We explain what ancient philosophy is, where it originated and what its history is. Also, the main philosophers of the period and their theories.
What is ancient philosophy?
Ancient philosophy is the philosophy produced during the first period of the history of philosophy. The period covers the centuries extending from the 6th century BC. C. to V d. c. Its historical and geographical origin is located in Miletus, a Greek city from the 6th century BC. C. in which Thales, considered by many to be the first Western philosopher, and many other early philosophers, such as Anaximander and Anaximenes, lived.
The first philosophers (Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes), along with Pythagoras, Heraclitus and Parmenides, are part of the philosophers called pre-socratics. His object of study was Nature (physisin Greek) and lived during the 6th century BC. c.
They were followed by sophists, such as Gorgias and Protagoras, masters of rhetoric and theoretical enemies of Socrates (470-399 BC). Socrates was the one who started the classical period of ancient philosophy. Plato (427-347 BC), his disciple, and Aristotle (384-322 BC), Plato's disciple, participated in it.
The classical period was followed by Hellenismfocused on ethical issues and the pursuit of happiness. Skepticism, Epicureanism and Stoicism participated in Hellenism. Simultaneously, and as a trace of the classical period, minor Socratic schools emerged, such as the Cynics, the Cyrenaics and the Megarics.
Ancient philosophy ends in what is known as the late antiquitya stage that some historians consider as a transition towards medieval philosophy. During late antiquity, Neoplatonism emerged, which was a recovery of Platonic ideas through the works of Philo of Alexandria (13 BC-52 AD), Plotinus (204-270) and Proclus (480-485). ).
Also emerged, at the same time, the patristicswhich occupied the first Christian thinkers and began the defense of the faith (the apologetics) against pagan thought.
From myth to philosophy
Ancient philosophy emerged in Greece around the 6th century BC. c. Thales of Miletus is credited with the first attempt to give an ultimate explanation of reality. In that sense, philosophy, in its origins, was close to other forms of knowledge such as myth, religion or poetry.
Myths, extraordinary stories about gods and heroes, sought to provide answers to different concerns, such as the divine or good and evil. The difference with philosophy was that myths did not appeal to rational arguments to find their explanations of the world, but instead appealed to the fantastic and different elements of the order of the marvelous.
The emergence of philosophy in ancient Greece is considered the passage from myth to logos (the rational). Its beginnings occurred when trying to transform the mythical explanation into a rational explanation, just as the pre-Socratic philosophers of the 6th century wanted to do. BC, like Thales, Parmenides or Heraclitus.
This did not mean that the myths disappeared from the thoughts of the Greek people, but rather that they began to occupy a place of lesser importance. After all, Plato continued to use mythological narratives, just as Aristotle maintained that philosophers were lovers of myths.
The pre-Socratic philosophers
In the 6th century BC. C., on the coast of Asia Minor, in the cities of Miletus, Samos, Colophon and Ephesus, the first ancient philosophers emerged, today known as the pre-Socratic philosophers, since their work occurred before the thought of Socrates (470-399). BC), in the 5th century.
Pre-Socratic philosophers wrote about astronomy, cosmology, and physics. His thoughts reach us through Plato, Aristotle and some doxographers (compilers of opinions) such as Diogenes Laertius (180-240 AD). Their most important contribution is in having taken the step from myth to logos, since they sought a philosophical-scientific explanation for the origin of the world.
They exercised a rational reading of the myths, asking about the state of things, their origin, form and effects, seeking to account for an ordered conception of the entire world.
His main concern was in nature. They sought to account for their origin, as well as the order of things and their presence in the world. This is the reason why they are known as “the philosophers of nature”, although at that time they spoke of physisunderstood not as the natural but as the totality of the world, of the cosmos.
Thales and the philosophers of Miletus
Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes lived in the city of Miletus. All three searched for a principle or arjé (arkhé, in Greek ἀρχή, meaning “beginning” or “origin”) common to all things that could account for the changes and multiplicity observed in nature.
The best known among the thinkers of Miletus was Thales, considered by historians of philosophy to be the first philosopher. Thales was a legislator, mathematician and astronomer who was born in 640 BC. C. and was known as one of the seven wise men of Greece.
Thales is famous for having introduced the concepts of physis and arch to philosophy. The physis indicates the natural process by which something becomes what it is, and the arkhe It is the principle or origin from which that thing springs.
For Such, the arch of nature was water, an element that he postulated as the principle and origin of all things since it was what could vivify all that is.
Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans
On the island of Samos, in 570 BC. C., Pythagoras was born, creator of the theorem that bears his name and founder of the school from which the brotherhood of the Pythagoreans emerged.
In Pythagorean thought there are two very important concepts: the cosmos and numbers. The cosmos speaks of the order and harmony present in nature, whose origin or arkhe It was in the numbers. The Pythagoreans believed that the principles of mathematics were also the principles of all things.
Also the Pythagoreans, following their teacher, postulated that the human being was composed of body and soul: the soul was the noble part that entered the body through breathing in order to purify itself.
Heraclitus of Ephesus
Born in 544 BC. C., Heraclitus was a philosopher from the Ionian city of Ephesus. It is called “the dark one” because Their opinions were difficult to understand, as they were presented in an enigmatic way.just as an oracle would do.
From the work of Heraclitus, written in prose by him in a book called From nature130 short fragments are preserved. He proposed that above all things there was logos (λόγος), a word of Greek origin that means “explain”, “speak”, “show what it is” or even “reason”.
Heraclitus maintained that within the cosmos was the logoswhich was the truth behind nature and whose essence was such that it loved to hide.
On the other hand, to explain the change in the future of the world, Heraclitus stated that “everything flows” (“panta rei”, in ancient Greek Πάντα ῥεῖ) and that “you cannot bathe in the same river twice.” He believed, when observing the change of the world, that in that change was the essence of all things.
In addition to the fragments cited, he used the metaphor of fire, which transforms everything, which is why many thinkers believe that he postulated fire as the arkhe of the cosmos.
Parmenides of Elea
Author of the poem About NatureParmenides was born in 520 BC. C. and died in 450 BC. C. 170 verses or fragments are preserved from his work, divided into three large parts according to each topic (the beginning of the journey, the doctrine of truth and the path to opinion).
Parmenides' poem speaks of two paths: that of truth and that of opinion. The path of truth is what will lead the philosopher to discover the doctrine of being, which establishes that being is and non-being is not. He opposed the theory of opposites, attributed to Heraclitus, and decreed that only what is exists.
Parmenides is also known to have been the teacher of Zeno, who wrote several aporias (among them, the most famous is that of Achilles and the tortoise).
The philosophers of the classical period
The philosophy of the pre-Socratics was found, in the 5th century BC. C., with the city of Athens as the cultural and economic center of Greece. Cradle of historians and artists, this city was the home of the greatest Greek philosophers: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. These three thinkers make up what is known as the classical period of ancient philosophy.
The sophists
Before the Socratic era arose, a group of thinkers known as sophists. Masters of rhetoric, the sophists emerged at the time of democracy and as a result of the demand for teachers by those who sought to access power.
The name “sofitas” comes from the word sophós (σοφός), which means “wise.” The sophists were wise men turned teachers. By abandoning the study of nature, they devoted themselves to the study of man and his customs, and submitted the idea of truth to the judgment of their audience through the dialectical method (that is, through dialogue). Some sophists became famous, such as Protagoras of Abdera and Gorgias of Leontinos.
Although it is true that many of them were accused of being relativists by Socrates, they have the merit of having turned philosophical study to moral topics, such as the virtues. This did not prevent, however, Socrates dedicated his life to combating sophistic teachingsand reproached them for their skeptical attitude towards moral values, and for charging for their teachings.
Socrates
From the participation of the sophists in the Greek philosophical scene, and in opposition to them, the thought of Socrates emerged. Born in Athens in 470 BC. C., Socrates dedicated his life to the training of the young people of the city, among whom was Plato, the most famous of his disciples.
In the year 399 BC. C. Socrates was accused of corrupting his disciples and acting against the State religion, for which he was convicted and murdered.
Since he did not leave his teachings in writing, what is known about his life is from the testimonies of his disciples, as happens with Plato's dialogues, in which he is usually the main character. Most of the time Socrates is shown exercising maieutics, which is the name given to the method used to do philosophy through dialogue.
His way of thinking was highly marked by the refutation of erroneous thinking and the use of irony. In all the works in which he appears, he is portrayed immersed in conversations that seek to find universal definitions regarding different values and concepts. Elements such as good, virtue or justice are recurring in most of his speeches, which is why he is credited with having initiated the Socratic search for definition.
Plato
Plato (427-347 BC) was a disciple of Socrates and one of the most important philosophers of the classical period of ancient philosophy and, probably, of the entire history of philosophy. Born in Athens, he founded the Academy, the first philosophical school, and was also Aristotle's teacher. He wrote an extensive work known as Plato's dialoguesin which he developed his thoughts and recreated the thoughts of his teacher and different thinkers of the time.
Among his most significant contributions are the theory of forms (or theory of ideas), the allegory of the cave and the famous Platonic dualism, which divides the world into a sensible realm and one intelligible through the intellect. His work is divided into three periods according to the time in which each of the dialogues was written: youth, maturity and old age.
The theory of ideas proposes that the universal definitions, which Socrates sought so much, are their own, abstract entities, which can only be accessed through the intellect. Ideas are supersensible entities (beyond the senses), eternal and absolute, that function as original models for the different elements that make up sensible reality. Thus, it is possible to find the idea of good, beauty or virtue, among others.
Plato died in 347 BC. C., at the age of 80, in the city of Athens, after dedicating the last years of his life to the training of young friends and politicians of the city, always focused on the construction of the common good and an ideal republic.
Aristotle
Of Plato's disciples who attended the Academy, the most relevant was Aristotle (384-322 BC). Aristotle was born in Stagira and died in Chalcis, and He is one of the most important thinkers in the history of philosophy. Founder of the Lyceum (another philosophical school like the Academy), he wrote almost 200 treatises, of which 31 are preserved today.
Aristotle wrote on a large number of topics. Among them are logic, politics, ethics, physics, biology, rhetoric, poetics and astronomy. He was the teacher of Alexander of Macedonia, better known as Alexander the Great, and taught many other thinkers and politicians of the time.
Among the treatises that survive from his work, the most important are those dedicated to ethics, such as Nicomachean ethicsthose dedicated to politics, like their Policyand those in which he wrote on metaphysics, gathered under the name of Metaphysics.
Regarding his metaphysical works, the study dedicated to being and metaphysics as the first philosophy stands out, while Aristotle collected the teachings of Parmenides and wrote systematically about the different senses in which “what is” can be said, as well as the categories under which everything that exists is ordered.
Philosophers of the Hellenistic period and late antiquity
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are known in the history of philosophy as the “greater Socratics.”since they occupy a place of undisputed philosophical importance. In contrast, in the 5th century BC. C. some philosophers known as the “minor Socratics” lived, who continued with Socratic thought and recovered some ideas from Plato and Aristotle. These are the groups of the Cynics, the Megarics and the Cyrenaics.
Through these two great groups, the older Socratics and the younger Socratics, ancient philosophy continued its path into the Hellenistic period and then into late antiquity. This stage of philosophy covers around six hundred years, from 200 BC. C. until 400 AD. c.
In the Hellenistic period we can find the Epicureans, the Stoics and the skeptics. All of these philosophers lived in the last years of the end of the pre-Christian era and each developed their own thought. For example, the Epicureans promoted a pleasure-oriented line of thought, while the Cynics considered it appropriate to return to nature, and the Stoics developed the idea of imperturbability.
Late antiquity, for its part, is the period of philosophy that includes the first centuries of the Christian era. At this time we can find traces of the different schools of Greek thought, surviving from the moment of its foundation. Many of them were persecuted and dissolved by the Roman Empire, which with the expansion of Christianity, sought to unify its empire under a single religion.
However, the work carried out by Neoplatonic philosophers such as Proclus and Plotinus is notable, who were able to bring together, in the same line of thought, different elements taken from Platonism and Christianity, making religion and philosophy converge.
Ancient philosophy today
The philosophical thought of antiquity is very important for today's philosophy. The ideas of Plato and Aristotle, for example, have been discussed for more than two thousand years by almost all philosophers and thinkers in history.
His thought expanded into many and diverse branches, and gave rise to its own lines of thought and currents within the many topics to which philosophy is dedicated. Disciplines such as ethics, metaphysics or aesthetics could not have taken place if it had not been for the development of these pioneers in philosophy.
Even today, the work of the first philosophers continues to be studied, not only to understand how they thought and what they said, but to reveal what they have to tell us, from the past, today.
References
- Guthrie, W. (1953). The Greek philosophers. From Thales to Aristotle. FCE.
- Guthrie, W. (1984). History of Greek Philosophy, vol. I. The first pre-Socratics and the Pythagoreans. Gredos.
- C. Edggers and V. Juliá (1975). The philosophers of Miletus. Buenos Aires.
- Marías, J., Zubiri, X., & and Gasset, JO (1941). History of philosophy (No. B94. M37 1974.). Madrid: Western Magazine.
- Reale, G., & Antiseri, D. (2007). History of philosophy. San Pablo Editorial.
- Hegel, GWF, & Terrón, E. (1971). Introduction to the history of philosophy. Aguilar.
