Ancient Philosophy

The term ancient philosophy refers to the philosophical activities of the early Greek world.
They operated over a period of some 1,000 years from the middle of the 1
st
millennium B.C. to
the middle of the 1
st
millennium A.D.
Ancient philosophy, specically durin! the "re#$ocratic period is characteristically
cosmocentric, which speaks of the specication of non#percepti%le items such as num%ers,
deities, and universal kinds.
The "re#$ocratics were uninhi%ited in proposin! %old theories on the lar!est possi%le scale.
The analysis and evaluation of patterns of reasonin! and ar!ument.
The importance of understandin! in the pursuit of !ood life.
The need to analy&e the nature of human person.
The importance of the concept of 'ustice in denin! the nature of political system.
They used their reason to understand the world, without appealin! to reli!ion, revelation,
authority or tradition.
They tau!ht other people to use their own reason, and to think for themselves.
Ancient "hilosophy can %e su%divided in three periods( the Pre-Socratics, the Greek triumvirate,
and the Post-Aristolelian time.
The Pre-Socratics
"re#$ocratic philosophers consist mostly of philosophers %efore the time of $ocrates. This period, from
Thales to $ocrates was the period of %e!innin!s. Thales, and his two successors Ana)imander and
Ana)imenes were %ased out of the city of *iletus, and hence they are known collectively as the *ilesian
philosophers.
Thales
Thales literally %elieved everythin! is made of water. +ow could this %e, -ell, you have to put yourself
%ack into an ancient Greek mindset. By tradition, most people %elieved that everythin! consisted of four
fundamental elements( earth, air, water, and re. These elements could transform into the apparently
diverse kinds of thin!s we e)perience in our everyday lives. Thales.s innovation was to ar!ue that that
there was actually only one kind of thin! underlyin! everythin!/ even earth, air, and re are 'ust di0erent
manifestations of water. -hy would he say this, Aristotle speculates that Thales saw how thin!s like plants
!row when you !ive them water, as thou!h the water is %ein! transformed into the solid structure of the
plant. 1t mi!ht also %e that Thales noticed that water has three phases2water is, in fact, the only
su%stance an avera!e person would e)perience variously as a li3uid, a solid, and a !as. "erhaps he
e)trapolated from this that water could %ecome so solid that it would %ecome rock or metal, or so
vaporous that it would %ecome air or re. 1t is di4cult to know, %ut the standard story presumes that he
drew this conclusion %y reasonin! from his o%servations, and this, as we will see, is critical for e)plainin!
why we think Thales counts as a philosopher at all.
Anaximander
Ana)imander apparently a!reed with Thales that there must %e one fundamental thin! underlyin!
everythin! else, %ut he disa!reed with the contention that it was any of the four familiar elements. 1nstead,
Ana)imander posited that it was somethin! which he called the apeiron, which translates into 5%oundless5
or 5innite.5 Ana)imander actually o0ered a cosmolo!ical model, in which there is initially nothin! e)cept
the apeiron, %ut then di0erent elements spontaneously %e!in to separate out of the apeiron. -hether
Ana)imander means that everythin! is fundamentally composed of apeiron, or 'ust that everythin! started
out with apeiron, is not entirely clear.
Anaximenes
6inally, there is Ana)imenes, who ar!ued that everythin! was made of one of the four traditional elements,
after all, only the element in 3uestion was air rather than water. A lot of people consider Ana)imenes a
step %ackwards from Ana)imander, a naive retreat from the sophisticated %ack to the crude and familiar.
7thers think this is not at all fair. Ana)imenes, it is ar!ued, thou!ht that the concept of apeiron was too
o%scure to %e helpful, and reali&ed that the hypothesis that everythin! is made of air accounted %etter for
what he o%served. +e also developed an account of how it is air seems to transform into other su%stances(
it is all a matter of density, with su4ciently compressed air %ecomin! water and earth, and su4ciently
raried air %ecomin! re. This he inferred not throu!h a 8i!ht of fancy, %ut throu!h o%servations, such as
%y noticin! that one.s own %reath can %e either hot or cold, dependin! on how much one compresses the
stream of air with one.s lips.
Importance of the Milesian School
The *ilesians %ucked this trend %y developin! a suita%ly naturalistic view of the world, in which a
deeper understandin! of nature could %e had %y analy&in! the natural world into its fundamental
constituents 9water, or apeiron, or air:, the %ehavior of which was not capricious at all.
They appealed to that which everyone could perceive with their own senses, and that which
everyone could !ure out throu!h the power of their own reason.
$ome other nota%le "re#$ocratics are Democritus who claimed that everythin! is made up of indivisi%le
particle called an atom/ +eraclitus who %elieves that re is the element which makes up everythin!/
Ana)a!oras which claimed that it was nous 9mind:/ and "ytha!oras who presents the idea that that
num%er is the essence and %asis of all thin!s.
The Greek Triumvirate
The Greek triumvirate of $ocrates, "lato, and Aristotle is considered as the !olden era of Greek philosophy,
the period of hi!hest perfection. The period of hi!hest perfection in philosophy was also the period of the
political !reatness of Greece. 6rom the preoccupation with the ultimate material stu0 which composes the
universe, the Greek triumvirate started in3uirin! topics a%out man, virtues such as 'ustice, happiness,
temperance, the state and some other diverse issues.
Socrates
The %are facts of the life of $ocrates
+is father is s stoneman or sculptor, his mother a midwife.
+is wife ;antippe, said to %e an u!ly woman, %ore him three children.
+e would !o to the marketplace, the agora where he would discuss thin!s, usin! dialectics or the so
called Socratic Method.
+e was arrested and condemned to death %ecause of two char!es( 9a: impiety, 9%: corruption of the
minds of the youth.
+e did not admit any !uilt, he refused to %e set free %y friends, and he died after drinkin! !lass of
hemlock in the presence of friends.
+is philosophical contri%ution may %e summed up thus( 9a: +e employed <inductive ar!uments and
universal denitions.= Called his <practical method,= it took the form of <dialectic= or conversation.
Plato
A pupil of $ocrates, "lato, too, had a %ias a!ainst democracy. +e had an aristocratic up%rin!in!, and was
immersed in the culture of his day, %ut his plan, a%etted %y relatives, to enter politics was a%andoned after
he saw what was done to $ocrates.
Amon! the salient points of his philosophy are(
>nowled!e is not sense#perception, not what simply appears to me.
?ike $ocrates, "lato %elieves in <virtue is knowled!e,= and the source of knowled!e is virtue. 1t is
not a%stract, %ut concrete knowled!e, not theoretical %ut practical knowled!e. A man must know
what is !ood so that he may do !ood.
@irtue can %e tau!ht, and there are four cardinal virtues( wisdom, coura!e, or fortitude, temperance
and 'ustice.
"lato has shown his interest in man as knower and as a possessor of an immortal soul. *uch has %een
made of his theory of knowled!e, his main contri%ution to philosophic truth.
Aristotle
Aristotle is a towerin! !ure in ancient Greek philosophy, makin! contri%utions to lo!ic, metaphysics,
mathematics, physics, %iolo!y, %otany, ethics, politics, a!riculture, medicine, dance and theatre. +e was a
student of "lato who in turn studied under $ocrates. +e was more empirically#minded than "lato or
$ocrates and is famous for re'ectin! "latoAs theory of forms.
6or Aristotle(
>nowled!e comes from the senses and can %e true in itself.
Beality consists of matter and form, and matter is a continuous process of developin! or %ecomin!.
There is 6irst Cause, source of all chan!e, %ut is unchan!ea%le itself. This, for him, is God.
The !oal of human life is happiness, to reach this is moderation or avoidance of e)tremes.
?o!ic would ena%le man to perceive that the ideal state is one !overned %y a rule of law, a state
ruled %y the middle class.
Post-Aristotelian Schools
"ost#Aristotelian schools refer to the philosophical schools which emer!ed after the death of Aristotle. The
openin! of the post#Aristotelian period %e!ins the a!e of decay and dissolution. $ome of the ma'or
philosophical school are the followin!(
Stoicism
As an ethical doctrine, stoicism considers apathy or indi0erence to pleasure as the moral norm. 1t
advocates are called stoics, who are known for their e)emplary patience, self#sacrice, perseverance,
for%earance, and lon! su0erin! attitude. Their hi!hest virtues or ideals are mental tran3uility, temperance,
contentment, serenity and composure. 7f all these, the !reatest is peace of mind. 1t is for this reason that
the %asis for moral action for them is apatheia or state of impertur%a%ility which is attaina%le throu!h
apathy or indi0erence to pleasure.
Hedonism
+edonism is an ethical doctrine which claims that pleasure is the norm of morality. By pleasure, in this
conte)t, is meant the satisfaction of desire/ hence, the !reater the pleasure, the %etter. "leasure is the one
and only !ood/ hence, it must %e the %asis for moral 'ud!ment. The hedonist formula for happiness is (
<Cat, drink and %e merry, for tomorrow you die.=
Epicureanism
Cpicureanism professes moderate pleasure as the moral norm. 1n their application of the doctrine of
pleasure, the Cpicureans reco!ni&e that each man is, in a certain sense, his own le!islator. 1t is for him to
determine what is useful or pleasant and what is harmful or painful. +ence the principle of
moderation( Restrain your needs and desires within the measure in which you will be able to satisfy them.
And, while no kind of pleasure is evil in itself, the wise man will avoid those pleasures which distur% his
peace of mind and which, therefore, entail pain.
rief Historical Introduction
-hat is the si!nicance in understandin! the history of the past,
To see its si!nicant contri%utions to the solution or at least the illumination of
contemporary issues and pro%lems.
To understand that every period or a!e has its own identity or characteristics.
To witness the evolutionary phase or development of the human mind in history.
+istory of western philosophy can %e divided into di0erent sta!es or epochs/ namely