Hellenistic Philosophy:

Cynics, Epicureans, and Stoics

The Hellenistic Period

The Hellenistic period of late Ancient Greece is a period between the death of Alexander the Great (and the beginning of the decline of his Macedonian Empire) in 323 BCE and the emergence of the Roman Empire, beginning with the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE.

During these three centuries, while Greece was at its peak as a world power, the time period is often considered a period of transition even a fall from grace in terms of being compared to the Golden Age of philosophy and art in the classical Ancient Greek period which was, of course, quite longer.

The bulk of the most respected philosophical works during this period takes place between Aristotle and the early Neoplatonists.

CYNICISM:

Nature as ideal model societal conventions and laws do not accurately represent nature (they are artificial) an ascetic, virtuous, and happy life takes pleasure in the simplicity of nature and not man-made laws, conventions, or relative notions of success

EPICUREANISM:

Nature as ideal model what is natural is what is real and what is real is not supernatural and is composed solely of atoms in free space we ought to draw ethical conclusions about life in regard to how this idea of nature actually plays into our sense of being (overcome the unnecessary fear of death, keep others at a healthy distance, challenge fundamental ideas about god(s) and perhaps pseudoscience).

STOICISM:

Nature as ideal model nature is necessarily deterministic in terms of what is outside of ourselves we must model our expectations and perspective of the world to meet what nature forces upon our lives emotions are fleeting and contrary to nature we can free ourselves from the chains of reactionary emotions to gain full control of our lives

Cynicism
For the Cynics, virtue and happiness were to be discovered in accordance to an agreement with an conception of nature which can be contrasted with our supposedly civilized and complex societal experience. As reasoning creatures, we can discover the authentic aspects of life that are consistent with an accurate understanding of nature and reject and abandon the artificial setup of convention and law accordingly, this necessarily results in abstaining from desires for wealth, power, sex, fame, and other perceived advantages or pleasures in a society. Instead, say the Cynics, we are to pursue freedom from all possessions and artificially imposed obligations such as law and a narrow idea of the means of success with a civilization which are indeed not obligatory by nature. IT IS NOT OF THIS TYPE... The term cynical today has abandoned all but its negative aspects in terms of seeing others in the world as selfish by nature and holding a spiteful and misanthropic attitude toward others because of this fact. The emphasis on a positive reconstruction of one's behavior in accordance with natural law, rather than artificial law, is left out of the contemporary usage.

Antisthenes
- Studied under Gorgias the sophist

c. 445 BCE c. 365 BCE

- Abandoned sophism for Platonic ethical ideals (became a disciple of Plato's) - Considered Plato's ethical idealizations without fully committing to either their epistemological or metaphysical schemes - Nominalistic Logic (only particular objects exist) - Unintentional founder of the Cynic school Diogenes Lartius (Ancient Greek historian):
"He would prove that virtue can be taught; and that nobility belongs to none other than the virtuous. And he held virtue to be sufficient in itself to ensure happiness, since it needed nothing else except the strength of a Socrates. And he maintained that virtue is an affair of deeds and does not need a store of words or learning; that the wise man is self-sufficing, for all the goods of others are his; that ill repute is a good thing and much the same as pain; that the wise man will be guided in his public acts not by the established laws but by the law of virtue; that he will also marry in order to have children from union with the handsomest women; furthermore that he will not disdain to love, for only the wise man knows who are worthy to be loved."

Diogenes of Sinope
Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad. [When asked what was the proper time for supper] If you are a rich man, whenever you please; and if you are a poor man, whenever you can. The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. He has the most who is most content with the least. I have nothing to ask but that you would remove to the other side, that you may not, by intercepting the sunshine, take from me what you cannot give. We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less. What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others. Man is the most intelligent of the animals -- and the most silly. [cp. "Man is the measure of all things."]

c. 404 - 323 BCE

As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task.
Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves. Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you've got an audience. When I look upon seamen, men of science and philosophers, man is the wisest of all beings; when I look upon priests and prophets nothing is as contemptible as man. [When asked from what country he came]: I am a citizen of the world. The sun, too, shines into cesspools and is not polluted.

Diogenes dismissing Alexander the Great for standing in his sunlight...

COSMOPOLITAN
(Citizen of the World) He lived in an onion barrel on the streets and performed every human activity in public, like a dog suppesdly the Greeks believed all dogs were always happy.

Crates of Thebes
- Taught Zeno of Citium

c. 365 c. 285 BCE

- Gave away his money to live a life of poverty on the streets of Athens.

- Wrote philosophical tragedies, but used subtle humor in them - He proposed a preference for all to eat lentils for their meals, since he believed that luxury and display of wealth were major causes of seditions and insurrections in a city.

Hipparchia of Maroneia
- Married to Crates - Treatises are lost

Macedonian

c. 350 c. 280 BCE

- Proposed philosophical questions in the form of riddles

Epicureanism
Founded around 307 BCE.
The core philosophy wasn't initiated by Epicurus himself, but by certain claims of Aristippus. The goal of Epicureanism to conquer fear (notably fear of death), avoid the long term pains of desire (to avoid desire is to avoid disappointment when those desires are only temporarily satiated and are forever recurring), and to take pleasure in the rational experience of communication between like-minds. Hedonism - catch-all term for someone who maximizes pleasure (often bodily) and avoids pain. This is misleading...
IT IS NOT OF THIS TYPE...

Aristippus

c. 435 c. 356 BCE

- Though Socrates pupil, Aristippus was more interested in seeking eudemonia not only in terms of moderation and practicing self-control, but by discovering and adapting to ones known environment. Therefore, there is a strategic element to Aristippus ethics and pursuit of happiness that Socrates leaves out. - Among his pupils was his own daughter, named Arete. - The lyrical poet, Horace observes the goals of Aristippus in "to endeavor to adapt circumstances to myself, not myself to circumstances" and that, "every complexion of life, every station and circumstance sat gracefully upon him. - He was also criticized for his respect and love for bodily indulgences, and to this he often responded, "it is not abstinence from pleasures that is best, but mastery over them without ever being worsted."

Epicurus
- Held metaphysical views nearly identical with early atomists, such as Democritus - Founded The Garden - an educational but also relaxing resort for pursuing the Epicurean way of life. - QUOTES (on God):
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

341-270 BCE

Don't fear god, Don't worry about death What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure.

Hermarchus

c. 325-c. 250 BCE

- Inherits the Stoic school when Epicurus passes - Has a refined Epicurean philosophy based on the idea that if we understood natural law fully then a body of people would have no need for artificial or constituded law

Stoicism
Possibly the most extreme form of asceticism in terms of limiting ones emotional dispositions toward nature that is to say, there is little variety between any two Stoic philosophers insofar as they equally agree that emotions must be completely conquered Contentment > Happiness
Stoic in the modern (and misleading) sense: A simple notion denoting a personality of relative apathy, or simply showing little emotion in regard to a contextual situation but its use has almost nothing to do with a philosophical school of thought, as it did in Hellenistic Greece.

IT IS NOT OF THIS TYPE...

Profoundly influenced Roman philosophers and politicians

Zeno of Citium
God is not separate from the world; He is the soul of the world, and each of us contains a part of the Divine Fire. All things are parts of one single system, which is called Nature; the individual life is good when it is in harmony with Nature. In one sense, every life is in harmony with Nature, since it is such as Natures laws have caused it to be; but in another sense a human life is only in harmony with Nature when the individual will is directed to ends which are among those of Nature. Virtue consists in a will which is in agreement with Nature.
[...] All things are parts of one single system, which is called Nature; the individual life is good when it is in harmony with Nature.

c. 332-265 BCE

Seneca the Younger

Human suffering is beneficial to the soul... Pragmatic Stoicism (conquer pain)

c. 4 BC AD 65

Against the Epicureans, he thought that the recognition of death was something to be overcome, not just the fear of it. We must confront our fear, not avoid it or find a way around it.

Epictetus
Early in life, Epictetus acquired a passion for philosophy, and with the permission of his wealthy owner, he studied Stoic philosophy under Musonius Rufus, which allowed him to rise in respectability as he grew more educated. He somehow became crippled, with Origen stating that his leg was deliberately broken by his master, and Simplicius stating that he had been lame from childhood.- Wiki

55135 CE

Early Roman Thinkers

Similar to how the Romans adopted the Greek pantheon and core aspects of Greek culture, Greek philosophy was also adopted by Romans and were provided new insights more relevant to the concerns of their own culture. For example: Marcus Aurelius was highly concerned with the office he held and saw certain virtues in Stoic philosophy which directly applied to his (uniquely Roman) position...

Marcus Aurelius
(Roman Emperor 161180 CE) Major Work: Meditations - Explores essential Stoic themes from the perspective of a ruler

121 180 CE

A Contemporary Consideration
Could we strictly model our own brand of ethics on a modern scientific idea of nature?

At what point did the good life begin to mean something else in our own times than the ethical life? Why were these two often almost synonymous for the Ancient Greeks?