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THE HELLENISTIC-ROMAN PHILOSOPHY

THE HELLENISTIC-ROMAN PHILOSOPHY. WHEN?: 4 TH CENT BC-6 TH CENT AD. SOCIO-POLITICAL BACKGROUND:A MAJOR CHANGE FROM THE GREEK CITY-STATE CULTURE TO A COSMOPOLITAN EMPIRE MENTALITY; GREECE = PART OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

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THE HELLENISTIC-ROMAN PHILOSOPHY

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  1. THE HELLENISTIC-ROMAN PHILOSOPHY • WHEN?: 4TH CENT BC-6TH CENT AD. • SOCIO-POLITICAL BACKGROUND:A MAJOR CHANGE FROM THE GREEK CITY-STATE CULTURE TO A COSMOPOLITAN EMPIRE MENTALITY; GREECE = PART OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE • MAIN CHARACTERISTICS: COSMOPOLITANISM & INDIVIDUALISM; ETHICAL & PRACTICAL INTERESTS; CULTIVATION OF SPECIAL SCIENCES • SCHOOLS: STOICISM, EPICUREANISM, SKEPTICISM, NEO-PLATONISM

  2. 3 PHASES OF HELLENISTIC-ROMAN PHILOSOPHY • END OF 4TH CENT-MIDLLE OF 1ST CENT BC: FOUNDING OF STOICISM & EPICUREANISM – EMPHASIS ON CONDUCT & ATTAINMENT OF PERSONAL HAPPINESS; SCEPTICISM OF PYRRHO AS COUNTERPART  ECLECTICISM • MID OF 1ST CENT BC TO MID OF 3RD CENT AD: SCEPTICISM & ECLECTICISM CONTINUED, RETURN TO PHILOSOPHICAL ORTHODOXY

  3. 3 PHASES OF HELLENISTIC-ROMAN PHILOSOPHY (3) MID OF 3RD CENT AD – 6TH CENT AD; IN ALEXANDRIA, NEO-PLATONISM UP TO THE MID OF 7TH CENT AD; COMBINATION OF VALUABLE ELEMENTS IN THE PHILOSOPHIC DOCTRINES OF EAST & WEST IN ONE COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM

  4. STOICISM: ORIGINS • INFLUENCED BY (1) HERACLITUS’ DOCTRINE OF PERPETUAL FLUX GUIDED BY LOGOS, ELITE INTELLECTUALS VS MULTITUDE; (2) SOCRATES = MORAL HERO; (3) PLATO: THE IMPORTANCE OF MORALITY & ABSOLUTE VIRTUES; (4) ARISTOTLE: GEOCENTRIC COMOLOGY; (5) THE CYNICS/MORAL ASCETISM; (6) THE MEGARICS: SPIRIT OF MONISM & PREOCCUPATION WITH LOGICAL SUBTLETIES

  5. STOICISM IDEAL OF PHILOSOPHY • PHILOSOPHY AS A WAY OF LIFE & A VOCATION, SURGERY OF THE SOUL • PHILOSOPHER: DEDICATED TO THE SEARCH FOR VIRTUE & MORAL DISCIPLINE, MUST LEAD A SIMPLE LIFE WITHOUG NEGLECTING APPEARANCE LIKE THE CYNICS • 3 INTERRELATED PARTS: LOGIC (fence), PHYSICS (soil) & ETHICS (crops)

  6. EARLY STOA • FOUNDED BY ZENO OF CITIUM (336-264 BC)-DOGMATIST & PERFECTIONIST • DOCTRINES: (1) MONISM-PANTHEISTIC COSMOLOGY; THE UNIVERSE IS GUIDED BY LOGOS WHICH GIVES FORM AND MEANING TO THE WORLD PROCESS; (2) ETHICS OF PERSONAL HAPPINESS BY FREE DECISION TO LIVE IN CONFORMITY WITH NATURE ACC TO UNIVERSAL LOGOS & APATHETIC INDIFFERENCE TO IMPULSIVE EMOTIONS • (3) MAN: PRIMARILY NATURAL BORN CITIZEN OF THE COSMOPOLIS, & SECONDARILY MEMBER OF A POLIS

  7. MIDDLE STOA • 2ND-1ST CENT BC: PANAETIUS & POSEIDONIUS • PROCESS OF HUMANIZATION: SEVERE & HARSH TEACHINGS WERE REPLACED BY THE MORE GENTLE & SOCIAL DOCTRINES OF PLATONICS & ARISTOTELIAN ETHICS • MORE ECLECTIC & SUITABLE TO THE PRACTICAL-MINDED ROMANS • REJECTED THE IDEAL OF APATHEIA

  8. LATER/ROMAN STOA • 1ST – 2ND CENT AD • SENECA, EPICTETUS, MARCUS AURELIUS • BECAME MORE PRACTICAL & CLOSELY IN TOUCH WITH THE DEMANDS OF DAILY LIFE; NO SHARP A DIFFERENCE BTW THE WISE MEN VS THE MULTITUDE; MORAL VIRTUE CAN BE OBTAINED ONLY THROUGH GRADUAL LEARNING & INCREASING PRACTICE • MORE STRESS WAS PLACED ON EXTERNAL THINGS, e.g. PROPERTY

  9. LATER/ROMAN STOA • THE CONCEPT OF NATURAL LAW WHICH GIVES CERTAIN RIGHTS TO ALL PEOPLE WAS ELABORATED AND UNIVERSALIZED • PRIMARILY CONCERNED WITH MORALITY

  10. EPICUREANISM • FOUNDER: EPICURUS OF SAMOS (342- • ORIGINS: INFLUENCED BY (1) DEMOCRITUS’ ATOMISM & MECHANICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE UNIVERSE; MATERIALIST PHYSICS (2) THE SOPHISTS’S BELIEF IN SANSATION AS THE STANDARD OF KNOWLEDGE & ANTI RELIGIOUS ABSOLUTISM; (3) THE CYRENAICS: PLEASURE = THE GOAL OF LIFE (good food, elegant clothing, luxurious homes, abundance of wealth); EPICUREANISM: MORE INTELLECTUAL, SYSTEMATIZED & COMPLICATED THEN CYRENAISCISM

  11. EPICUREANISM • ANTI ALL FORM OF SUPERSTITION & POPULAR RELIGION • KNOWLEDGE IS BASED ON SENSE PERCEPTION, NO A PRIORI KNOWLEDGE BASED ON REASON; URGING TENTATIVE EVALUATIONS & TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS; TRUE KNOLWEGE LIBERATES, WIDENS OUR PERSPECTIVE, & LEADS TO A GENUINE APPRECIATION OF THE UNIVERSE.

  12. EPICUREANISM • HEDONISTIC ETHICS: HAPPINESS BY ATARAXIA (SERENITY OF THE SOUL), THE ABSENCE OF PAIN & THE ABSENCE OF FEAR OF DESTINY, FEAR OF DEATH, FEAR OF GODS • PLEASURE = FREEDOM FROM PAIN IN THE BODY AND FROM TROUBLE IN THE MIND; PERMANENT STATE OF PLEASURE IS ACQUIRED THROUGH PRUDENCE

  13. SKEPTICISM • A REVOLT VS THE DOGMATIC AFFIRMATIONS OF THE STOICS & EPICUREANS; WISDOM = EPOCHE, SUSPENSION OF JUDGMENT • 3 STAGES: (1) PYRRHO OF ELLIS (360-270 BC), REACTION VS DOGMATISM & DISSAGREEMENTS OF DIFF SCHOOLS; (2) PLATONIC MIDDLE ACADEM,Y 3RD CENT BC -1ST CENT AD; (3) 1ST CENT AD-2ND CENT AD: A SYSTEMATIC STATE OF DOUBT

  14. SKEPTICISM • TORN BY INNER CONTRADICTIONS & TENSION: DOGMATICALLY SELF-SATISFIED WITH A SYSTEMATIC EPOCHE; DOUBTFUL OF DOGMATISTS, YET DOGMATIC IN HIS DOUBT • URGES ONE TO FOLLOW PERCEPTIONS, SATISFY NATURAL INSTINCTS, ABIDE BY TRADITIONS, PURSUE SCIENCE, & CULTIVATE THE ARTS FOR THEIR UTILITY • OFFERS BOTH NEGATIVE & POSITIVE ASPECTS

  15. SKEPTICISM: INFLUENCE • WEAKENING OF THE PILLARS OF THE STOIC & EPICUREAN SCHOOLS • THE RISE OF ECLECTICISM, IN LINE WITH THE PRACTICAL MIND OF THE ROMANS • WELLKNOWN ROMAN ECLECTICS: CICERO (106-43 BC) – CONSENSUS GENTIUM; RELIED ON PROBABILITY AS HIS GUIDE

  16. GENERAL CONCLUSION • STOICISM, EPICUREANISM, SKEPTICISM, & ECLECTICISM ALL SHOWS COMMON SIGN OF DECADENCE: (1) POVERTY OF ORIGINAL THEORETICAL THOUGHT; (2) ONE-SIDED DEVELOPMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AS PRACTICAL WISDOM; (3) THE ENTHRONEMENT OF ETHICS AS THE RULING SCIENCE WITH PHYSICS/METAPHYSICS AS SERVANT; (4) THOROUGHGOING MATERIALISM • THE AUTUMN OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

  17. GENERAL CONCLUSION • SOME POSITIVE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE HELLENISTIC-ROMAN PHILOSOPHY: (1) THE RISE OF THE NEW INTELLECTUAL CENTERS BESIDE ATHENS (ANTIOCH, RHODES, PERGAMUM, ALEXANDRIA); (2) INCREASED SPECIALIZATION OF LEARNING; (3) MORE INTEREST IN PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY; (4) THE LIBERATING INFLUENCE OF SKEPTICISM: ANTI-FOUNDATIONALISM & DOGMATISM

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