Ideas of ancient philosophy briefly. Classical ancient philosophy

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. The basis of all life ancient world was slave labor. “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. History is ancient Greek philosophy- this is the history of the struggle of the original, naive materialism against various idealistic teachings, this 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 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 soul's memory of the world of ideas that it contemplated before entering the body. The socio-political views of Plato, like his philosophical views, were reactionary. Fight between materialistic philosophy 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. 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 era (academicians, Stoics, skeptics, etc.) express a clear degradation 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 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.

ancient philosophy materialism idealism

Introduction

general characteristics ancient philosophy

Ancient materialism: Thales, Heraclitus, Democritus

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Philosophy is the knowledge of the universal, the essential meaning of the world, the knowledge of true being.

Ancient philosophy existed for more than a thousand years (from the 6th century BC to the 6th century AD). It was historically the first form of European philosophy and initially included knowledge about the world, from which the tree of modern philosophy and science subsequently grew.

Ancient philosophy is characterized by the presence of many different schools and trends. In antiquity, two main directions were formed: the materialistic (Democritus line) and the idealistic (Plato line), the struggle between which became one of the internal sources of the development of philosophy.

In ancient philosophy, the doctrine of development was born - dialectics in its first spontaneous form. Already in it, objective dialectics (Heraclitus) and subjective (Socrates) stand out.

Of course, in antiquity the concepts of philosophy and science coincided. Philosophical consciousness extended to knowledge in its entirety, at the same time laying claim to the definition of values ​​and rules of conduct.

1. General characteristics of ancient philosophy

European and a significant part of modern world civilization is directly or indirectly a product of ancient Greek culture, the most important part of which is philosophy. Many prominent philosophers write about the periodization of ancient philosophy, including Chanyshev A.N. (A course of lectures on ancient philosophy. M., 1981), Smirnov I.N., Titov V.F. ("Philosophy", M., 1996), Asmus V.F. (History of ancient philosophy M., 1965), Bogomolov A.S. ("Ancient Philosophy", Moscow State University, 1985).

For the convenience of analysis, we will use a more concise periodization presented by Smirnov I.N. So he notes that when analyzing Greek philosophy, three periods are distinguished in it: the first ¾ from Thales to Aristotle; the second - the classical ancient Greek philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, the third - Hellenistic philosophy. The object of our attention will be only the first and second periods.

Absolutely all scientists-philosophers note that the first period of development of ancient philosophy was the period of natural philosophy. A peculiar feature of ancient philosophy was the connection of its teachings with the teachings about nature, from which independent sciences subsequently developed: astronomy, physics, biology. In the VI and V centuries. BC. philosophy did not yet exist separately from the knowledge of nature, and knowledge about nature did not exist separately from philosophy. The cosmological speculation of the 7th and 6th centuries BC raises the question of the ultimate foundation of things. Thus, the concept of world unity appears, which opposes a multitude of phenomena and through which they try to explain the connection between this multitude and diversity, as well as the regularity that manifests itself primarily in the most general cosmic processes, in the change of day and night, in the movement of stars.

The second period of Greek philosophy (V - VI centuries BC), in contrast to the one-sided cosmocentric direction of the previous philosophy, also begins one-sidedly, namely, the formulation of anthropological problems. Naturphilosophical thinking reached limits beyond which it could not go at that time. This period is represented by the Sophists and Socrates and the Socrates. The difference between Socrates and the sophists is that the criterion for evaluating actions for him is the consideration of what motives determine the decision, what is useful and what is harmful.

In his philosophical activity, Socrates was guided by two principles formulated by the oracles: "the need for everyone to know himself and the fact that no person knows anything for sure and only a true sage knows that he knows nothing."

Socrates ends the natural philosophical period in the history of ancient Greek philosophy and begins a new stage associated with the activities of Plato and Aristotle.

Plato goes far beyond the boundaries of the Socratic spirit. Plato is a conscious and consistent objective idealist. Plato was the first among philosophers to pose the fundamental question of philosophy, the question of the relationship between spirit and matter. Strictly speaking, philosophy Ancient Greece one can speak with a considerable degree of certainty only starting from Plato. Plato is the first ancient Greek philosopher whose activities can be judged from his own works.

Our understanding of ancient Greek philosophy will not be complete without an analysis of the philosophical heritage of Aristotle (384 - 322 BC), one of the greatest thinkers in the history of human civilization.

Aristotle is distinguished by encyclopedic knowledge, he summed up the development of philosophical thought from the beginning of Ancient Greece to Plato.

The third period of ancient philosophy: the age of Hellenism (from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century after Christ). These include the Stoics, the Epicureans, the Skeptics. Neoplatonism ends the development of Greek philosophy.

2. Ancient materialism: Thales, Heraclitus, Democritus

Philosophy of Thales

The history of ancient Greek philosophy opens with the name of Thales of Miletus (about 625 - 547 BC). Thales claimed that everything in the world consists of water. Water is the beginning and end of everything.

The following sayings are attributed to him: "The most ancient of all things is God, for he is not born." "The most beautiful of all is the world, for it is the creation of God." "The wisest thing is time, for it reveals everything." He was asked: "What is difficult in the world?" - "Know thyself". "What's easy?" - "Advise others."

The first ancient Greek philosophers were busy searching for the fundamental principle that makes up the universe.

Philosophy of Heraclitus.

A significant contribution to the formation and development of ancient Greek philosophy was made by Heraclitus of Ephesus. The date of life of different philosophers is dated differently. So Taranov P.S. indicates that Heraclitus was born about 535 BC and died about 475 BC, having lived 60 years. Bogomolov names the date of birth (544, and considers the date of death unknown). Everyone admits that the personality of Heraclitus was very controversial. Coming from a royal family, he ceded the crown to his brother, and he retired to the temple of Artemis of Ephesus, devoting his time to philosophy. At the end of his life, Heraclitus retired to the mountains and lived as a hermit.

Analyzing the philosophical views of Heraclitus, one cannot fail to see that, like his predecessors, he generally remained on the position of natural philosophy, although some problems, for example, dialectics of contradiction, development are analyzed by him at the philosophical level, that is, the level of concepts and logical conclusions.

The prominent researcher of Heraclitus M. Markovich recreates the train of thought of the Ephesian in this way: he (Heraclitus) also says that the judgment on the world and everything that is in it is carried out through fire. For all... the coming fire will judge and condemn. Heraclitus considers fire as the substantial-genetic beginning of the Universe.

Heraclitus believes that none of the gods and none of the people created the cosmos, but "it has always been, is and will be forever living fire."

So, the fundamental principle of all things Heraclitus considered the primary fire - a subtle and mobile light element. Fire was considered by Heraclitus not only as an essence, as an origin, but also as a real process, as a result of which all things and bodies appear due to the flaring up or extinction of fire.

Heraclitus speaks of kinship logosand fire as different aspects of the same being. Fire expresses the qualitative and changeable side of the existing - logos - structural, stable. "Fire is exchange or exchange, logos is the proportion of this exchange."

So, the Heraclitean logos is the rational necessity of the existent, merged with the very concept of the existent - fire. The logos of Heraclitus has several interpretations: logos - a word, a story, an argument, a supreme mind, a universal law, etc. According to Bogomolov, the value is closer logosby the way lawas a universal semantic connection of being.

The main position of the philosophy of Heraclitus is conveyed by Plato in the dialogue "Cratylus". Plato reports that according to Heraclitus "everything moves and nothing rests ... it is impossible to enter the same river."

Dialectics according to Heraclitus is first of all changeof all things and the unity of unconditional opposites. At the same time, change is considered not as a simple movement, but as a process of the formation of the universe, the cosmos.

And it is no exaggeration to say that of all philosophers of the period of formation of ancient philosophy,Heraclitus most of all deserves "the title of the founder of objective dialectics as the doctrine of opposites, their struggle, their unity and world process. This is his enduring significance."

The teaching of Heraclitus about the flow is closely connected with his teaching about the transition from one opposite to another, about "me", "exchange" of opposites. "The cold gets warmer, the warm gets colder, the wet dries up, the dry gets wet." By exchanging with each other, opposites become identical. Heraclitus' assertion that everything is an exchange of opposites is supplemented by the statement that everything happens through struggle: "one should know that war is universal and true struggle and everything that happens is through struggle and by necessity." On the basis of struggle, the harmony of the world is established.

Democritus and his atomistic theory

According to most philosophers, Democritus was born in 460 BC, died in 360/370 BC. Lived for almost 100 years. Originally from Abder, he came from a noble family and was rich, but he abandoned his wealth, spent his whole life in the poor, indulging exclusively in wisdom.

Democritus taught that there is something extremely simple, further indivisible and impenetrable, of which everything that exists is an atom. Atoms are innumerable, Democritus characterizes atoms, just as Parmenides characterizes being. Atoms are eternal, unchanging, inseparable, impenetrable, neither arising nor regenerating. They have absolute density and hardness and differ from each other in their volume and shape. All bodies are composed of atoms, the real true properties of things are those that are inherent in atoms. Atoms are separated from each other by emptiness. If an atom is being, then emptiness is non-being. On the one hand, if there were no emptiness, then there would be no real multitude and no movement. On the other hand, if everything were divisible to infinity, then there would be emptiness in everything, that is, there would be nothing in the world, there would be no world itself. Democritus interpreted movement as a natural state of the Cosmos, while movement was interpreted strictly unambiguously as the endless movement of atoms in the void.

Democritus was the first in ancient Greek philosophy to introduce the concept of cause into scientific circulation. He denies chance in the sense of causelessness.

In inorganic nature, everything happens not according to goals and in this sense by chance, but the student can have both goals and means. Thus, Democritus' view of nature is strictly causal, deterministic.

He preached a consistent materialistic position in the doctrine of the nature of the soul and knowledge. "The soul, according to Democritus, consists of spherical atoms, that is, it is like fire."

The views of Democritus on man, society, morality and religion are interesting. He intuitively believed that the first of the people led a disorderly life. When they learned how to make fire, they gradually began to develop various arts. He expressed the version that art was born by imitation (We learned from a spider - weaving, from a swallow - to build houses, etc.), that laws are created by people. Wrote about the bad and good people. "Bad people take oaths to the gods when they find themselves in a hopeless situation. When they got rid of him, they still do not keep their oaths."

Democritus rejected divine providence, the afterlife, posthumous retribution for earthly deeds. The ethics of Democritus is permeated with the ideas of humanism. "The hedonism of Democritus is not only in pleasures, because the highest blessed state of mind and measure in pleasures."

Ancient idealism: Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

Pythagoras(IV century BC) and his followers the Pythagoreans proceeded from the idea that the universe is infinite in both space and time and that it is ruled by a god who is as eternal and boundless as the world itself. The whole world is dominated by order, which is based on number and measure - they produce a harmony of being, similar to the one we find in music. The number governs both the course of the heavenly saints and all human relationships. The number governs both the course of the heavenly saints and all human relationships. Number is the source of rewards and punishments. The human soul is immortal and harmonious, but during its earthly existence it passes through a series of bodies: sometimes higher, sometimes lower, depending on how virtuous it is.

Socrates(469 - 399 BC) He believed: the main thing is to know the general, general principles of virtue. Good cannot be taught - it is contained in the nature of the spirit. Everything is in the spirit of man; he learns something only by appearances. Everything that exists is contained in man himself. According to Socrates, man as a thinker is the measure of all things. Socrates' requirement: Know thyself. Socrates was characterized by ethical intellectualism; his moral and scientific knowledge are identical. Genuine knowledge, according to Socrates, includes right action.

He who knows what good is must always act in the spirit of good. He considered dialogue to be an important means of achieving philosophical leadership. According to Socrates, God is, in essence, Mind, Soul. The human mind and soul is inner voice(conscience), which is of divine origin, prompting a person to live virtuously.

Plato is an outstanding objective idealist.

Plato (427-347 BC) is the founder of objective idealism, a student of Cratylus and Socrates. Almost all works written in the form of dialogues or dramatic works have come down to us: "Apology of Socrates, 23 dialogues overheard, 11 dialogues of varying degrees of doubt, 8 works that were not included in the list of Plato's works even in antiquity, 13 letters, many of which unquestionably authentic and definitions."

Plato got acquainted early with the philosophy of Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno, Pythagoreans. Plato is the founder of a school called the Academy. In the dialogue "Timaeus" was the first to comprehensively discuss the origin of the first principles and the structure of the cosmos. "We need to consider what the very nature of fire, water, air and earth was before the birth of the sky and what was their then state. For until now no one has explained their birth, but we call them and take the letters of the Universe for the elements." For the first time he raised the question of the essence of things and their essences. He laid the foundation for the doctrine of reference prototypes or paradigms. The existence of an idea is more important than non-existence. The realm of Plato's ideas is reminiscent of Parmenides' doctrine of being. Plato's world of sensible things is reminiscent of the doctrine of Heraclitus's being - a stream of eternal becoming, birth and death.

Plato transferred Heraclitus' characterization of being to the world of sensible things.

In the dialogue "Timaeus" he reveals cosmogony and cosmology. He considered the demiurge (god) to be the organizer of the cosmos. So, the origins of the cosmos are as follows: "ideas are the prototypes of things, matter and the demiurge is a god who arranges the world according to ideas. There is being (ideas), there is production, and there are three births of the world."

The origin of the cosmos is described by Plato as follows. From a mixture of ideas and matter, the demiurge creates a world soul and spreads this mixture throughout the space that is intended for the visible universe, dividing it into elements - fire, air, water and earth. Rotating the cosmos, he rounded it, giving it the most perfect form - spheres. The result is space Living being endowed with intelligence. “So, we have before us the structure of the world: the divine mind (demiurge), the world soul and the world body (cosmos).

At the center of the teachings of Plato, as well as his teacher Socrates, are the problems of morality. Morality, he considered the dignity of the soul, the soul - truly gives the cause of things, the soul is immortal.

In the dialogue "Timaeus" he revealed the picture afterlife and court. He thought that it was necessary to cleanse the soul from earthly filth (from evil, vices and passions).

In the dialogues "Politician", "State", "Laws" Plato revealed the doctrine of state administration. He stood up for the complete subordination of the individual to the state, his ideals were the power of an enlightened king.

He noted that three main forms of government could exist in the state: monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy.

According to Plato, each form of state perishes due to internal contradictions. "Plato characterizes government as a royal art, the main thing for which is the presence of true royal knowledge and the ability to manage people. If the rulers have such data, then it will no longer matter whether they rule according to laws or without them, voluntarily or against their will, poor or rich: to take this into account is never and by no means correct.

Plato was the founder of not only ancient, but also world idealism.

Aristotle is an outstanding philosopher of antiquity.

Plato's decisive opponent is his student Aristotle, the greatest ancient Greek philosopher. F. Engels called him "the most universal head" among ancient Greek philosophers, the Thinker who investigated the most essential forms of dialectical thinking.

Aristotle was born in 384 BC. in the city of Stagira, in 367 BC. left for Athens, where he entered the Academy - Plato's school, spent 20 years there until Plato's death. Later he would criticize Platonism. He owns the words: "Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer."

Later, Aristotle founded his own school in Athens, calling it "Lykeum". He owns 146 works, among them "Organon", "Metaphysics", "Physics" and others.

The main content of the philosophical teachings of Aristotle is set forth in his work "Metaphysics". Aristotle retains the understanding of being, characteristic of the Eleatics and Plato, as something stable, unchanging, motionless. However, Aristotle does not identify being with ideas. He criticizes Plato for ascribing independent existence to ideas, isolating and separating them from the sensible world. As a result, Aristotle gives the concept of being a different interpretation than Plato. Essence is that single existence possessing independence. It answers the question: "What is a thing?" in being is what makes objects exactly that, did not allow it to merge with others.

In metaphysics, he defines matter. Unlike Socrates, Plato, who did not attribute the science of nature to true wisdom, Aristotle explores nature in depth. Matter turns out to be the first cause of both the emergence and the changeable presence of natural things "for all nature, one might say, is material." Matter according to Aristotle is the primary material, the potency of things. It gives matter an actual state, that is, transforms it from a possibility into a reality of form. Form, according to Aristotle, is an active principle, the beginning of life and activity. He called the higher essences pure forms, in fact, pure forms are nothing but ideal essences. Aristotle considers the highest essence to be pure, formless matter - the Prime Mover, which serves as the source of life and movement of the entire Cosmos.

It is from the understanding of matter that Aristotle builds the doctrine of 4 Xelements (earth, fire, water, air). If in the philosophy of the pre-Socratics there was no special term for the designation of matter, then Aristotle developed this as a philosophical category for the first time. AT 3 to herbook "Physics" he talked about 4 Xtypes of movement. In "metaphysics" and "physics" he convincingly convinced of the dominance of form over content. His thoughts on society, ethics and politics are curious. aim human activity for all ancient Greek philosophy is the attainment of bliss. Bliss according to Aristotle is unattainable. In Aristotle's Politics, society and the state are not distinguished. Man, in his opinion, is a political animal. He justified slavery, because he believed that slavery exists by nature. A slave has no rights.

Aristotle summed up the development of philosophical thought from its beginnings in ancient Greece to Plato. It is Aristotle who belongs to the systematization of knowledge, based on two principles - subject and target. He divides the sciences into 3 large groups: theoretical (1 Iphysics, physics, mathematics), practical (ethics, economics, politics) and creative (poetics, rhetoric, art).

Thus Aristotle completed classical philosophy stories.

The historical significance of ancient philosophy

The pinnacle of ancient Greek philosophical thought is rightly considered to be the philosophical achievements of Plato and Aristotle. The influence on the subsequent philosophical and cultural development of the ideas put forward by Plato and Aristotle is many times greater than the influence created by their predecessors. Without Platonic and Aristotelian approaches and concepts, it is impossible to understand a single philosophical system along the entire long path of subsequent evolution, including modernity.

Ancient Greece set a certain model of civilization in general, civilization as such. The model turned out, however, complex and contradictory. But it remains and will forever remain attractive, especially in cases where civilization is threatened somewhere or is looking for new impulses to find fresh breath. The Greek model is static. The most important thing is that, due to the same quality, it can be built into the composition of another civilization. True, in this case one has to solve the most difficult problem of the ways and means of such embedding. The subsequent development of a civilization based on the values ​​of Christianity demonstrated various options solutions to this problem. However, with all options, the value of the intellectual and technical side of ancient Greek thought was recognized. Antiquity owes the achievements of the highest technology of thinking mainly to the work of Plato and Aristotle, who relied on the previous achievements of Greek thought. These achievements in their totality constituted a phenomenon called ancient Greek philosophy. Ancient Greek philosophy is what develops and consolidates universal methods of thinking, not limited by anything external, primarily by faith and sensory experience.

Conclusion

So, summing up control work on the topic "Ancient Philosophy", I draw the following conclusions:

.Philosophy is one of the most ancient areas of human knowledge.

.The essence of philosophy and its role in society lies in the fact that it is knowledge of the universal, essential knowledge about the world, knowledge of true being. Philosophy is the decisive sphere of the formation of the spirit.

.Philosophy general connections and relationships, general laws that operate in nature, society and human thinking.

.European philosophy was formed on the basis of antiquity and Christianity.

.Ancient philosophy played a huge historical significance in spiritual development humanity, laying the foundations for the subsequent movement of all European and world philosophy.

Bibliography

1. Asmus V.F. History of ancient philosophy. M., 1965.
2. Bogomolov A.S. ancient philosophy. Moscow State University, 1985.
3. Garanov P.S. 500 steps to wisdom. Book. 1., 1996.
4. Losev A.F. Ancient philosophy of history. M., 1977.
5. Losev A.F. Dictionary of ancient philosophy. M., 1995.
6. Losev A.F. Plato, Aristotle. M., 1993.
7. Sergeev K.A., Slinin Ya.A. Nature and reason. ancient paradigm. L., 1991.
8. Smirnov I.N., Titov V.F. Philosophy. AT 2 X kn., kn. 1., M., 1996.
9. Chanyshev A.N. Course of lectures on ancient philosophy. M., 1981.
10. Radugin A.A. Philosophy. Lecture course. Publishing house Center. Moscow. 1997.

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

Other articles:

When did philosophy appear?

It is generally accepted that philosophy originated approximately − in the 7th-6th centuries BC in ancient Greece and simultaneously in ancient China and India. Some scholars believe that philosophy appeared in Ancient Egypt. One thing is certain, the Egyptian civilization had a huge impact on the civilization of Greece.

Philosophy of the Ancient World (Ancient Greece)

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

Ancient philosophy is philosophical direction that has evolved over more than a thousand years from the end of the 7th century BC until the 6th century AD.

Philosophy periods of ancient Greece

It is customary to divide it into several periods.

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

Features of the philosophy of the ancient world

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

• For this philosophy characterized by syncretism that is, the confluence of the most important problems, and this is its difference from later philosophical schools.
• For such a philosophy characteristic and cosmocentric- the cosmos, according to her, is connected with a person by many inextricable ties.
• In ancient philosophy, there were practically no philosophical laws, a lot of it was developed at the level of concepts.
• Huge logic mattered., and the leading philosophers of the time, among them Socrates and Aristotle, were engaged in its development.

Philosophical schools of the ancient world

Milesian school

One of the most ancient philosophical schools is considered to be the Miletus school. Among its founders was Thales, astronomer. He believed that the basis of everything is a certain substance. She is the only beginning.

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

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

School of Pythagoras.

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

Eleian school.

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

School of Socrates.

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

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

Books on Philosophy of Ancient Greece

• Essay on the history of Greek philosophy. Eduard Gottlob Zeller. This is a famous essay, repeatedly reprinted in many countries. It's popular and summary ancient Greek philosophy.
• Philosophers of Ancient Greece. Robert S. Brambo. From the book of Robert Brambo (PhD of the University of Chicago) you will learn a description of the life of philosophers, a description of their scientific concepts, ideas and theories.
• History of ancient philosophy. G. Arnim. The book is devoted exclusively to the content of ideas, concepts, ancient philosophical teachings.

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

Summary

Ancient philosophy of the ancient world (Ancient Greece) created the term “philosophy” itself, has had and is having a huge impact on European and world philosophy to this 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 on Greek. In addition, valuable material is provided by 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 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 infinite, 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 ruling the world reasonable beginning (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) to one degree or another demonstrates 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 one's own immortal soul, and not about the 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 complete philosophical teachings, which considered almost the entire range of traditional philosophical topics, developed philosophical terminology and a set of concepts, the base 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 character traits, as well as discrepancies. 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 principles 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 inner world individual person. 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’ 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 that describes the hierarchy of the world, born from the beginning, was combined in Neoplatonism with magical practice"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

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY- historically the first form of European theoretical thought, which became the basis for development and the cultural horizon for all subsequent forms of thinking that arose within the intellectual space of medieval, new and modern Europe. Chronologically, the history of ancient philosophy covers the period of St. 1200 years, from the 6th c. BC. by 6th c. AD Geographically, we have in front of us the eastern half of the Mediterranean, where during the indicated period of time the polis democracy of Ancient Greece at the time of independence, the Hellenistic monarchies that arose after the collapse of the empire of Alexander the Great, Republican Rome and Imperial Rome managed to change. All this time, the language of ancient philosophy was Greek, although the gradual development of Latin as philosophical language(Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca). In addition, for the late period, when ancient philosophy coexisted with Christian doctrine, its “pagan” character was a fundamental feature - accordingly, Christian thinkers of the 2nd-6th centuries. are outside the scope of the course of the history of ancient philosophy (see. Patristics ).

The conditional date of the beginning of ancient philosophy is 585 BC, when the Greek scientist and sage Thales from Miletus predicted a solar eclipse, the conditional final date is 529 AD, when the edict of the Christian emperor Justinian closed Platonic Academy in Athens - the last philosophical school of antiquity. The convention of these dates lies in the fact that in the first case, Thales turns out to be the “ancestor of philosophy” (for the first time Aristotle called him so in Metaphysics, 983b20) long before the appearance of the word “philosophy”, and in the second case, the history of ancient philosophy is considered completed, although somewhat its outstanding representatives (Damascus, Simplicius, Olympiodorus) continued their scientific work. Nevertheless, these dates make it possible to determine the space within which a schematic presentation of a diverse and heterogeneous heritage, united in the concept of "ancient philosophy", is possible.

Sources of study. 1. Corpus of philosophical texts of antiquity, preserved in medieval manuscripts in Greek. The texts of Plato, Aristotle and the Neoplatonists, the philosophers of greatest interest to Christian culture, are best preserved. 2. Texts that became known to scholars only in modern times thanks to archaeological excavations; The most important finds are the Epicurean library of papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum (see fig. Philodemus of Gadara ), a stone stele with an Epicurean text carved on it (see Fig. Diogenes of Enoanda ), papyri with Aristotle's "Athenian polity" found in Egypt, an anonymous commentary of the 2nd c. AD to Plato's Theaetetus, a papyrus from Derveni, 5th c. with the interpretation of Homer. 3. Ancient texts preserved only in translation into other languages: Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Hebrew. Separately, we can mention the ancient historical philosophical texts, which are both primary and secondary sources on ancient philosophy. The most common genres of ancient historical and philosophical literature were philosophical biographies, compendiums of opinions, in which the teachings of philosophers were grouped thematically, and school “successions”, combining the first two methods within the framework of a strict scheme “from teacher to student” (see Fig. Doxographers ). In general, a relatively small part of the texts has come down to us from antiquity, and the selection that has been preserved due to historical circumstances can be recognized as representative with reservations. Researchers often have to turn to the methods of reconstruction of sources to restore a more complete picture of the philosophical thought of antiquity.

For the convenience of the initial review, the history of ancient philosophy can be divided into the following periods: early Greek philosophy; sophists and Socrates; Plato and Aristotle; Hellenistic philosophy; philosophical schools during the era of the Roman Empire; Neoplatonism.

EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY, OR "PRE-SOCRATICS" (6th-5th centuries BC). The main philosophical centers: Ionia (western coast of Asia Minor), Sicily, Southern Italy.

The content of this period is characterized by an interest in cosmology and natural philosophy: reflection on the beginning, cause and constituent elements of the visible space , about the source of its movement and life, i.e. about him nature (cf. the traditional title of all writings of the period: "On Nature"). Ideas about a person are already recognized as actually philosophical problems, however, are included in the context of the doctrine of space as its additional section; the doctrine of man gradually acquires features of independence and develops from physiology (man as an element of the cosmos) and psychology (the psyche of man as an animated element of the cosmos) to rationalistic ethics, which substantiates the rules of behavior in society in connection with some ideal (good, happiness).

SOPHISTS AND SOCRATES: HELLENIC ENLIGHTENMENT (2nd half of the 5th century BC). Since that time, Athens has become the main philosophical center of Greece. This period is characterized by a transfer of attention from the natural-philosophical problems of understanding the world to the ethical and social problems of human education. Sophists did not constitute a single "school", but together they allow us to combine their common desire for public disputes, professional pedagogy, special attention to rhetoric as a form of expression of any ideas. Privately and at the official invitation, they visited various cities (polises) of Greece and gave lessons for a fee in various disciplines, which are now commonly called "humanitarian". Upbringing ( paideya̲ ) as the second nature of man and as the basis of human community - the guiding idea of ​​sophistry. Among their favorite tricks was the demonstration of the dependence of moral norms and the laws of the community on the volitional decision of a person (terminologically fixed by the opposition "nature - law"), which is why their views are considered relativistic in historical and philosophical terms. The relativism of the Sophists was arbitrary from general rhetorical attitudes and was not a form of theorizing (cf. Gorgias' exercise "On Non-Being", which parodies Melissa's treatise "On Being"). The opposition of nature and law (nomos - fusis), reflecting one of the most striking features of the period, served as the basis for the social reformation of the sophists. The most famous sophists: Protagoras , Gorgias , Hippias , Antiphon , Prodic .

The nature of philosophical teaching has changed significantly: instead of the school as a community of like-minded people, with a single way of life and constant closeness of the teacher and student, leading an oral dialogue, the school becomes a professional institute, and professional teachers begin to teach philosophy, receiving a salary from the state (emperor). In 176 AD emperor Marcus Aurelius establishes (allocates state subsidies) in Athens four philosophical departments: Platonic, Peripatetic, Stoic and Epicurean, which clearly limits the main philosophical currents of the period. Main focus in different schools was given to one thing - the restoration of an authoritative corpus of texts for a particular tradition (cf. Andronicus' edition of Aristotle's texts, Thrasyll texts of Plato). The beginning of the era of systematic commentary: if the previous period can be designated as the era of dialogue, then this and the next stage in the history of ancient philosophy is the period commentary , i.e. a text created about and in relation to another, authoritative text. The Platonists comment on Plato, the Peripatetics on Aristotle, the Stoics on Chrysippus (cf. Epictetus, "Manual" § 49; "Conversations" I 10, 8 - about Stoic school exegesis, in contrast to the Platonic and Peripatetic, represented by surviving texts, we can only judge by hints). According to the remark of the peripatetic Alexander of Aphrodisias (2nd century AD), the discussion of “theses” was in the habit of the ancient philosophers, “they gave their lessons in this way - without commenting on the books, as they do now (then there were no such books yet). kind), but by presenting a thesis and arguing for and against, they thereby exercised their ability to find evidence based on premises accepted by everyone” (Alex. Aphrod. In Top., 27, 13 Wallies).

Of course, oral exercises could not be discarded - but now they are exercises for explaining written texts. The difference is clearly visible in the new school formulation of the question of research (not about the subject, but about how Plato or Aristotle understood the subject): for example, not “is the world eternal?”, but “is it possible to consider that, according to Plato, the world is eternal if in the Timaeus does he recognize the demiurge of the world? (cf. "Platonic Questions" by Plutarch of Chaeronea).

The desire to systematize and streamline the legacy of the past was also manifested in a huge number of doxographic compendia and biographical histories created just in this period from the 1st century BC. BC. (the most famous is the compendium of Arius Didyma) to the beginning. 3 in. (the most famous - Diogenes Laertia And Sexta Empiricus ), and in widespread school textbooks designed to correctly and intelligibly devote both students and the general public to the teachings of the great philosophers (cf. especially Platonic textbooks Apuleia And Alcinous ).

LATE ANTIQUE PHILOSOPHY: NEOPLATONISM (3rd–6th centuries AD). The final period of the history of ancient philosophy is characterized by the dominance Neoplatonism , who synthetically assimilated elements of Aristotelianism, neo-Pythagoreanism and Stoicism while maintaining the traditional Platonic dogmatics ( middle platonism ). The new synthesis had significant differences from the previous tradition of Platonism, which gave rise to scientists in the 19th century. introduce the term "Neoplatonism". The Neoplatonists themselves called themselves Platonists and believed that they were in line with a single tradition coming from the "divine Plato". The main philosophical centers of late antiquity are associated with the activities of the schools of Neoplatonism: Rome (Plotinus, Porphyry), Apamea in Syria (where Amelius, a student of Plotinus, and Iamblichus, who headed the school after Amelius, taught - the Syrian school), Pergamon (Pergamon school, founded by a student of Iamblichus Edesios), Alexandria ( Alexandria School : Hypatia, Hierocles, Hermias, Ammonius, John Philopon, Olympiodorus), Athens ( Athenian school : Plutarch, Sirian, Proclus, Damascus, Simplicius).

Plotinus is considered the founder of Neoplatonism because in the corpus of his writings ( "Enneads" ) contains all the basic concepts of Neoplatonic philosophy, which he built into a coherent ontological hierarchy: the superexistential principle - United - good, the second hypostasis - Mind -nous , third - World Soul and sensual Space . The One is inaccessible to thought and is comprehended only in a super-smart ecstatic unity with it, expressed not by ordinary linguistic means, but negatively, through negation (cf. apophatic theology). The transition from one to other levels of being is described in terms of “radiation”, “disclosure”, later the main term is “exodus” (proodos), see below. Emanation . Each lower step exists due to the appeal to the higher principle and imitates the higher one by creating the next one after itself (thus the mind acts as the beginning for the soul, and the soul for the cosmos). In the future, this scheme will be subjected to refinement and careful development. In general, systematism, scholasticism, mysticism and magic (theurgy) are extremely characteristic of late (post-Iamblichian) Neoplatonism. Noteworthy is the absence of socio-political issues, so important for Plato himself; Neoplatonism is entirely metaphysics and theology.

Among the texts authoritative for Neoplatonists, in addition to the texts of Plato (commentaries on the Platonic dialogues form the main part of the heritage of this tradition), were the works of Aristotle, Homer and the Chaldean oracles. Commentaries on Aristotle are the second largest part of the surviving heritage of Neoplatonism; The key issue for Neoplatonic commentators was the problem of harmonizing the teachings of Plato and Aristotle (see more Aristotle commentators ). In general, the course of Aristotle's philosophy was seen as propaedeutics ("small mysteries") to the study of Plato ("great mysteries").

In 529, the Academy of Athens was closed by edict of Emperor Justinian, and philosophers were forced to stop teaching. This date is accepted as a symbolic end to the history of ancient philosophy, although philosophers expelled from Athens continued to work on the outskirts of the empire (for example, comments Simpliki I, which have become for us one of the main sources on the history of ancient philosophy, were written by him already in exile).

PHILOSOPHY - ΦΙΛΙΑ ΣΟΦΙΑΣ. About what philosophy is ancient philosophers spoke as often as they had to start the initial philosophical course. A similar course in Neoplatonic schools was opened by reading Aristotle, Aristotle began with logic, logic - with "Categories". Several "Introductions to Philosophy" and "Introductions to Aristotle" have survived, anticipating school commentaries on the "Categories". Porfiry, who first proposed to consider the writings of Aristotle as a propaedeutic to Platonic ones, at one time wrote a special "Introduction to the Categories" ("Isagoge"), which became the basic textbook for Neoplatonists. Commenting on Porphyry, the Neoplatonist Ammonius lists several traditional definitions, in which Platonic, Aristotelian and Stoic themes can be distinguished: 1) “knowledge of beings because they are”; 2) "knowledge of divine and human affairs"; 3) “likeness to God, as far as it is possible for a person”; 4) "preparation for death"; 5) "the art of arts and the science of sciences"; 6) "love of wisdom" ( Ammonius. In Porph. Isagogen, 2, 22-9, 24). The best way to clarify the meaning of these late school definitions, which demonstrate the stability and spaciousness of a tradition that has consolidated the diverse teachings of more than a thousand years into one “history of ancient philosophy”, could be all the ancient philosophical texts at our disposal.

Having ceased to exist, ancient philosophy became a significant factor in the development of European philosophical thought (proximately influencing the formation of Christian theology and medieval scholasticism) and remains so until today. The language of ancient philosophy has not lost its liveliness of sound. While some terms forever remained technical terms only of the philosophy of the Greeks ( arete , ataraxia ,

Encyclopedias and dictionaries:

1. Pauly A., Wissowa G, Kroll W.(hrsg.). Realencyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, 83 Bande. Stuttg., 1894-1980;

2. Der Neue Pauly. Enzyklopaedie der Antike. Das klassische Altertum und seine Rezeptionsgeschichte in 15 Banden, hrsg. v. H. Cancik and H. Schneider. Stuttg., 1996–99;

3. Goulet R.(ed.). Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques, v. 1–2. P., 1989–94;

4. Zeyl D.J.(ed.). Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy. Westport, 1997.

Detailed expositions of the history of ancient philosophy:

1. Losev A.F. History of ancient aesthetics in 8 vols. M., 1963–93;

2. Guthrie W.K.S. A History of Greek Philosophy in 6 vols. Camhr., 1962-81;

3. Algra K., Barnes J., Mansfeld J., Schofield M.(eds.), The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Cambr., 1999;

4. Armstrong A.H.(ed.). The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy. Cambr., 1967;

5. Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie, begr. v. fr. Ueberweg: Die Philosophie des Altertums, hrsg. v. K. Prächter, völlig neubearbeitete Ausgabe: Die Philosophie der Antike, hrsg. v. H.Flashchar, Bd. 3–4. Basel–Stuttg., 1983–94 (volumes 1–2 forthcoming);

6. Reale G. Storia della filosofia antica, v. 1–5. Mil., 1975–87 (English translation: A History of Ancient Philosophy. Albany, 1985);

7. Zeller E. Die Philosophie der Griechen in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung, 3 Teile in 6 Banden. Lpz., 1879–1922 (3–6 Aufl.; Neudruck Hildesheim, 1963).

Tutorials:

1. Zeller E. Essay on the history of Greek philosophy. St. Petersburg, 1912 (reissued 1996);

2. Chanyshev A.N. Course of lectures on ancient philosophy. M., 1981;

3. He is. Course of lectures on ancient and medieval philosophy. M., 1991;

4. Bogomolov A.S. ancient philosophy. M., 1985;

5. Reale J., Antiseri D. Western philosophy from its origins to the present day. I. Antiquity (translated from Italian). SPb., 1994;

6. Losev A.F. Dictionary of ancient philosophy. M., 1995;

7. History of philosophy: West - Russia - East, book. 1: Philosophy of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, ed. N.V. Motroshilova. M., 1995;

8. Ado Pierre. What is ancient philosophy? (translated from French). M., 1999;

9. Canto-Sperber M., Barnes J., Brisson L., Brunschwig J., Vlastos G.(eds.). Philosophie Grecque. P., 1997.

Readers:

1. Pereverzentsev S.V. Workshop on the history of Western European philosophy (Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance). M., 1997;

2. Vogel C. de(ed.). Greek philosophy. A collection of texts selected and supplied with some notes and explanations, vol. 1–3. Leiden, 1963–67;

3. Long A.A., Sedley D.N.(eds. and trs.). The Hellenistic Philosophers, 2 v. Cambr., 1987.

Manuals on the history of Greek culture and education:

1. ZelinskyF.F. From a Life of Ideas, 3rd ed. Pg., 1916;

2. He is. Hellenistic religion. Pg., 1922;

3. Marru A.-I. History of education in antiquity (Greece), trans. from French, M., 1998;

4. Yeager W. Paideia. The Education of the Ancient Greek, trans. with him. M., 1997.

Literature:

1. Losev A.F. Antique space and modern science. M., 1927 (reissued 1993);

2. He is. Essays on ancient symbolism and mythology. M., 1930 (reissued 1993);

3. He is. Hellenistic-Roman aesthetics of the 1st-2nd centuries. AD M., 1979;

4. Rozhansky I.D. The development of natural science in the era of antiquity. M., 1979;

5. Bogomolov A.S. dialectical logos. The formation of ancient dialectics. M., 1982;

6. Gaidenko P.P. The evolution of the concept of science. M., 1980;

7. Zaitsev A.I. Cultural upheaval in ancient Greece VIII-VI centuries. BC, L., 1985;

9. Anton J.P., Kustas G.L.(eds). Essays in Ancient Greek Philosophy. Albany, 1971;

10. Haase W., Temporini H.(eds.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt. Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung, Teil II, Bd. 36:1–7. V.-N. Y., 1987–98;

11. Mansfeld J. Questions to be settled before the study of an author or a text. Leiden-N. Y.–Köln, 1994;

12. Irwin T. (ed.). Classical Philosophy: Collected Papers, vol. 1–8. N. Y, 1995;

13. The Cambridge Companoin to early Greek philosophy, ed. by A.A.Long. N. Y, 1999.

Continuing editions:

1. Entretiens sur l "Antiquité classique, t. 1-43. Vandoevres-Gen., 1952-97;

2. Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, ed. J. Annas et al., v. 1–17. Oxf, 1983–99.

Bibliographies:

1. Marouzeau J.(ed.), L "Année philologique. Bibliographie critique et analytique de l" antiquité gréco-latine. P., 1924–99;

2. Bell A.A. Resources in Ancient Philosophy: An Annotated Bibliography of Scholarship in English. 1965–1989 Metuchen-N. J., 1991.

Internet facilities:

1. http://cailimac.vjf.cnrs.fr(various information on classical antiquity, including the latest editions of Maruso);

2. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu(classical texts in the original and translation into English);

3. http://www.gnomon.kueichstaett.de/Gnomon (bibliographies of works on ancient culture and philosophy);

4. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr(Bryn Mawr Classical Review - reviews of literature on antiquity).