ancient philosophical thought. Ancient philosophy (general characteristics)

Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine

Department of Philosophy

TEST

Course: "Philosophy"

1. Ancient philosophy

2. Cosmocentrism

3. Philosophy of Heraclitus

4. Philosophy of Zeno of Elea

5. Pythagorean Union

6. Atomistic philosophy

7. Sophists

9. The teachings of Plato

10. Philosophy of Aristotle

11. Skepticism of Pyrrho

12. Philosophy of Epicurus

13. Philosophy of Stoicism

14. Neoplatonism

Conclusion

5th century BC e. in the life of ancient Greece is full of many philosophical discoveries. In addition to the teachings of the sages - the Milesians, Heraclitus and the Eleatics, Pythagoreanism is gaining sufficient fame. About Pythagoras himself - the founder of the Pythagorean Union - we know from later sources. Plato calls his name only once, Aristotle twice. Most Greek authors call the island of Samos the birthplace of Pythagoras (580-500 BC), which he was forced to leave due to the tyranny of Polycrates. On the advice of supposedly Thales, Pythagoras went to Egypt, where he studied with the priests, then as a prisoner (in 525 BC Egypt was captured by the Persians) ended up in Babylonia, where he also studied with the Indian sages. After 34 years of study, Pythagoras returned to Great Hellas, to the city of Croton, where he founded the Pythagorean Union - a scientific-philosophical and ethical-political community of like-minded people. The Pythagorean Union is a closed organization, and its teachings are secret. The way of life of the Pythagoreans fully corresponded to the hierarchy of values: in the first place - beautiful and decent (which science was referred to), in the second - profitable and useful, in the third - pleasant. The Pythagoreans got up before sunrise, did mnemonic (related to the development and strengthening of memory) exercises, then went to the seashore to meet the sunrise. We thought about the upcoming business, worked. At the end of the day, after the bath, they all dined together and made libations to the gods, followed by a general reading. Before going to bed, each Pythagorean gave a report on what had been done during the day.

The content of the article

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY- a set of philosophical teachings that arose in ancient Greece and Rome in the period from the 6th century BC. by 6th c. AD The conditional time limits of this period are considered to be 585 BC. (when the Greek scientist Thales predicted a solar eclipse) and 529 AD. (when the Neoplatonic school in Athens was closed by Emperor Justinian). The main language of ancient philosophy was ancient Greek, from the 2nd-1st centuries. began the development of philosophical literature also in Latin.

Sources of study.

Most of the texts of Greek philosophers are presented in medieval manuscripts in Greek. In addition, valuable material is medieval translations from Greek into Latin, Syriac and Arabic (especially if the Greek originals are irretrievably lost), as well as a number of manuscripts on papyri, partly preserved in the city of Herculaneum, covered with the ashes of Vesuvius - this last the source of information about ancient philosophy represents the only opportunity to study texts written directly in the ancient period.

Periodization.

In the history of ancient philosophy, several periods of its development can be distinguished: (1) pre-Socratics, or early natural philosophy; (2) classical period (sophists, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle); (3) Hellenistic philosophy; (4) eclecticism at the turn of the millennium; (5) Neoplatonism. The late period is characterized by the coexistence of the school philosophy of Greece with Christian theology, which was formed under the significant influence of the ancient philosophical heritage.

Presocratics

(6 - mid-5th centuries BC). Initially, ancient philosophy developed in Asia Minor (Miletian school, Heraclitus), then in Italy (Pythagoreans, Eleatic school, Empedocles) and on mainland Greece (Anaxagoras, atomists). The main theme of early Greek philosophy is the origin of the universe, its origin and structure. Philosophers of this period were mainly researchers of nature, astronomers, and mathematicians. Believing that the birth and death of natural things does not happen by chance and not from nothing, they were looking for a beginning, or a principle that explains the natural variability of the world. The first philosophers believed that a single primary substance was such a beginning: water (Thales) or air (Anaksimen), infinite (Anaximander), the Pythagoreans considered the beginnings of the limit and the boundless, generating an ordered cosmos, cognizable by means of a number. Subsequent authors (Empedocles, Democritus) named not one, but several principles (four elements, an infinite number of atoms). Like Xenophanes, many of the early thinkers criticized traditional mythology and religion. Philosophers have thought about the causes of order in the world. Heraclitus, Anaxagoras taught about the rational principle ruling the world (Logos, Mind). Parmenides formulated the doctrine of true being, accessible only to thought. All the subsequent development of philosophy in Greece (from the pluralistic systems of Empedocles and Democritus to Platonism) demonstrates, to one degree or another, a response to the problems posed by Parmenides.

Classics of ancient Greek thought

(late 5th–4th century). The pre-Socratic period is replaced by sophistry. Sophists are itinerant paid teachers of virtue, in the center of their attention is the life of man and society. In knowledge, the sophists saw, first of all, a means to achieve success in life, they recognized rhetoric as the most valuable - the possession of a word, the art of persuasion. Sophists considered traditional customs and moral norms to be relative. Their criticism and skepticism in their own way contributed to the reorientation of ancient philosophy from the knowledge of nature to the understanding of the inner world of man. A striking expression of this "turn" was the philosophy of Socrates. He considered the knowledge of goodness to be the main thing, because. evil, according to Socrates, comes from people's ignorance of their true good. Socrates saw the way to this knowledge in self-knowledge, in caring for his immortal soul, and not about his body, in comprehending the essence of the main moral values, the conceptual definition of which was the main subject of Socrates' conversations. The philosophy of Socrates caused the emergence of the so-called. Socratic schools (cynics, megarics, cyrenaics), which differed in their understanding of Socratic philosophy. The most outstanding student of Socrates was Plato, the founder of the Academy, the teacher of another major thinker of antiquity - Aristotle, who founded the peripatetic school (Lyceum). They created holistic philosophical doctrines, in which they considered almost the entire range of traditional philosophical topics, developed philosophical terminology and a set of concepts, the basis for subsequent ancient and European philosophy. What was common in their teachings was: the distinction between a temporary, sensually perceived thing and its eternal, indestructible, comprehended by the mind essence; the doctrine of matter as an analogue of non-existence, the cause of the variability of things; idea of ​​a rational structure of the universe, where everything has its purpose; understanding of philosophy as a science of higher principles and the goal of all being; the recognition that the first truths are not proved, but directly comprehended by the mind. Both he and the other recognized the state as the most important form of human existence, designed to serve his moral improvement. At the same time, Platonism and Aristotelianism had their own characteristic features, as well as differences. The originality of Platonism was the so-called. theory of ideas. According to it, visible objects are only likenesses of eternal entities (ideas) that form a special world of true being, perfection and beauty. Continuing the Orphic-Pythagorean tradition, Plato recognized the soul as immortal, called to contemplate the world of ideas and life in it, for which a person should turn away from everything material and bodily, in which the Platonists saw the source of evil. Plato put forward a doctrine atypical for Greek philosophy about the creator of the visible cosmos - the god-demiurge. Aristotle criticized the Platonic theory of ideas for its "doubling" of the world. He himself proposed a metaphysical doctrine of the divine Mind, the primary source of the movement of the ever-existing visible cosmos. Aristotle laid the foundation for logic as a special doctrine of the forms of thinking and the principles of scientific knowledge, developed the style of a philosophical treatise that has become exemplary, in which the history of the issue is considered first, then the argument for and against the main thesis by putting forward aporias, and finally the solution of the problem is given.

Hellenistic philosophy

(late 4th century BC - 1st century BC). In the era of Hellenism, along with the Platonists and Peripatetics, the schools of the Stoics, Epicureans and Skeptics became the most significant. During this period, the main purpose of philosophy is seen in practical wisdom of life. Ethics, oriented not to social life, but to the inner world of an individual person, acquires a dominant importance. Theories of the universe and logic serve ethical purposes: to develop the right attitude towards reality in order to achieve happiness. The Stoics represented the world as a divine organism, permeated and completely controlled by the fiery rational principle, the Epicureans - as various formations of atoms, skeptics called for refraining from any statement about the world. Differently understanding the paths to happiness, they all similarly saw the bliss of a person in a serene state of mind, achieved by getting rid of false opinions, fears, inner passions that lead to suffering.

turn of the millennium

(1st century BC - 3rd century AD). In the period of late antiquity, the controversy between schools is replaced by a search for common grounds, borrowings and mutual influence. A tendency is developing to “follow the ancients”, to systematize, to study the heritage of the thinkers of the past. Biographical, doxographic, educational philosophical literature is gaining popularity. The genre of commentary on authoritative texts (primarily the “divine” Plato and Aristotle) ​​is developing especially. This was largely due to new editions of the works of Aristotle in the 1st century. BC. Andronikos of Rhodes and Plato in the 1st c. AD Thrasillus. In the Roman Empire, starting from the end of the 2nd century, philosophy became the subject of official teaching funded by the state. Stoicism (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius) was very popular among Roman society, but Aristotelianism (the most prominent representative is the commentator Alexander of Aphrodisias) and Platonism (Plutarch of Chaeronea, Apuleius, Albinus, Atticus, Numenius) gained more and more weight.

Neoplatonism

(3rd century BC - 6th century AD). In the last centuries of its existence, the dominant school of antiquity was the Platonic school, which adopted the influences of Pythagoreanism, Aristotelianism, and partly Stoicism. The period as a whole is characterized by an interest in mysticism, astrology, magic (neopythagoreanism), various syncretic religious and philosophical texts and teachings (Chaldean oracles, gnosticism, hermeticism). A feature of the Neoplatonic system was the doctrine of the origin of all things - the One, which is beyond being and thought and is comprehensible only in unity with it (ecstasy). As a philosophical trend, Neoplatonism was distinguished by a high level of school organization, a developed commentary and pedagogical tradition. Its centers were Rome (Plotinus, Porphyry), Apamea (Syria), where the school of Iamblichus was, Pergamum, where the school was founded by Iamblichus’s student Edesius, Alexandria (the main representatives are Olympiodorus, John Philopon, Simplicius, Aelius, David), Athens (Plutarch of Athens , Sirian, Proclus, Damascus). A detailed logical development of a philosophical system describing the hierarchy of the world born from the beginning was combined in Neoplatonism with the magical practice of "communication with the gods" (theurgy), an appeal to pagan mythology and religion.

In general, ancient philosophy is characterized by considering a person primarily within the framework of the system of the universe as one of its subordinate elements, highlighting the rational principle in a person as the main and most valuable, recognizing the contemplative activity of the mind as the most perfect form of true activity. The wide variety and richness of ancient philosophical thought determined its consistently high significance and enormous influence not only on medieval (Christian, Muslim), but also on all subsequent European philosophy and science.

Maria Solopova

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

ancient philosophy – a set of philosophical teachings created in the period of antiquity, that is, Greek and Greco-Roman antiquity.

The emergence and development of ancient philosophy was facilitated by the favorable socio-economic and political conditions prevailing in ancient Greece: political freedom, the development of crafts and trade, active political and civil life in city-states, etc. Ancient philosophy is closely connected with all aspects of ancient culture. The introduction of the term "philosophy" is attributed to Pythagoras.

During the period of existence of ancient philosophy, the foundations of all philosophical trends were laid, all the main styles and methods of philosophizing were formed. Ancient philosophy became the source of development for all subsequent Western European culture.

In its development, ancient philosophy went through three periods:

Pre-Socratic (Early Greek natural philosophy), 7th–5th century BC

Classical (Socratic), middle of the 5th - the end of the 4th century BC

Roman-Hellenistic, 3rd century BC - VI century AD

PRESOCRATIC PERIOD (EARLY GREEK NATURAL PHILOSOPHY)

The main representatives of this stage of ancient philosophy:

a) philosophers of the Miletus school (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes)

b) Heraclitus of Ephesus;

c) philosophers of the Elea school (Parmenides, Zeno of Elea);

d) the school of the Pythagoreans (Pythagoras);

e) mechanistic materialists (Anaxagoras, Empedocles);

f) atomists (Democritus, Leucippus);

The most characteristic feature of early Greek philosophy is the pronounced cosmocentrism, that is, the focus of the first Greek philosophers were the problems of the universe - nature, the Cosmos, the world as a whole. The main merit of the philosophers of the early stage is that they formulated the fundamental philosophical question: what is the beginning of all things? This question is based on the following philosophical discovery: there are many things, they are born and perish, that is, they are transient; but nevertheless there is a single, indestructible, eternal basis of all things, from which they arise and into which they return. This fundamental principle of all things, the universal foundation of being, was called substance. All early Greek philosophers are trying to find this ontological foundation of all that exists. Moreover, it should be noted that the fundamental principle of the world is not given to us in sensory experience, but can be perceived only by the mind. This is how it is formed natural philosophical the method of cognition is a speculative, abstract interpretation of nature.

The most prominent pre-Socratic philosopher is Democritus- ancestor materialistic line in philosophy. According to the philosopher, all things consist of the smallest, unchanging, ever-existing physical particles - atoms. They are unlimited in number and indivisible. The atoms are separated by the void in which they move. The movement of atoms in the world void, their collision and adhesion is the simplest model of causal interaction, to which everything in the world is subject.

CLASSICAL (SOCRATIC PERIOD)

Sophists, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle belong to this stage.

The main difference of this stage: pronounced anthropocentrism and it is at this time that complex philosophical systems which cover all sections of philosophy (ontology, epistemology, anthropology, social philosophy).

Socrates(469 - 399 BC) - a bright representative of the classical period of ancient philosophy. Socrates did not leave significant philosophical works, but went down in history as an outstanding sage, philosopher-teacher, polemicist. Socrates conducted his philosophy and educational work in the midst of the people, in squares, markets in the form of an open conversation (dialogue, dispute), the topics of which were ethical problems affecting all people: good, evil, love, happiness, honesty, etc. That is why Socrates is considered the author of the concept anthropological ethics. Socrates was not understood by the official authorities and was perceived as a person who undermines the foundations of society, confuses the youth and does not honor the gods. For this he was in 399 BC. sentenced to death and took a bowl of poison.

Socrates' teaching is called ethical rationalism. Socrates believed that the essence of man is the soul (it is its presence that distinguishes man from all other creatures). Under the soul, Socrates understood our mind and morally oriented behavior. Hence the goal of life according to Socrates is to become morally perfect. The source of moral, spiritual perfection is knowledge. A person who knows what good is will never commit evil. Socrates believed that any evil, vice is committed from ignorance.

The great significance of the work of Socrates is that he discovered maieutics method. With the help of irony, leading questions, in the dialogue Socrates led the interlocutor first to freeing himself from an erroneous opinion, and then to the discovery, the birth of truth in the human soul.

Plato- another major philosopher of ancient Greece, a student of Socrates, the founder of his own philosophical school - the Academy, the founder of idealistic direction in philosophy. Plato is the first ancient Greek philosopher who left behind a number of fundamental philosophical works.

Plato is a representative objective idealism. He divides the whole world into: a) the sensible world ( "world of things") - it is temporary, changeable and does not really exist, and b) an ideal world ( "world of ideas") is the real world, eternal and permanent.

The central concept of Plato is idea(sample, model of a thing). According to Plato, every thing has its prototype (or idea). Moreover, Plato's ideas are not subjective representations of a person, they exist "by themselves", that is, objectively. Together they form an ideal world, which is also called metaphysical, supersensible, because it is "above the heavens, above the physical cosmos".

IN man Plato distinguishes between the immortal soul and the mortal, perishable body. Plato is a supporter of the theory of transmigration of the soul. The soul passes from one body to another until it is purified, that is, it is freed from everything sensual and material.

In problem solving knowledge Plato relies on the theory of the transmigration of the soul and the Socratic idea of ​​the existence of truth in the depths of the soul. Hence the main thesis of Plato's epistemology: "knowledge is recollection." True knowledge is the knowledge of ideas. The soul, with the help of reason, must “remember” what it saw in the world of ideas before birth.

In his social philosophy Plato creates the first model in the history of philosophy ideal state.

Aristotle- the last great philosopher of the classical period, a student of Plato, educator of Alexander the Great.

Aristotle divided philosophy into three types:

theoretical, studying the problems of being, various spheres of being, the origin of everything that exists, the causes of various phenomena; practical- about human activity, the structure of the state; poetic, where aesthetic issues are addressed .

Comprehending being, Aristotle speaks with criticism of philosophyPlato, according to which the surrounding world was divided into the “world of things” and the “world of pure ideas”, and the “world of things” was only a material reflection of the corresponding “pure idea”, and considered “pure ideas” without any connection with the surrounding reality. Aristotle refutes this and proves the existence of only a single and specifically defined thing (individual), which is the primary entity, and the species and genera of individuals are secondary.

Aristotle gave concept of being is the entity ( substance), which has the properties of quantity, quality, place, time, relationship, position, state, action, suffering, and the concept matter is a limited potency form.

Historical Significance of Aristotle in the fact that he made significant adjustments to a number of provisions of Plato's philosophy, criticizing the doctrine of "pure ideas"; gave a materialistic interpretation of the origin of the world and man; systematized and categorized philosophical knowledge; identified six types of state and gave the concept of an ideal type - polity (a combination of moderate oligarchy and moderate democracy); made a significant contribution to the development of logic.

ROMAN-HELLENISTIC PERIOD

The philosophy of ancient philosophy of this period was characterized by: the proximity of philosophy, philosophers and state institutions, the influence on ancient philosophy of the traditions and ideas of the philosophy of the conquered peoples of the East, North Africa, etc.

The philosophy of this period develops within the framework of schools, the main of which are: Epicurean, Stoics, Skeptics, Neoplatonists.

The main features characteristic of representatives of all schools: anthropocentrism, Problems personal ethics, the main of which is the problem of happiness and freedom from the outside world ( ataraxia): For Epicurus it is pleasure, by overcoming fears; For stoics- following fate and gaining power over one's own passions, for skeptics- refrain from judgment Neoplatonists- ascent to the One, merging with the divine essence.

KEY CONCEPTS OF THE THEME: cosmocentrism, anthropocentrism, natural philosophy; materialism, idealism, objective idealism; ethical rationalism, anthropological ethics; maieutics; substance.

SCHOOLS AND PERSONALIES FOR COMPULSORY STUDIES: Milesian school (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes), Democritus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

ancient philosophy(VI century BC - V century AD). - The emergence and development of philosophy in ancient Greece and Rome are inextricably linked with the development of the slave system, which replaced the primitive communal system. Slave labor was the basis of all life in the ancient world. "Without slavery there would be no Greek state, Greek art and science...". The collapse of the tribal system in ancient Greece was accompanied by the emergence of cities, the development of crafts and trade. The growth of production, the division of labor between agriculture and industry, which became possible only with slavery, colonization and the development of trade relations with other peoples - all this led to the flourishing of ancient Greek culture. Under the influence of the development of production, trade, navigation, as well as public political life, interest in the study of nature is growing.

The old religious and mythological worldview is increasingly giving way to the desire to penetrate into the essence of objective reality and the laws of its development. It was on this soil that ancient Greek philosophy arose. It acted as an undivided, all-embracing science, as a science of sciences, which, due to the underdevelopment of scientific thinking, included all areas of knowledge. The history of ancient Greek philosophy is the history of the struggle of the original, naive materialism against various idealistic teachings, it is the struggle of the materialistic line of Democritus and the idealistic line of Plato. This struggle was based on the opposite worldviews of the slave-owning democracy and the reactionary aristocracy.

It is possible to establish three periods in the development of ancient philosophy. The first period - the VI century. BC e. This is the philosophy of the formation period of the slave-owning society. The original, naive materialism, which was at the same time a spontaneous-dialectical view of the world, is presented at this stage (see) and (see). The philosophers of the Milesian school - Thales (see), Anaximenes, Anaximander - proceeded from the recognition of a single, ever-moving material principle.

For Fa-les it is water, for Anaximenes it is air, for Anaximander it is infinite indefinite matter - “apeiron”. Heraclitus also considered the material element to be the beginning of all that exists - fire, from which all forms of reality arise through the struggle of opposites. He taught about the universal fluidity of things, he reduced the essence of the world process to the regular transformations of eternal matter. The dialectic of Heraclitus was one of the highest levels reached by ancient Greek philosophy. The materialistic schools - Milesian and Ephesian - struggled with the idealistic and anti-dialectical views of the Pythagorean and Eleatic schools. Representatives of the Pythagorean school (founder - Pythagoras) developed the mystical doctrine of number as the essence of all things and the doctrine of "harmony" in nature and in society, excluding the struggle of opposites. The Eleians (Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno, Melissus) contrasted the idea of ​​the variability and diversity of nature with the doctrine of immovable and unchanging being. The Eleians, with their metaphysical thesis of immovable being, excluding the diversity of phenomena and the variability of nature, opened the door to idealism.

Second period - V century. BC e. This is the philosophy of the heyday of the ancient Greek slave-owning democracy. At this stage, the subject of philosophy expanded and deepened. Questions of the structure of matter, the theory of knowledge, and the problems of social life came to the fore. The question of the structure of matter became the focus of attention of all three materialistic schools of the 5th century. BC e., associated with the names of Anaxagoras, (see) and (see). Anaxagoras took as the basis of the existing material particles - "seeds of things" ("homeomeria"), from the combination of which bodies qualitatively similar to them are formed.

To explain the movement, Anaxagoras introduces an external force - “nus” (world mind), which he understands as the thinnest and lightest substance. Empedocles taught about the four "roots" of all things (fire, air, water and earth), set in motion by two material forces - "love" and "hate". In the atomistic teaching of Democritus, ancient materialism reaches its highest point of development. Democritus was "the first encyclopedic mind among the Greeks"), the most prominent representative of a single undivided science of the ancient world. At the heart of the existing are, according to Democritus, two principles: atoms and emptiness. Atoms, i.e., indivisible particles of matter, are eternal and unchanging. The emergence and destruction of infinite worlds and all natural things is the result of the combination of atoms moving in the void.

The doctrine of Democritus about atoms was mechanistic. In (see), the first professional teachers of "wisdom" and eloquence, the center of philosophical research is man and his attitude to the world. The main group of sophists in their socio-political views adjoined the slave-owning democracy, in philosophical - to the materialist camp. The other group of sophists is characterized by reactionary, anti-democratic views. The most prominent representative of the sophists, the materialist Protagoras, declares man "the measure of all things", but sensations. is the only source of knowledge. In contrast to the materialistic teachings of Democritus, philosophy is formed (see) - the head of the idealistic camp of ancient philosophy, the ideologist of aristocratic reaction. Plato's immediate predecessor was (q.v.) a representative of an idealistic, religious-ethical worldview.

At the heart of Plato's philosophy lies the opposition of the world of eternal and unchanging ideas invented by him to the changeable, imperfect, according to his view, world of things, which is only a shadow of the world of ideas. Struggling against the achievements of ancient science, Plato teaches about the creation of the world by the divine creator, about immortality and the transmigration of souls, reduces knowledge to the memory of the soul about the world of ideas that it contemplated before entering the body. The socio-political views of Plato, like his philosophical views, were reactionary. The struggle between the materialistic philosophy of Democritus and the idealistic philosophy of Plato is the central point of the entire history of ancient Greek philosophy. Already in this struggle all the progressive significance of materialism in the history of science and the reactionary role of idealism were fully expressed. The struggle between the philosophical views of Democritus and Plato was an expression of the political struggle between the slave-owning democracy and the aristocracy.

The result of the achievements of ancient Greek philosophy and natural science is summed up by Aristotle's encyclopedic science. (see) made a refutation of the Platonic theory of ideas. In addressing the fundamental question of philosophy, Aristotle wavered between materialism and idealism. Matter was considered by him as inert and inert, and the non-material form was recognized as the driving and creative principle. Aristotle played a significant role in the development of dialectics and logic. He explored forms of thought. The third period is the philosophy of the period of crisis and the decline of the slave-owning society. In this Hellenistic period, from philosophy, which acted as a comprehensive, undifferentiated science, positive sciences began to sprout, private sciences that developed methods for accurately studying nature. The materialistic line of ancient philosophy was continued during this period (see) and his school.

Epicurus - a materialist, atheist and enlightener - revives the atomistic teaching of Democritus and defends it from the attacks of mystics and theologians. Epicurus introduces a number of modifications into this doctrine. The main thing in them is the concept of spontaneous (due to internal causes) deviation of atoms from a straight line, due to which their collision becomes possible. Epicurus considered the goal of philosophy to be the happiness of man, to achieve which it is necessary to free oneself from religious prejudices and master the knowledge of the laws of nature. A follower and popularizer of the teachings of Epicurus in ancient Rome was (see) (I century BC). Starting from the III-II centuries. to me. e. as a result of the general crisis and the disintegration of the slave-owning system, there is a decline in philosophy. Various schools of the Hellenistic and Roman epochs (academicians, stoics, skeptics, etc.) express a clear degradation of philosophical thought towards idealism and mysticism.

Representatives of the ideology of imperialism resort to the falsification of ancient philosophy in order to combat modern materialism and science. The reactionaries are especially hated by materialistic teachings. Democritus, Epicurus and other ancient materialists are declared immoral and unworthy of the title of philosophers. At the same time, attempts are being made to revive Plato's reactionary doctrine of ideas and the "ideal" state, to adapt this doctrine for the propaganda of religious mysticism and the policy of the exploiting classes.

The classics of Marxism-Leninism highly appreciated the representatives of ancient Greek materialism and dialectics. Engels pointed out that the ancient Greek philosophers were "born elemental dialecticians" ("Anti-Dühring", 20) and considered nature without idealistic blinders. Lenin, in his summary of Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy, condemns all attempts by the idealist Hegel to belittle the significance of the materialistic ideas of Democritus and Epicurus. In the work "" (see), Lenin contrasts the line of Democritus and the line of Plato in philosophy as spokesmen for materialism and idealism. JV Stalin, in his work On Dialectical and Historical Materialism, notes the importance of ancient Greek dialectics.

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1. MILETIAN MATERIALISTS

The first among the Milesian philosophers was Thales (late 7th - first half of the 6th century BC). Thales connected his geographical, astronomical and physical knowledge into a coherent philosophical view of the world. Thales believed that the existing arose from some kind of wet primary substance, or<воды>. Everything is constantly born from this single source. The Earth itself rests on water and is surrounded on all sides by the ocean. She is on the water, like a disk or a board floating on the surface of a reservoir. At the same time, the real origin<воды>and all the nature that has arisen from it is not dead, not devoid of life. Everything in the universe is full of gods, everything is animated. Thales saw an example and proof of universal animation in the properties of a magnet and amber; since the magnet and amber are able to set bodies in motion, therefore, they have a soul. Thales belongs to an attempt to understand the structure of the universe surrounding the Earth, to determine in what order the celestial bodies are located in relation to the Earth. But he believed that the so-called sky of fixed stars is closest to the Earth, and the Sun is farthest away. This error was corrected by his successors. His philosophical view of the world is full of echoes of mythology.

Anaximander

The younger contemporary of Thales, Anaximander, recognized the source of the birth of all things not<воду>, but the primary substance, from which the opposites of warm and cold are separated, giving rise to all substances. This original principle, different from other substances (and in this sense indefinite), has no boundaries and therefore is<беспредельное>). After the isolation of the warm and cold from it, a fiery shell arose, cloaking the air above the earth. The inflowing air broke through the fiery shell and formed three rings, inside of which a certain amount of fire broke out. So there were three circles: the circle of the stars, the sun and the moon. The earth occupies the middle of the world and is motionless; animals and people formed from the sediments of the dried seabed and changed forms when they moved to land. Everything separated from the infinite must for its own sake<вину>return to it. Therefore, the world is not eternal, but after its destruction, a new world emerges from the infinite, and this change of worlds has no end.

Anaximenes

The last in a series of Milesian philosophers, Anaximenes, developed new ideas about the world. Taking it as a matter of course<воздух>, he introduced a new and important idea about the process of rarefaction and condensation, through which all substances are formed from air: water, earth, stones and fire.<Воздух>for him it is a breath that embraces the whole world, just as our soul, being a breath, holds us. By its nature<воздух>- a kind of steam or dark cloud and akin to emptiness. The earth is a flat disk supported by air, as well as the flat disks of luminaries hovering in it, consisting of fire. Anaximenes corrected the teachings of Anaximander on the order of the arrangement of the Moon, the Sun and the stars in world space. Contemporaries and subsequent Greek philosophers gave Anaximenes more importance than other Milesian philosophers. The Pythagoreans adopted his teaching that the world breathes air (or emptiness) into itself, as well as some of his teaching about heavenly bodies.

With the loss of political independence by Miletus (at the beginning of the 5th century BC), taken away by the Persians, the flourishing period of Miletus's life stops and the development of philosophy here freezes. However, in other cities of Greece, the teachings of the Milesians not only continued to have an effect, but also found successors. Such were Hippo from Samos, adjoining the teachings of Thales, as well as the famous Diogenes from Apollonia (5th century BC), who, following Anaximenes, brought everything out of the air. Diogenes developed the idea of ​​the multiplicity of the changes themselves.

2. PYTHAGORAS AND THE EARLY PYTHAGOREANS

Pythagoras was a native of the Greek East from Samos. Pythagoras did not write anything, and the teachings he founded endured in the 5th and 4th centuries. significant evolution. Later, ancient writers attributed many legends and fables to Pythagoras. Therefore, it is very difficult to isolate the original core of the teachings of Pythagoras. The main points of the religion of Pythagoras were: belief in the transmigration of the human soul after death into the bodies of other creatures, a number of prescriptions and prohibitions regarding food and behavior, and the doctrine of three ways of life, the highest of which was recognized not as practical, but contemplative. The philosophy of Pythagoras was stamped with his studies in arithmetic and geometry.

The doctrine of Pythagoras about the world is permeated with mythological ideas. According to the teachings of Pythagoras, the world is a living and fiery spherical body. The world inhales emptiness from the surrounding boundless space, or, which is the same for Pythagoras, air. Penetrating from the outside into the body of the world, emptiness separates and separates things. He did not abandon the four substances - fire, water, earth and air, but sought to find their fundamental principles, which he considered numbers. The beginning of everything is one, two, three, four; they correspond to a point, a line (two ends), a plane (three vertices of a triangle), a volume (four vertices of a pyramid). From three-dimensional figures come sensually perceived bodies, which have four bases - fire, water, earth and air; the transformation of the latter leads to the world of the living and of man. But numbers allow us to understand the quantitative side of the matter, but not the qualitative one.

3. Heraclitus of Ephesus

Heraclitus observed and comprehended the continuous variability in social life and in nature. Movement is the most general characteristic of the process of world life; it extends to all of nature, to all its objects and phenomena. The thesis about the universality of motion applies equally to eternal things, which move in perpetual motion, and to things that arise, which move in temporal motion. Heraclitus argues that from the fact of movement and the continuous variability of all things follows the contradictory nature of their existence, since it is necessary to affirm about every moving object that it both exists and does not exist at the same time. Heraclitus says that everything arises from one and that everything that arises becomes one. This<одно>he defines as a single primordial substance<огня>. Heraclitus also denies the act of creation of the world by the gods and speaks of the correctness of the world order, of the strict rhythm of the world process. The ever-living fire of the world does not burn randomly, but flares up<мерами>And<мерами>is fading away.

Heraclitus attaches great importance to wrestling. Hence the attempt to extend this idea to the understanding of nature as a whole. Recognizing the struggle of opposites as the main characteristic of being, Heraclitus explains that the fighting opposites do not just coexist: they pass one into another. The transition of opposites into each other, in which there is always a common identical basis for the transition itself in the process of transition.

Heraclitus is one of the first ancient philosophers from whom texts related to the question of knowledge have been preserved. The problem of true knowledge is not reduced to the question of the amount of accumulated knowledge. Wisdom, as Heraclitus understands it, does not coincide with much knowledge, or erudition. Heraclitus objects to the blind accumulation of knowledge and the uncritical borrowing of other people's views.

Heraclitus does not reject sensory knowledge as imperfect. He says that the outer senses do not give true knowledge only to those people who have coarse souls. Therefore, the point is not in the external feelings themselves, but in what kind of people are they who have these feelings. Whoever has not coarse souls, his external senses are capable of giving true knowledge. But the senses, according to Heraclitus, cannot give complete, final knowledge about the nature of things. Such knowledge gives us only thinking.

Undeniable are the attempts of Heraclitus to elevate the soul as a whole to its material basis. Heraclitus sees such a basis in the dry fiery substance. He asserts that the wisest and best soul is the one whose nature is characterized<сухим блеском>fire. And vice versa, drunkards have the worst soul, since their soul is “wet”.

XENOPHAN

In Asia Minor, the wandering life of the poet-philosopher Xenophanes, a native of the Asia Minor city of Colophon (VI century BC), began. Xenophanes is an early representative of Greek freethinking regarding religion. He criticized the prevailing ideas about the multitude of gods with which poets and folk fantasy populated Olympus. People invented the gods in their own image, and each people endows the gods with its own physical features. If bulls, horses and lions could draw, they would depict their gods as bulls, horses and lions. In truth, there is only one god, not similar to people either in appearance or in thought: he is all - sight, thinking and hearing; he rules everything by the power of the mind effortlessly and remains immobile. Xenophanes ascribes to nature traits that contradict the myths of poets and the views of religion. He opposes the belief in the existence of hell below the earth, the doctrine of the bottomlessness of the earth, the belief in the divinity of the luminaries - the doctrine of their natural nature: the Sun, composed of small sparks, moves over the flat Earth in a straight line, every day forever leaving this horizon and every day disappearing when it passes over uninhabited places; There are as many suns and moons as there are horizons. Arising from ignited clouds, the stars go out during the day and, like coals, flare up at night. Everything that is born and grows is earth and water, the sea is the father of clouds, winds and rivers, and people were born from earth and water. Neither about the nature of the gods, nor about everything else, can there be true knowledge, but only opinion.

4. ELEA SCHOOL

While all the wise philosophers believed that with many things the matter is clear, it exists, and all their attention was paid to the one, there were philosophers, among them the wisest - Parmenides and Zeno, who made the obvious non-obvious. They proved that many things do not exist at all. Opinion about the reality of many, is a cloud of feelings. Feelings cannot be blindly trusted: a straight stick at the water / air border seems broken, but it is not. Opinions must be justified, the Eleatics taught.

The Eleatics reasoned in this way.

1. Contrary to feelings and impressions, plurality cannot be conceived. If things can be infinitely small, then their sum (and this is the sum of zeros) will in no way give a finite thing. But if things are finite, then between two things there is always a third thing; again we come to a contradiction, for a finite thing consists of an infinite number of finite things, which is impossible. It turns out that, perhaps, the following statement will be consistent: there is no plurality in the world, there are no separate things, it is one and one, whole. We have come to an unexpected statement. The Greeks called this a paradox.

2. If there are no separate things, then there is no movement, for movement appears as a change in the state of things. Can an arrow really fly? Maybe feelings deceive us once again?

In order to fly a certain distance, the arrow must first cover half of it, and in order to fly it, it is necessary to fly a quarter of the distance, and then one eighth of the way, and so on ad infinitum. It turns out that it is impossible to get from a given point to a neighboring one, because, according to the logic of reasoning, it does not exist. We get again the paradox: the arrow does not fly.

The reasoning of the Eleatics made an indelible impression on the Greek philosophers. They knew they were in a hopeless situation. They regarded the arguments of the Eleatics as aporias. If you believe the feelings and practical data, then it turns out that the arrow flies. If you believe the mind, then it seems to be resting in place, the whole world is at rest.

Parmenides

Parmenides of Elea in Southern Italy, b. OK. 540 or ca. 515 BC e., Greek philosopher. Parmenides founded the Elea school, his student was Zeno of Elea. According to Parmenides, there is a single, eternal, immovable being in the form of a ball. Since the existent cannot not exist, and non-existence cannot exist, then nothing appears from nothing and nothing returns to nothing. Being can be known only by reason, "because being and thinking are one and the same." Non-existence is impossible to understand. Parmenides rejects sensory perception as false and recognizes reason as an instrument of knowledge. He was a supporter of the deductive method in philosophy. The reason for human delusions lies in the idea of ​​the existence of two different and opposite world principles: light and darkness. The philosophy of Parmenides found an incredible response. Later, philosophers tried to resolve the question raised by Parmenides about the possibility of the coexistence of birth and death, movement and multiplicity.

Plato's ontology follows from the philosophy of Parmenides. Thanks to Plato, Plotinus and Proclus, the ontology of Parmenides dominated European philosophy until the beginning of modern times. The essence of this ontology is understood in different ways.

Some consider him the "father of materialism", while others consider him the "father of idealism", since in his works one can find confirmation of both one and the other.

ZENON OF ELEA.

Ancient Greek philosopher, student of Parmenides. Famous for his paradoxes, proving the impossibility of movement, space and multitude. He developed the teaching of Parmenides about the one, denying the cognizability of sensual being, the plurality of things and their movement, and proving the inconceivability of sensual being in general. Zeno's arguments led to a crisis in ancient Greek mathematics, which was overcome only by the atomistic theory of Democritus. The main idea of ​​the aporias of Zeno (as well as Parmenides) is that discontinuity, multiplicity, movement characterize the picture of the world as it is perceived by the senses. Zeno's dialectic was based on the postulate of the inadmissibility of contradictions in reliable thinking: the appearance of contradictions that arise under the premise of the conceivability of multiplicity, discontinuity and movement is considered as evidence of the falsity of the premise itself and at the same time testifies to the truth of the provisions that contradict it about the unity, continuity and immobility of the conceivable (and not sensually perceived) being.

Criticism of Zeno's arguments from the standpoint of idealistic dialectics was given by Hegel. The aporias of Zeno were the most important stage in the development of ancient dialectics. They had a significant impact on the development of philosophy in modern times, in particular on the philosophical foundation of mathematics.

Among the prominent thinkers of the Eleatic school is Melissus of Samom. Melissus, like Zeno, was a student of Parmenides, attended the conversations of Heraclitus, defended the fundamental theses of the Ele doctrine: “There has always been what was and that will always be. For if something came into being, it was not without necessity before it came into being; if, however, there was nothing before, then nothing would have arisen from nothing.

“If it has arisen, but is, has always been and always will be, then it has neither beginning nor end, but is infinite.” Meliss stood on the positions of elemental materialism and believed that the world "was not created" and has no end. Being, according to his ideas, is not only unified and not limited in time and space, but also metaphysically unchanged, like that of his predecessors.

5. EMPEDOCLE

Empedocles went down in history as an outstanding philosopher, poet, master of oratory, founder of the school of eloquence in Sicily. Aristotle said that Empedocles was the first to invent rhetoric and that he was able to express himself skillfully, using metaphors and other means of poetic language.

Empedocles received philosophical training in the school of the Eleans. He does not try to explain all the variety of forms and phenomena from one single material principle. He recognizes four such principles. It is fire, air, water, earth. Empedocles calls these material beginnings "the roots of all things." According to Empedocles, besides them, there are two opposite driving forces. The elements or "roots" are set in motion by these forces. According to Empedocles, the life of nature consists in combining and separating, in qualitative and quantitative mixing and, accordingly, in the qualitative and quantitative separation of material elements, which in themselves, as elements, remain unchanged. Material elements are characterized by Empedocles as divine beings - living and capable of feeling.

The material elements are not divorced from the driving forces. All elements have a driving force. From this driving force of all elements, Empedocles distinguishes two specific driving forces. The active driving force appears in the form of two opposite forces. The force that produces the union he calls love. The force that produces division he calls hatred.

The originality of Empedocles lies in the fact that, the theory of 4 primary substances, Empedocles connected it with the concept of Parmenides' element.

He divides material elements into two classes. In addition to the driving forces of love and enmity, the driving principle for Empedocles is also the material element of fire. Recognizing enmity and love as the beginning of everything, he said that everything arose from fire and would be resolved into fire.

According to Empedocles, the cause of things was only natural necessity and chance. From the primary mixing of elements, first of all, air was released. Then the fire came out. Around the Earth, according to Empedocles, there are two hemispheres, they move in a circular motion. One of them consists entirely of fire, the other, mixed, consists of air and an admixture of a small amount of fire. This second hemisphere produces by its rotation the phenomenon of night. According to the hypothesis of Empedocles, the Sun is not fiery, it is only a reflection of fire, similar to those that occur on water. The moon was formed from the air and shines not by its own light, but by the light coming from the sun. The view of the Moon as a body formed by condensation of air and, therefore, not self-luminous, prompted Empedocles to explain solar eclipses. The reason for them is that sometimes the moon obscures the sun.

6 . Anaxagoras

Anaxagoras (c. 500-428 BC) - an ancient Greek philosopher, came from Klazemen, lived almost all his life in Athens. In his research, he came to the conclusion that the sun and other celestial bodies are blocks that have come off the Earth. Anaxagoras raises the question of what is the basis of the world. He saw this basis of the world in small material particles - the seeds of things, which are called homeomers. According to Anaxagoras, the world is eternal, it is uncreated and indestructible. Individual things are made up of individual seeds. The nature of a thing, its properties depend on the predominance of one or another type of seed. The emergence of all substances comes from particles-seeds. The seeds that make up things were understood by Anaxagoras as inert motionless particles. The impetus that sets these seeds in motion and makes them connect and separate is the mind. Mind is understood by Anaxagoras both as a spiritual and as a material mechanical force. It determines the order in the world. The mind acts as the cause or basis of world order. In the field of knowledge, Anaxagoras believed that the main role here belongs to the senses. However, he did not absolutize sensory knowledge, realizing that feelings lack reliability, truth, their testimony needs to be corrected. Moreover, he attached great importance to the mind in the process of cognition, believing that the seeds that make up things cannot be perceived directly, we know about their existence through the mind, they are comprehended only by the mind. Anaxagoras argued that everything is infinitely divisible and that even the smallest particle of matter contains something from each element. Things are what they contain the most. Thus, for example, everything contains a little fire, but we call fire only that in which this element predominates. Anaxagoras opposed the void. He differs from his predecessors in that he regards the mind ("nous") as a substance that enters into the composition of living beings and distinguishes them from dead matter. In everything, he said, there is a part of everything except the mind, and some things contain the mind as well. Mind has power over all things that have life; it is infinite and governs itself, it is mixed with nothingness. With the exception of the mind, everything, however small, contains parts of all opposites, such as hot and cold, white and black. He claimed that snow is black (partly). The mind is the source of all movement. It causes a rotation that gradually spreads throughout the world. The mind is uniform: it is as good in an animal as it is in a man.

7. MATERIALISM OF LEUCIPPE AND DEMOCRITES

The view of Leucippus and Democritus lies in the hypothesis of indivisible particles. They said that there are indivisible fragments (atoms) of matter, space and time. The atoms of matter are simply called atoms, the atoms of space are called amers, and the atoms of time are called chronons. In addition to the atoms of matter, there is also emptiness. So, any thing consists of atoms and emptiness. This, they say, is the secret of the relationship between the one and the many, there are many things, but they are all built of atoms and emptiness. Atoms are indivisible and impenetrable. Leucippus and Democritus said that the separation occurs due to the emptiness, which is not inside the atoms, but in the bodies. Atoms rush about in the void; overtaking each other, they collide, some repel each other, others grapple. The resulting compounds stick together and thus form complex bodies. Leucippus and Democritus believed that there are atoms of various shapes: spherical, pyramidal, irregular, hooked, etc. The number of these different forms is infinite. Atomists do not raise the question of the cause of the motion of atoms, because the motion of atoms appears to them as the original property of atoms. Precisely as the original, it does not require an explanation of the reason. Atoms are absolutely indivisible, which is why they are called<атомами>. According to the teachings of Leucippus and Democritus, atoms are such small particles of matter that directly, with the help of the senses, their existence cannot be detected: we only conclude about it on the basis of evidence or arguments of the mind. However, Democritus allowed the existence of not only very small atoms, but also atoms of any size, including very large ones.

The ideas developed by the atomists made it possible to explain many natural phenomena, but it was not clear how to approach the spiritual world of man with atomistic views. What atoms make up thoughts?

8. Sophistry

Gorgias, Protagoras, Prodicus

There were many sophists, the most famous are Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodik. Each of them had a unique personality, but in general they shared similar views.

The Sophists focused their attention on social issues, on the person and on the problems of communication, teaching oratory and political activity, as well as concrete scientific and philosophical knowledge. They taught techniques and forms of persuasion and proof, regardless of the question of truth, and even resorted to absurd trains of thought. In their striving for persuasiveness, the sophists came to the idea that it is possible, and often necessary, to prove anything, and also to refute anything, depending on interest and circumstances, which led to an indifferent attitude towards truth in proofs and refutations. This is how the methods of thinking developed, which became known as sophistry.

Most fully the essence of the views of the sophists was expressed by Protagoras. He owns the famous position: "man is the measure of all things: those that exist, that they exist, and those that do not exist, that they do not exist." He speaks of the relativity of all knowledge, proving that every statement can be countered with equal grounds by a statement that contradicts it.

The dialectic of Gorgias has rather a negative character only as a means of proof or refutation and, moreover, is devoid of systematicity. In his work On Nature, Gorgias proves three propositions: that nothing exists, and if something exists, then it is not knowable, then it is inexpressible and inexplicable. As a result, he came to the conclusion that nothing can be said with certainty.

Prodik, on the other hand, shows an exceptional interest in language, in the naming function of words, in the problems of semantics and synonymy, i.e. identification of words coinciding in meaning, the correct use of words. He paid great attention to the rules of the dispute, approaching the analysis of the problem of methods of refutation, which was of great importance in the discussions.

It should be noted that the sophists were the first teachers and researchers of the art of the word. It is with them that philosophical linguistics begins.

9. SOCRATES

The essence of man is the soul. A person is distinguished from other creatures by the soul, Socrates believes. The soul is the ability of a person to realize, to show mental activity, to be conscientious and moral, virtuous. The potential of the soul is realized in knowledge, the lack of the latter is ignorance. Without spiritual exercises, one cannot cultivate virtues in oneself, among which the main ones are wisdom, justice, and moderation. By developing his virtues, a person achieves the harmony of the soul, even physical violence cannot destroy it. And this means that a person becomes free. Therein lies his happiness.

Socrates also has three main theses: 1) good is identical to happiness; 2) virtue is identical to knowledge; 3) a person knows only that he knows nothing.

Socrates says, "Good is nothing but pleasure, and evil is nothing but pain."

However, the world of pleasures, like the world of suffering, turns out to be complex. There are many pleasures and there are many pains. Different people enjoy different things. Often the same person can be torn at the same time by the desire for different pleasures. In addition, there is no strict boundary between pleasures and pains, one is associated with the other. The joy of drunkenness is followed by the bitterness of a hangover. Suffering can hide behind the guise of pleasure. The path to pleasure may lie through suffering. A person constantly finds himself in a situation where it is necessary to choose between different pleasures, between pleasures and pains. Accordingly, the problem of the basis of such a choice arises. That which was the criterion, the boundary between pleasure and pain, itself needs a criterion. This highest criterion is the measuring, weighing mind.

A person chooses the best for himself. That is his nature. And if, nevertheless, he behaves badly, viciously, then there can be only one explanation for this - he is mistaken. According to one of the Socratic paradoxes, if intentional (conscious) evil were possible, it would be better than unintentional evil. A person who does evil, clearly understanding that he is doing evil, knows its difference from good. He has the knowledge of good, and this basically makes him capable of good. If a person does evil unintentionally, not knowing what he is doing, then he does not know what good is at all. Such a person is tightly closed for good deeds. To say that a person knows virtue, but does not follow it, is to say nonsense. This means to admit that a person acts not like a person, contrary to his own good.

DIALECTICS

Dialogue was the reason for the literary silence of Socrates, his conscious rejection of written compositions. Socrates was sure that ignorance is a prerequisite for knowledge: it stimulates the search, makes "think and search." A person who does not doubt the truth of his knowledge and imagines himself to know everything does not have a great need to search, to think and reflect. Socrates excited the minds, did not give rest to fellow citizens, caused their discontent. For him, dialectics was the art of asking questions and finding answers to them. In this case, three stages are clearly distinguished.

The first stage is the disqualification of yourself and the interlocutor. Usually it seems to a person that he knows the answer to almost any difficult question. Once serious research is begun, however, the illusion begins to dissipate. This is what Socrates meant when he even said to himself: "I know that I know nothing."

The second stage is irony. A person "clings" to his illusions, therefore, in order to achieve liberation from them, a potent remedy is appropriate. Socrates considered irony as such.

The third stage is the birth of thought, the soul generates truth. The dialectic of Socrates retains its significance to the present day.

Philosophy, as Socrates understands it, is the doctrine of how one should live. But since life is an art, and since knowledge of art is necessary for perfection in art, the main practical question of philosophy must be preceded by the question of the essence of knowledge. Knowledge Socrates understands as the discretion of the common (or single) for a number of things (or their attributes). Knowledge is the concept of the subject, and it is achieved through the definition of the concept.

Philosophy, according to Socrates, is the "examination of the soul", an examination for wisdom, honesty, truth, freedom.

10. PLATO

IDEALISM

According to Plato, the world is a material cosmos, which has gathered many singularities into one inseparable whole, lives and breathes, is all filled with infinite physical forces, but it is controlled by laws that are outside it, beyond it. These are the most general patterns by which the entire cosmos lives and develops. They constitute a special supracosmic world and are called by Plato the world of ideas. You can see them not with physical vision, but mentally, mentally. The ideas that govern the universe are primary. They determine the life of the material world.

The world of ideas is outside of time, it does not live, but abides, rests in eternity. And the highest idea of ​​ideas is an abstract good, identical with absolute beauty.

But what is an idea? Consider the example of Plato himself.

There are many wonderful things. But each thing is beautiful in its own way, therefore it is impossible to associate the beautiful with one thing, because in this case the other thing would no longer be beautiful. But all beautiful things have something in common - beautiful as such, this is their common Idea. The beautiful as an idea is inherent in things to varying degrees, so there are more and less beautiful things. The beautiful is not physical - it cannot be weighed, touched, X-rayed, it cannot be seen with the eyes, but only with the mind, it is speculative. How can you "see" an idea with your mind? Plato explains.

If you want to comprehend the beautiful, then turn your attention to those things and phenomena that are recognized as beautiful. Establish what is less and what is more beautiful. By definition, the closest thing to the idea of ​​beauty is the most beautiful thing. Realizing this, you pass from a beautiful thing to a beautiful thing, and in the end you make the ultimate transition, a leap, reaching the very idea of ​​beauty. The idea of ​​beauty is precisely what communicates beauty to all things. Ideas are not in material things and not in the human mind, but in a certain third world, which Plato called Hyperurance (literally: on the other side of the sky). Plato did not consider all ideas equal. Following Socrates, he placed above all the idea of ​​the good. For him, the good was the cause of everything beautiful both in the world and in people's lives. Fortunately, according to Plato, this is a world principle.

COSMOLOGY

artisan god (demiurge) combined ideas with matter, the result was Cosmos, a being endowed with the perfection of ideas, in particular mathematical ones. The demiurge took the world of ideas as a model for creation.

In reasoning Plato inconsistency is noticeable: ideas are above all, at the same time they are controlled by the god-demiurge. Matter in its initial state is conceived independently of ideas, only as a result of the efforts of the demiurge it is, as it were, enlivened by ideas.

Be that as it may, for almost 2000 years, many generations of people in understanding the cosmos were guided, and quite successfully, by cosmology. Plato.

ANTHROPOLOGY

Love concept. Every person has a body and a soul. The soul is the main part of a person, thanks to it he learns ideas, this is virtue. The soul realizes itself in the virtues of moderation, courage and, finally, wisdom. He who understands this will model himself after the idea of ​​the good. The easiest thing to do is to be moderate, the hardest thing to be courageous, and even harder to be wise. Not only knowledge leads to goodness, but also love. The essence of love is in moving towards the good, the beautiful, happiness. This movement has its own steps: love for the body, love for the soul, love for the good and the beautiful. Love, according to Plato, is a bridge that connects the bodily, sensual with the spiritually sublime.

THE DOCTRINE ABOUT SOCIETY.

The main idea of ​​public improvement is the idea of ​​justice. Those in which the lusty soul predominates, i.e. those who have reached the stage of moderation should be peasants, artisans, sellers (merchants). Those in which a strong-willed, courageous soul prevails are destined to become guardians. And only those who have achieved wisdom in their spiritual development can rightly be political and statesmen. In a perfect state, harmony must be established between the three classes of society described above. Plato wanted to build an ideal state. Surprisingly, the politicians of all developed countries still put the idea of ​​justice in the first place. And this is Plato's idea!

STRUCTURE OF THE SOUL

The souls of people, according to Plato, are in close contact with the world of ideas. They are incorporeal, immortal, they do not arise simultaneously with the body, but exist forever. The body obeys them. They consist of three hierarchically ordered parts:

1. mind, 2. will and noble desires, 3. attraction and sensuality.

Initially existing in the world of ideas, some souls cannot curb their impure inclinations and therefore go to the material world. Due to this, a person is able to comprehend ideas. He is not able to produce them, but under the influence of the senses and his impressions, he is able to recall what his soul saw in the world of ideas. Souls dominated by reason, supported by will and noble aspirations, will advance the farthest in the process of remembering.

11. ARISTOTLE

THE DOCTRINE OF FORM AND THE FOUR CAUSES

Aristotle shifted the emphasis from idea to form. He considers separate things: a stone, a plant, an animal, a person. Each time it separates matter (substrate) and form into things. The situation is more complicated with an individual:

its matter is bones and meat, and its form is soul. For an animal, the form is the animal soul; for a plant, the plant soul. It is only through form that the individual becomes what he is. Hence, the form is the main cause of being. There are four reasons in total: formal - the essence of a thing; material - the substratum of the thing; active - that which sets in motion and causes changes; target - in the name of what the action is performed.

So, according to Aristotle, individual being is a synthesis of matter and form. Matter is the possibility of being, and form is the realization of this possibility, an act. The form is expressed by the concept. The concept is valid even without matter. The concept belongs to the human mind. It turns out that form is the essence of both a separate individual object and the concept of this object.

DYNAMISM AND TELEOLOGY

In his judgments about material causes, Aristotle largely repeated Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Heraclitus, who taught that material substances are the basis of everything. In the doctrine of form, Aristotle significantly revised the concept of Plato's ideas. Aristotle was even more original in his concepts of dynamism and purpose.

Aristotle's dynamism lies in the fact that he does not forget to give priority to the dynamics of processes, movement, change and what stands behind it, namely the transition of possibility into reality. Aristotle's dynamism marks the emergence of a new pattern of understanding. In all cases, the mechanisms of the ongoing changes and the reasons that caused these changes require understanding. It is necessary to determine the source of movement, its energy source, the forces that ensured movement.

Aristotle was justly proud of the fact that he had developed, and in the most meaningful way, the problem of purpose. The goal is teleos in Greek. On this basis, the doctrine of purpose is called teleology. The goal is, according to Aristotle, the best in all nature. The dominant science is that "which recognizes the goal for which it is necessary to act in each individual case ...". The final instance of people's actions is their goals, target priorities. Teleology, developed by Aristotle, turns out to be a powerful tool in understanding a person, his actions and society.

For Aristotle, the form in its dynamics expresses the hierarchy of being. Many things can be made from copper, but copper is still copper. The form behaves much more hierarchically. Compare: the form of inanimate objects - the plant form - the animal form - the form (soul) of a person. This comparison takes us up the ladder of forms, with the significance of matter weakening, and forms increasing. And if you take one more step and declare that there is a pure form, freed from matter? Aristotle is firmly convinced that this step, the transition to the limit, is quite consistent and necessary. Why? Because in this way we have discovered the prime mover of everything, and therefore, we have fundamentally explained all the diversity of the facts of movement. God, like everything good and beautiful, attracts, attracts to himself, this is not a physical, but a target, final reason.

Aristotle's God is the prime mover. It is also the mind. Aristotle argues by analogy: what is most important in the human soul is the mind. God, on the other hand, is a continuous perfection, therefore he is also a mind, but more developed than a human mind. God is immovable. As a source of movement, it does not have a cause of movement, because we would have to discover another cause of movement after one cause, and so on, without end. God is the ultimate cause of motion; this statement itself makes sense if one considers God to be motionless. So, God is mentally perfect, he is the source of all movement, motionless, has no history, which means that he is eternal. God of Aristotle is impassive, he does not take part in the affairs of people. God is a wonderful mind. If a person really desires to be like God, then he must first of all develop his mind.

In the writings of Aristotle, logic reached a high degree of perfection. In fact, it was Aristotle who first expounded logic systematically, as an independent discipline. Aristotle was able to highlight the laws in a clear and precise formulation.

1. Law of excluded contradiction: it is impossible for contradictory statements to be true with respect to the same subject. 2. Law of the excluded middle: negation and affirmation cannot both be false. 3. The law of identity. Aristotle was proud of his doctrine of syllogism (literally: about counting statements). A syllogism consists of three judgments: the first contains a general rule, the second - a special one, the third - a conclusion.

The last goal and the last boon is happiness. Happiness for Aristotle is the coincidence of a person's virtue with the external situation.

Good is associated with the abundance of virtues, evil with their scarcity. Aristotle especially highly valued the following virtues: reasonable wisdom, practical wisdom, prudence, courage, moderation, generosity, truthfulness, friendliness, courtesy. The harmonious combination of all virtues is justice.

CYNISM (CYNISM)

The founder of cynicism is considered to be a student of Socrates Antisthenes, and his prominent representative is Diogenes of Sinop (he called himself Diogenes the dog). Antisthenes conducted his conversations in the gymnasium at the temple of Hercules. The gymnasium (a masculine word for a gymnasium) had the name Kinosarg, which literally means "evil dogs" (dog - kine). Hence the name cynicism.

The Cynics considered Socrates their teacher, but they could not really continue his work. As the basis of their philosophy, they took the practical morality of Socrates, his inherent self-control, calmness, unpretentiousness in food and clothing. Not supported by proper intellectualism, these norms of practical life led to the ideals of human self-sufficiency, apathy and indifference, supplemented by the requirements of asceticism, constant, sometimes difficult, training of the soul and body.

Diogenes, according to legend, lived in a clay barrel, managed small, behaved provocatively, and more than once exposed himself to ridicule. Legend has it that when Alexander the Great told him, "Ask me for whatever you want," Diogenes replied, "Don't block the sun for me." Plato called Diogenes a dog, to which no one objected. The Greeks erected a monument in the form of a dog to Diogenes in gratitude for the fact that he "showed the simplest path to life."

The Latins called the Cynics cynics. Gradually, the word "cynic" acquired a negative connotation. Violation of social moral norms is usually considered unacceptable in cynicism. Spiritual poverty is always found at the basis of such trampling. Nowadays cynicism has no justification, it is simply a very poor, pitiful, degenerate form of philosophizing.

As for Epicureanism, Stoicism and Skepticism, their philosophical content is much richer than Cynicism. When analyzing the philosophical schools mentioned above, it should be borne in mind that their representatives clearly distinguished three components of philosophy: physics, logic, and ethics.

EPICOREISM

Epicurus is the founder of Epicureanism.

Physics. Everything is made up of atoms. Atoms can spontaneously (accidentally) deviate from rectilinear trajectories.

Logics. The world of feelings is not illusory, it is the main content of knowledge. The world is given to man in its evidence. Genuine cognitive realities are not the ideas of Plato or the forms of Aristotle, but feelings.

Ethics. Man consists of atoms, which provides him with a wealth of feelings and satisfactions. Man is a free being, this has its reasons in the spontaneous deviation of atoms from rectilinear trajectories, because such deviations do not allow the existence of once and for all established laws. For a happy life, a person needs three main components: the absence of bodily suffering (aponia), equanimity of the soul (ataraxia), friendship (as an alternative to political relations). The gods also consist of atoms, but special ones. The gods are indifferent to human affairs, this is evidenced by the presence of evil in the world.

STOICISM

The founder of Stoicism is Zeno of Kitia. Zeno's disciples were called Stoics. The fact is that Zeno of Kitia philosophized in the portico, which was built on the market square. The portico (in Greek - standing) was an architectural structure with an open entrance.

Physics. Cosmos is a fiery organism, a fiery all-penetrating pneuma. Nature is God, God is all nature (pantheism).

Logics. Through the senses, a person comprehends sensations, through the mind, conclusions, while the center of knowledge is in the representation, in the agreement of sensations and conclusions, and this is the meaning of the word and sentence.

Ethics. Man exists within the framework of cosmic laws, he is subject to cosmic fate. The meaning of the world is known especially clearly in the representation. The cognized idea leads to ataraxia, peace of mind, equanimity. Happiness can be achieved not in the eternal pursuit of the volatile good, but in the conscious adherence to cosmic, or, what is the same, divine laws. All people walk under the same divine-cosmic laws. The difference is that, as Seneca put it, "fate leads the one who wants, drags the unwilling."

SKEPTICISM

The founders of skepticism were Pyrrho of Elis and Sextus Empiricus. The Greek word skepticism combines, as it were, three meanings - this is both consideration, and doubt, and abstinence (Greek epoch) from judgments. Skeptics have always seen and still see their goal in refuting the dogmas of all philosophical schools.

Physics. The world is fluid, changeable, relative, impermanent, illusory.

Logics. The fluidity of the physical world does not allow one or another judgment to be considered true, truth does not exist, any analysis has no end, and reliance on the feelings and mind of a person is untenable, feelings are false, reason is contradictory. The skeptic agrees that many everyday questions cannot be avoided when it comes to realities that do not depend on a person - hunger, thirst, pain. But one must refrain from dogmatic judgments. Such abstinence, epoch, presupposes not laziness of the mind, but its caution, for knowledge has a probabilistic character.

Ethics. In the face of an ever-changing world, the skeptic cannot recognize the existence of either good or evil. Only one thing remains: to maintain inner peace, serenity, wise silence.

NEOPLATONISM

If the Cynics, Stoics and Epicureans based their philosophy on the ideas of Socrates, then in late antiquity the ideas of Plato are revived. Thus arose a new Platonism, or Neo-Platonism.

The most prominent of the Neoplatonists was Plotinus (not to be confused with Plato!), who lived in the third century, i.e. much later than the well-known events that happened to Christ. Plotinus spent a significant part of his life in Alexandria, a city that is often characterized as the meeting place of Greek philosophy with Eastern, in particular Indian, mysticism. After moving to Rome, Plotinus taught philosophy, in which Platonism was supplemented by mysticism of Eastern origin.

The world is one, Plotinus believed, but not in such a way that everywhere, in every region of the universe, the same thing is equally present. The soul is more beautiful than inert matter, the totality of ideas, the World Mind is more beautiful than the World Soul (ie all souls), and the One-Good is more beautiful than the World Mind. The source of all beauty is precisely the One-Good.

“Everything that comes from the Good,” Plotinus remarks with pathos, “is beautiful, but it itself is higher than the beautiful, higher even than the highest - royally contains the entire intelligible world, which is the area of ​​the intelligent Spirit.”

So, there is a hierarchy: One-Good - World Mind - World Soul - Matter. Being overflowing with itself, the One-Good, pouring out, passes successively into Mind, Soul, Matter. This process of imaginary writhing of the One-Good is not something material. It is about essential connection; essence is everywhere, it is realized through Mind, Soul, Matter. Where there is no essence (the One-Good), there is no good.

A person can avoid evil to the extent that he manages to climb the stairs leading up to the One Good (Plotinus sometimes called him god). This is possible through a mysterious experience and merging with the One-Good. In Greek, mysterious means mystical.

Neoplatonism is the last outburst of ancient philosophy. Plotinus called for the One Good, for unification through mystical unity. Ancient philosophy ended on a high note of the One Good. But this note did not sound as convincing as the exclamation of God heard from Christian heights: "I am who I am." But this exclamation no longer refers to ancient, but to medieval philosophy.

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