FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

"URAL STATE MINING UNIVERSITY"

CHAIR OF PHILOSOPHY AND CULTUROLOGY

Topic: Philosophy of Ancient Greece

Lecturer: Assoc. Gvozdetsky A.V.

Student: Elsukov N.D.

Group: PRM-09

Yekaterinburg city

The philosophy of Ancient Greece occupies a special place in the history of philosophical thought in terms of the diversity of currents, schools and teachings, ideas and creative personalities, the richness of styles and language, and the influence on the subsequent development of the philosophical culture of mankind. Its origin was made possible thanks to the presence of urban democracy and intellectual freedom, the separation of mental from physical labor. In ancient Greek philosophy, two main types of philosophical thinking and world formation (idealism and materialism) were clearly formed.

Greek philosophy began to take shape in the 6th-5th centuries BC. It is customary to single out several important periods in its development. The first is the formation, or birth, of ancient Greek philosophy. In the foreground at that time was nature, so this period is sometimes called natural-philosophical, contemplative. It was an early philosophy, where man was not yet singled out as a separate object of study. The second period is the heyday of ancient Greek philosophy (V - IV centuries BC). At this time, philosophy began to turn from the theme of nature to the theme of man and society. It was a classical philosophy, within the framework of which original samples of ancient philosophical culture were formed. The third period (III century BC-IV century AD) is the decline and even the decline of ancient Greek philosophy, which was caused by the conquest of Greece by Ancient Rome. Epistemological and ethnic, and eventually religious issues in the form of early Christianity came to the fore here.

The first elements of philosophical thinking appeared already in the works of ancient Greek historians - Homer, Herodotus, Hesioid. The very first philosophical school of Ancient Greece is considered to be Miletskut. In which the name of the sage Thales most often sounded, who was also known as a geographer, astronomer, mathematician. Thales is generally recognized as the first ancient Greek philosopher. In the first place was the question of finding harmony in this world. It was natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature.

Thales proceeded from the assumption that everything that exists in the world arose from water. "Everything from the water and everything into the water" was the basis of the thesis of the philosopher. Water in the philosophical concept of Thales is, as it were, a fundamental principle.

Anaximander, a disciple and follower of Thales, the author of philosophical prose, was also among the merciful philosophers. He raised and resolved questions about the foundation of the world.

Their combinations result in earth (dry and cold), water (wet and cold), air (wet and hot) and fire (dry and hot). He believed that life originated on the border of sea and land from silt under the influence of heavenly fire .

Within the framework of early Greek philosophy, a prominent role was played by the school associated with the name of Heraclitus. He connected everything that exists with fire, which was regarded as the most changeable of all the elements of the world - water, earth and others. The world was, is and always will be a living fire. For the Greek philosopher, fire is not only the source, but also a symbol of the dynamism and incompleteness of everything that exists. Fire is a reasonable moral force.

The human soul is also fiery, the dry (fiery) soul is the wisest and best. Heraclitus also put forward the idea of ​​the Logos. In his understanding, logos is a kind of objective and indestructible law of the universe. To be wise means to live according to the Logos.

Heraclitus in the simplest form outlined the foundations of dialectics as the doctrine of the development of all things. He believed that everything in this world is interconnected, and this makes the world harmonious. Secondly, everything in the universe is contradictory. The collision and struggle of these principles is the main law of the universe. Thirdly, everything is changeable, even the sun shines in a new way every day. The surrounding world is a river that cannot be entered twice. The Logos reveals its secrets only to those who know how to reflect on it.

Another outstanding philosopher is Pythagoras. He founded his own philosophical school and raised the question of the numerical structure of the universe. Pythagoras taught that the basis of the world is the number: `Number owns things`. The Pythagoreans assigned a special role to one, two, three and four. The sum of these numbers gives the number `ten`, which philosophers considered ideal.

In the school of the Eleatics (Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno), attention was drawn to the problem of being and its movement. The idea of ​​the immobility of the world was also expressed by Xenophanes. In his opinion, God resides in the Cosmos surrounding man. The God-cosmos is one, eternal and unchanging.

A significant place in early Greek philosophy was occupied by the work of the atomists (Leucippus, Democritus).

Democritus believed that single things are perishable and disintegrate. The man himself, according to Democritus, occurred naturally, without the participation of the Creator.

Conclusion

Ancient Greek philosophy has become one of the brightest pages in the history of world philosophical thought in terms of its ideological content, diversity of schools, types of thinking and ideas. This is where philosophy really took over. In fact, Greek philosophy was the worldview of a liberated personality, who distinguished himself from the Cosmos and realized his independence and value.

Philosophy of ancient Greece

Several hearths ignited almost simultaneously and, apparently, independently of each other, but only in one of them the flame of reason and creative burning reached what deserved the name of philosophy. In addition to the general reasons that took place in all regions - developed mythology and culture in general and a favorable political situation - in ancient Greece there were also specific reasons that other peoples did not have. Philosophy not only owes its name to the ancient Greeks, it is close to the Greek spirit.

Education in ancient Greece was aimed at bringing up a holistic, harmoniously developed person, which is still much talked about today. A harmoniously developed person must be intelligent. Can the mind be taught? In ancient Greece, during its heyday, people appeared who called themselves Mophists. They undertook to teach the mind for money, and there were those who wanted to. However, learning wisdom is different from learning a craft. You can check the results there. It is easy for the teacher himself to show that he owns the craft he teaches. There is neither when it comes to teaching wisdom. How to prove that the teacher himself is wise and really taught something? And they took a lot of money for education. As usual in such cases, deceivers appeared. They will expel such a person from one city, he will come to another and there he is looking for those who want to grow wiser. As a result, itinerant sophists increasingly became the butt of jokes. The self-esteem inherent in the Greeks did not turn into self-conceit and consciousness of their own infallibility, and they remained quite critical in the field of thinking.

Truly wise people shunned sophists and refused to teach for money. They called themselves, unlike the sophists, philosophers, that is, not sages, but only those who love wisdom. Whether they had attained wisdom or not, they said, they did not know. Philosophy has no answer to all questions, it is only the love of wisdom. Socrates mocked those who claimed to be wise. Diogenes Laertes spoke of the seven wise men who lived in the past. Thus philosophy begins with a measure of doubt in one's own wisdom and with a loving longing for it. Where is love, if we are talking about knowledge? In fact, it is love that makes a person work with desire, without which he will not succeed in the chosen activity.

Philosophy begins with a critical analysis of the achievements of culture, primarily myths, with attempts to ascertain their truth by reasoning. The emergence of philosophy in ancient Greece was also facilitated by such specific circumstances. In ancient Greece, there was a tradition of free discussions, the ability to argue, which developed in the era of democracy, when all free citizens gathered in the main square of the city and jointly discussed common affairs, listening to everyone and making decisions by majority vote. The ancient Greeks mastered the art of expressing their thoughts, which is necessary to convince others that they are right. Whoever they wanted to listen to could move to another independent city-state and preach their views there. It should be specially emphasized that in Ancient Greece there were free people who devoted themselves entirely to philosophy, and were not priests, as in Ancient India, which would bind them to the traditional religion, and were not required to be in the service, as in Ancient China, which would connect them with existing social attitudes. Greek philosophers were not subject to anyone but their own conscience, and this is exactly what is necessary for the development of philosophy.

Of course, people have been thinking since their appearance on Earth. We find wise sayings in the works created in the Middle East, in Ancient India, Ancient China. But philosophy as a discipline begins where a person theoretically separates himself from the surrounding world and begins to talk about abstract concepts that form in the human brain and act as an object of thought. “The Greeks were the first of all peoples to philosophize. They were the first to try to cultivate rational knowledge, guided not by images, but in abstracto, while other peoples always tried to explain concepts only through images, in concrete. (Kant I. Treatises. Letters. M., 1980. S. 335).

Another reason for the emergence of philosophy in ancient Greece, closely related to others, is the high prestige of “those who love wisdom.” When, having conquered another city, Alexander the Great approached the philosopher sitting on the ground to do him good, and stooping down asked: “What can I do for you?”, Diogenes of Sinop proudly replied: “Go away, do not block the sun for me!” And Alexander the Great did not punish the one who dared in a rather rude form to refuse the help of the "ruler of the Universe", but said, turning to those close to him: "If I were not Alexander, I would like to be Diogenes." Why, Alexander's teacher was Aristotle!

The following story is connected with the name of Aristotle. When Aristotle lived with the ruler of Atarney and Assos Hermias, he often talked with him. After Aristotle left for Macedonia, the residence of Hermias was besieged by Mentor, the commander of the Persian king, who tricked him out of the city, took him to Susa, and after torture, Hermias was crucified. When asked what last favor he asks for himself, Hermias replied: “Tell my friends and comrades that I have not done anything unworthy of philosophy and have not betrayed it.” (Losev A.F., Takho-Godi A.A. Aristotle. M., 1982. S. 94).

Ancient Greek philosophers were able to critically rethink the myths and formulate an idea of ​​the entities from which, in their opinion, everything that exists arose. Such Thales recognized water, Heraclitus - fire, Anaximenes - air, others - earth, number, atom, idea, etc. Of course, this is not at all the water and not the atom that we know now. The “water” of Thales is an invisible essence from which everything was formed, as from a seed, and the prototype of which is visible water. The same can be said about other entities discovered by ancient Greek philosophers.

Anaximander, moving away from the analogy with visible substances, proposed the infinite (apeiron) as the essence. Another idea of ​​the smallest particles that make up all bodies belongs to Anaxagoras, who called them similar particles (homeomeria), since all things similar to these particles come from them. He believed that any particles are contained in each of the bodies, but it has an appearance in accordance with which particles prevail in it. These bodily principles, of which there are infinitely many, contain all the diversity of the world, as it were, in miniature.

Pythagoras owns the concept, according to which the basis of natural phenomena is the numbers that form the "order". Hegel wrote that the teaching of the Pythagoreans is one of the intermediate stages on the way from recognizing the first principles as physical to recognizing them as ideal, on the way from the Milesian school to Plato. Milesian philosophy is a pre-philosophy, since concepts have just begun to form from real objects. The “water” of Thales is still a pre-category, like the “number” of Pythagoras, but the “atom” of Democritus and the “infinite” of Anaximander are concepts in the full sense of the word. No wonder it was from them that the philosophical trends of materialism and idealism originated.

Thus, the conceptual base of philosophy was gradually enriched, since the “number” of Pythagoras is no longer a mathematical concept, just as the “water” of Thales is not physical, but philosophical. Accordingly, the base of philosophical research expanded. The more concepts exist in the philosophical language, the more fruitful is the process of philosophizing.

Particular attention should be paid to the teachings of those who lived in the 5th century. BC e. Democritus, and not so much because he was the founder of materialism, but because he introduced the concept, which then became the main one in the first great philosophical system - the concept of "ideas". This is how Democritus called the smallest indivisible and impenetrable particles that make up all bodies (another common name for these particles is the atom). Atoms (“eidos”) are infinite in number and differ in size, position, order and external forms, which are also infinitely diverse - spherical, pyramidal, hooked, etc.

From the point of view of the Eleatics, only the immovable single Being is true. The existence of the Eleatics, unlike the ancient Indian One and the ancient Chinese Tao, is rational, and its presence is justified by thinking. It opposes the world of fluid things as something motionless precisely because rational thinking can only operate with motionless entities. Approaching the irrational One of the ancient Indians, the thought stopped. The rational Being of the Eleatics was included in the framework of philosophical discussion as one of the important concepts.

Heraclitus of Ephesus, who is considered the founder of ancient dialectics, who also lived in the 5th century, adhered to the opposite point of view on the movement of the Eleatics. BC e. His main position is: “everything moves and nothing rests” and therefore “you cannot enter the same river twice”. The relation between the dialectic of Heraclitus and the immovable being of Parmenides is similar to the relation between the Chinese Yang-Yin dialectic and the Indian One. This connection allows us to draw the conclusion that Plato came to: in the empirical world, dialectics dominates, and in the intelligible world, motionless ideas. In the empirical world, everything flows - but where? Into the still ocean. Steiner claims that Heraclitus declared enmity to be the "father" of things, but not of the eternal. There (in the "world of spiritual culture") love and harmony reign. “It is precisely because there is enmity in all things that the spirit of the sage must, like a flame, rise above them and transform them into harmony” (Steiner R. Christianity ... S. 36). This is what Plato did.

4th century BC e., which began in Athens with the execution of Socrates, became the period of the highest flowering of ancient Greek and world philosophy. The teachings of Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Democritus, Parmenides, Socrates created the basis for the great synthesis carried out by Plato, a student of Socrates. Plato was born into a noble family of royal origin and was brought up in accordance with ancient ideas about the ideal person (the so-called kalokagatii, from “calos” - beautiful and “agathos” - good), combining external physical beauty and internal moral nobility. Nicknamed Plato - "broad" - for his strong build, he traveled a lot in his youth, including to Italy and Egypt, and at the end of his life he founded a school in the Athenian suburb, named after the hero Academ. She glorified not only Plato himself, but also the word "academy". The Platonic Academy, which was a union of like-minded people, existed for 1000 years and was liquidated by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in 529.

The main achievement of Plato is the concept, according to which, in addition to the sensible world, there is a supersensible world of ideas. Concepts are only imprints of the invisible world, not given to us in sensations. Each idea is an ideal to be achieved on Earth. The greatness of Plato lies in the fact that he built his teaching on all the material of previous philosophy. In addition to Heraclitus and Socrates, he used the idea of ​​Democritus that all things consist of the smallest indivisible particles - atoms; the teaching of Pythagoras that the basis of things are numbers; the doctrine of Anaxagoras about homeomerism (ideas are like things, although they are insensible and ideal in the sense that they are “examples” of things).

Plato's synthesis showed that previous philosophers not only argued, but contributed to the creation of a certain integrity in the future, justifying the proverb that truth is born in disputes. Not in all, of course, but in those who are inspired by the search for truth as the highest good, and not by the desire to defeat the enemy. The “Land of Ideas” was also needed because Plato justified Socrates’ belief that all people come to the same thoughts - after all, ideas are by nature the same for everyone and are contained in one place, from where people receive them. Platonic teaching characterizes a passionate attraction to the ideal world ("Platonic love") and the desire to make reality as complete as possible a reflection of the ideal. Having generalized the concept of Platonic love to the world of culture as a whole, we can talk about spiritual love, which makes it possible to know the world of culture. The love that Plato speaks of is the law of the world of spiritual culture, and Plato distinguishes such love from the love inherent in the world of human material life.

Virtue is based by Plato on the initial properties of the soul, the latter arise from the attitude of the soul to the world of ideas, especially to the highest of them - the idea of ​​good. The soul, according to Plato, consists of rational, passionate and desirable parts. It is like a chariot driven by a charioteer - the mind - and harnessed by two winged horses - passion and lust. The state should also consist of three parts: a class of rulers, warriors and artisans and farmers. This corresponds to the division into castes in ancient India, but without the untouchables. The three parts of the soul and the three classes of society have their own of the three virtues, namely, wisdom, courage, and moderation. The harmony of all three is established by the fourth virtue - justice. The greatest good in the soul of a person and in the state is unity and harmony, and the greatest evil is discord.

The line of succession that began with Socrates was continued by Aristotle. He was born in northern Greece in the city of Stagira. At the age of seventeen, Aristotle came to Athens and entered the Platonic Academy. Aristotle not only adopted the views of Plato, but gradually began to create his own teaching, subjecting the views of his predecessors to serious criticism. Aristotle's words "Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer" have become a common aphorism. If Plato created his works in the form of dialogues, then Aristotle wrote treatises.

Moving away from Plato in many ways, Aristotle did not deny the existence of ideas, but believed that they are inside individual things as a principle and method, law and their formation, energy, figure, purpose. The "idea" understood in this way was later called by the Latin word "form". In contrast to Democritus, Plato spoke of the formlessness of matter, and Aristotle, having synthesized both of these ideas, considered the idea as shaping passive matter. Matter is that from which everything is born, and has the same root as the word "mother". The concept of “matter” in the Russian language also has an everyday meaning: matter is like tissue. Another cognate word used in the same meaning is material. If, according to Plato, matter without an idea is "non-existent", then, according to Aristotle, a form cannot exist without the matter belonging to it. The relationship between matter and form Aristotle likens to the relationship of marble and statues, and this comparison is not accidental, since Aristotle considered the whole world as a work of art.

The idea of ​​any thing, let's say a house, is found in the thing itself as a common thing that is inherent in all individual houses. Knowledge of the most general in things, the first causes of their existence is the task of philosophy. This definition secured for metaphysics, in contrast to dialectics, the significance of the study of being as the identification of eternal and unchanging forms.

Having substantiated the importance of causes and defined wisdom as "the science of first causes", Aristotle can rightfully be considered the forerunner of science as such. Science becomes possible when idea and matter are considered joined together and the idea is known through the study of matter as its truth. Arguing that "knowledge about anything is knowledge of the general", Aristotle thus gives a definition of scientific knowledge.

Limiting the Heraclitean dialectic and grounding the Platonic "ideas", Aristotle calls for the study of the sensory world, and this is the task of science. In order for scientific knowledge to become possible, Aristotle formulates two prerequisites: 1) there is an unchanging essence of things; 2) the beginning of knowledge are unprovable definitions. The existence of eternal causes suggested by Aristotle substantiates the proposition that there are eternal laws of nature.

Rightly considered the founder of logic and its three basic laws, Aristotle also formulated the basic principles of ethics as a doctrine of virtues. After analyzing Plato's failure to organize an ideal state and his own pedagogical experience, Aristotle came to the conclusion that it is necessary to educate morality from an early age by accumulating the necessary habits. Knowledge is acquired in the process of learning, but in order to become an active principle, they must enter the flesh and blood of a person, contribute to the creation of a certain disposition of the soul. Aristotle explains his point of view as follows: grain - knowledge, soil - the inner inclination of a person, his desires. Both are necessary for the harvest. Giving a general picture of the formation of virtue, Aristotle emphasized that there are no immutable rules, the application of which guarantees meritorious behavior. The presence of virtues in a person replaces the rules. The internal mechanisms that testify to the virtue of actions are shame and conscience.

The differences between Plato and Aristotle are reminiscent of the differences between Indian and Chinese approaches. The truth of Indian culture, like the "world of ideas" of Plato, is on the other side of the sensual world, Chinese - in this world, as in the things of Aristotle, idea and reality are inextricably merged. The philosophy of Plato is focused on the world of ideals, the philosophy of Aristotle - on the real world. Plato, one might say, deified concepts, and Aristotle introduced deified concepts into nature (a kind of pantheism).

Philosophy appeared in Ancient Greece precisely at that time, and it could live a full life just then. Ancient Greek philosophy became a model of philosophy as such, determined its possible development options, and in this sense was completed in itself, completing the most fruitful circle in the history of philosophy. Of course, even after a certain turn of mind people philosophized, but their efforts were like sparks in the night, while in ancient Greece it was a torch of reason. The same can be said for Greek tragedy and sculpture. The fruit of culture, unlike the physical, retains its meaning of continuity. Knowledge of ancient Greek philosophy is the key to medieval and modern European philosophy, to Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, Kant and Hegel.

This text is an introductory piece.

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ancient philosophy Ancient Greece.

Mythology was the origin of Greek philosophy. At the same time, cosmological myths, telling about the origin of the world and man, played the leading role. The works of Hesiod, Homer, Orpheus became a kind of basis for the scientific and philosophical understanding of the problems of the world.

On the first stage(pre-Socratics) (VI-V centuries BC) early Greek philosophers were undoubtedly influenced by mythological images. However, they have already tried to explain the phenomena of nature and society on the basis of natural causes, which a person is able to know with the help of reason, by carefully studying them through observation. In the center of ancient research lies the cosmos - the ideal creation. He is nothing but the huge body of a living human being. The origin and structure of the world, the properties of nature - this is the main object of interest to the early ancient Greek philosophers. Therefore, they were called "physicists", i.e. nature explorers. Today, early ancient Greek philosophy is called the philosophy of "physis" or natural philosophy. Natural philosophy is a science that studies the philosophy of nature, "the wisdom of nature."

Second phase(classical) (V-IV centuries BC) is associated with the names of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

On the third stage(Hellenism) (IV-III centuries BC), 3 main currents of Hellenistic philosophy arose: skepticism, epicureanism and stoicism.

The first ancient philosophical schools arose at the turn of the 7th-6th centuries. BC. The center of philosophy at that time was the city of Miletus. Therefore, the term is often used "Milesian school". The founder of the Milesian school is considered Thales of Miletus(K.VII -n.VI centuries BC). He was a philosopher, geometer, mathematician, astronomer. Thales is credited with determining the length of the year at 365 days and dividing the year into 12 months of thirty days each. Thales was the richest philosopher in Ancient Greece. In addition, he discovered some mathematical and geometric patterns (Thales' theorem). And not without reason Thales of Miletus became one of the semi-legendary ancient Greek "seven wise men." The significance of Thales for philosophical thought, first of all, was that he first posed the question in which he expressed the main task of philosophical knowledge: "What is everything?" Answering his question, Thales was guided by the cosmological concept. There are three main components of this concept:

1) The beginning of everything is water.

2) The earth floats on water, like a piece of wood.

3) Everything in the world is animated.

Water for Thales is the primary matter, which has material characteristics, the properties of a natural material object.

At the same time, Thales recognizes the existence of gods. But he believes that the gods exist in nature itself.

Another Milesian philosopher was Anaximander(VI century BC). Finding out the signs of the beginning, he considered them apeiron. "Apeiros" means immortal, boundless and endless. This is abstract, i.e. mental representation of the beginning of the world. Apeiron, being the beginning of the world, produces from itself all other natural phenomena. Due to the rotation of apeiron, opposite qualities are distinguished - wet and dry, cold and warm. Then these qualities mix with each other and natural objects arise: Earth (dry and cold), water (wet and cold), air (wet and warm), fire (dry and warm). Apeiron is not only the substantive, but also the genetic beginning of the cosmos. The universe looks like 3 hollow rings filled with fire. Each ring has holes through which fire can be seen. In the 1st ring, many holes are stars; in the 2nd - 1 hole - the Moon; in the 3rd - also 1 hole - the Sun. At the center of the universe is the motionlessly hanging Earth, which has the shape of a cylinder. Anaximander invented the elementary "sundial" - "gnomon", built a globe, drew a geographical map. All living things originated in the wet silt that once covered the earth. With its gradual drying, all living beings came to land. Among them were some fish-like creatures, in the womb of which people were born. When people grew up, this scale fell apart. The dialectic of Anaximander was expressed in the doctrine of the eternity of the movement of the apeiron, the separation of opposites from it. Anaximander's student was Anaximenes(VI century BC). Continuing the search for the beginning, in his work "On Nature" he argued that all things come from the air by rarefaction or condensation. When discharged, the air first becomes fire, then ether, and when it condenses, it becomes wind, clouds, water, earth and stone. Understanding the Universe. The earth has a flat shape and hangs motionless in the center of the universe, supported from below by air. The firmament moves around the Earth, like a cap turning around a person's head.

Thus, the thinkers of the Milesian school are characterized by the following common features:

1) the search for the beginning;

2) it is conceived monistically;

3) it is presented as a primary substance;

4) it is presented as living (hylozoism), i.e. in perpetual motion and transformation.

Close in his search for the beginning to the Milesians was Heraclitus Ephesus (late 6th - early 5th centuries BC). He belonged to a noble royal-priestly family, however, he renounced his rights and privileges in favor of his brother, and he himself led a hermitic life, spending the last years in a mountain cave. Heraclitus, the fundamental principle of the world, defined fire as a symbol of perpetual motion. Fire, according to Heraclitus, is eternal, but not absolute. He is constantly changing. The extinction of fire leads to the emergence of the universe. The ignition of fire leads to the destruction of the universe. The most important concept in the philosophy of Heraclitus is Logos. Logos is a kind of abstract universal law that governs the world and people, reigns in the Universe. The essence of the Logos itself is revealed in the principles:

1) the principle of struggle and unity of opposites;

2) the principle of constant variability (only development itself is constant): Everything flows, everything changes; The same river cannot be entered twice; Even the sun is new every day;

3) the principle of relativity (some people live at the expense of the death of others, they die at the expense of the life of others).

In the Logos, Heraclitus metaphorically formulated the idea of ​​the dialectical nature of the whole world. For such complexity and inconsistency in the philosophy of Heraclitus was called "dark". He was also called the "weeping philosopher", because. every time he left the house and saw around him a lot of badly living people, he wept, pitying everyone.

Eleian school. Xenophanes. Lived at least 92 years. He expressed his work exclusively in poetic form. For the first time in the history of philosophy, he expressed the idea that all gods are the fruit of human fantasy, that people invented gods in their own image, attributing to them their physical traits and moral shortcomings: “The Ethiopians say that their gods are snub-nosed and black; the Thracians / represent their gods / as blue-eyed and reddish ... But if bulls, horses and lions had hands and could draw and create works / art / like people with them, then horses would portray the gods as similar to horses, bulls as similar to bulls and would give / them / bodies of the kind that they themselves have a bodily image, / each in his own way / ” . Xenophanes opposed the gods of antiquity with one god who is one with nature: “Everything, i.e. the whole universe is one. One is God. The deity is spherical and not like a man. The deity sees and hears everything, but does not breathe; it is mind, thinking and eternity. Humans were not created by gods, but were born from earth and water.” Such a worldview of Xenophanes can be attributed to pantheism ( pantheism- a philosophical doctrine that identifies God with nature and considers nature as the embodiment of a deity), since for him "everything or the Universe is God." The anti-anthropomorphism and anti-polytheism of Xenophanes were associated with this. Xenophanes was a skeptic because he argued that one cannot know for sure!

Parmenides. His philosophical doctrine is set out in hexameters. Parmenides first poses two major philosophical problems: the question of the relationship between being and non-being and the question of the relationship between being and thinking. The whole philosophy of Parmenides is based on the dilemma: IS - NOT IS. IS - this is what cannot not be, this is being. Being is that which exists. NOT IS - it is, on the contrary, something that cannot be, i.e. non-existence. Non-existence is that which does not exist. The main proof of non-existence is that it cannot be known, cannot be expressed in words. Moreover, the thought of non-existence presupposes the existence of this non-existence, otherwise there would be nothing to think about. So non-existence exists. But if non-being exists, then in that case it is being. Therefore, the very idea of ​​the existence of non-existence proves just the opposite - that non-existence does not exist. There is only that which is conceivable and expressible in words, i.e. being. And then it turns out that “thinking is the same as being”. It is in this phrase that the identity of thinking and being is formulated. Moreover, the most important existence of being lies in the fact that it can be comprehended.

Parmenides highlights the main features or properties of being:

1) being did not arise;

2) being is not subject to death;

3) being is integral, i.e. does not consist of many parts;

4) being is homogeneous, i.e. only;

5) being is motionless;

6) being is complete or complete.

All these properties of being necessarily follow from the non-existence of non-being. The teaching of Parmenides contradicts and objects to the teaching of Heraclitus, in whom everything is changeable: To think in contradictions, one must have two heads, otherwise contradictory thoughts cannot be understood. What happened after Parmenides? Obviously, it was necessary to further prove the unity and immobility of being. This was done Zeno from Elea (favorite student of Parmenides). Aristotle calls Zeno the inventor of dialectics. But this is subjective dialectics - the art of dialectical reasoning and dispute, the art of "refuting / the opponent / and by means of objections putting him in a difficult position." Zeno owns 4 judgments about the absence of movement, called aporias ( aporia–logical unsolvability of the problem): 1. A flying arrow. 2. Achilles and the tortoise. 3. Dichotomy. 4. Stadium. In these aporias, Zeno proves that there is no movement.

Pythagorean Union. Pythagoras born ca. 570 BC The Pythagoreans were engaged in the study of mathematics, geometry, astronomy, music, medicine and anatomy, and held many southern Italian cities under political control. The core of Pythagorean philosophy was the "doctrine of number". The philosophy of the Pythagoreans was often called "the magic of numbers." Number and harmony rule the world, because the world itself is ruled by certain patterns that can be calculated using numbers. Numbers, he taught, contain the mystery of things, and universal harmony is the perfect expression of God. The number of Pythagoras is not an abstract quantity, but an essential and active quality of the supreme Unit, i.e. God, the source of world harmony. Pythagoras was also the author of the philosophy of soul transmigration (transmigration), which was expressed sparingly.

Empedocles- philosopher, poet, orator, natural scientist, orator, religious preacher . (480-420s BC). He was a student of Parmenides, and also studied with the Pythagoreans.

He considered four elements to be the beginning of the world, which he called "the roots of all things." Fire, air, water and earth are eternal and unchanging, they have the qualities of being Parmenides. All other things come from mixing. However, the primary elements of Empedocles are passive, therefore all processes of the universe are determined by the struggle of two forces that do not have a material embodiment - Love (Harmony, Joy, Aphrodite) and Hatred (Strife, Enmity). Love unites dissimilar elements, Hatred separates them. All this goes through an endlessly repeating four-phase cycle: 1) love wins; 2) balance; 3) hate prevails over love; 4) balance. Thus, the world is characterized by an unchanging and constantly repeating "circle of time". Empedocles recognizes the ideas of metempsychosis (transmigration of souls). Empedocles was the last outstanding representative of Italian philosophy, who tried to reconcile the natural philosophical and actually philosophical teachings of his predecessors.

The last who tried to answer the question about the birth and structure of the universe from the position of the philosophy of "physics" were Leucippus and Democritus from Abder. Their names are associated with the birth of materialism.

The atomism of ancient philosophy is represented mainly by Democritus(c. 460 - c. 370 BC), who was a student of Leucippus. Democritus was nicknamed the "laughing philosopher", because he considered all human deeds worthy of laughter. Atomists, starting from the ideas of the Eleatics, recognized that the main philosophical categories are the concepts of being and non-being. But, unlike the Eleatics, the atomists believed that non-existence exists as well as being. Non-existence is emptiness, motionless, boundless, formless, having no density and a single space. Being is multiple and consists of their indivisible particles - atoms. Atom in translation from ancient Greek means "indivisible". Atoms are the smallest particles of being, and due to their smallness they cannot be perceived by human feelings. The atom has absolute density, does not contain emptiness. Atoms are in constant motion. The movement of atoms is possible because they are in the void. There is always some empty space between atoms, so atoms cannot collide with each other, much less turn into each other. Atoms differ in shape, size, movement, weight. The atoms themselves can be spherical, angular, concave, convex, and so on. Atoms themselves do not have the qualities of any substance. The quality of a thing arises only when certain atoms are combined. Atoms are eternal and unchanging, while things are transient and finite. Why? Atoms, being in constant motion, constantly create their new combinations, eliminating the old ones. The main law of the universe is necessity: "Nothing happens in vain, but everything is due to causality and necessity." Everything has its reason.

In the 5th century BC. economic, political and cultural upsurge experienced antique policies. The most important concept of ancient Greek life is the concept citizen. In the public mind, the problem of civic virtues becomes one of the main ones. With the flourishing of the democratic polis system, an urgent need arose for educated people capable of governing the state. Therefore, scientists appeared who, for a fee, began to teach citizens rhetoric (the art of eloquence), eristics (the art of arguing), and philosophy. The professors of philosophy were called sophists, i.e. connoisseurs, sages, masters of the word. However, in those days the word "sophist" acquired a somewhat offensive sound, because. the sophists were not interested in truth. They taught the art of deftly defeating the enemy in disputes. At the same time, the sophists played a positive role in the spiritual development of Hellas. The Sophists were practically not interested in natural philosophy. Their main merit was that they put the problem of man as a citizen of the polis at the center of worldview research.

Basic provision Protagora became a famous axiom: "Man is the measure of all things." The man-measure independently determines what is good and evil, what is true and what is untrue. Another important position of Protagoras - everything is true. Any conclusion is true. Everything is true in its own way, for there is neither absolute truth nor absolute moral values.

Another sophist philosopher Gorgias, speaking about the fact that nothing exists, just like Protagoras, he put forward the thesis that there is no absolute truth. But since there is no absolute truth, then everything is false.

Socrates(470/469 - 399 BC) - the first born Athenian philosopher. He left no work behind. Information about Socrates, his speeches and conversations have come down to us in the records of his students Plato and Xenophon. The problem of the meaning of life; What is the essence of the human personality? What is good and evil? - these questions are basic for Socrates. Therefore, Socrates is rightly considered the creator of the first moral philosophy in European history. The philosophy of Socrates is his life. By his own life and death, he showed that the real values ​​of life do not lie in the external circumstances that people so strive for (wealth, high position, etc.). Even in his last words at the trial after the death sentence, Socrates regrets the too elementary understanding of the meaning of life by the inhabitants of Athens: “But it’s time to go from here, for me to die, for you to live, and which of us goes to the best, no one knows other than God." Socrates recognized the existence of objective truth, unlike the sophists. All fundamental concepts (good, evil, wisdom, beauty, ugliness, beauty, hatred, etc.) are given by God from above. From here we find an explanation for the famous aphorism of Socrates: "I know that I know nothing." The meaning of this aphorism is that absolute true knowledge exists, but it is available only to God, and people reveal the abilities of their souls in the pursuit of this knowledge. A person with the help of his mind must comprehend the fundamental concepts. For example, one cannot teach goodness to a person. He must identify it himself, remember. If a person does not do good, then he simply does not know what good is. Knowledge is a virtue. For the process of cognition, Socrates used the method of meieutics - "Socratic conversation". This method consisted in identifying definitions for general concepts and was a completely scientific method of revealing knowledge, which Aristotle later called induction. So Socrates taught logic. Socrates did not seem to have created a complete philosophical doctrine, but among his students he lit the fire of striving for truth. The activities of Socrates served as the basis for the ethical schools of ancient Greece: hedonic and cynical (cynic).

Hedonic school (“pleasure”, “pleasure”) or cyrenaiki (Cyrene), founded by Aristippus, a student of Socrates, who considered pleasure the only meaning of life. Subsequently, the Hedonic school merged with the Epicurean school founded by Epicurus in Athens in 306 BC. Its representatives taught that spiritual pleasures are preferable to bodily ones, and among the spiritual ones there are the most preferable ones (friendship, successful family life, correct political system). The ethics of hedonism led to immorality, when the criterion of good and evil was pleasure. So, after the lectures of Hegesias of Alexandria (“death preacher”), some listeners committed suicide. However, this can be understood: if the only purpose of life is pleasure, then it turns out to be meaningless, and therefore not worth living.

Cynics(dogs). The school was founded by a student of Socrates, Antisthenes (444-368 BC). Human needs are animal in nature. The ideal of cynic life: the boundless spiritual freedom of the individual; demonstrative disregard for any customs and generally accepted norms of life; renunciation of pleasure, wealth, power; contempt for fame, success, nobility. The motto of Diogenes of Sinop: “I am looking for a man!”, The meaning of which was to demonstrate to people their incorrect understanding of the essence of man. Plato called Diogenes "the mad Socrates". True happiness is freedom. The means to achieve freedom is asceticism - effort, hard work, which helps to dominate one's own desires. The ideal, the goal of life is autarchy - self-sufficiency. When a person comprehends the vanity of life, indifference to everything becomes the meaning of his existence (the meeting of Diogenes with Alexander the Great). The teaching of the Cynics is called the shortest road to virtue.

The most consistent student of Socrates was Plato(427-347 BC), born into a noble aristocratic family. At birth, he was given the name Aristocles. Plato is a nickname (wide, broad-browed). Almost all of Plato's works are written in the form of dialogues, the main character of which is Socrates. This is the so-called "Plato question" - it is not always clear which ideas expressed in the dialogues belong to Plato himself. But in his writings, Plato appears as the first thinker in European history, striving to create an integral philosophical system. From the position of his philosophical views, he developed a doctrine of almost all aspects of human life: about being, about the cosmos, about knowledge, about the soul, about God, about society, about morality. Plato's doctrine is called the theory of ideas. Each concept, according to Plato, corresponds to real being. There are not only separate things (for example, a round table, a spotted horse, Socrates, etc.), but also a special being corresponding to the concept of a round table, a spotted horse, Socrates, etc. This being of concepts Plato called ideas. Ideas reflect the general properties of objects, designated by Plato as nouns: “stolnost”, “horseness”, “humanity”, etc. The world of ideas is true being. He is eternal, permanent. An idea is a general concept of concrete objects. Separate objects arise and are destroyed (for example, a round table, a spotted horse, Socrates, etc.), but general ideas (a table in general, a horse in general, a person, etc.) remain. Properties of an idea: 1. An idea is the meaning of a thing, i.e. idea - the essence and cause of sensually perceived objects. 2. The idea of ​​a thing is the integrity of all separate parts and manifestations of a thing. 3. The idea of ​​a thing is the law of the emergence of individual manifestations of things. 4. The idea of ​​a thing is in itself insubstantial, i.e. it is not perceived by the senses, but only thought. 5. The idea of ​​a thing has its own existence. The world of eidos, the world of ideas is outside the physical space. Plato called this world Hyperurania. Along with the world of ideas, the material world opposite to it also exists primordially. It is fluid, constantly changing. The basis of the material world is the “chorus”, later Plato called it “matter” - an inert, motionless, rough phenomenon that spoils beautiful ideas. Consequently, the material world is only a stupid, distorted copy of the ideal world. Because of all this, Plato called the real world seeming being. Initially independent of each other existing world of ideas and choir - matter came into motion and created the universe thanks to the third principle - demiurge - the Platonic god. God-demiurge is not just a prime mover, with his energy he generates a certain phenomenon - the Soul of the World, which surrounds the entire physical world and spreads the divine energy inherent in it.

Aristotle(384-322 BC) built a whole system of proofs of the fallacy of the Platonic doctrine of ideas. Saying: "Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer", Aristotle agreed with Plato in one thing - in fact, every thing is the result of a combination of ideas and matter. The idea in this case is the meaning of the thing (according to Aristotle, the “essence of being” of the thing), matter is the means of the embodiment of the thing. The idea of ​​a thing and the thing itself do not exist separately from each other. There is no world of "eidos" - the idea of ​​a thing is in the thing itself. In his philosophy, Aristotle replaces the term "eidos" with the term "form", and "chore" with "matter". Every thing is a unity of form and matter. The cause of the union of form and matter is movement, or a moving cause for a purpose. The purpose of the emergence of any thing (for example, a table) is the real thing itself (table). Therefore, every thing is a materialized form with a causal purpose.

The form, movement, and purpose of every thing is generated by the eternal essence - Mind through his "will" and the power of his "thought". In fact, the Aristotelian Mind is God, but not a religious, but a philosophical God.

Main currents Hellenistic philosophy: Stoicism and Epicureanism.

Stoics(K. IV century) - followers of the philosophical school of Stoya (Athens), their ideal of life is equanimity and calmness, the ability not to respond to internal and external irritating factors. The Stoic school was founded by the philosopher Zeno from Kition ca. 300 BC In ancient Rome, the popular Stoics were the philosopher Seneca(c. 5 BC - 65 AD), his student Epictetus and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius(121 - 180 AD).

Epicureanism- a philosophical direction founded by the ancient Greek materialist Epicurus(341 - 270 BC), and in the Roman Empire represented Lucretius Karom(c. 99 - 55 BC).

The ethics of the Epicureans is hedonic (from the Greek. hedon- pleasure); pleasure was given importance to the purpose of life. But this is not sensual pleasure, not gross animal pleasure, but a state of spiritual stability ( ataraxia- Greek. equanimity, complete peace of mind), which only a sage can develop in himself, able to overcome the fear of death. “When we exist, death is not yet present; when death is present, then we do not exist” (Epicurus).

The doctrine of Epicurus was the last great materialistic school of ancient Greek philosophy.