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MAIN PERIODS OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY. PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY THE MATURITY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY HELENISTIC PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY. BEGINNING OF 6 TH – MIDDLE OF 5 TH CENTURY BC: IONIC PHILOSOPHY
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MAIN PERIODS OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY THE MATURITY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY HELENISTIC PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY • BEGINNING OF 6TH – MIDDLE OF 5TH CENTURY BC: IONIC PHILOSOPHY • EARLY COSMOLOGICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY: BASIC SUBSTANCE UNDERLYING ALL THINGS, NATURE & ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE • A COMPLETE FUSION OF PHILOSOPHY & SCIENCE, SPECULATION & EMPIRICAL RESEARCH • MAIN FIGURES: THALES (ca 640-562), ANAXIMANDER (ca 610-546), ANAXIMENES (ca 588-524) = THE MILESIANS
THE MILESIAN SCHOOL (1) • BASIC PRESUPPOSITIONS: [1] BENEATH THE APPARENT MULTIPLICITY & CHANGING UNIVERSE, EXISTS A HIDDEN UNITY & PERMANENCE, A FUNDAMENTAL SIMPLICITY & STABILITY WHICH REASON MAY DISCOVER; [2] THE STABILITY MUST BE SOUGHT IN THE SUBSTANCE OF WHICH THE WORLD WAS MADE
THE MILESIAN SCHOOL (2) • MAIN QUESTION: WHAT IS THE WORLD MADE OF? – LOOKING FOR THE ARCHE, THE CONCEPT OF PHYSIS AS ONE, VITAL, DIVINE, MATERIAL PRINCIPLE • METHOD: [1] EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE [2] SCIENCE [3] IMPLICIT METAPHYSICS [4] THEOLOGY • THE PRIMORDIAL PRINCIPLE: WATER (THALES); APEIRON (ANAXIMANDER); AIR (ANAXIMENES)
EARLY MATHEMATICAL & MYSTICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY (1) • PYTHAGORAS (569-494): BEYOND THE MILESIAN PHYSICAL FRAMEWORK – MATHEMATICAL & MORAL INVESTIGATION • SHIFT FROM A PHILOSOPHY OF MATTER TO A PHILOSOPHY OF FORM; primary Pythagorean scientific contribution was the mathematical concept of the formal structure of reality, vaguely foreshadowed Plato’s forms & Aristotle’s formal cause • NUMBERS: THE SUPREME FORMAL PRINCIPLE OF REALITY
MOTIVE FOR DOING PHILOSOPHY: NOT SIMPLY OUT OF SIMPLE SCIENTIFIC CURIOSITY BUT ALSO FOR RELIGIOUS ENLIGHTENMENT – PURIFICATION OF THE SOUL & UNION WITH THE DIVINE METHOD: I. MATHEMATICS II. MYSTICISM EARLY MATHEMATICAL & MYSTICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY (2)
EARLY MATHEMATICAL & MYSTICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY (3) • 2 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PYTHAGOREANISM: (1) THE DOCTRINE OF THE KINSIP OF NATURE; (2) LOOKING FOR THE FORMAL CHARACTER OF PHYSIS WITH ITS QUANTITATIVE RELATIONS & METRIC PROPORTION – THE EXALTATION OF THE IDEA OF LIMIT (PERAS), ORDER, HARMONY
EARLY MATHEMATICAL & MYSTICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY (4) • A KIND OF PANTHEISM: THE WORLD IS DIVINE, GOOD, A SINGLE WHOLE = ORDERLY, LIMITED = KOSMOS • MAN/WOMAN = MICRO COSMOS -- THE STUDY OF MEDECINE = RIGHT PROPORTION & MINGLING OF INGREDIENTS (KRASIS), QUANTITATIVE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN OPPOSITE QUALITIES
GOOD THINGS LIGHT UNITY MALE LIMIT BAD THINGS DARKNESS PLURALITY FEMALE UNLIMITED CONVINCED MORAL DUALIST
EARLY METAPHYSICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY • PROBLEM OF MOTION: PERMANENCE & CHANGE, BEING & BECOMING, BEING & NON-BEING, THE ONE & THE MANY • MAIN FIGURES: HERACLITUS, PARMENIDES, THE MONISTS & THE PLURALISTS
HERACLITUS C.544-484 • ALL THINGS CHANGE & NOTHING AT REST (panta rei kei ouden manai); ‘WAR IS THE FATHER OF ALL” “ STRIFE IS JUSTICE” STRUGGLE IS GOOD, SINCE IT IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE (everything is born in strife and everything is in constant flux) • METHOD: EMPIRICO-RATIONAL APPROACH • THE DIVINE LOGOS = THE DYNAMIC PRINCIPLE BEHIND THE ORDERLY CHANGE IN THE UNIVERSE, HARMONIZES THE TENSIONS OF OPPOSITES & PRESERVES THE UNITY OF DIVERSIFIED WORLD
HERACLITUS C.544-484 • EVER-LIVING FIRE: PRIMORDIAL COSMOLOGIC PRINCIPLE • RELIGIOUS METAPHYSICS & ETHICS GROUNDED IN THE LOGOS AS THE SOURCE OF MEANING, ORDER, UNITY AND DIVINITY
PARMENIDES C. 515-470 • PHILOSOPHY OF BEING – BEING IS ONE, COMPLETE, INDIVISABLE, INDISTRUCTIBLE AND PERMANENT- “WHAT IS, IS” • THE WAY OF OPINION AND THE WAY OF TRUTH – SENSE & REASON; APPEARANCE & TRUTH • CHANGE & PLURALITY = ILLUSION