Introduction
Ancient philosophy is a consistently developing philosophical thought and covers a period of over a thousand years - from the end of the 7th century. BC. up to the 6th century. n. e. Despite all the diversity of views of thinkers of this period, ancient philosophy is at the same time something unified, uniquely original and extremely instructive. It did not develop in isolation; it drew on the wisdom of the Ancient East, whose culture goes back to deeper antiquity, where even before the Greeks the formation of civilization took place: writing was formed, the beginnings of the science of nature and philosophical views themselves developed. This applies to countries such as Libya, Babylon, Egypt and Persia. There was also influence from more distant countries of the East - Ancient China and India. But the various instructive borrowings of Greek thinkers in no way detract from the amazing originality and greatness of ancient thinkers.
Early period of ancient philosophy
Philosophy originated in Ancient Greece in the 7th-5th centuries. BC e. As in other countries, it arose on the basis of mythology and for a long time maintained a connection with it in the history of ancient philosophy. It is customary to distinguish the following periods
Table 1 - Origin of ancient philosophy
Table 2 - Main periods of development of ancient philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy, having originated on the basis of mythology, maintained a connection with it for a long time. In particular, throughout the history of ancient philosophy, terminology that came from mythology was largely preserved. Thus, the names of the Gods were used to designate various natural and social forces: called Eros or Aphrodite, wisdom - Athena, etc.
Naturally, a particularly close connection between mythology and philosophy took place in the early period of the development of philosophy. From mythology we inherited the idea of four basic elements from which everything that exists is composed. And most philosophers of the early period considered one or more elements to be the first principle of being (for example, Water in Thales).
The origins and first stages of development in ancient Greek philosophy took place in Ionia, an area in Asia Minor where there were many Greek colonies.
The second geographic center for the development of philosophy was the so-called Magna Graecia, where there were also many Greek city-polises.
Currently, all philosophers of the early period are called Pre-Socratics, i.e. the predecessors of Socrates, the first major philosopher of the next, classical period.
School classification
Ionian philosophy
Milesian school
Thales Anaximander Anaximenes
Ephesus school
Heraclitus of Ephesus
Italian philosophy
School of Pythagoras
Pythagoras Pythagoreans
Eleatic school
Xenophanes Parmenides Zeno
Athenian philosophy
Anaxagoras
Milesian school
Thales ( OK. 625-547 BC BC) - ancient Greek sage. The first in Greece to predict a total solar eclipse, introduced a calendar of 365 days, divided into 12 thirty-day months, the remaining five days were placed at the end of the year. He was a mathematician.
Main works. “On Principles”, “On Solstice”, “On Equiaction”, etc.
Philosophical views. ORIGINAL. F. considered the beginning of being water. Everything arose from water, everything began from it, and everything returns to it.
Anaximander(c. 610-546 BC) - ancient Greek sage.
Main works. “About Nature”, “Map of the Earth”, etc.
Philosophical views. Anaximander considered the fundamental principle of the world apeiron-eternal. From it two pairs of opposites stand out: hot and cold, wet and dry; This gives rise to four elements: Air, Water, Fire, Earth.
The origin of life and man. The first living beings were born in water. Man originated and developed inside huge fish, then came out onto land.
Anaximenes(c. 588-525 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher.
Philosophical views. Chosen as the beginning of existence air. When the air is rarefied, fire is formed, and then ether; when condensed - wind, clouds, water, earth, stones.
Ephesus school
Heraclitus(c. 544-480 BC) - ancient Greek sage.
Philosophical views. Heraclitus believed that the origin of all things was Fire. Fire is the material of everything eternal and living; moreover, it is intelligent. Everything in the world arises from fire, and this is the “path down” and the “lack” of fire:
According to Plutarch (I-II centuries)
The doctrine of the soul. The human soul is a combination of fire and moisture. The more fire in the soul, the better it is. The human mind is fire.
Pythagoreanism
Pythagoreanism is a philosophical movement whose founder was Pythagoras. This movement lasted until the end of the ancient world.
Pythagoras(c. 580 - 500 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher.
Philosophical views. He considers ideal essences to be the origin of existence - numbers.
Cosmology. At the center of the world is the earth, all celestial bodies move in the Ether around the Earth. Each planet, when moving, produces a monotonous sound of a certain pitch; together these sounds create a melody that can be heard by people with particularly sensitive hearing, for example, like Pythagoras.
Pythagorean Union
The Pythagorean Union was a scientific, philosophical school and political association. It was a closed organization, and its teaching was secret.
Periods of development
Early VI-IV centuries. BC e. – Hippasus, Alcmaeon
Middle IV – I centuries. BC e. – Philolaus
Late 1st – 3rd centuries. BC e. - Numnius
Only free people, both women and men, were accepted into it. But only those who have undergone many years of testing and training (test of long silence). The Pythagoreans had common property. There were numerous lifestyle requirements, food restrictions, etc.
The fate of the teaching. Through Neoplatonism, Pythagoreanism had a certain influence on all subsequent European philosophy based on Platonism. In addition, the Pythagorean mysticism of numbers influenced Kabbalah, natural philosophy and various mystical movements.
Eleatic school
The school received its name from the city of Elea, where its largest representatives mainly lived and worked: Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno.
The Eleatics were the first to try to rationally explain the world using philosophical concepts of ultimate generality, such as “being”, “non-being”, “movement”. And they even tried to prove their ideas.
The fate of the teaching. The teaching of the Eleatics had a significant influence on Plato, Aristotle and all subsequent European philosophy.
Xenophanes(c. 565 - 473 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher.
Philosophical views. Xenosphon can be called a spontaneous materialist. He has the first principle of all things Earth. Water is an accomplice of earth in the generation of life; even souls are composed of earth and water.
The doctrine of the gods. Xenophanes was the first to express the idea that it is not the gods who create people, but the people of the gods, in their own image and likeness.
The true God is not like mortals. He is all-seeing, all-hearing, all-knowing.
Parmenides(c. 504, time of death unknown.) - Ancient Greek philosopher.
Philosophical views. BEING AND NOTHING This truth can only be known with the help of reason. He proclaims identity of being and thinking .
Zeno of Elea(c. 490 - 430 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher.
Philosophical views. He defended and defended the doctrine of Parmenides about the One, rejected the reality of sensory existence and the multiplicity of things. Developed by aporia(difficulties) proving the impossibility of movement.
Empedocles(c. 490 - 430 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher.
Philosophical views. Empedocles is a spontaneous materialist – a pluralist. He has everything four traditional elements the beginning of the universe. Everything that happens in the world is explained by the action of two forces - Love and Enmity.*
Changes in the world are the result of the eternal struggle of Love and enmity, in which one or the other force wins. These changes occur in four stages.
Origin of the organic world. The organic world arises at the third stage of cosmogenesis and has four stages: 1) individual parts of animals arise; 2) separate parts of animals are randomly combined and both viable organisms and non-viable monsters arise; 3) viable organisms survive; 4) animals and people appear through reproduction.
Epistemology. The main principle is that like is known by like. Since man also consists of four elements, earth in the external world is known thanks to earth in the human body, water – thanks to water, etc.
The main medium of perception is blood, in which all four elements are most evenly mixed.
Empedocles is a proponent of the theory of transmigration of souls.
Anaxagoras(c. 500 - 428 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher.
Philosophical views. The origin of existence is GEOMETRY. Any thing contains geometries of all kinds.
Geometries themselves are passive. As a driving force, A. introduces the concept Nus(World mind), which not only moves the world but also cognizes it.
Epistemology. Everything is known by its opposite: cold by warm, sweet by bitter, etc. Sensations do not give truth, geometries are known only by the mind.
The fate of the teaching. Anaxagoras's teaching about the Mind was developed in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. The doctrine of geometries remained unclaimed until the 20th century.
BRYANSK 2012
1) Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………3
2) The main stages of the development of ancient philosophy……………………..7
3) Philosophers of “physics”………………………………………………….…9
4) Academies of Plato and Aristotle……………………………………11
5) Hellenic-Roman period in ancient philosophy……………………….15
6) Conclusion……………………………………………………………...28
7) List of references…………………………………….29
Introduction
Ancient philosophy is a consistently developing philosophical thought and covers a period of over a thousand years - from the end of the 7th century. BC e. up to the 6th century. n. e. Despite all the diversity of views of thinkers of this period, ancient philosophy is at the same time something unified, uniquely original and extremely instructive. It developed, not in isolation - it drew on the wisdom of the Ancient East, a culture that goes back to deeper antiquity, where even before the Greeks the formation of civilization took place: writing was formed, the beginnings of the science of nature and philosophical views themselves developed. This applies to countries such as Libya, Babylon, Egypt and Persia. There was also influence from more distant countries of the East - Ancient China and India. But the various instructive borrowings of Greek thinkers in no way detract from the amazing originality and greatness of ancient thinkers. We still need the thoughts of wise people even from the deep past. Anyone who does not know the history of philosophy, including ancient philosophy, cannot truly know its modern state. The study of the history of philosophy speaks of the instructiveness of familiarization with the chronicle of past wisdom. And even the errors of brilliant minds are much more instructive than individual discoveries of simply capable people, and the subtleties and oddities in the reasoning of the sages are richer and more useful for us than just common sense in the judgments of the average person. Philosophy and its history are largely determined by the personal characteristics of a particular thinker. Therefore, we will try, albeit very briefly, in the most general terms, to say something about the personality of the thinker in question. Pre-philosophical forms of consciousness: the problem of the sources of philosophy. It is quite firmly established in historical philosophy that the original form of social consciousness or the ideology of the tribal and early slave-owning system was mythology. And usually the formation of science and philosophy, as well as the totality, a certain unified and still undivided form of theoretical exploration of the world, is expressed by a formula. From myth to logos, or, more broadly, from mythological ideas to theoretical thinking. Philosophy arises as a solution to the contradiction between myth and elements of original empirical knowledge about nature and society. In conditions when philosophical thinking is just awakening, and, indeed, throughout the entire period of the formation of philosophy, myth generally dominates in the public consciousness. It should be noted that emerging philosophical thinking finds myth no longer in its original form. It has already been transformed, systematized, and largely rethought in the epic and theogonies presented in Ancient Greece by both Homer and Hesiod. They give us that direct appearance of myth, which precedes philosophy, and is increasingly transformed and decomposed under the influence of art and elementary forms of scientific knowledge characteristic of that era. Myth is a multi-layered and multifunctional formation. Taking shape in the conditions of a primitive communal formation, undifferentiated spontaneous collectivism, which generates a transfer to all reality of the natural relations of the tribal community, directly given to man, appears before us as a description of a certain set of fantastic creatures forming a community connected by blood kinship. Natural space, social , and production functions are distributed among these creatures. At the same time, the mythical narrative is accepted by the mythical subject completely uncritically, acting as truth, no matter how implausible it may look. Myth, therefore, appears for this subject as a completely real world, perhaps even more real than the everyday world. But at the same time, this is a detached world, alienated from the everyday world. It is at the same time visual, sensually given and magical, fabulous and individually - sensual - and abstractly generalized and obviously reliable, practically effective - and supernatural. Its main function is the regulation of social life in empirical diversity, and it acts here as life itself, where social, ideological and even physiological aspects are merged. In other words, mythology is a form of practically spiritual exploration of the world. That is why it overcomes, subjugates and transforms the forces of nature in the imagination and with the help of the imagination, it disappears, therefore, along with the onset of real dominance over these forces of nature. In order for these possibilities to be sufficiently realized, a long development of society and the most primitive consciousness was required. It was necessary, in particular, for the clan to be able to rise above the clan, the noble over the vile, and for the individual to sufficiently stand out from the clan, becoming an actual subject of labor, social life and knowledge, of course, to the extent that the level of development of society and the individual allowed this. This development occurs over a huge period of time, when the development of the discontinuous communal formation ends and the era of early slavery opens. (I.T. Frolov Introduction to Philosophy, Moscow, 1989. Page 41-79) At this time, a transition takes place from a collecting and hunting economy to a producing one, from stone to metal, and from fetishism to analysis. The process of decomposition of myth and the transition from it to other forms of social consciousness is clearly visible in Greece. The starting point of this process is mythology, presented in the secondary form of the epic, as well as in Hesiod’s Theogony and the adjacent theogonies of other authors, preserved in fragments. The immortal monuments of ancient culture are the works of Homer, Iliad and Odysseus. One can say about Homer's philosophical views that he was entirely based on mythology. He owns the saying: We are all water and earth. He did not ask a philosophical question about the origin of the world. These kinds of questions were first put forward by Hesiod, a peasant poet, author of the famous Works and Days and Theogony. He presented the myths as a single whole, describing the genealogy and vicissitudes of the host of the Olympian gods. The genealogy of the gods begins like this: in the beginning there was Chaos. From it the Earth (Gaia) was born. Together with the Earth, Eros and Erebus are born - the beginning of darkness in general and Night as self-determined darkness. From the marriage of Erebus and Night, Ether is born as light in general and Day as a specific light. Gaia gives birth to Heaven - the visible firmament, as well as mountains and the depths of the sea. From the marriage of Gaia and Uranus, that is, Earth and Sky, Ocean and Tethys are born, as well as Cyclops and giant titans, personifying various cosmic forces. From one of the titans, Kronos, a new generation of gods originates: the son of Kronos, Zeus, in the struggle for power, cuts off his father’s manhood, which from a great heavenly height falls into the sea, raising a strong wave, and emerges from the sea foam in all its divine beauty goddess of love Aphrodite. The goddess of justice and necessity is the beginning of every earthly birth - she who sends a woman to mate with a man and vice versa, a man with a woman, she took Cupid as her assistant and gave birth to him as the first of the gods. (“Introduction to Philosophy” by Wundt. Publisher: M ., “CheRo”, “Dobrosvet” Year: 2001. Pages 7-11) The historical period of mythology begins. Hesiod leads us to the last generation of gods, the descendants of Zeus - the Olympians, and from here - the romantic period of the gods entering into intimate intimacy with earthly women, giving birth to heroes, about whom Homer's poems narrate, this is a delightful fantastic series of love adventures of the gods. At an early stage of history, the mythological way of thinking began to be filled with rational content and corresponding forms of thinking: the power of generalizing and analytical thinking increased, science and philosophy arose, concepts and categories of the philosophical mind itself emerged, the process of transition from myth to logos took place (Logos is the root basis of logic) However, logos does not displace mythology, it is immortal, poetry is filled with it, it captivates children’s imagination, delights the mind and feelings of people of all ages, contributes to the development of imagination, which has a beneficial effect on the development of a person’s creative capabilities in all spheres of his activity. (“Ancient Philosophy” Bogomolov, 2nd edition, Moscow, 2006 pp. 81-196)
The main stages of the development of ancient philosophy.
Ancient philosophy has its own temporal and spatial boundaries. The time of its existence is from the 6th century. BC. and until the 6th century. AD, when Emperor Justinian died in 529 AD. the last philosophical school - Plato's Academy.
Greek philosophical thought has its stages of birth, flourishing and withering. The first stage, which is often called pre-Socratic, is cosmocentric in nature and initially retains the features of mythology. This is a fundamentally important stage in the formation of philosophy as a sphere of rational comprehension of the original foundations of the Cosmos, the desire to penetrate through the visible into the invisible, the beginning of the distinction between appearance and essence, being and non-being. Thus, the formation of a philosophical categorical system occurs.
At the first stage of the development of Greek thought, the difference between concepts and reality, being and thinking is not always realized, which leads to their implicit or explicit identification. This was reflected in the constructions of the philosophers of the Milesian school, Heraclitus, for whom it is not easy to draw the line between the water of Thapes, the air of Anaximenes, the fire of Heraclitus as universal essences that form the beginning of being, on the one hand, and the corresponding sensory perceptible natural elements, on the other.
At the same time, it is fundamental that for the first time the question of the relationship between sensory data and concepts is raised. The contradiction between sensory universality and the universality of the concept begins to stimulate the development of thought. A new world is opening up - the world of thought, in which concepts of varying degrees of generality “live”. The constructive capabilities of the mind begin to be realized. The latter is reflected in the philosophical systems of Socrates, Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle.
The second stage - the heyday of Greek philosophical thought - differs from the first, firstly, by a significant qualitative expansion of the subject field of philosophy, and secondly, by the development of categorical means of comprehending being and the wealth of thoughts that were ahead of their time; thirdly, the emergence within the framework of general philosophical ideas of the rudiments of scientific knowledge and logic, which subsequently had a significant impact on all spheres of human activity. In particular, the idea of philosophy as an intellectual and spiritual activity to overcome the contradiction between the imperfection of the existing material reality and the perfection of the world of ideas goes back to Plato. (V.F. Asmus “Ancient Philosophy”, Moscow, 1999. pp. 17-54) Such a contradiction - is not external to the thinking subject, but acts as a personal problem, the solution of which leads to improvement. transformation, spiritualization of man.
Aristotle distinguishes two levels of philosophy. The first philosophy deals with questions of being as such, being in general, while the second philosophy, or physics, examines the being of beings involved in movement. The problem of the relationship between first and second philosophy, as an indication of the further history of thought, is not simple. Ancient philosophy in the era of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle received its highest, classical development.
This is the heyday of the Greek type of philosophy, the most complete realization of the constructive capabilities of speculative reason.
The third stage of Greek philosophy - Hellenistic - is characterized by the inclusion of elements of Eastern culture, a decrease in the level of philosophical research, and the collapse of the high philosophical schools of Plato and Aristotle. Thus, the Stoics and Epicureans are more interested in philosophy practically than from the point of view of Truth and Good in their traditional Greek sense. Thus, the emphasis in understanding the subject of philosophy changes, the scope of its interests narrows, skepticism and criticism increase in contrast to the constructive thinking of their predecessors, and eclectic philosophical movements appear.
Philosophers of Physics.
Thales of Miletus from Ionia, with whom Greek philosophy begins, lived approximately in the last decades of the 7th century and the first half of the 6th century. BC. In him we have not only a philosopher, but also a scientist and a prudent politician. It is unclear whether he wrote any books. Only his thoughts are known as transmitted through oral tradition.
Being the initiator of the philosophy of "physis", he believed that water was the root cause of everything. Understanding this thesis makes it possible to understand the revolution that originated from Thales and led to the creation of philosophy.
"First cause" (arche) is not Thales's term (it may have been coined by his disciple Anaximander, although some believe it to be even later), but it is nevertheless a term that refers to the concept of quid, that from which all things come. This primordial basis, as can be seen from the Aristotelian exposition of the views of Thales and the first physicists, is both that from which everything that exists flows, and that into which everything is resolved. It is a certain essentiality that remains constant during all transformations.
This primordial basis of the first philosophers was designated by Thales by the term “physis”, physis, which meant nature not in the modern sense of the word, but in the original sense - the first and fundamental reality, that which is “primary and constant, as opposed to that which is secondary, derivative and transitory" (J. Burnet).
“Physicists” or “naturalists” are those philosophers, therefore, whose thought revolves around “physics”. It is possible to enter the spiritual horizon of these first philosophers only by understanding the archaic meaning of this term, which differs from its modern meaning.
However, it is still necessary to clarify the meaning of the coincidence of the primal principle with water.
An indirect tradition attributes to Thales the statements that “the nutrition of all things is wet,” that “the seeds and grains of all things are of a wet nature,” and why the drying up of everything is death. Life is connected with moisture, and moisture presupposes water, which means that everything comes from water, finds its life in water and ends in water.
Already in antiquity, there were attempts to find analogues for these statements of Thales among those (Homer, for example) who believed that Ocean and Tethys were the father and mother of everything. In addition, there were attempts to connect the ideas of Thales with the spells of the Gods on the River Styx in the underworld. After all, that on which oaths are pronounced is the beginning, and it is above all. However, the difference between Thales's position and these ideas is obvious. The latter are based on fantasy and myth; Thales expresses his judgments according to reason, basing them on logos. On top of this, Thales's level of rationality was such that, based on his study of celestial phenomena, he was able to predict, to the general amazement of the townspeople, an eclipse of the sun (possibly in 585 BC). One of the theorems of geometry is named after him. (V.F. Asmus “Ancient Philosophy”, Moscow, 1999. pp. 201-219)
But we should not think that the water of Thales is what we drink, that it is one of a number of physico-chemical elements. Thales thought of water as “physis” - liquid, flowing, and what we drink is only one of its states. Thales is a “naturalist” in the ancient sense of the word, but not at all a “materialist” in the modern sense. Its water correlated with the divine principle. “God,” he said, “is something most ancient, for he was not born by anyone,” therefore he is the basis of everything. Thales introduces a new concept of the divine, in which reason dominates, from which all the gods of the fantastic-poetic pantheon can be derived.
When Thales argued that “everything is full of gods,” he only wanted to say that everything is imbued with the first principle. And since life is primary, everything is alive and everything has a soul (panpsychism). The magnet was for Thales an example of the universal animism of things.
With Thales, the human logos confidently set out on the path of conquering reality - both the whole and the parts that became objects of special sciences.
→Periodization of ancient philosophyFeatures of ancient philosophy
The development of ancient philosophy is the most important stage in the historical dynamics of the subject of philosophical knowledge. Within the framework of ancient philosophy, ontology and metaphysics, epistemology and logic, anthropology and psychology, philosophy of history and aesthetics, moral and political philosophy are highlighted.
Ancient philosophy(first Greek and then Roman) cover more than a thousand-year period from the 6th century. BC e. to VI century AD e. Ancient philosophy originated in the ancient Greek (city-states) with a democratic orientation and its content, methods and purpose differed from the eastern methods of philosophizing, the mythological explanation of the world characteristic of early ancient culture. The formation of a philosophical view of the world was prepared by ancient Greek literature and culture (the works of Homer, Hesiod, gnomic poets), where questions were raised about the place and role of man in the universe, skills were formed to establish motives (reasons) for actions, and artistic images were structured according to feelings of harmony, proportion and measures.
Early Greek philosophy uses fantastic imagery and metaphorical language. But if for myth the image of the world and the real world were no different, then philosophy formulates as its main goal the desire for truth, a pure and disinterested desire to get closer to it. Possession of the complete truth, according to ancient tradition, was considered possible only by the gods. Man could not merge with “sophia” because he was mortal, finite and limited in knowledge. Therefore, only an unbridled desire for truth is available to a person, which has never been fully completed, active, active, passionate desire for truth, love for wisdom, what the concept itself expresses "philosophy". Being was associated with a multitude of constantly changing elements, and consciousness was associated with a limited number of concepts that restrained the chaotic manifestation of the elements.
Search for the fundamental principle of the world in the changing circulation of phenomena is the main cognitive goal of ancient Greek philosophy. Therefore, ancient philosophy can be understood as doctrine of "first principles and causes". According to its method, this historical type of philosophy seeks to rationally explain existence, reality as a whole. For ancient philosophy, reasonable evidence, logical argumentation, rhetorical-deductive rationality, and logos are significant. The transition “from myth to logos” created a well-known vector of development of both spiritual culture and Europe.
The main stages in the development of ancient philosophy
In the development of ancient philosophy there are four main stages(you can see the detailed division of philosophical schools in the table below).
First stage – 6-5 centuries BC e. "pre-Socratic" . The philosophers who lived before Socrates are called pre-Socratics. These include the sages from Miletus (Miletus school - Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes), Heraclitus from Ephesus, the Eleatic school (Parmenides, Zeno), Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, atomists (Leucippus and Democritus). Natural philosophers deal with the problem of arche (Greek arhe - beginning) - the unified basis of the universe (senior physicists) and the problems of the integral unity of multiple worlds (junior physicists).
The central subject of knowledge in ancient Greek natural philosophy acts space, and the main form of philosophical teaching is cosmological models. The central question of ontology - the question of the essence and structure of the world - is highlighted from the perspective of the question of its origin.
Second phase – approximately mid 5th – late 4th centuries BC. e. – classical. The emergence of classical philosophy marks a radical turn to logical-epistemological, socio-political, moral-ethical and anthropological issues. This turn is associated with the sophistic tradition and with the figure of Socrates. Within the framework of mature classics, perfect examples of systemic abstract theoretical and philosophical concepts are developed, defining the canon of the Western European philosophical tradition (Plato and Aristotle).
Third stage - end of 4th-2nd centuries. BC e. usually called Hellenistic. In contrast to the previous one, associated with the emergence of significant, deep in content and universal in theme, philosophical systems, various eclectic competing philosophical schools are being formed: peripatetics, academic philosophy (Plato’s Academy, Stoic and Epicurean schools, skepticism). All schools are united by one feature: the transition from commenting on the teachings of Plato and Aristotle to the formation of problems of ethics, moralistic frankness in the era of the decline of Hellenistic culture. Then the works of Theophrastus, Carneades, Epicurus, Pyrrho and others became popular.
Fourth stage – 1st century BC e. – 5-6 centuries on the. e. - the period when Rome began to play a decisive role in antiquity, under whose influence Greece also fell. Roman philosophy was formed under the influence of Greek, especially Hellenistic. There are three schools of thought in Roman philosophy: Stoicism (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius), skepticism (Sextus Empiricus), Epicureanism (Titus Lucretius Carus). In the 3rd-5th centuries. n. e. Neoplatonism arises and develops in Roman philosophy, a famous representative of which is the philosopher Plotinus. Neoplatonism significantly influenced not only early Christian philosophy, but all of it.
References:
1. World Encyclopedia: Philosophy / Main. scientific ed. and comp. A. A. Gritsanov. - M.: AST, Mn.: Harvest, - Modern writer, 2001. - 1312 p.
2. History of philosophy: A handbook for a high school. - Kh.: Prapor, 2003. - 768 p.
Pythagoreanism
This philosophical movement was founded Pythagoras(c. 570 - c. 500 BC) from about. Samos, that's why it was called Samos. In the south of the Apennine Peninsula in the city of Croton, he created a union (secret, with strict rules) of like-minded people who shared his views, actively participating in the political life of Croton.
Unlike the Milesians and Ephesians, Pythagoras was an idealist. He considered numbers (natural integers) to be the fundamental principle of the world.. Everything in the world is countable and is in numerical relation to each other; these relationships create harmony in the world. Numbers are the basis of the five elements that make up all the diversity of the world and our planet - the center of the Universe. He even correlated sounds (including in music) with various numbers. Pythagoras also believed in the transmigration of souls.
Eleatic school
Existed in the city of Elea in the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula. Its most famous representatives were Parmenides(lived in the 6th-5th centuries BC), Zeno(c. 490-430 BC).
The Eleatics were the first to put forward the idea that the sensory world is illusory; in their opinion, the intelligible world, and not the physical, should be considered true. Moreover, it was not people who were created by gods, but gods by people ( Xenophanes). It is possible to know the truth only in a rational way, since being and thinking are identical, while sensations are false.
Being is motionless, because if there is non-being, then it - non-being - also exists, which means it is also being, and if being and non-being are identical, then there cannot be any transitions between them, therefore, there are simply no grounds for movement ( Parmenides). To prove this point, Zeno developed aporia(difficulties).
If space were divisible into some finite fragments, then a flying arrow (aporia “Arrow”) would occupy at each specific moment in time only certain of them and only completely; at another moment in time it motionlessly occupies other fragments of space. If space is divisible to infinity, then Achilles will never catch up with the tortoise (aporia “Achilles and the tortoise”), since he needs to overcome the distance separating him from the tortoise, but at the same time it moves to another point while Achilles reaches a new goal, the turtle moves again and so on ad infinitum, although the distance is significantly reduced each time.
Atomists
Most scientists agree that one of the authors of atomism was Democritus(c. 460-370 BC) from the city of Abdera, his teacher Leucippa many consider it the fruit of legends.
Atomists believe that the fundamental principle of existence is atoms(indivisible) - indivisible, uncreated and indestructible, the smallest (but different in shape, mass and size) mobile particles. There are an infinite number of them. They periodically combine to form objects of the observable material world, then over time they disintegrate and form other objects in a different ratio. This process is endless, but not chaotic, but subject to a certain necessity (determinism). In the spaces between the atoms there is an infinite void (similar to a vacuum).
In addition to the listed schools and philosophers, there were others, with their own peculiarities of ideas about the world, with their own versions of the principles. For example, Anaxagoras(c. 500-428 BC), who considered the fundamental principle of being homeomerism- the smallest particles of a substance that are carriers of special qualities (for example, the qualities of fire, air, water or iron), their different ratios in a particular thing determine its properties; or Empedocles(c. 490-430 BC), who considered the basis of being Love And feud being in constant interaction and setting in motion elements that are essentially passive.
Common to early ancient philosophy were attempts to explain the essence of nature, a declarative rather than disputative way of presenting their positions. Most philosophers sought to find the fundamental principle of the world, many animated things, nature (hylozoism). The main feature of the philosophy of this period is cosmocentrism.
The next period of ancient philosophy is distinguished by greater maturity and depth of understanding of the essence of nature and the cosmos, and the watershed was a radical change in the main problems considered by philosophy. In particular, Socrates' teaching was anthropocentric rather than cosmocentric. And if the early period became the birth of ancient philosophy, then the classical period became its heyday.
Classical ancient philosophy
Classical period includes the philosophical activities of the Sophists, and the emergence of the “Socratic” schools.
Sophists
With this name, researchers unite a group of ancient Greek philosophers (they lived in Athens at the same time as Socrates), who considered winning disputes an important goal. At the same time, they did not care about the objective correctness of the potential winner of the philosophers, many of whom were engaged in educational activities and education. Sophists (Greek) sophistes - sage) - philosophers-educators, paid professional teachers who were involved in the general education of citizens and had especially extensive experience in teaching oratory, are usually divided into “seniors” ( Protagoras, Gorgias, Critias etc.) and “younger” ( Lycophron, Alkydamant and etc.).
The Sophists placed man at the center of attention; Protagoras famously said: “man is the measure of all things.” Man became the main starting point of all reasoning and the main criterion of the surrounding reality. The Sophists drew attention to the difference between the laws of nature and the social norms established by man himself.
Sophists are characterized by a critical attitude towards the surrounding reality, denial of previous traditions, philosophical ideas and conclusions, ethical standards that are not sufficiently substantiated, as well as the desire to defend their positions with the help of logic. They taught other people to win victories in disputes, and invented various methods of conducting disputes. For this purpose, they, in particular, developed sophisms (Greek. sophisma- cunning) - formally seemingly correct, but essentially false conclusions based on a deliberate violation of the rules of logic. For example, the sophism “Horned”: What you have not lost, you have. You didn't lose your horns. Therefore you have horns.
Some contemporaries and researchers classify Socrates as a sophist - he also had little interest in natural philosophy (philosophy of nature), placed man at the center of the philosophical understanding of the world, also taught other people, and was also skeptical about dogmas. But it should be remembered that the sophists taught people for money, but Socrates was disinterested; the main goal of the sophists in a discussion is to defeat their opponent; Socrates always sought the truth; the sophists rejected objective criteria of good and evil (everything is relative); Socrates believed that what makes people virtuous is knowledge of the essence of good and evil.
The philosophy of this time was influenced by the partial depreciation of previous mythological, religious and generally cultural values. The worship of ancient gods became more of a habit. than internal need; the mythical inhabitants of Olympus were rapidly losing their former power and authority. At the same time, some ethical standards also lost their meaning. In modern language, crisis phenomena could not remain unnoticed by philosophers.
See also: Hellenistic-Roman philosophy.philosophy cosmocentrism Milesian ancient
Ancient (Ancient Greek) philosophy appears in the 7th-6th centuries BC. It is formed in certain historical conditions: economic, social, cultural. By that time, Ancient Greece had a fairly developed slave society, with a complex social class structure and forms of division of labor that were already specialized. The role of intellectual and spiritual activity is also increasing, acquiring the features of professionalism. Developed spiritual culture and art created fertile ground for the formation of philosophy and philosophical thinking. Thus, Homer and his work, it is enough to note his “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, had a huge impact on many aspects of the spiritual life of Greek society of that period. One can figuratively say that all “ancient philosophers and thinkers” came out of Homer. And later, many of them turned to Homer and his works as argument and proof.
At first, philosophy appears in the form of philosophizing. Thus, the “seven wise men”: 1) Thales of Miletus, 2) Pytton of Mytilene, 3) Bias of Prisna; 4) Solon from Asia; 5) Cleobulus of Liontia; 6) Mison of Heney; 7) Chilo from Lacedaemonia tried in aphoristic form to comprehend the essential aspects of the existence of the world and man, which have a stable, universal and generally significant character and determine the actions of people. In the form of aphorisms, they developed rules and recommendations for human action that people should follow in order to avoid mistakes: “Honor your father” (Cleobulus), “Know your time” (Pitton); “Hide the bad in your home” (Thales). They were more in the nature of useful advice than philosophical statements. Their limited but rational meaning is expressed in utility. Due to this, they are generally applicable. But already in Thales’s statements acquire a truly philosophical character, since they record the universal properties of nature that eternally exist. For example, “space is greatest, because it contains everything,” “Necessity is most powerful, because it has power.” They contain only a hint of philosophical problems, but not a conscious formulation of them.
But already within the framework of the “Miletus School of Philosophers,” a proper philosophical approach to understanding the world is being formed, for they consciously pose and try to answer such fundamental questions: Is the world united and how is its unity expressed? Does the world (in this case, nature) have its own fundamental principle and the root cause of its existence? The answer to such questions cannot be obtained on the basis of one’s life experience, but only through thinking in abstract, generalized concepts.
The “Miletus philosophers” designate objectively existing nature with the special concept of “cosmos” (in Greek - the universe, the world). This is where one of the first theoretical ways of understanding the world appears - cosmologism (cosmos + logos, knowledge). Cosmologism considers the world, the universe as an integral system, which is characterized by unity, stability, integrity and eternity of existence. And philosophy developed in the form of natural philosophy, a philosophical understanding of nature, as a rational form of its description, explanation and understanding. Since scientific knowledge itself did not yet exist, philosophy took upon itself the function of knowledge of the specific properties of nature and its physical laws (phisis - in Greek nature, physics), and at the same time tried to solve purely philosophical problems - what is the primary essence, the first principle nature and what is the essence of its existence.
Within the framework of the “Miletus School of Philosophers”, individual objects and phenomena were taken as the primary essence, the original principle, the “primary substance”, the properties of which were given a universal character. The properties of the individual, the separate, were taken as the basis of all things. Thus, Thales from Miletus (late 7th - first half of the 6th century BC) takes water as the fundamental principle of existence, as the most important primary substance. She is the single source of birth of everything. Undoubtedly, the empirical fact was taken into account - where there is water, there is life. Anaximander (610 - ca. 540 BC), a student of Thales, as a primary substance, first takes apeiron (translated into Greek as limitless), which is eternal and present everywhere and has no boundaries. And therefore the Cosmos is eternal and limitless. And space seems to be a living, breathing “organism”, where the collision of warm and cold air acts as breathing. Anaximenes (6th century BC) believed that the first principle is air, from which all objects and things of the objective world arise. It is also the basis of the cosmos. The “breathing of air” (liquefaction and condensation) holds everything and gives birth to everything. Thus, within the framework of the Milesian school, a certain principle of philosophizing is expressed - to consider the existence of the world from the world itself. This principle is called materialism. Sometimes it is called naturalism. This is how the materialist tradition was born in Ancient philosophy, which had a huge influence on the development of philosophical thought throughout Antiquity, but also on European philosophy as a whole. It should be noted that materialism is already a rational way of understanding the world, although still in an undeveloped, naive form.
Heraclitus of Ephesus (from the city of Ephesus) played a special role in the development of ancient philosophy from 544 to 480. BC) Based on the established tradition, he also takes a separate phenomenon - fire - as the single basis of the world, and the cosmos is a “fire-breathing ball” that exists on its own, was not created by anyone and has always been and will be an “eternally living fire” ”, which has its own rhythms of being (“measures that flare up and measures that fade away”).
To emphasize the unity of the world with all its diversity, Heraclitus introduces the concept of Logos, which is also cosmic in nature. By Logos he understands the cosmic mind (mind), which through the word gives the Cosmos a certain meaning of existence. Logos, as it were, embraces everything that exists and gives it the quality of unity. Within this unity, all things, bodies, objects flow into each other. Thanks to movement, it (the cosmos) is dynamic, and thanks to Logos it maintains its stability, certainty and harmony. Heraclitus was one of the first to create the doctrine of movement and development of the material world; the source and cause of development and movement are in the world itself. In fact, this is historically the first form of ancient dialectics as a doctrine of the movement and self-movement of the world. And it was materialistic in nature. In his opinion, movement is the universal way of existence of matter. Without movement and without movement, objects of the material world do not manifest their properties. He puts forward the aphoristic formula: “Everything flows and everything changes,” emphasizing the universal nature of movement, understanding by them the fluidity and variability of properties, and not just mechanical movement. The objectivity and naturalness of movement as an attribute of matter (nature) are reinforced by the comparison - it flows like water in a river. But the most important thing in the teachings of Heraclitus is the characteristics of the source, the root cause of movement. This source is the struggle of opposites, which sets everything that exists in motion. In fact, he was the first to formulate the law of unity and struggle of opposites, which is universal and universal. And for that time, Heraclitus gives a detailed description of the content and action of this law. Thus, by unity he understands the identity of opposites, that is, the belonging of various mutually exclusive properties to the same essence, to one object. For example, “day and night, winter and summer” are properties of nature. The struggle of opposites is considered not simply as a collision and destruction of mutually exclusive properties, but as a transition from one to another, as a mutual transition: “Cold becomes warm, warm becomes cold, wet becomes dry, dry becomes wet.” The opposites seem to be in a triune relationship at the same time: 1) they mutually determine each other; 2) they complement each other (harmony of the world) and 3) they are mutually exclusive (struggle). The development of the world as a cosmos presupposes an eternal cycle of phenomena, due to which it remains an eternally living fire. Here it is worth emphasizing that all subsequent philosophers and thinkers appealed to Heraclitean dialectics and his doctrine of development.
Heraclitus subjects the essence of human cognitive activity to philosophical analysis and puts forward the doctrine of truth. Thus, the universal basis of knowledge is the ability of people to think. (“Thinking is common to all”), the instrument of which is the word (“logos”), and the goal of cognition is the achievement of true knowledge, i.e. one that does not distort the objective properties of things. He distinguishes two levels of knowledge:
sensory knowledge, which he calls “dark”, since feelings often distort the real picture and record only individual external properties. “People’s eyes and ears are bad witnesses.” He, however, stipulates that only those who “have coarse souls.”
theoretical knowledge that gives thinking, through which a person achieves true knowledge and becomes a true sage.
The most prominent representative of the materialist tradition in Ancient philosophy was Democritus of Abdera (460 - 350 BC). He is the most consistent proponent of materialism as a principle of explanation and understanding of the world. He believed that the primary substance, the “first brick” of everything that exists, are atoms, the smallest, indivisible particles. They are smaller than dust and therefore not visually perceptible. He becomes the creator of the atomic picture of the world.
Democritus also resolves such a complex and difficult question: If everything consists of atoms, then why is the world of objects so diverse in their properties? That is, he was faced with a fundamental philosophical problem - the unity and diversity of the world. And within the framework of philosophy and natural philosophy of that period, he gives its rational solution. Atoms are infinite in number, but differ in 1) size; 2) gravity (heavy and light); 3) geometric shapes (flat, round, hooked, etc.). The endless inexhaustibility of atomic forms. Hence, the infinite variety of properties of objects is associated with what atoms they consist of. In addition, the change in properties depends on the change in the bond order, the relationships between different atoms. The combinations of atoms are endless in their variety. Therefore, the Universe, the cosmos, is moving matter consisting of atoms. By matter he means everything that consists of atoms. And by movement he understands both the movement of atoms (they rush around like crazy), and their connection and separation. And the movement itself is rhythmic, repeatable and stable. Therefore, he is inclined to recognize the existence of necessity in the world, i.e. the obligation and objectivity of what is happening, the stable ordering of events, and the denial of theology. In this regard, the philosophy of Democritus can be characterized as atheistic. But there are no accidents in the world, but strict necessity reigns. Therefore, the existence of the world is existence in necessity. And non-existence is emptiness, when connections and relationships are destroyed, and objects lose their properties.
Democritus consistently applies the principle of materialism to explain the essence of knowledge, to obtain true knowledge about something. By truth in this case we mean the coincidence, the adequacy of our ideas, images, concepts with the real properties of things. We can say that Democritus was one of the first to create a fairly coherent theory of knowledge, which is based on the principle of reflection, reproduction of the world and its properties in thinking. Typically, Democritus’ theory of knowledge is characterized as a “theory of outflow”, the essence of which is as follows. The atoms are covered with the thinnest film, “eidola” - images. They break off, “flow” from the surface of atoms, affect our senses, are imprinted on them, stored and consolidated in memory. This is a sensory level of cognition, which has a sign of reliability. True, he calls sensory knowledge “dark” due to its incompleteness, fragmentation and superficiality. True knowledge is, although a continuation of sensory knowledge, but already the result of the activity of the mind, which, through concepts, generalizes individual facts, gives complete and undistorted knowledge about the true essence of things hidden from the senses. And this is the result of the activity of thinking, the activity of the mind through concepts. Knowledge, as it were, moves from sensory, empirical knowledge to theoretical, rational, intellectual knowledge, in which the true nature of things is revealed to us.
From the point of view of his atheistic concept, Democritus explains the existence of the spiritual world and the human soul. All living things have a soul consisting of special atoms. The human soul consists of very light and spherical atoms. And since the human body also consists of atoms, we can talk about the unity of Soul and Body. Therefore, when the body dies, the soul leaves the body, dissipating in space. Of course, this is a naive dialectic of soul and body, but still an attempt to explain their relationship.
Democritus also touches on complex moral problems of human existence. In his special work “On the Equal Mood of Spirit” (on “euthymia”), he presents the goal of human life as the desire for happiness and good, achieved by calmness and balance in the soul, a state of serene wisdom. Serenity is a mental state when feelings do not rebel against reason. And happiness is understood not as the desire for pleasure, but for justice. From this he concludes that only a moral person is truly happy. He achieves this by following the dictates of conscience and shame, which he characterizes in the form of aphorisms: “Do not say or do anything bad, even if you are alone; learn to be ashamed of yourself much more than of others” (conscience). “Not out of fear, but out of a sense of duty, one must refrain from actions” (shame). “Not only actions, but also intentions can be immoral.” Of course, these postulates are advisory in nature, but may be generally applicable. They still do not lose their significance, attractiveness and inspiring power.
A prominent place in Ancient philosophy of this period is occupied by Pythagoras (570 - 406/97 BC) and the “Pythagorean school” formed by him. He was not only a famous mathematician and geometer, but also an outstanding philosopher. He offers an original solution to the fundamental philosophical problem - what is the basis of the unity of the world and whether there are single, general patterns in this world, and whether we can cognize them and rationally express them. Based on the already generally accepted idea of the world, space as a living, fiery and breathing spherical body and from astronomical observations, Pythagoras notes in the movement of celestial bodies the geometric correctness of the movement of celestial bodies, rhythm and harmony in the correlation of celestial bodies, which are characterized by constant numerical relationships. The so-called harmony of the celestial spheres. He comes to the conclusion that the basis of the unity and harmony of the world, as if its universal fundamental principle, is number. “The Pythagoreans considered numbers to be sensually perceived spatial figures.” Introducing such a principle of understanding and explaining the world, Pythagoras draws attention to the existence of interconnections, dialectics of the finite and infinite, spatial coordinates of the existence of the world. And since numbers “rule the world and permeate everything,” both soul and body have numerical expressions, and numerical proportions are also inherent in moral qualities, beauty, and art, especially music. From here he puts forward the idea of transmigration of the human soul after bodily death into the bodies of other beings. In this form, which now seems naive, Pythagoras asserts the existence of universal laws of existence of the world, its unity, infinity and limitlessness, and therefore eternity.
A special trend in the philosophy of Antiquity of this period was sophistry (from the Greek sophistry - the ability to conduct debates wittily). Based on the postulate “Man is the measure of all things” put forward by Protagoras (481 - 413 BC), they direct their efforts not to achieve true knowledge, but to prove through eloquence the correctness of any subjective opinion that meets the principle of utility . This is a kind of “utilitarian philosophy”, which puts forward the ideas of relativity and impermanence of all things, denying truth as generally valid knowledge. Exactly what is useful and beneficial to an individual. Therefore, they pursued a purely pragmatic and largely selfish goal - to prove the truth of any opinion if it was beneficial. Hence the extreme relativism - there is nothing universally significant, stable and permanent in the world. And to do this, they narrowly used logic as a system of proof for narrow speculative purposes. Everything is relative: good, good, evil, beautiful, and, therefore, there is nothing truly true. Here is an example of the sophists’ technique: “Disease is evil for the sick, but good for doctors.” “Death is evil for those who are dying, but for sellers of things needed for funerals and for funeral workers it is good.” Based on such judgments, it is impossible to understand what true good is and whether it has universal significance; it is impossible to prove whether death is evil. In fact, sophistry and sophistry entered the history of philosophical thought and culture as a conscious substitution of concepts about something in order to obtain benefit and gain. Sophistry has become synonymous with unscientificness and dishonesty both in the thinking and in the actions of people. Sophistry and sophistry become a sign of untruth in actions, in thinking, and in worldview. Sophistry and sophistry are a deliberate justification of evil and self-interest. It should be noted that sophism and sophists were especially popular among politicians of that time. Modern politicians are guilty of the same thing.
3. Now we begin to characterize the most fruitful and positive period in the development of Ancient philosophy, which received the designation of the Ancient Classics, a period of a perfect example of philosophizing, pursuing the only goal - comprehending the truth and creating methods of cognition that lead us to truly true, reliable knowledge. This was the period of the creation of the historically first universal philosophical systems that grasped the world as a single whole and gave it a rational interpretation. We can say that this was a period of a kind of “creative competition” of thinkers-philosophers, although they held different positions, but pursued one goal - the search for universal truth and the elevation of philosophy as a rational form of description, explanation and understanding of the world.
In socio-economic and political terms, this was the heyday of ancient slave society, democracy and political life, art and science of that period. Economically, it was an era of prosperity, and spiritually, the rise of the principles of high ethics and morality. It seemed to become a model for civilized and cultural development, a model of humanism for all subsequent stages of European and not only European culture and history. Although Greek society of this period also had its own internal contradictions, as indeed for any other. But we can still say that agreement and unity rather prevailed in it than disagreement and disunity.
We can say that the ancestor, the “father” of classical ancient philosophy is Socrates (469 - 399 BC). This was an outstanding personality in all respects: he was not only a great philosopher-thinker, but an outstanding person and citizen. He amazingly combined his philosophical position and practical actions and deeds in harmonious unity. His integrity as a philosopher and as a person has such high charm and authority that he had a huge influence not only on all subsequent stages of philosophy, both European and world, but became a symbol, an example of an authentic, true person for all times. “Socratic man” is the ideal of man, not as God, but as “an earthly being close to all people.” It can be said that the life of Socrates is an example of demonstrative service to truth and humanity.
Socrates, first of all, draws attention to the peculiarities of philosophy and philosophizing, to the specifics of philosophical knowledge. It lies in the fact that philosophy, through general concepts about an object, tries to discover a single basis, an essence that is generally valid for a number of phenomena or all phenomena, which is the law of the existence of things. The subject of philosophy, according to Socrates, cannot be nature, since we are not capable of either changing natural phenomena or creating them. Therefore, the subject of philosophy is man and his actions, and self-knowledge, knowledge of oneself, is the most important task. Socrates raises the question of the goals and practical purpose of philosophical knowledge for man. Thus, philosophy is given an anthropological character. Socratic philosophy is one of the first forms of anthropological philosophy. After Socrates in philosophy, the problem of man acquired the meaning of a fundamental problem. What is the purpose of philosophy according to Socrates? The goal and task of philosophy is to teach a person the art of life and to be happy in this life. He gives a very simple definition of happiness, which is essentially universal - happiness is a state of a person when he experiences neither mental nor physical suffering. Eudlaimon is a happy person. The basis of happiness, according to Socrates, can be true knowledge about the good and the good, i.e., which no one doubts, and which does not lead to mistakes and delusions that are the cause of unhappiness. On this basis, Socrates believes that true knowledge is a genuine good, which is based not so much on benefit as on goodness. By good, Socrates understands bringing benefit to another, without pursuing any selfish gain. But how to achieve and is knowledge of true goodness and goodness achievable, is true knowledge of anything achievable? After all, true knowledge has a special attribute. It is universally significant and obvious to everyone and therefore no one doubts it. Therefore, Truth reveals the universal, essential foundations of the existence of phenomena in a certain quality.
The only way to achieve true knowledge is the method of dialogue, during which the truth is revealed to the participants in the dialogue. According to Socrates, dialogue is a mutual and voluntary search for true knowledge about something, clothed in a system of general concepts under which we subsume specific phenomena. Dialogue is a creative process of searching for truth. Addressing his interlocutor, Socrates says: “And yet I want to think with you and look for what it is” (true virtue). (See Plato. Meno. Selected dialogues and true good). In the dialogue Laches, Socrates asks the question: “What does it mean to define what virtue is?” and answers: “It means to find out what is one and the same in everything, to find in the virtue in question that one thing that covers all cases of its manifestation.” This means that truth, and especially philosophical truth, is correct knowledge about the essence, which has a universally valid character. In this regard, Socrates emphasizes the rationalistic nature of philosophy, capable of resisting mysticism, prejudice and ignorance. Therefore, Socrates insists on the assertion that philosophy is the only impartial form of self-knowledge by a person of his true essence. Hence his motto-aphorism: “Know yourself.”
In dialogue there is always a dialectic of opinion and knowledge, opinion and truth. Opinion, i.e. a statement about something turns into a true judgment only when it turns into a system of concepts that fix what is generally valid. And the dialectics of thinking consists in the transition from one type of concept to another, from particular to general, more general content, from simpler knowledge to more complex one.
According to Socrates, the goal of philosophy is also for man to gain true freedom, the content of which should be to clarify what depends on man and what does not depend on man, and within these boundaries; Based on true knowledge, a person acts accurately and without error. Therefore, a person is free only to the extent that he knows himself. But according to Socrates, true and genuine freedom also includes a moral and ethical component. Freedom, free-thinking is the path to self-improvement, to the perfect ideal of a person, to a kalokagatic person (i.e., perfect in spiritual and moral terms). Socrates insists: “After all, all I do is go around and convince each of you, both young and old, to take care first and foremost not of the body or money, but of the soul, so that it is as good as possible.”
This is the humanistic and educational character of Socratic philosophy. Socrates is a model not only of genuine philosophizing, but also of a genuine combination of philosophy and practice of action, responsibility as a thinker and as a person. In essence, Socrates conducts a “social experiment” on himself, in which he tests the possibility and achievability of the connection and indissolubility of philosophical truths and principles with direct life manifestation. Which always requires extraordinary courage from a thinker and a person, as demonstrated by Socrates at his trial. Let’s finish our characterization of Socrates’ philosophy with Michel Montaigne’s statement about him: “It is truly easier to speak like Aristotle and live like Caesar than to speak and live like Socrates. This is precisely the limit of difficulty and perfection: no art will add anything here.”
