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Chapter 5

Chapter 5. The Hellenistic Philosophers.

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Chapter 5

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  1. Chapter 5 The Hellenistic Philosophers

  2. Why is Hellenistic philosophy claimed by some to represent a decline in Greek thinking? Who was Diogenes and how did he live out the philosophy of Cynicism? How did Stoicism attempt to systematize the insights of the Cynics? What is apathia? In what ways did the Epicureans disagree with the Stoics? What is ataraxia? Who were the Skeptics?

  3. Philosophical Rebellion!

  4. As the world slides out of Greek control… ….a new type of philosophy emerges…. HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY!

  5. A question you MUST answer. How should you live? Be wary, for deciding not to answer this question is itself an answer!

  6. Free yourself from care! Wouldn’t you be better off if you stopped desiring things that you cannot have? Wouldn’t you be better off if you just reigned in your desires?

  7. Are you worried about an exam? Wouldn’t you be better off if you just stopped caring about it?

  8. Cynicism Are you worried about denting your SUV? Are you concerned about staining your new pair of jeans, or losing your new sunglasses? Has a virus infected your hard drive, causing you misery? Wouldn’t your life be simpler and happier if you simply owned less?

  9. Ignore Convention! Wouldn’t we all be happier if we just lived naturally, and ignored the oppressions of convention?

  10. Wouldn’t it be great… ..to be so self-sufficient that you could tell Bill Gates that he has nothing you want—and so never have to be nice to him unless you wanted to be? Wouldn’t this be the most honest and authentic way to live?

  11. So… …why don’t you live like this?

  12. Stoicism! Maybe being a Cynic would involve too great a change in how you live. Maybe your nature is more social than Cynicism allows. Perhaps you should become a Stoic?

  13. Stoicism! The self-sufficiency of Cynicism with the sociability of Aristotelianism!

  14. What’s a number? Is it an abstraction, or a physical entity? Why do you think as you do? And why does it matter what numbers are?

  15. Action at a distance Yell at someone in another part of the classroom—or open a window and yell at someone passing by. Could they hear you? What does this tell us about the interconnectedness of all parts of the universe?

  16. The Fated Butterfly If all events are links in a long and unbreakable chain of events, including your actions, isn’t everything predetermined?

  17. Over and over and over again…. If there is a finite amount of matter in the universe, there is only a finite number of combinations and states that it can make. What is an implication of this view? Are you destined to repeat this class eternally?

  18. BUT…. ….if you cannot change the world, wouldn’t it be best to try to align yourself with it?

  19. APATHY Or a bad thing? A good thing?

  20. Why… …was the last slide Stoic?

  21. EPICUREANISM The Stoics’ main competitor!

  22. Ataraxia Wouldn’t your life be much happier if you had satisfied all your desires, and so extinguished them?

  23. Oh death, where is thy sting? If you’re alive, you haven’t been harmed by your own death. If you’re dead, you don’t exist—and non-existent things can’t be harmed! Since you’re either alive or dead, death can’t harm the person who dies!

  24. Really? Do you believe that you cannot be harmed by your own death? If so—why not kill yourself now, to avoid future pains?

  25. SKEPTICISM Forget Truth!

  26. Why worry about Truth? Be Happy! But…. What is happiness for a person deliberately divorced from reality?

  27. Timon’s Argument We can never use an argument to establish Truth, because we could always question the premises—and any support for the premises could itself be questioned. So, we can never arrive at the Truth!

  28. And Timon’s Problem! But isn’t Timon’s argument self-defeating?

  29. Are Skeptics really philosophers? Why—or why not?

  30. If you really want to flee the world…. …why not kill yourself? After all, in life there is suffering—in death, nothing.

  31. Wonder and Distress in Hellenistic Philosophy How are the Hellenistic philosophies similar to each other? Do you any of them appeal to you as an answer to the question of how you should live?

  32. If so, will you put it into practice? And if not…. Are you really persuaded?

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