and emptiness.” Atoms are invisible, indivisible, impenetrable, have weight, shape, and when combined in multitudes, they give different things. The movement of atoms is mechanical, and atoms move out of necessity, which means a strict cause-and-effect conditionality of all phenomena in the world ( determinism). It should be noted that the idea of ​​the atom for the Greeks had a worldview, not a physical meaning, i.e. the atom was not discovered by them, but invented. So, since everything consists of atoms, then the human soul also consists of atoms, therefore it is material, like a body, and just as mortal. The idea of ​​the mortality of the soul was intended to save people from the fear of death, because... There was nothing pleasant in the Greeks' ideas about the afterlife.

Philosophical reflections appeared already in the first works of the ancient Greek historians Thucydides, Herodotus and Homer. In the 6th century BC. The philosophy of Ancient Greece was born. Around the same time, philosophical movements appeared in India and Egypt.

The formation of ancient Greek philosophy in the VI-V centuries BC. e.

The first philosophical school in Ancient Greece is considered to be the school of the thinker Thales in the city of Miletskut. This is where the name of this school, Milesian, came from. The first school of philosophers was distinguished by the fact that it understood the world as a single whole, without separating living substances from nonliving ones.

• Thales . This philosopher was the first to discover the Constellation Ursa Major and determine that the light of the moon falling on the earth is its reflection. According to the teachings of Thales, everything that surrounds us consists of water. His thesis is “everything comes from water and everything goes into water.” Water is an animate substance, which, like space, is endowed with animate forces. Thales laid down the idea of ​​the unity of nature, that is, born from a single whole. Contemporaries usually call this natural philosophy.
• Anaximander . The earth, according to his teaching, is a weightless body that floats in the air. The modern world is formed from marine sediments at the boundary between water and shore. According to the teachings of Anaximander, the Universe dies in order to be reborn again.
• Another representative of the Milesian school Anaximenes introduced the concept of appeiron - an indefinite beginning. He understands air as filling everything living and inanimate. The human soul also consists of air. If you discharge the air, it will disintegrate into flame and ether, according to the philosopher; when it condenses, the air turns first into clouds, then into wind and stones.
• Of the philosophers of Ancient Greece of the early period of formation, Ephos stood out. He came from an aristocratic family, but left his home and went with his disciples to the mountains. Heraclitus considered fire to be the foundation of all things. The human soul, eternally burning, also consists of fire. The destiny of a sage is to be eternally filled with the fire of searching for truth, the philosopher asserted. One of the most famous theses of Heraclitus: “everything flows, everything changes.” Like the philosophers of the Milesian school, Heraclitus believed that the Universe dies in order to be reborn again. The main difference in his philosophy is that all living material things are born in fire and go into the fire.

Rice. 1. Heraclitus.

Heraclitus created a new concept in philosophy - “Logos” - this is a kind of set of laws created by divine forces. Logos, in other words, is the voice of the cosmos, but even having heard it, people do not understand or accept it. All living things can change, but the essence of the Logos always remains the same.

• Pythagoras . This ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician founded his school in Crotona. The Pythagoreans believed that the state should be ruled by a person with a noble heart. The basis of everything that exists, the thinker believed, are numbers. The scientist is also known for proving his geometric and mathematical theorems. The Pythagorean table has been used since ancient times to this day.

Elat School

The Elat school paid its main attention to explaining the nature of the world and the existence of man in this world. The main philosophers of this school are Zeno, Xenophanes and Parmenides.

• Xenophanes , philosopher and poet, was one of the first to talk about the mobility of the Universe. He also criticized the religion of the ancient Greeks. He also ridiculed soothsayers and soothsayers, calling them swindlers.
• Adopted son of Parmenides Zeno developed the theory of the “world of opinion”, in which the main role belongs to movement and number. This thinker tries to cut off everything incomprehensible by the method of elimination.
• Parmenides argued that there is nothing in the world except being. The criterion of everything, the philosopher believed, is reason, and everything sensory has blurred boundaries and is not subject to deep understanding.

Democritus

One of the most prominent ideologists of natural philosophy was the thinker Democritus.

• Democritus It was argued that at the foot of the Universe there are many worlds. Each such world consists of atoms and emptiness, emptiness fills the space between the atoms and the world. Atoms themselves are indivisible, they do not change and are immortal, their number is infinite. The philosopher argued that everything that happens in the world has its cause, and knowledge of the causes is the basis for action.

At the first stage of the formation of ancient Greek philosophy, a generalization of knowledge appears. The first philosophers tried to understand the structure of the world, concepts about space and atoms filling space appeared.

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The Rise of Ancient Greek Philosophy

During the period of the V-IV centuries BC. Exact sciences and natural sciences developed in ancient Greece. It is noteworthy that this development occurs against the backdrop of mythology and religion.

Sophist school

The school of sophists was known for its critical attitude towards the religion of polytheism of Ancient Hellas; the founder of this school was Protagoras.

• Protagoras was a philosophical traveler who traveled all over Greece and visited abroad. He met with prominent political figures in Hellas: Pericles and Euripides, who sought his advice. The basis of Protagoras’ ideology was his thesis: “man is the measure of everything” and “man understands everything as he understands.” His words should be understood as what a person sees and feels is what actually is. The philosopher's teachings led to him being accused of atheism and expelled from Athens.
• Antiphon - one of the younger generation of the sophist school. The thinker believed that man must take care of himself, while the essence of nature is inseparable from man. Antiphon, like Protagoras, was persecuted by the authorities for marrying a slave and freeing all his slaves.

Socrates

This philosopher, born in 469 BC, loved to walk the streets of the city and have conversations with people. Being a sculptor by profession, Socrates managed to take part in the Peloponnesian War.

• Philosophy Socrates completely different from the ideology of his predecessors. Unlike them, Socrates does not propose to reflect and contemplate, he proposes to act in the name of noble goals. Living for the sake of good is the main thesis of Socrates. The thinker considers knowledge as a general foundation for personal self-development. “Know yourself” is the philosopher’s main thesis. In 399 BC. e. Socrates was accused of blasphemy and corruption of youth. He was sentenced to death. As a free citizen of Hellas, Socrates had to take poison, which he did.

Rice. 2. Socrates. The work of Lysippos.

Plato

After the death of Socrates, Plato became one of the most prominent figures among the philosophers of Ancient Greece. In 387 BC. e. this philosopher formed his own circle of students, which later became his school called the Academy. So it was named after the area in which it was located.

• In general, philosophy Plato absorbed the main theses of Socrates and Pythagoras. The thinker became the founder of the theory of idealism. The highest something, according to his theory, is Good. Human desires are fickle and resemble a chariot drawn by two horses. Knowledge of the world, according to Plato, is the desire to see the beauty of the soul in every person. And only Love can bring a person closer to the Good.

Aristotle

The culmination of ancient Greek philosophy, its most remarkable milestone, is considered to be the works of the philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle studied at Plato's Academy and created a unified complex of science, logic, politics and natural history.

• Matter, according to Aristotle , what our world is made of, by itself it can neither disappear nor be reborn, since it is inert. Aristotle created the concepts of time and space. He substantiated philosophy as a system of scientific knowledge. Like Socrates, this thinker was accused of atheism and forced to leave Athens. The great philosopher died in a foreign land, in the city of Khalkis.

Rice. 3. Bust of Aristotle. The work of Lysippos.

Decline of Ancient Greek Philosophy

The classical period of philosophical thought in Ancient Greece ended with the death of Aristotle. By the 3rd century BC. e. the decline of philosophy came, as Hellas fell under the blows of Rome. During this period, the spiritual and moral life of the ancient Greeks began to decline.

The main ideologies during this period are considered to be Epicureanism, skepticism and stoicism.

• Epicurus - prominent philosopher, born in 372 BC. e. He argued that the world cannot be changed. According to the thinker's teaching, atoms move in empty space. Epicurus considered pleasure to be the highest principle of man. At the same time, the thinker argued that an immoral person cannot be happy.
• Cleanthes - one of the founders of Stoicism argued that the world is a living substance governed by the law of divine forces, the Logos. Man must hear the will of the gods and obey their every command.
• Philosopher Pyrrho The concept of skepticism was introduced. Skeptics rejected the accumulated knowledge of people, arguing that a person cannot know even a little about the world around him. Therefore, a person cannot judge the nature of things, much less give it any assessment.

Despite the decline of the philosophical thought of Ancient Greece, it laid the fundamental basis of the human personality for the formation of moral and moral principles.

What have we learned?

The gradual transition of ancient Greek philosophers from simple contemplation of natural phenomena to the very essence of man created the foundation for modern moral qualities with the synthesis of science. Briefly, the most important philosophers of Ancient Greece are Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and Democritus: they and some other philosophers and philosophical movements are discussed in this article.

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Hello, dear readers!

- this is another topic for an article from a series of publications on the fundamentals of philosophy. we learned the definition of philosophy, the subject of philosophy, its main sections, the functions of philosophy, fundamental problems and questions.

Other articles:

When did philosophy appear?

It is generally accepted that philosophy began around - in the 7-6 centuries BC in Ancient Greece and at the same time in ancient China and India. Some scientists believe that philosophy appeared in Ancient Egypt. One thing is certain: Egyptian civilization had a huge influence on the civilization of Greece.

Philosophy of the ancient world (Ancient Greece)

So, the philosophy of Ancient Greece. This period in the history of philosophy is perhaps one of the most mysterious and fascinating. He is called The golden age of civilization. The question often arises: how and why did the philosophers of that time generate so many brilliant ideas, thoughts and hypotheses? For example, the hypothesis that the world consists of elementary particles.

Ancient philosophy is a philosophical movement that has developed over more than a thousand years from the end of the 7th century BC, up to the 6th century AD.

Periods of philosophy of Ancient Greece

It is customary to divide it into several periods.

• The first period is early (before the 5th century BC). He shares naturalistic(in it the most important place was given to the cosmic principle and nature, when man was not the main idea of ​​philosophy) and humanistic(in it the main place was occupied by man and his problems, mainly of an ethical nature).
• Second period –classical (5th-6th centuries BC). During this period, the systems of Plato and Aristotle developed. After them came the period of Hellenistic systems. They focused on the moral character of man and the problems associated with the morality of society and one person.
• The last period is the Philosophy of Hellenism. Divided by early Hellenistic period (4th-1st centuries BC) and late Hellenistic period 1st century BC. e. - 4th century)

Features of the philosophy of the ancient world

Ancient philosophy had a number of characteristic features that distinguished it from other philosophical movements.

• For this philosophy characterized by syncretism, that is, the unity of the most important problems, and this is what distinguishes it from later philosophical schools.
• For such a philosophy cosmocentricity is also characteristic— the cosmos, according to her, is connected with man by many inextricable connections.
• In ancient philosophy there were practically no philosophical laws; there was a lot in it developed at the conceptual level.
• Huge Logic mattered in it, and its development was carried out by the leading philosophers of the time, among them Socrates and Aristotle.

Philosophical schools of the ancient world

Milesian school

The Milesian school is considered to be one of the oldest philosophical schools. Among its founders was Thales, astronomer. He believed that a certain substance underlies everything. It is she who is the single beginning.

Anaximenes believed that air should be considered the beginning of everything; it is in it that infinity is reflected and all objects change.

Anaximander is the founder of the idea that the worlds are infinite and the basis of everything, in his opinion, is the so-called apeiron. It is an ineffable substance, the basis of which remains unchanged, while its parts are constantly in change.

School of Pythagoras.

Pythagoras created a school in which students studied the laws of nature and human society, and also developed a system of mathematical proofs. Pythagoras believed that the human soul is immortal.

Eleatic school.

Xenophanes expressed his philosophical views in the form of poetry and ridiculed the gods and criticized religion. Parmenides one of the main representatives of this school, developed the idea of ​​being and thinking in it. Zeno of Elea was engaged in the development of logic and fought for truth.

School of Socrates.

Socrates did not write philosophical works like his predecessors. He talked to people on the street and proved his point of view in philosophical debates. He was engaged in the development of dialectics, was engaged in the development of the principles of rationalism in ethical terms and believed that those who have knowledge of what virtue is will not behave badly and cause harm to others.

Thus, ancient philosophy served as the basis for the further development of philosophical thought and had a huge influence on the minds of many thinkers of that time.

Books on the Philosophy of Ancient Greece

• Essay on the history of Greek philosophy. Eduard Gottlob Zeller. This is a famous essay, reprinted several times in many countries. This is a popular and concise summary of ancient Greek philosophy.
• Philosophers of Ancient Greece. Robert S. Brumbaugh. From the book by Robert Brumbaugh (Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago) you will learn a description of the lives of philosophers, a description of their scientific concepts, ideas and theories.
• History of ancient philosophy. G. Arnim. The book is devoted exclusively to the content of ideas, concepts, and ancient philosophical teachings.

The philosophy of Ancient Greece - briefly, the most important thing. VIDEO

Summary

Ancient philosophy of the ancient world (Ancient Greece) created the very term “philosophy”, has had and is having a huge influence on European and world philosophy to the present day.

Ancient Greek Philosophy: Cynics, Skeptics, Stoics and Epicureans

When we turn to philosophy and its postulates, we usually do not think about the path this science has taken, where it originated and how it developed. And most importantly, what was the reason for its appearance.

Throughout life, man has always been driven by curiosity; he wanted to know what was there, beyond the forest, beyond the horizon, beyond the clouds.

However, one could simply observe the events taking place with curiosity and take them for granted, or one could do it “differently.”

“In a different way” meant not just to look, but to see and try to analyze, not only to state certain events, but to try to figure out and understand why they happened, what are the reasons for certain events, phenomena, actions, and what can be their consequences.

Well, let's go into history, which tells us that the word “philosophy” itself (φιλοσοφία), according to dictionaries, has ancient Greek roots and literally means: “love of wisdom.”

Curiosity has always been the source of knowledge of the world and its laws, and it was the Greeks who succeeded in this.

However, in fairness, it is worth noting that the foundations of philosophy were laid in the so-called pre-Greek period.

As historical sources confirm, already in the 6th century. BC. Chinese and Indian sages demonstrated to those in power the foundations of philosophical thinking, that is, knowledge of the world, but the treatises of ancient philosophers can be “counted on one hand,” and they do not give a complete picture of the development of philosophical thinking during this period in the East.

As for Ancient Greece, it was here that philosophy spread and gained incredible popularity.

Among the European cultures of Ancient Greece, priority was rightfully given to the study of the laws of natural development and the political structure of society, because it was on Greek soil that outstanding philosophers laid the foundations for a democratic structure of social life, confirming its progressiveness and “social usefulness”; here the concepts of knowledge of the world were formed.

To study the structure of the world, philosophical schools were created in Ancient Greece, each of which chose its own method of understanding the world and declared it the most productive and correct.

"Pre-Socratic" period of Greek philosophy

The early period of the development of philosophy in Greece (VI century BC) is usually called “pre-Socratic”. As is already clear from its name, classical Greek philosophy arose later with the entry into the “philosophical arena” of Socrates. The most famous "pre-Socratic" philosophers were Pythagoras, Thales, Zeno and Democritus. The emergence of classical philosophy is yet to come.

In the meantime, they are struggling with the question that will allow them to lay the foundations of classical philosophy: “What is being?”, and each builds their own model of the world and its knowledge.

But if we are familiar with the names of Democritus (and with the latter - more so as a mathematician rather than a philosopher), then the names of Thales and Zeno are hardly familiar to those who have not been deeply involved in the study of philosophy.

So it is to Thales that we owe the opportunity to get acquainted with various complex phenomena by breaking them down into simple components.

It was Thales, when studying the world around him, who suggested that all complex and even difficult-to-explain phenomena will become completely understandable if you know with the help of what simple laws they exist. This method of studying the world is called reductionism.

By the way, he used this method and, together with another “pre-Socratic”, Leucippus, became the author of the theory of atomism, proving that all complex objects of this world consist of atoms, which at that time could be considered the smallest and simplest unit, both philosophical and physical.

As for Zeno, in his philosophical treatises and discussions about the surrounding world, he argued that the concepts of set, movement and space contradict each other, but it is precisely on these contradictions that it is possible to prove the principles of their existence in the surrounding world.

Each “pre-Socratic” had his own school, headed it and gathered under his banner those who shared his point of view on the world around him and were ready to defend it in philosophical disputes and discussions with representatives of other schools.

Famous contributions to the development of philosophy of the pre-Socratic period were made by Diogenes of Apollonius, Heraclitus and other philosophers.

Philosophical school of Socrates

The time of Socrates came in the 4th century. BC e.. It was he who was responsible for the formation of a philosophical concept, implying a transition from consideration and study of the surrounding world to man.

During the tenure of Socrates, philosophical schools appeared, the object of study of which was man.

The most ardent and famous supporters of Socrates were his students Xenophon and Plato. It was thanks to the philosophical works of Plato, which almost completely reached modern researchers, that it became possible to judge the formation and development of classical philosophy in Ancient Greece. The theory of ideas developed and developed by him and his students belongs to Plato.

Cynics

One of the students and champions of the theories developed was Antisthenes of Athens, who subsequently opened his own philosophical school, the most famous student of which was Diogenes of Sinope.

Antisthenes became the creator of a philosophical movement called Cynicism, and the followers of this movement began to be called Cynics.

The essence of the concept of cynicism, developed by Antisthenes, directly contradicted generally accepted views on human life, as well as the necessary and sufficient conditions for a happy life.

According to cynics, a person does not need much to be happy. And he is unhappy because he has surrounded himself with a mass of unnecessary things, created various types of conventions that complicate and poison his own life, therefore, in order to live well, it is necessary to free himself from these conventions and behave like a dog, which is characterized by courage and gratitude, the ability to “stand up for yourself” and be content with little.

The Cynics so ardently defended the postulates of their school that after the death of the best student of the school, Antisthenes Diogenes of Sinope, a marble sculpture of a dog was installed on his grave as a monument.

The Cynics considered the main object of their concepts to be man with his demands and needs, joys and sorrows. In their opinion, a person has too much unnecessary, unnecessary things in life, which only interferes with living happily.

The closer to nature, the simpler and more “natural”, the happier life will be; to be happy, you don’t need to theorize: only practical skills and habits necessary for basic existence - these are the philosophical conclusions of the Cynics.

Society is not able to give a person anything good, but only nature is the only source of a person’s happy life.

Another postulate of the Cynics was the dominant role of subjectivism: the subject, the individual (person) with his own habits, views and attitudes is important. An individual has the right, as the cynics believed, to reject social attitudes and demands if they suppress the personality, his will, and the desire for independence.

As for Antisthenes himself, his desire for an extremely simple life, not burdened with excesses, gave rise to the image of a wandering beggar with a cloak thrown over his naked body, a staff that was used as a weapon of defense, and a beggar’s bag for alms. It was this attire that distinguished the Cynics from other philosophers.

It is worth noting that the individualistic concept of the Cynics and their “equipment” were adopted by people who were not law-abiding, as well as by those who, not possessing high moral principles, embarrassed others with their shocking appearance, while receiving great pleasure. Calling themselves Cynics, they nevertheless had nothing in common with philosophers. It is no coincidence that over time such people acquired a new name, consonant with the original, but transformed - cynics.

It is interesting that the postulates of the Cynics were at one time adopted by Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, who turned “individual freedom” into “free will of the individual” - between these two concepts there was a “distance of enormous size”, and the new theory gave birth to “monsters of history”.

Skeptics

Another philosophical direction of classical Greek philosophy was skepticism (translated from ancient Greek as “exploring”, “considering”), and those professing the postulates of skepticism began to be called skeptics.

They considered doubt to be a unique method of cognition, while in philosophy it was about doubting the reliability of truth. What is called into question gives rise to the need to study, consider the truth from all sides and search for reliable facts that repeatedly confirm the truth.

On the wave of doubts, a mass of all kinds of directions of skepticism appeared: from philosophical to everyday; from moderate to aggressive.

It was believed that moderate skepticism is a reliable weapon in the fight against dogmatists who do not bother to empirically (practically) confirm the formulated dogmas.

Any versions and theories, according to skeptics, must be tested. The truth must be confirmed - nothing can be taken on faith (as with dogmatists).

It should be noted that initially skepticism had a positive meaning in the development of philosophical thought, since it forced us to look for options for the truth of a particular statement. Truth was not taken for granted, but over time, skeptics, so to speak, moved from the practical plane of searching for truth to the theoretical, which led to the fact that any theoretical assumption was not only questioned, but the very possibility of finding truth was denied.

The requirement to seek truth empirically over time turned into empty moralizing and denial of everything that cannot be verified in practice.

The position of skeptics is neutral observation of the course of life, dispassionate acceptance of everything that happens in it, including suffering - this, according to the founder of skepticism, Perron, writer and philosopher, is the way to achieve happiness.

Perron and his supporters argued that skepticism was based on two postulates, the first of which formulated happiness as tranquility, and the second of life as the result of the first.

Perron formulated a series of questions that were supposed to prove that skepticism should be the basis of human happiness.

He himself gave answers to these same questions:

1) What are the qualities of things? “We don’t know what these qualities are.”

2) How should you behave towards things? - It is best to refrain from discussing this topic.

3) What could be the consequences of our behavior towards things? - Happiness can only come from abstinence. It also gives peace.

Despite the positive aspects of the theory, skepticism in a fairly short time became a destructive philosophical trend.

Skeptics fostered criticism and negativism with their postulates, which in turn gave rise to disbelief and denial of the obvious and positive.

Stoics

In their perception of the world and understanding of happiness, the Stoics turned out to be quite close to the skeptics in a number of ways.

The founder of the Stoic philosophical school, Zeno of Citium, held meetings of students of his school near the portico of the “Picturesque Stoa”, hence its name.

The Stoics believed that all people are children of the Cosmos, which means that they are all equal and have equal opportunities for self-knowledge. Moreover, every person is a receptacle of virtue.

However, the fate of people, “children of the Cosmos,” is completely in his power. Therefore, the main task is to live in harmony with nature and oneself, since a person himself cannot change anything in this life.

According to the Stoics, a society can be considered harmonious, where ALL people live in complete harmony, remembering that good ennobles, and evil leads to death. However, any person must act in accordance with his own perception of the world and his desires.

The path to inner freedom is the renunciation of pleasures and the suppression of passions.

The understanding of death from the point of view of the Stoics is interesting. They did not consider it evil, but on the contrary, they believed that it was the most appropriate way out for those who could not leave a worthy mark in this life. In this case, death is a kind of atonement for the evil that man did on earth.

Epicureans

More than 70 years after the death of the great ancient philosopher Plato, the philosopher Epicurus opened his school.

Epicurus himself and his followers and students called themselves “garden philosophers”: everything was simple - the Epicureans gathered for their meetings in the garden bought by their teacher. It was a philosophical school whose doors were open to both women and slaves.

The inscription on the school gate, which said that everyone who enters its doors will feel good, because pleasure is the greatest good, encouraged the search for happiness and deliverance from suffering.

According to the Epicureans, it is possible to achieve harmony and happiness by getting rid of fears, be it fear of the gods or death. They believed that happiness could be achieved and evil could be overcome. To achieve harmony, a person must limit his needs, be prudent and balanced.

The Epicurean philosophers did not consider man a hostage to fate (fate) and believed that to be happy he needed friends, peace of mind and the absence of physical suffering, and they considered life itself to be the main pleasure of this world.

Ancient philosophy (first Greek and then Roman) covers the period from the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. to 5-6 centuries n. e. It originated in the ancient Greek poleis (city-states) with a democratic orientation and the direction of its content; the method of philosophizing differed both from the ancient eastern methods of philosophizing and from the mythological explanation of the world characteristic of the works of Homer and the writings of Hesiod. Of course, early Greek philosophy is still closely connected with mythology, with sensory images and metaphorical language. However, she immediately rushed to consider the question of the relationship between sensory images of the world and it itself as an infinite cosmos. For myth as a non-reflective form of consciousness, the image of the world and the real world are indistinguishable and, accordingly, incompatible.

Before the eyes of the ancient Greeks, who lived during the childhood of civilization, the world appeared as a huge accumulation of various natural and social processes. Existence was associated with many elements that are in continuous change, and consciousness with a limited number of concepts that denied these elements in a fixed, constant form. The search for a stable origin in the changing cycle of phenomena in the vast cosmos was the main goal of the first philosophers. The philosophy of Greece, thus, appears in its subject matter as the doctrine of “first principles and causes” (Aristotle).

In the development of ancient philosophy, it is possible, with some degree of convention, to distinguish four main stages.

First- covers the period from the 7th to the 5th century. BC e. - pre-Socratic. The philosophers of the Milesian school, Heraclitus of Ephesus, the Eleatic school, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, and the ancient Greek atomists (Leucipus and Democritus) belong to this stage.

Second stage - from about half of the 5th century. and until the end of the 4th century. BC e. It is usually characterized as classic. This period is associated with the activities of outstanding Greek philosophers Protogor, Socrates, Plato and especially Aristotle.

Third stage (late 4th century - 2nd century BC) is usually designated as Hellenistic. At this time, a number of philosophical schools appeared: peripatetics, academic philosophy (Platonic Academy), Stoic and Epicurean schools, skepticism. Prominent philosophers of this period were Theophrastus, Carneades and Epicurus. However, all these schools were characterized by a transition to problems of ethics, moralistic revelations in the era of decline and decline of Hellenic culture.

Fourth stage (1st century BC - 5-6th centuries AD) falls on the period when Rome began to play a decisive role in the ancient world, under whose influence Greece also fell. Roman philosophy is shaped by the influence of Greek philosophy, especially the Hellenistic period. Accordingly, three directions can be distinguished in Roman philosophy: Stoicism (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius), Epicureanism (Titus Lucretius Carus), skepticism (Sextus Empiricus). In the 3rd-4th centuries. n. e. Neoplatonism arises and develops in Roman philosophy; its founder was Plotinus. Neoplatonism had a huge influence not only on early Christian philosophy, but also on all medieval philosophy.

First- covers the period from the 7th to the 5th century. BC e. - pre-Socratic.

Miletus School (6th century BC, Miletus)- its founder Thales. These philosophers interpreted substance as the primary material from which everything arose. At first, a certain known substance, considered abstractly and idealized, was taken as a substance. According to Thales, substance is water, according to Anaximenes it is air, according to Anaximander it is an indefinite substance “apeiron”. "Apeiros" - in Greek means "boundless, boundless, endless." Anaximander's apeiron is material, "does not know old age", "immortal and indestructible" and is in perpetual motion. The infinity of apeiron allows it “not to dry up, that is, to be the eternal genetic beginning of the Cosmos, and also allows it to underlie the mutual transformations of the four elements. Anaximander argued that apeiron is the only cause of the birth and death of all things; apeiron produces everything from itself: being in the rotational movement, apeiron “highlights opposites - wet and dry, cold and warm; their paired combinations form earth (dry and cold), water (wet and cold), air (wet and hot), fire (dry and hot). Thus, in this picture of the world, which actually represents a cosmogony, gods and divine powers are completely absent, that is, Anaximander tried to explain the origin and structure of the world from its internal causes and from one material principle. Anaximander also speaks about the origin of man: living things themselves arose on the border of sea and land from silt under the influence of heavenly fire. The first living creatures lived in the sea. Then some shed their scales and became “land-dwelling.” But Anaximander’s man descended from a sea animal; it originated and developed to adulthood inside some huge fish. Having been born as an adult child, he could not survive alone, without his parents, and the man came to land.

Similar ideas were also expressed by philosophers who did not belong to the Milesian school. For example, Heraclitus of Ephesus called fire a substance. Heraclitus says that “fire will embrace everything and judge everyone,” his fire is not only “arche” as an element, but also a living and intelligent force. That fire, which for the senses acts precisely as fire, for the mind is logos - the principle of order and measure both in the Cosmos and in the Microcosm (being fiery, the human soul has a self-increasing logos), that is, it is an objective law of the universe. Fire, according to Heraclitus, is rational and divine. The philosophy of Heraclitus is certainly dialectical: the world, “controlled” by logos, is united and changeable, nothing in the world is repeated, everything is transitory and disposable, and the main law of the universe is struggle (“strife”) - “the father of everything and the king over everything”, “struggle is universal and everything is born through struggle and out of necessity,” says Heraclitus as the first dialectician.

Eleatic school (6-5 centuries BC, city of Elea). Its representatives: Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, Xenophanes, Melis. It was among the Elates that the category of being first appeared, and the question of the relationship between being and thinking was first raised. Parmenides with his famous saying “Being is, but non-being is not”, he actually laid the foundations of the ontologism paradigm as a conscious, distinct example of philosophical thinking. What is being for Parmenides? The most important definition of being is its comprehensibility by the mind: that which can be cognized only by reason6 is being, but being is inaccessible to the senses. Therefore, “thought and that about which thought exists are one and the same thing.” - In this position of Parmenides the identity of being and thinking is affirmed. Being is something that always exists, that is one and indivisible, that is motionless and consistent, “like the thought of it.” Thinking is the ability to comprehend unity in consistent forms, the result of thinking is knowledge (episteme). Zeno's aporia - reasoning that leads to a dead end - "Arrow" (motion cannot begin because a moving object must first reach half of the path before it reaches the end, but to reach the half, it must reach half of the half ( “dichotomy” - literally “dividing in half”), and so on ad infinitum; that is, to get from one point to another, you need to go through an infinite number of points, and this is absurd), “Stages”, “Dichotomy”, “Achilles and the Tortoise ” (the movement can never end: Achilles will never catch up with the tortoise, since when he arrives at the point, the tortoise will move away from its “start” to such a part of the initial distance between Achilles and itself, so much its speed is less than the speed of Achilles - and so on until infinity). From the last aporia it follows that the attempt to think about movement leads to contradiction, therefore, movement is only an appearance. The substance is motionless. That is why the Eleatics were called “ascetics.” They laid the foundation for a cognitive approach based on the principle of the immutability of the world. This approach is called metaphysical. In Ancient Greece, everyone wanted to refute the ideas of the Eleatics, but no one could.

Pythagorean school (512 BC, city of Croton)– The Pythagorean Union as a scientific-philosophical and ethical-political society of like-minded people is a closed organization of a paramilitary type, they were accepted into it after some tests. Pythagoras considered number to be a substance. "Everything is a number." A number is an independent entity, a special reality. Numerical relationships underlie all properties of things.

The Pythagorean League was a closed organization, and its teachings were secret. Pythagorean Lifestyle relied on a hierarchy of values: in the first place - the beautiful and decent (which included science), in the second - the profitable and useful, in the third - the pleasant. The Pythagoreans got up before sunrise, did mnemonic (related to the development and strengthening of memory) exercises, then went to the seashore to watch the sunrise. Then they thought about the upcoming affairs, did gymnastics, and worked. At the end they took a bath, everyone had dinner together and made a “libation to the gods”, after which there was a general reading. Before going to bed, every Pythagorean gave himself an account of the past day. Based on the Pythagorean ethics lay the doctrine of “proper” as victory over passions, as the subordination of the younger to the elder, as the cult of friendship and camaraderie, as the veneration of Pythagoras. This way of life had ideological foundations - it stemmed from ideas about the cosmos as an ordered and symmetrical whole: but it was believed that the beauty of the cosmos is not revealed to everyone, but only to those who lead the right lifestyle. About the views of Pythagoras himself, only the following can be reliably said: firstly, “number owns things,” including moral ones: “Justice is a number multiplied by itself”; secondly, “the soul is harmony,” and harmony is a numerical ratio; the soul, according to Pythagoras, is immortal and can move, that is, Pythagoras had the idea of ​​​​the dualism of soul and body; thirdly, having put number at the basis of the cosmos, Pythagoras endowed this old number with a new meaning - Number correlates with the unity, and the unity serves as the beginning of certainty, which is only cognizable - thus, Number is a universe ordered by number.

By the middle of the 5th century. BC. The Pythagorean League collapsed.

Atomistic school. Ancient atomism Democritus(460-370 BC): “Atoms are eternal, unchanging, there is no void inside them, but the void separates them.” The main properties of atoms are size and shape. Between the atoms of the human body there are “balls” of the soul. An atom is an indivisible, smallest particle of matter. Atoms differ in order and position (rotation). The number of atoms and their variety are infinite. The eternal property of atoms is movement. Atoms float in the void, colliding, they change direction, connecting, forming bodies. The properties of bodies depend on the type and connection of atoms. Because the movement of atoms occurs according to strict laws, everything in the world is predetermined by necessity, there are no accidents. The gods do not interfere in the specific course of events. The whole variety of events is reduced to a single process - the movement of atoms in emptiness.

Second stage - from about half of the 5th century. and until the end of the 4th century. BC e. It is usually characterized as classic.

Sophists and Socrates.

Appearance in Ancient Greece in the mid-5th century. BC. sophists is a natural phenomenon, for the sophists taught (for a fee) eloquence (rhetoric) and the ability to argue (eristics), and the demand for people in the cities of the Athenian League, formed after the victory of the Athenians in the Greco-Persian wars, was great: in the courts and popular In meetings, the ability to speak, persuade and persuade was vital. And the sophists taught this art, without being interested in what the truth is. Therefore, the word “sophist” from the very beginning acquired a reprehensible connotation, because the sophists knew how and taught to prove a thesis today, and an antithesis tomorrow. But this is precisely what played the main role in the final destruction of the dogmatism of tradition in the worldview of the ancient Greeks.

The positive role of the sophists is that they created the science of words and laid the foundations of logic.

Socrates had a huge influence on ancient and world philosophy; he is interesting not only for his teaching, but also for his life itself, since his life was the embodiment of his teaching.

Socrates explored the problem of man, considering man as a moral being. Therefore, the philosophy of Socrates can be characterized as ethical anthropologism. Socrates once expressed the essence of his philosophical concerns as follows: “I still cannot, according to the Delphic inscription, know myself,” and in conjunction with the confidence that he is wiser than others only because he knows that he knows nothing, that his wisdom is nothing compared to the wisdom of the gods - this motto was also included in the “program” of Socrates’ philosophical searches.

Being a critic of the Sophists, Socrates believed that each person can have his own opinion, but this is also not identical to “truths, which everyone has their own”; there must be one truth for everyone, and Socrates’ method is aimed at achieving such truth, which he himself called “maieutics” (literally “midwifery art”) and which is subjective dialectics - the ability to conduct a dialogue in such a way that, as a result of the movement of thought through contradictory statements, positions disputants are smoothed out, the one-sidedness of each point of view is overcome, and true knowledge is obtained. Believing that he himself did not possess the truth, Socrates, in the process of conversation and dialogue, helped the truth “to be born in the soul of the interlocutor.” But what does it mean to know? To speak eloquently about virtue and not define it is to not know what virtue is; therefore, the goal of maieutics, the goal of a comprehensive discussion of any subject, is a definition expressed in a concept. Socrates, therefore, was the first to bring knowledge to the level of concept before; his thinkers did it spontaneously, that is, Socrates’ method also pursued the achievement of conceptual knowledge - and this speaks of Socrates’ rationalistic orientation. Socrates argued that the world external to man is unknowable, and one can only know the soul of a person and his affairs, which, according to Socrates, is the task of philosophy. To know oneself means to find the concepts of moral qualities common to people; Socrates' belief in the existence of objective truth, that there are objective moral norms, that the difference between good and evil is not relative, but absolute. Socrates identified happiness not with profit, but with virtue. But you can do good only if you know what it is: only that person is brave who knows what courage is. That is, it is precisely the knowledge of what good is and what evil is that makes a person virtuous, and knowing what is good and what is bad, a person cannot act badly: morality is a consequence of knowledge, just as immorality is a consequence of ignorance of good. This is a brief description of the “Socratic philosophical revolution”, which changed the understanding and tasks of philosophy and its subject.

From the ancient, so-called "Socratic schools" Perhaps the school of Cynics ("dog philosophy") gained the greatest popularity - thanks to Diogenes of Sinope, who with his life gave the example of a Cynic sage, and whom Plato called “the mad Socrates.” Diogenes “moderated” his needs so much that he lived in a clay barrel, did not use utensils, and subjected his body to tests; he brought contempt for pleasure to its apogee, finding pleasure in the very contempt of pleasure. The Cynics philosophized their way of life, which they considered the best, freeing a person from all the conventions of life, attachments, and even almost all needs.

Plato's ontology(427-437 BC). Plato's philosophical school in Athens was called "Academy" because... was located near the Akadema Temple. His concept: there are two worlds - the sensory world of things and the intelligible world of ideas - eidos - which is located in the celestial region. In earthly reality, we see eidos only embodied in things. In an ideal world they exist in their pure form. The highest idea is the idea of ​​good. The existence of things is secondary to eidos. A thing is formed by the combination of eidos with a certain amount of substance. Plato called the material principle “hora” - matter. This is a passive dead substance that does not have internal organization. Thus, the theoretical discrepancy is determined materialism (Democritus) And idealism (Plato). Materialism considers substance as a material principle, and idealism as a spiritual principle.

Plato in ontology is an idealist; he is considered the founder of the idealistic tradition (the so-called “Plato line”). Like the Elates, Plato characterizes existence as eternal and unchanging, cognizable only by reason and inaccessible to sensory perception.

Plato taught that in order to explain this or that phenomenon, it is necessary to find its idea - that is, the concept: something constant and stable that is not given to sensory perception. The world of sensually perceived things for Plato is by no means “non-existence”, but formation - everything temporary, moving, mortal, always different, divisible; to these characteristics, given by Plato as opposite to the characteristics of being, must be added; corporeal, material - in contrast to the ideal world of eidos.

The soul, according to Plato, is similar to an idea - one and indivisible, but parts can be isolated in it:

a) reasonable;

b) affective (emotional);

c) lustful (sensual).

If the rational part of a person predominates in the soul, the person strives for the highest good, for justice and truth; these are philosophers. If the affective part of the soul is more developed, then a person is characterized by courage, courage, and the ability to subordinate lust to duty; these are guards, and there are many more of them than philosophers. If the “lower”, lustful part of the soul prevails, then a person should engage in physical labor - be artisan or peasant, and such people are the majority. Based on this logic of reasoning, Plato built a project for an ideal state similar to a pyramid: philosophers rule in it (and they must study before the age of 30), guards maintain order, and working people work... Plato spoke about common property, about that the state, not the family, should be involved in raising children, that the individual duty will be subordinated to the universal: “A person lives for the sake of the soul of the state”...

Souls, according to Plato, can transmigrate and can exist in a supersensible ideal existence; therefore, people have “innate ideas” - memories of being in the world of eidos, and practicing philosophy are “memories of the soul about conversations with God.”

Teaching about the state (social ontology) Plato: the state is a settlement. The real state is preceded by an ideal state in which everyone is equal. Conflicts in human society are caused by inequality. Plato was one of the first philosophers to connect human evil and social conflicts with private property. And therefore, striving for an ideal state, Plato taught about the need for government measures to suppress the expansion of property and the growth of private property. In solving this problem, Plato proposed two ways: 1. Raising children in isolation from the family, because at the same time, they develop the same consciousness. He also intended to destroy the family as a form of long-term human habitation. 2. Limiting luxury and expansion

personal farming.

Aristotle(384 - 322 BC). He entered Plato’s “Academy” and stayed there for 20 years. Aristotle is the most famous and profound character. He created and formulated classical European philosophy.

Aristotle first identified philosophy as metaphysics. He assigned her a special role: questions of the origins of being, movement, time and space, questions related to man and his goals, the problem

knowledge and discrimination between true and false knowledge.

Aristotle divided the sciences into theoretical, practical and creative.

Theoretical sciences – philosophy, mathematics, physics. It is they, and first of all philosophy, that discover the unchangeable principles of existence.

All interpretations of the real world can be covered with the help of 10 concepts - categories- essence, quality, quantity, relation, place, time, position, action, suffering, possession. They act as characteristics that describe real bodies.

Aristotle divided first and second entities. The first essences are what underlies all things; they are individual, singular, indivisible being. The second essence is expressed not by individual being, but by genera and species.

Aristotle believed that changes can be found in categories

time and movement. Time, according to Aristotle, is movement in change, but at the same time time is uniform everywhere and in everything. Changes can speed up and slow down, and time is uniform. Time is not associated with a person, it is a characteristic of movement. But time is not movement itself, although it cannot exist without it. In time there is always a previous and a subsequent, and we recognize time when we delimit movement, defining the previous and the subsequent. And this can be done, because movement contains number, and the important factor in this is the category “now”. Time is the number of movement, and “now,” like movement, is like a unit of number.

Aristotle's materialism is manifested in the fact that for him there is no

movement, apart from things, and it has always been and will always be.

What is the source of movement? Aristotle did not deny that

there are sources, like the action, of one body on another, but all bodies

possess spontaneity, including many inanimate objects.

Spontaneity was defined by Aristotle through the existence of the first movement, which was carried out by the “immovable mover” - God. For a person, the source of his movement is his needs and interests, like the necessity of an external object.

The fundamental place of Aristotle's philosophy lies in the doctrine of matter and form. “I call matter that from which something arises, i.e. matter is the material of a thing.” Matter is indestructible and does not disappear, but it is only material. Before taking a certain form, it is in a state of non-existence; without form, it is devoid of life, integrity, and energy. Without form, matter is a possibility; with form it becomes reality. Aristotle taught that the opposite is also possible

transition of form into matter. Aristotle came to the conclusion that there is also a first form - the form of forms - God.

The soul cannot exist without a body, but it is not a body. The soul is something inherent in the body. Aristotle believed that it is in the heart. Exists three types of soul: vegetative, sensual and intelligent. The first is the cause of growth and nutrition, the second feels, and the third knows and thinks. Animals and humans have perception, but humans perceive things, bodies, movement, etc. through concepts and categories, this is the essence of the rational soul.

Teaching about Aristotle's state: the state is the final form of organization of people. Family and settlement preceded him. Aristotle agreed that private property is the basis of economic inequality and socio-political conflicts. But unlike Plato, he believed that private property is eternal and unshakable. Aristotle believed that friends should have everything in common. His position: property should be private, and distribution should be public. Therefore, Aristotle justified slavery, believing that in the state there should be superiors and subordinates. He called monarchy and aristocracy the best form of government and was an opponent of democracy, because it easily grew into “ohpocracy” (ohpo - crowd). Aristotle divided the state into three classes: the aristocracy, warriors and small farmers and artisans. Horsemen will be able to govern the state best of all, because... they are not burdened with worries about wealth.

Aristotle's teaching developed as a result of his criticism of Plato's teaching about ideas. Aristotle proves the inconsistency of Plato's "idea" hypothesis based on the following:

1. Plato’s “Ideas” are simple copies (doubles) of sensory things and do not differ from them in their content. - A very materialistic thought!

2. The “type” (eidos) or “idea” of a person is essentially no different from the general characteristics belonging to an individual person.

3. Since Plato separated the world of ideas from the world of things, ideas cannot give anything to the existence of things.

4. The relation of ideas to each other is similar to the relation of the general to the particular, and considering the “idea” as the essence of the existence of a thing, Plato (according to Aristotle) ​​fell into a contradiction: with this understanding, each “idea” is at the same time an essence, since, being general, it is present in a less general one, and at the same time it is not an essence, since it in turn participates in a more general “idea” standing above it, which will be its essence.

5. Plato’s doctrine of the sensory perception of the world of the “world of ideas”, independent of things, leads to an “absurd conclusion”: since there is a similarity between ideas and sensory perceived things and since, according to Plato, for everything similar there must also be an “idea” (“ similarity"), then in addition to the idea, for example, of “man” and in addition to the things (people) corresponding to it, there must also be an idea of ​​what is similar that exists between them. Further, for this new idea and the first “idea” under it and its things, there must be another idea - and so on ad infinitum.

6. By isolating the “idea” into the world of eternal essences, different from the changeable world of things, Plato deprived himself of the opportunity to explain the facts of birth, death and movement.

7. Plato brings his theory of ideas closer to the assumption of the causes of everything that arises and teaches that all such assumptions go back to a single, but no longer assumed basis - to the idea of ​​​​the Good. However, this contradicts the existence of such concepts that cannot be raised to a single higher concept .

According to Aristotle, every single thought is a unity of matter and form, but form, unlike Plato’s “idea,” despite its immateriality, is not some otherworldly entity that comes into matter from the outside. “Form” is the reality of that, the possibility of which is “ matter", and, conversely, "matter" is the possibility of that, the reality of which will be "form". - This is how Aristotle tried to bridge the gap between the world of things and the world of eidos: according to Aristotle, within the limits of the sensory perceived world, a consistent transition from “matter” to its relative “form” is possible, and from “form” - to its relative “matter”. There are only isolated things - individuals, this is being according to Aristotle.

Aristotle's doctrine of being is based on his doctrine of categories, set out in a special small work "Categories" and in the famous "Metaphysics". Here Aristotle tried to answer the question of what should be the initial approach to the problem of essence, introducing science: the most complete knowledge about a thing is achieved then, Aristotle believed, and he was obviously right, when the essence of a thing becomes known to us. But Aristotle’s categories are, first of all, not concepts, but the main “kinds” or categories of being and, accordingly, the main kinds of concepts about being as a being. Aristotle offers ten such categories (if we count the category “personality”: quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, possession, action, suffering. But in Aristotle the category “Entities” is sharply separated from other categories, since when we speak about essence, explains Aristotle, then we answer the question “what is a thing”, and not the question “what is this thing” (quality), “how great is it” (quantity), etc. Aristotle has 2 criteria for essence "

1) conceivability (knowability in concept)

2) “the ability for separate existence”;

But these two criteria turn out to be incompatible, because “only the individual has independent existence unconditionally,” but the individual does not satisfy the first criterion - it is not comprehended by the mind, is not expressed by the concept, it cannot be defined. Aristotle therefore has to seek a compromise between two criteria, and such a compromise consists in the fact that Aristotle takes as essence not an individual thing, not a genus of a thing, and not quantity, etc., but what is already determined and so close to the individual, which almost merges with him. this will be the sought-after “essence,” called in “Metaphysics” the “essence of a thing,” or “the essence of the being of things.” The “essence of being” is the form of a thing, or its “first essence”. Therefore, any single thing is a unity of matter and form.

In addition to the “material” cause of a thing and its “formal” cause, Aristotle spoke of two more principles (persons) of everything that exists. This is the end cause: “Conditioning through purpose occurs not only among “actions determined by thought,” but also among “things that arise naturally” (#5).

Aristotle means the implementation of a certain purposeful process and calls it “entelechy”, the desire for one’s good as the implementation of a specific potency (possibility). This is the target reason: “Conditioning through purpose occurs not only among “actions determined by thought,” but also among "things that occur naturally."

All 4 causes, according to Aristotle, are eternal, the material cause is not reducible to others, and formally, the driving and target causes are actually reduced to one, and such a triune cause for Aristotle turns out to be God. But Aristotle’s god is an exclusively philosophical god, it is divine thinking, active reason, self-sufficient, self-contained thinking, it is a kind of spiritual Absolute - “a mind that thinks of itself, and its thought is thinking about thinking.”

Aristotle paid a lot of attention to the problems of thinking in general, leaving behind fundamental developments in logic, by which he understood the science of evidence, as well as the forms of thinking necessary for knowledge: logic, according to Aristotle, explores the methods by which a known given can be reduced to elements , capable of becoming a source of its explanation. Three problems are given special attention:

1) The question of the method of probable knowledge; Aristotle calls this department of logical research “dialectics” and discusses it in his treatise “Topika”.

2) The question of the two main methods of ascertaining reliable knowledge, which are definition and proof.

3) The question of the method of finding the premises of knowledge, that is, induction (“guidance”). A few words about dialectics according to Aristotle. Believing that on a number of issues knowledge can only be probable and not indisputably true, Aristotle argued that such knowledge presupposes its own, special method - not the method of science in the exact sense, but a method approaching a scientific one. It was then that Aristotle called the method “dialectics,” thereby deviating from the traditions of Socrates and Plato. In “dialectics,” firstly, conclusions are developed that could lead to a probable answer to the question posed and that would be free from contradictions; secondly, it provides ways to investigate whether the answer to a question may be false.

Aristotle taught that what a person strives for is good. And good is an end that people desire not for themselves, but for the sake of the end itself, and, therefore, the highest good is bliss. Bliss is good living and right action. It cannot consist of a material good, but in its essence is determined by the characteristics and purpose of a person. The main purpose of a person is activity and its excellent implementation. According to Aristotle, life striving for the highest good can only be active. Good qualities that remain undetected do not give bliss.

Human virtue is the ability to navigate, choose the appropriate action, and determine the location of good. For this purpose, Aristotle talked about the general principle of human activity, which he defined as the mean. You can make a mistake in different ways, but you can only do the right thing in one way.

For Aristotle's ethics, the principle of justice is important, this is the principle

economic activity, exchange of economic goods. Therefore, justice is equal treatment of material goods. Aristotle considered two forms of justice: distributive and equalizing. In the first case, the criterion is the dignity of the persons between whom the distribution occurs. Aristotle proceeds from the fact that people are not equal by nature, and distributive justice takes into account the social status of the individual. In the second case, the transfer of objects from one hand to another is determined not by dignity, but by economic principles. Arithmetic proportionality operates here: society is maintained by the fact that everyone is rewarded depending on their activities.

Aristotle, therefore, first spoke of value as

economic properties of exchange items. He believed that all objects should be measured by one thing. This is the need that connects everything. The measure of evaluation arises by common agreement, and it is money. Fortunately, virtue is not bodily properties, but the revelation of humanity. For Aristotle, leisure is a necessary condition for the good and contemplation.

Aristotle's philosophy completes that period of ancient philosophy, which is often called the "philosophy of classical Greece" and which is the basis of all European philosophy.

Third stage (late 4th century - 2nd century BC) is usually designated as Hellenistic.

Philosophers and philosophical schools of the Hellenistic period of ancient history were characterized not so much by putting forward new ideas as by comprehending, clarifying, and commenting on the ideas and teachings created by thinkers of the previous period.

Interest in the theoretical clarification of the picture of the world, the physics of cosmology, and astronomy is decreasing everywhere. Philosophers are now interested in the question of how to live in this world in order to avoid the disasters and dangers that threaten on all sides. The philosopher, who in the era of the “great classics” was a scientist, researcher, contemplator, intelligible Micro- and Macrocosm, now becomes a “skillsman of life”, a provider not so much of knowledge as of happiness. In philosophy, he sees the activity and structure of thought that frees a person from unreliability, deceitfulness, from fear and anxiety with which life is so full and spoiled. Interest is revived and attitudes towards cynicism are changing, in which an internally torn society “replenishes” social unfreedom with asocial freedom. There are also original, non-commentary philosophical and ethical concepts generated by the cultural state of the Hellenic era - first of all, this skepticism, stoicism and the ethical doctrine of the materialist-atomist Epicurus.

The ancestor of the ancient skepticism Pyrrho (365-275 BC) considered a philosopher to be one who strives for happiness. But happiness consists only in equanimity and the absence of suffering, and whoever wishes to achieve understandable happiness in this way must answer three questions:

1) what are things made of?

2) how should we feel about these things?

3) what result, what benefit will we get from such an attitude towards them?

1. no answer can be obtained: nothing should be called either beautiful or ugly, neither just nor unjust;

2. since no true statements are possible about any objects, then Pyrrho calls abstinence (“erohe”) from any judgments about them the only appropriate way for a philosopher to relate to things. But such abstinence from judgment is not complete agnosticism: of course, according to Pyrrho, our sensory perceptions or impressions are reliable, and judgments like “This seems to me bitter or sweet” will be true;

3. the result, or benefit, from the obligatory abstinence for the skeptic from any judgments about the true nature of things will be that same equanimity, serenity, in which skepticism sees the highest goal accessible to the philosopher of happiness.

The skeptical philosopher differs from all other people in that he does not attach to his way of thinking and actions the meaning of unconditionally true ones.

Epicurus, who created the materialist doctrine named after him ( epicureanism), also understood philosophy as an activity that gives people, through reflection and research, a serene life free from suffering: “Let no one put off studying philosophy in his youth, and let no one in his old age tire of practicing philosophy... Who says that it has not yet come or has passed time to study philosophy, he is like the one who says that there is either not yet time for happiness, or there is no longer time.” The main section of philosophy is ethics, which is preceded by physics (according to Epicurus, it reveals in the world its natural principles and connections, freeing the soul from belief in divine forces, in the fate or destiny that weighs on humanity), which, in turn, is preceded by the third “part "philosophy - canon (knowledge of the criterion of truth and the rules of its knowledge). Ultimately, Epicurus used sensory perceptions and general ideas based on them as a criterion for knowledge - in epistemology this orientation was called sensualism (from the Latin “sensus” feelings). The physical picture of the world, according to Epicurus, is as follows: the Universe consists of bodies and space, “that is, emptiness.” Bodies are either compounds of bodies, or that from which their compounds are formed, and these are indivisible, uncut "dense bodies - atoms - which differ not only, as in Democritus, in shape and size, but also in weight. Atoms constantly move through emptiness with a constant speed for everyone and - in contrast to the views of Democritus - can spontaneously deviate away from the trajectory of what is happening due to the necessity of rectilinear motion - that is, Epicurus introduces the hypothesis of self-deviation of atoms to explain collisions between atoms and interprets this as the minimum freedom that it is necessary to assume in the elements of the microworld - in atoms, in order to explain the possibility of freedom in man.

The ethics of Epicurus proceeds from the position that for man the first and innate good is pleasure, understood as the absence of suffering, and not the predominant state of pleasure. It is through liberation from suffering that, according to Epicureanism, the goal of a happy life is achieved - health of the body and absence of worries, complete serenity of the spirit - ataraxia. Epicurus considered the suffering of the soul to be much worse in comparison with the suffering of the body. In general, the ethics of Epicurus are individualistic and utilitarian: even friendship is valued not for its own sake, but for the security it brings and for the sake of the serenity of the soul.

A different mood in ethics Stoics: the world as a whole is a single body, living and dismembered, permeated through and through by the bodily breath that animates it ("pneuma"). They created the doctrine of the strictest unity of being. If Epicureanism is permeated with the pathos of freedom and strives to tear a person out of the “iron shackles of necessity,” then for Stoicism necessity (“fate,” “destiny”) is immutable, and deliverance from necessity (freedom in the sense of Epicureanism) is impossible. People's actions differ not in the way in which - voluntarily or under compulsion - the necessity that is inevitable in all cases and intended for everyone is realized and fulfilled. Fate “guides” those who unreasonably and recklessly resist it. The sage strives to lead a life in harmony with nature, and for this he is guided by reason. The mood in which he lives is one of humility, submission to the inevitable. A rational life that is consistent with nature is a virtuous life, and its result is “apathy” - the absence of suffering, dispassion, indifference to everything external. It is with Stoicism that the aphorism “Philosophy is the science of dying” is associated. But, despite such obvious pessimism, the ethics of the Stoics is focused on the altruistic principle of duty and fearlessness before the blows of fate, while the ideal of Epicureanism is selfish, despite its sophistication and “enlightenment.”

Features of ancient Greek philosophy:

1. Cosmocentrism– understanding of the world as a cosmos, an ordered and purposeful whole (as opposed to chaos). Man was considered as a Microcosm in relation to the Macrocosm, as a part and a kind of repetition, a reflection of the Macrocosm. Orientation towards identifying harmony in human existence - after all, if the world is harmoniously ordered, if the world is the Cosmos, and man is its reflection and the laws of human life are similar to the laws of the Macrocosm, then this means that a similar harmony is contained (hidden) in man.

2.Ontology(moreover, explicit, expressed in the fact that the first physicist sages were looking for “the causes and beginnings of being”) - orientation towards the study of being, i.e. of all things in unity, in an elemental-materialistic and naive-dialectical embodiment: “arche” was thought of as something material, and since the entire Cosmos was “derived” (precisely in the ontological, and not in the logical plane) from the material origin, then it was thought of some kind of connected through this origin - a unity that is in change, movement. And the principle of connection and development (movement) are the main characteristics (signs) of the dialectical style of philosophical thinking.

3. Physicalism (naturalism)– the idea of ​​nature as the main object of philosophy.

conclusions

In India, China, Greece around the 8th-6th centuries. BC e. pre-philosophy is formed, i.e. a complex of ideas, not yet philosophical, of which in the 5th-3rd centuries. BC e. philosophy arises. Pre-philosophy includes:

1. Developed mythology and developing religion. For example, in India this

the complex is formed by the Vedas and Upanishads. The Vedas are the oldest religious

texts. Upanishads - commentaries on them. They address issues

about the birth of the world, about the basis of the world and the threads connecting it, about its

structure, about the origin of the essence of man and his posthumous fate. IN

Greece religious and mythological ideas were systematized

in the epic of Homer, in Hesiod’s poem “Theogony” and in the teachings of the Orphics.

2. Pre-sciences are stable complexes of practical knowledge on certain subjects. For example, pre-astronomy - knowledge of the starry sky and the ability to calculate the most important moments of the annual cycle. Pre-mathematics is the art of counting, measuring, calculating area and volume. Pre-chemistry – technology for the production of paints, soap, wine. Premedicine is the ability to cure diseases. Prebiology is the effect of plants on the body. This knowledge is not yet scientific, because... is not systematized, not proven, does not contain theoretical generalizations. But this is already rational knowledge.

3. Worldly wisdom. Its bearers are distinguished: sages, mentors, teachers. For example, in China - Confucius (551-479 BC) He created the doctrine of a noble husband, a worthy way of life, an ideal government, the doctrine of the “golden mean”. In Greece, these are the seven wise men. Their activity dates back to the end of the 7th – beginning of the 6th centuries. BC. Different texts mention different personalities, but, of course, these are Thales, Bias, Pittacus, Solon of Athens. The general form of their reasoning is that of a gnome. Gnoma is a short statement of a general nature. Most gnomes are moral. Biant: “Don’t talk, you’ll miss, you’ll lose,” “Take with conviction, not force.” Pittacus: “Rely on friends”, “Know when to stop.” Solon: “Nothing too much,” “Don’t rush to make friends, and don’t rush to reject those you’ve already made.” Some gnomes contain broader generalizations.

The emerging philosophy can be represented as an attempt to respond in a rational way to questions posed in mythology, religion, everyday

thinking questions about the world and human life.

The central idea of ​​the emerging philosophy was the idea of ​​internal interconnection, the unity of everything that exists, based on the unity of the sources of all existence. The world is one, because it all comes from one beginning. In India, the beginning of everything is Brahman - the highest essence underlying the universe. In Chinese philosophy, the concept of Tao is what the world is created by and to which it is subject.

In Eastern cultures, there was no obvious separation of philosophy from pre-philosophy. Over a long period of time, cognition develops in a single complex. Philosophy remains merged with mythology and religion. Only in Ancient Greece relatively early (in the 6th century BC) knowledge was clearly divided into rational and religious-mythological. Knowledge based on abstract thinking and evidence has received special development. This was facilitated by the historical features of ancient society.

Greek philosophy created to express the principle of universal unity

the first is a completely rational concept. Substance (arche - beginning) –

a stable principle that underlies everything that exists, thereby establishing its unity and ensuring order.