4 Philosophy of early Hellenism (Stoicism, Epicureanism, skepticism)

Let's consider the three main philosophical movements of early Hellenism: Stoicism, Epicureanism, and skepticism. Regarding them, a brilliant expert on ancient philosophy. A.F. Losev argued that they were nothing more than a subjective variety, respectively, of the pre-Socratic theory of material elements (fire primarily), the philosophy of Democritus and the philosophy of Heraclitus: the theory of fire - stoicism, ancient atomism - Epicureanism, the philosophy of fluidity of Heraclitus - skepticism.

Stoicism. As a philosophical movement, Stoicism existed from the 3rd century. BC until the 3rd century AD The main representatives of early Stoicism were Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes and Chrysippus. Later, Plutarch, Cicero, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius became famous as Stoics.

The Stoics believed that the body of the world was composed of fire, air, earth and water. The soul of the world is a fiery and airy pneuma, a kind of all-penetrating breath. According to a long ancient tradition, fire was considered by the Stoics to be the main element; of all the elements it is the most pervasive and vital. Thanks to this, the entire Cosmos, including man, is a single fiery organism with its own laws (logos) and fluidity. The main question for the Stoics is to determine the place of man in the Cosmos.

Having carefully thought through the situation, the Stoics came to the conviction that the laws of existence are beyond the control of man, man is subject to fate, fate. There is nowhere to escape from fate, reality must be accepted as it is, with all its fluidity of bodily properties, providing diversity human life. Fate and fate can be hated, but a stoic is more inclined to love it, receiving rest within the framework of what is available.

Stoics strive to discover the meaning of life. They considered the essence of the subjective to be the Word, its semantic meaning (lekton). Lekton - meaning - is above all positive and negative judgments, we're talking about about judgment in general. Lecton is carried out in inner life person, creating a state of ataraxia, i.e. peace of mind, equanimity. The Stoic is by no means indifferent to everything that happens; on the contrary, he treats everything with maximum attention and interest. But he still understands the world, its logos, law in a certain way and, in full accordance with it, maintains peace of mind. So, the main points of the Stoic picture of the world are as follows:

1) Cosmos is a fiery organism;

2) man exists within the framework of cosmic laws, hence his fatalism, destiny, and peculiar love for both;

3) the meaning of the world and man - lekton, the significance of the word, which is neutral to both the mental and the physical;

4) understanding the world inevitably leads to a state of ataraxia, dispassion;

5) not only an individual person, but people as a whole constitute an inseparable unity with the Cosmos; The cosmos can and should be considered both as God and as a world state (thus the idea of ​​pantheism (nature is God) and the idea of ​​human equality are developed).

Already the early Stoics identified a number of deepest philosophical problems. If a person is subject to various kinds of laws, physical, biological, social, then to what extent is he free? How should he deal with everything that limits him? In order to somehow cope with these issues, it is necessary and useful to go through the school of Stoic thought.

Epicureanism. The largest representatives of Epicureanism are Epicurus himself and Lucretius Carus. Epicureanism as a philosophical movement existed at the same historical time as Stoicism - this is the period of the 5th-6th centuries at the turn of the old and new eras. Like the Stoics, the Epicureans raise, first of all, issues of structure and personal comfort. The fire-like nature of the soul is a common idea among the Stoics and Epicureans, but the Stoics see some meaning behind it, and the Epicureans see the basis of sensations. For the Stoics, in the foreground is reason in accordance with nature, and for the Epicureans, sensation in accordance with nature is in the foreground. The sensory world is what is of main interest to the Epicureans. Hence the basic ethical principle of the Epicureans is pleasure. The doctrine that puts pleasure at the forefront is called hedonism. The Epicureans did not understand the content of the feeling of pleasure in a simplified way, and certainly not in a vulgar spirit. In Epicurus we are talking about noble calm, or, if you like, balanced pleasure.

For the Epicureans, the sensory world is the present reality. The world of sensuality is unusually changeable and multiple. There are ultimate forms of feelings, sensory atoms, or, in other words, atoms not in themselves, but in the world of feelings. Epicurus endows atoms with spontaneity, “free will.” Atoms move along curves, intertwining and unraveling. The idea of ​​stoic rock is coming to an end.

The Epicurean does not have any master over him, there is no need, he has free will. He can retire, indulge in his own pleasures, and immerse himself in himself. The Epicurean is not afraid of death: “As long as we exist, there is no death; when death exists, we are no more.” Life is the main pleasure with its beginning and even its end. (Dying, Epicurus took a warm bath and asked to bring him wine.)

Man consists of atoms that provide him with a wealth of sensations in the world, where he can always find a comfortable abode for himself, refusing active activity and the desire to reorganize the world. The Epicurean treats the life world completely disinterestedly and at the same time strives to merge with it. If we take the qualities of the Epicurean sage to their absolute extreme, we get an idea of ​​the gods. They also consist of atoms, but not decaying atoms, and therefore the gods are immortal. The gods are blessed; they have no need to interfere in the affairs of people and the universe. Yes, this would not give any positive result, because in a world where there is free will, there are no and cannot be sustainable, purposeful actions. Therefore, the gods have nothing to do on Earth; Epicurus places them in interworldly space, where they rush around. But Epicurus does not deny the worship of God (he himself visited the temple). By honoring the gods, man himself strengthens himself in the correctness of his own self-elimination from active practical life along the paths of Epicurean ideas. We list the main ones:

1) everything consists of atoms that can spontaneously deviate from straight trajectories;

2) a person consists of atoms, which provides him with a wealth of feelings and pleasures;

3) the world of feelings is not illusory, it is the main content of the human, everything else, including the ideal-mental, is “closed” to sensory life;

4) the gods are indifferent to human affairs (this, they say, is evidenced by the presence of evil in the world).

5) for a happy life, a person needs three main components: the absence of bodily suffering (aponia), equanimity of the soul (ataraxia), friendship (as an alternative to political and other confrontations).

Skepticism. Skepticism - characteristic feature all ancient philosophy; As an independent philosophical movement, it functions during the period of relevance of Stoicism and Epicureanism. The largest representatives are Pyrrho and Sextus Empiricus.

The ancient skeptic rejected the knowability of life. To maintain inner peace, a person needs to know a lot from philosophy, but not in order to deny something or, conversely, affirm something (every statement is a negation, and, conversely, every negation is an affirmation). The ancient skeptic is by no means a nihilist; he lives as he wants, fundamentally avoiding the need to evaluate anything. The skeptic is in constant philosophical search, but he is convinced that true knowledge is, in principle, unattainable. Being appears in all the diversity of its fluidity (remember Heraclitus): there seems to be something definite, but it immediately disappears. In this regard, the skeptic points to time itself, it exists, but it is not there, you cannot “grasp” it. There is no stable meaning at all, everything is fluid, so live the way you want, accept life in its immediate reality. One who has known a lot cannot adhere to strictly unambiguous opinions. A skeptic can be neither a judge nor a lawyer. The skeptic Carneades, sent to Rome to petition for the abolition of the tax, spoke before the public one day in favor of the tax, another day against the tax. It is better for the skeptical sage to remain silent. His silence is a philosophical answer to the questions put to him. Let us list the main provisions of ancient skepticism:

1) the world is fluid, it has no meaning and no clear definition;

Justice crowns all the virtues, to which Aristotle also included prudence, generosity, self-restraint, courage, generosity, truthfulness, and benevolence. The premise of the political concepts of ancient philosophers is the recognition of the legality and necessity of slavery. Both Plato and Aristotle talk about the state of the free: slaves are not considered citizens of the state. People from...

Henceforth, the question of the whole retains meaning as long as a person has the ability to be surprised in the face of the existence of things and his own existence. 3.3. Fundamental problems of ancient philosophy Initially, the totality of the real was seen as “physis” (nature) and as cosmos, which is why the philosophical problem acted as a cosmological one. The first natural philosophers posed the question this way: how did the cosmos arise? What are...

For Hellenistic period(the period of the crisis of the polis and the formation of large states in Asia and Africa under the rule of the Greeks and led by the comrades-in-arms of Alexander the Great and their descendants) is characteristic:

Spread of the antisocial philosophy of the Cynics;

The origin of the Stoic direction of philosophy;

Activities of "Socratic" philosophical schools: Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, the Cyrene school (Cyrenaics), etc.;

Philosophy of Epicurus, etc.

Distinctive features of Hellenistic philosophy:

Crisis of ancient moral and philosophical values;

Reducing fear of gods and other supernatural forces, respect for them;

Searching for physical and spiritual support in oneself;

The desire to detach from reality;

The predominance of a materialistic view of the world (Epicurus);

Recognition of the highest good as the happiness and pleasure of the individual

human (physical - Cyrenaicians, moral - Epicurus).

Epicurus (341 -270 BC) - Greek philosopher - materialist and atteite of the Hellenistic era. E. Denied the intervention of the gods in the affairs of the world and proceeded from the recognition of the eternity of matter, which has internal source movements. Reviving the atomism of Leucippus-Democritus, E. introduces original changes into it: to explain the possibility of collisions of atoms moving in the empty

space at the same speed, he introduces the concept of spontaneous (internally

conditioned) “deviation” of an atom from a straight line. This is the basis of more

a deep look at the relationship between necessity and chance, a step forward in

compared with the mechanical determinism of Democritus. In the theory of knowledge E. -

senusualist. The sensations themselves are always true, because... come from an objective

reality; errors arise from the interpretation of sensations. The emergence of sensations

E. explains naively materialistically: a continuous stream emanates from the surface of bodies.

a stream of tiny particles, outflows, penetrating the sense organs and causing

images of things. Knowledge aims to free man from ignorance and

superstition, fear of gods and death, without which happiness is impossible. In ethics

E. substantiates rational pleasure, which is based on

individualistic ideal of avoiding suffering and achieving peace and

joyful state of mind. The most reasonable thing for a person is

activity, and sometimes ataraxia. The materialist teaching of E. was distorted in

idealistic philosophy (eg Hegel).

TO Stoics in Greece belonged Zeno of Kition (c. 333 - c. 262 BC), Panetius of Rhodes (2nd century BC), Posidonius (late 2nd - 1st century BC), etc. The Stoic school gained great popularity in Ancient Rome, where its most prominent representatives were Seneca (c. 4 BC - 65 AD), his student Epictetus (c. 50 - c. 140) and Emperor Marcus Aurelius. (121-180).Philosophy for the Stoics is not just science, but first of all a life path, life wisdom. Only philosophy can teach a person to maintain self-control and dignity in difficult situation which developed during the Hellenistic era. .Freedom from the power of the external world over a person is considered by the Stoics to be the virtue of a sage; His strength lies in the fact that he is not a slave to his own passions. A sage cannot strive for sensual pleasures. A true sage, according to the Stoics, is not even afraid of death; It is from the Stoics that the understanding of philosophy as the science of dying comes. Here the model for the Stoics was Socrates. However, the only similarity between the Stoics and Socrates is that they base their ethics on knowledge. But, unlike Socrates, they seek virtue not for the sake of happiness, but for the sake of peace and serenity, indifference to everything external. They call this indifference apathy (dispassion). Dispassion is their ethical ideal. The mood of the Stoics is pessimistic; this mood is well conveyed by A.S. Pushkin: There is no happiness in the world, but there is peace and will. To achieve inner peace and dispassion means to learn to completely control oneself, to determine one’s actions not by circumstances, but only by reason. The demands of reason are immutable, because they are in accordance with nature. By the latter, the Stoics understand both external nature and the nature of man himself. For a Stoic, nature is fate, or fate: make peace with fate, do not resist it - this is one of Seneca’s commandments. SKEPTICISM (from the Greek “skepticism” - research, consideration) - in ancient philosophy, a movement whose representatives did not put forward any positive doctrine about the world and man and did not assert the possibility of true knowledge, but refrained from making a final judgment about all this. Skeptics formulated three main philosophical question: what is the nature of things? How should we treat them? How do we benefit from this attitude? And they answered them: the nature of things cannot be known by us; therefore one should refrain from judgment on questions of truth; the consequence of such an attitude should be equanimity of spirit (“ataraxia”). The conclusion about the unknowability of the nature of things is made on the basis of the equiprovability of opposing judgments about this world and the impossibility of recognizing one judgment as more reliable than another. Thus, the consequence of theoretical skepticism about the structure of the world and its knowledge is a meaningful ethical conclusion about the ideal of practical behavior. Thus, although skeptics did not directly connect the achievement of happiness with the depth of theoretical knowledge, they still remained within the framework of traditional ancient rationalism: the achievement of an ethical ideal is directly correlated with an understanding of the boundaries of theoretical knowledge.

For Neoplatonists (besides Plotinus, the main representatives of this trend are considered to be Iamblichus, 245 - ca. 330, and Proclus, 412-485) the whole world appears as a hierarchical system in which each lower level owes its existence to the highest. At the very top of this ladder is the One (it is God, it is good, or, in other words, that which is on the other side of all things). The One is the cause (first of all, the goal) of all being (everything that exists exists insofar as it strives for the One, or for the good); it itself does not participate in being and therefore is incomprehensible neither to the mind nor to the word - nothing can be said about God. The second stage is the mind as such and the intelligible entities found in it - ideas; this is pure being, generated by the One (for thinking and being in the Platonic tradition are identical). Below is the third stage - the soul; it is no longer united, like the mind, but is divided between living bodies (the soul of the cosmos, for the cosmos for Platonists is a living being, the souls of demons, people, animals, plants); in addition, it moves: the soul is the source of all movement and, consequently, of all excitement and passions. Even lower is the fourth stage - the body. Just as the soul receives its best properties - rationality, harmony - from the mind, so the body receives form thanks to the soul; its other qualities - lifelessness, inertia, inertia - are akin to matter. Matter, or the subject, is the substrate of sensory things - this is inertia itself, inertia, lack of quality as such. Matter does not exist; it is in no way involved in the mind, that is, in being; therefore, it also cannot be comprehended by reason and word. We learn about its presence in a purely negative way: if we take away their form from all bodies (i.e., all their somewhat definite characteristics: quality, quantity, position, etc.), then what remains will be matter. Man in the system of Neoplatonic philosophy it was thought of accordingly as a union of the divine, self-identical mind with an inert body through the soul; Naturally, the goal and meaning of life in this case is to free your mind, spirit from the shackles of matter or body, in order to ultimately completely separate from it and merge with one great mind. It is clear that the source of all evil is material and bodily; the source of good is intelligible, sublime knowledge, philosophy. A person must learn to think, on the one hand, and subjugate his body through exercises and asceticism, on the other.

During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, many schools of philosophy developed. The ancient philosophy of this time was also influenced by elements of Indian philosophy. The most famous schools of Hellenistic philosophy:

• Epicureanism;
• skepticism;
• stoicism;
• Neoplatonism.

· 1. Hellenistic philosophy

· 2. Epicureanism

· 3. Stoicism

· 4. Cynicism

· 5. Neoplatonism

· List of used literature

1. Hellenistic philosophy

· The beginning of this philosophy coincides with the activities of Alexander the Great, with the departure from the arena of Greek cities - city-states and with the formation of an empire. Life has changed, its usual pace has been disrupted. The cultural life of society gained a wide scope, previously impossible in small towns fenced off from each other. During the Hellenistic period, literature and science received their rich center in the Alexandria Museum. The library of this museum had up to 700 thousand scrolls. Here they not only collected, but also studied literature. Philological science arose here, inherited by subsequent additions.

· The emergence of the common Greek language, which gradually displaced local dialects from the literary language, was of enormous importance. Along with the Greek language, Greek literary genres also penetrate to the peoples of the East. Finally, as we know, Greek literature of the Hellenistic period served as the starting point for the creation of Roman literature.

· Not only literature and art changed their content and created new forms; dramatic changes occurred in the purely ideological sphere of philosophy and religion.

· The emergence of more information about the life of other peoples, changes in lifestyle, in many ways its deterioration, the abundance of wars, misfortunes, and diseases also change philosophical accents. Previously, philosophy was concerned either with the knowledge of nature, as with the Pre-Socratics, or with metaphysics - ontology, epistemology, as with Plato and Aristotle. In the philosophy of Hellenism, the dominant character is interest in man. In Hellenistic philosophical constructions, metaphysical questions give way to the interests of ethics. All major Hellenistic philosophical systems:

· -philosophy of Epicurus (Epicureanism),

- Stoicism (philosophy of the Stoics),

· -skepticism (philosophy of skeptics) - aimed at solving one question: how can a person live in the conditions of the existing world?

· The schools of Epicureanism and Stoicism arose at the same time, existed for a long time, and ended their existence when Christianity spread throughout Europe. Skepticism was a reaction to the philosophy of the Stoics, and to a lesser extent, Epicureanism. There was another philosophical school - the school of Neoplatonism, which emerged later, although Plato's schools continued to exist in the Hellenistic era. Neoplatonism is the most powerful philosophical school of the first centuries of Christianity.

· 2. Epicureanism

· Epicurus (341--270 BC) - ancient Greek moral philosopher of the Hellenistic era, Athenian by origin. Founder (306 BC) of the original philosophical school "Garden of E." Wrote about 300 essays. Only three letters have survived, in which the main provisions of his teaching are concisely stated, and a number of fragments: “E. greets Pythocles” (letter); "E. greets Meneceus" (letter); "Big Review" (designed for beginners); "Small Review", or "Letter to Herodotus" (for more prepared followers); "Main thoughts" (40 aphorisms); "About Nature"; “On Predestination”, etc. He sought to create a practical guide for life (ethics), physics was intended for this, and logic served as the latter. E.'s teaching about nature affirms the innumerability and diversity of spontaneously developing worlds, which are the result of the collision and separation of atoms, besides which only emptiness exists. Trying to overcome Democritus’s thesis about the undivided dominance of necessity in the world of atoms (the consequence of which, in relation to the atoms of the soul, was the impossibility of free will), E. postulated the possibility of a random deviation (“very small - less than which it cannot be”) of an atom from a natural straight line of motion in empty space. According to E., in the spaces between these worlds ("interworlds") live immortal and happy gods, indifferent to extraneous passions. (Denying providence and the immortality of the soul, E. did not stop honoring the gods, confidently proclaiming the importance of holiness and piety: the perfection of the divine nature is a sufficient reason to honor them). The soul and living beings consist of the lightest, subtlest and most mobile atoms. Contrary to the classical ideas of ancient philosophy, sensations, according to E., are always true because they are conditioned by objective reality. The interpretation of sensations may be erroneous. Agreement with sensory perceptions and with the general ideas based on them is the true criterion of the truth of knowledge. Knowledge of nature and philosophical quests are not an end in themselves; they free people from superstition, fear of death and religious prejudices. This is a necessary prerequisite for a person to achieve happiness and bliss, which are based on spiritual pleasure - more sustainable than simple sensual pleasures, because does not depend on external circumstances. The mind of people is a selfless gift from the gods, which aims to bring human aspirations to agreement. The result of the latter is pleasure coupled with calm and equanimity, not disturbed by any unpleasant emotions. It is through the combination of these spiritual qualities that true piety is achieved, which is more valuable to a person than activity. According to E., the public (cult traditions and government institutions) must be treated in a friendly and reserved manner (“Live in solitude!”). The term "epicureanism" entered the philosophical categorical tradition as a synonym for "hedonism".

· The Epicureans believed that the source of all blessings is not peace of mind, but “the absence of suffering.” To get rid of worries and dangers, to avoid them, there is one way - the path of pleasure. But how can you enjoy yourself when the thought of inevitable death torments you? The Epicurean does not accept such reasoning. His answer: when we exist, then there is no death yet; when death comes, we are no longer there. The thirst for existence is the only and indisputable value in which “man” and “God” seem to merge: the divine is revealed only when the individual experiences pleasure. The Epicurean sage is free like God. Rising above everyday life and his own fate, he finds happiness only in himself and in his virtue, once acquired and cannot be lost.

· 3. Stoicism

· Hellenistic Cynicism Stoicism philosophy

· The philosophy of Greek Stoicism, the founder of which was Zeno, a native of Cyprus, is gaining popularity.

· Stoicism is one of the schools of ancient Greek philosophy. It took its name from the hall of the Stoa Pecile, in which Zeno first appeared as an independent speaker. The Stoics also include Cleanthes, a student of Zeno and his successor in Stoa, and Christippus, a student of Cleanthes. Diogenes from Seleucia (a city in Babylonia), who later became the Athenian ambassador to Rome and introduced the Romans to ancient Greek philosophy, is usually attributed to the later Stoa; Panaetius - teachers of Cicero, Posidonius, who also lived in Rome at the same time as Cicero in the 2nd-1st centuries. BC Moving on to the Romans, Stoic philosophy here acquires an increasingly rhetorical and edifying-ethical character, losing the actual physical part of the teaching of its ancient Greek predecessors. Among the Roman Stoics, we should note Seneca, Epictetus, Antoninus, Arrian, Marcus Aurelius, Cicero, Sextus Empiricus, Diogenes Laertius and others. Only the works of the Roman Stoics have reached us in the form of complete books - mainly Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, according to which , as well as from individual surviving fragments of the early Stoics, one can get an idea of ​​the philosophical views of this school. Stoic philosophy is divided into three main parts: physics (philosophy of nature), logic and ethics (philosophy of spirit).

· The main thing in Stoicism is ethics, the doctrine of virtue, which consisted of calmness, equanimity, and the ability to steadfastly endure the blows of fate. Stoic physics arose as a synthesis of Aristotle's physics, in particular the doctrine of form and matter, with some elements of the teachings of Heraclitus. For Aristotle, the relationship between matter and form ceased at the boundary separating the world from the “immovable prime mover,” or from God, who is no longer the unity of matter and form, but only form without matter. For the Stoics, on the contrary, the world is a single body - living and dismembered, permeated with the bodily breath that animates it (“pneuma”).

· Stoicism turned into a popular moralizing philosophy, which concentrated the noble precepts of antiquity. The central point of Stoicism is the ideal of the sage. The main motive is the desire to portray a perfect person, absolutely free from the influences of the surrounding life. This ideal is defined mainly negatively, as internal freedom from affects. The sage is tempted, but overcomes them. For him, virtue is not only the highest, but also the only good.

· Affect is contrary to nature and reason. The sage follows the rational nature of man. The ethical principle of Stoya is obedience to universal law. "The heritage of Stoicism has many attractive features. Firstly, philosophers of this tradition saw the basis of the moral phenomenon in a supra-individual and therefore “extraordinary” authority (the nature of the universe, the command of the Creator, the laws of social history); this gave ontological guarantees to a very rigoristic moral program in which virtue was presented as self-restraint, self-discipline, compliance with the requirements and meaning of the whole. Secondly, the universalism of the moral criterion allowed the Stoic to take a fundamentally critical position in relation to moral everyday life (mores) and at the same time served as the basis for a kind of moralistic psychotherapy of crisis, catastrophic situations in this everyday life ( illness, threat of death, fire, shipwreck, etc.) Thirdly, the metaphysical foundations of moral goodness, given the “physicality” of moral practice itself, made it possible (with consistency in defending these positions) to include historical, universal teleological in a stoically justified moral theory. moment".

· The greatest merit of the Stoic concept of man is that this concept gave man both a deep sense of harmony with nature and a sense of moral independence from it. In the mind of a Stoic philosopher, there is no discord between these statements. They are related to each other. The person felt in complete balance with the universe and knew that no external force could upset this balance.

· 4. Cynicism

· Cynics - representatives of the ancient Greek philosophical school, followers of Antisoren. The most famous representative is Diogenes of Sinop. The Cynics expressed the sentiments of the democratic strata of the slave-owning society. They considered the basis of happiness and virtue to be disdain for social norms, rejection of wealth, fame, and all sensual pleasures. (IV century BC)

· Cynic philosophy is the philosophy of opposing oneself to society, disregarding decency and generally accepted norms. The famous Cynics - Crates, Hipparchias - did not found schools or write treatises. They and their followers chose freedom and independence. The Cynic school of philosophy proclaimed the highest virtue of man, his ability to enjoy little things, to be independent from the state, society, even from culture and family. The famous Cynic was Diogenes, who, according to legend, generally challenged the generally accepted order and lived in a barrel. When the famous Alexander the Great visited him and asked what he wanted, he only answered: “Do not block the sun.”

· 5. Neoplatonism

· The last major and, in its own way, epoch-making philosophical system of Western antiquity is Neoplatonism. The founder of Neoplatonism is Plotinus (204/205 - 270). The philosophy of Neoplatonism appears in the 3rd century. e. and develops until the beginning of the 7th century. Neoplatonism is associated primarily with the names of Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus and Iamblichus.

· Plotinus wrote 54 opuses on various topics. He made no claims to originality. Plotinus was significantly influenced by Plato. His worldview was also influenced by many other Greek and even Roman philosophers, including Seneca and Aristotle. It is characteristic that a return to the ideas of Plato and the need for their rethinking arise at a time when the ancient way of philosophizing is coming to an end, gradually giving way to a new and radically different philosophizing based on the Christian worldview. Neoplatonism arises against the backdrop of the widespread dissemination of various teachings that try to combine incompatible elements of ancient philosophical systems. Just as Stoicism was characteristic of the theoretical worldview of the Early Roman Empire, so Neoplatonism was characteristic of the Late Roman Empire. It arises in the vacuum between empires. This vacuum lasted for half a century: from 235 to 284.

· Plotinus substantiates his idealistic teaching through the doctrine of different types people. An ordinary person is immersed in sensory-practical existence. For such a person, things are more important than ideas, the material is more important than the ideal. For an ordinary lowly person, the body is more important than the soul, and he pleases his body without worrying at all about the soul. All activities of the soul of such a person are conditioned by his presence in the body and depend entirely on the body. But this is because the soul of such a person is narrowed, because he himself made it a servant of the body, and nothing more.

· The most significant point in the philosophy of Neoplatonism is the doctrine of the otherworldliness, super-reasonability and even super-existence of the origin of all things and of mystical ecstasy as a means of approaching this origin. In the person of Plotinus, ancient philosophy comes to where Indian philosophy began in the Upanishads with their atman and brahman, unknowable by reason. Neoplatonism even goes beyond the boundaries of philosophy, if by philosophy we mean a rational worldview. Neoplatonism is superintelligent. There is a return to mythology or remythologization. According to the teachings of Neoplatonism, at the head of the hierarchy of existence there is one principle, united as such, super-existential and super-reasonable, understandable only in a state of ecstasy and expressible only by means of apophatic theology. The world system is strictly hierarchical; it is built not from the bottom up, but from the top down.

· Neoplatonism is radically different from its prototype - the philosophy of Plato. However, in retrospect it allows us to understand much both in the teachings of Plato and in the philosophy of his best student, Aristotle.

· Plotinus founded the Neoplatonic school in Rome. In Syria there was a school of Iamblichus, in whose teaching there were strong elements of Pythagoreanism. The last Neoplatonic school was organized by Proclus in Athens and lasted until 529. Neoplatonism, initially hostile to Christianity and containing numerous elements of oriental magic and mythology, nevertheless had a huge influence on Christian patristics and on the development of the philosophy of feudal society in both Christianity and Muslim countries.

· Neoplatonism had a powerful - direct and indirect - influence on the formation of Christian doctrine and theism in general. He had a meaningful influence on the entire European tradition, as well as on European, Arab, and Jewish philosophies. Hegel especially noted the importance of N. for the history of philosophy: “in Neoplatonism, Greek philosophy reached full strength and highest development against the background of the crisis of the Roman and the entire ancient world." In the 20th century, N. acts as a special subject of research and reinterpretation

Philosophical schools of the Hellenistic era (Neoplatonism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, skepticism).

The Hellenistic era from the time of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, as a result of which a gigantic empire was formed from India in the east to Greece and Macedonia in the west. After the collapse of this empire, a significant number of states arose on its territory, the largest of which were the Ptolemaic kingdom (Egypt), the Seleucid kingdom (Syria) and the Pergamon kingdom. These states were no longer built on the basis of a polis system, but resembled the monarchical despotisms of the East. The cultural features of the Hellenistic era include the spread of ancient culture to the East, where it was combined with local traditions. There was an interpenetration of the cultural principles of the ancient world and eastern civilizations. In turn, ancient culture loses, by accepting cultural influences from the East, some features that gave it clear specificity in the classical period. In particular, the religious cults that originated there penetrate from the East, becoming increasingly widespread in ancient Greece, and then in Rome. Among these cults, the most famous were the cults of Mithras, Isis, Serapis, etc.

The philosophy of the Hellenistic era (3rd century BC - 6th century AD) can be divided into two periods :

1. Early Hellenism (3rd – 1st centuries BC). During the period of early Hellenism, Greek influence was decisive. At this time, the philosophical schools that existed before the collapse of antiquity were born: stoicism, skepticism, epicureanism; continue to attract followers of the Cynic school, the Academy and Lyceum are functioning.

2. Late Hellenism (Roman period) (1st century BC – 6th century AD). In general, philosophy during this period continued the trends laid down in the era of early Hellenism. The same philosophical schools exist; the problems on which philosophers pondered do not undergo significant changes. However, Roman philosophers writing in Latin began to play a significant role in philosophizing. Of the philosophical movements, Neoplatonism became the most influential towards the end of the existence of ancient philosophy.

· Neoplatonism is the last significant doctrine generated ancient philosophy. He

arose in the era of the developing systemic crisis of Greco-Roman civilization. In many of its features, Neoplatonism precedes the medieval worldview ( negative attitude to corporeality and matter, the desire to depict existing things in the form of a hierarchy, etc.). For some time, Neoplatonism constituted a serious competitor to the spreading Christianity. The founder of Neoplatonism was Plotinus (203 – 269) . Plotinus was born and lived for a long time in Egypt; at the end of his life he moved to Rome and became close to the emperor’s court. Plotinus wrote a number of treatises, united after his death into 7 “enneads” (nines) according to the proximity of the issues discussed in them. Plotinus's works are very difficult to understand, containing very subtle dialectical reasoning on basic issues of ontology, psychology, and theology. In fact, Plotinus, although he considered himself a follower of Plato, created an original philosophical doctrine, which bears little resemblance to Plato’s system. Without touching on special issues, let's say that if elements of mysticism were occasionally present in the teachings of Plato, then the entire philosophy of Plotinus is a mystical teaching that is close to religion. Moreover, Plotinus’s mysticism is aimed at overcoming the flesh and liberating the spirit from the power of the bodily principle through mystical ecstasy. The desire for the ideal and contempt for matter reached the point in Plotinus that he was ashamed of his body and forbade celebrating his birthday. Another difference between the systems of Plato and Plotinus can be seen in the fact that social aspirations (building an ideal state) are strongly manifested in Plato's philosophy. In Plotin's worldview, social reality is not reflected at all.
The source of the universe Plotinus considered the One in which all differences disappear. It is impossible to say anything about the One; it is devoid of all qualities and is inaccessible to rational comprehension. Therefore, the One can only be cognized mystically, in a state of ecstasy. Neoplatonism represented the appearance of everything else as an emanation (outpouring) of the One into non-existence. As a result, as the flow of the One weakens, less and less perfect forms of being are formed : Mind, Soul, Matter . Matter for Plotinus is a negative value “non-existent”, darkness, gloom. The doctrine of the One, as well as the preaching of mystical comprehension of the first principle, influenced the formation of Christian dogma, mainly in Byzantium. At the same time, the doctrine of emanation became the basis for numerous medieval heresies, which contrasted emanation with creationism accepted in Christianity and Islam.
Of the followers of Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus and Hypatia should be noted as the most significant . Porfiry (233 – 304) famous for editing and publishing the works of Plotinus and popularizing his ideas. In addition, he was one of the first intellectuals, critics of Christianity, who, relying on the pagan philosophical tradition, expressed doubts about its dogmas. After the victory of Christianity, many of Porfiry's works were destroyed, but his criticism of Christianity can be restored based on objections to Porfiry in the writings of the "church fathers."

Proclus (412 – 485), who was one of the last scholararchs of the Athenian Academy, is famous for his work “Fundamentals of Theology,” in which he outlined the teachings of Plotinus in thesis form. A follower of the ideas of Neoplatonism was the famous woman scientist Hypatia (370 - 415), who worked at the Alexandria Museion and wrote a number of works on mathematics, astronomy and physics. The fate of Hypatia was tragic; she was killed by a crowd of Christian fanatics.

· Epicurism.

Epicureanism - teaching and way of life emanating from the ideas of Epicurus and his followers, who without hesitation give preference to the material joys of life. Apparently, the most outstanding thinker of the Hellenistic period was Epicurus. Main works: “The Rule” (canon), “On Nature”, etc. Epicurus does not passively accept the teachings of Democritus, but corrects, supplements and develops them. If Democritus characterizes atoms by size, shape and position in space, then Epicurus attributes another property to them - heaviness. Together with Democritus, he recognizes that atoms move in the void. Epicurus allows and recognizes as natural a certain deviation from rectilinear movement.

Epicurus' understanding of chance does not exclude a causal explanation. A person has freedom of choice, and not everything is predetermined. In his doctrine of the soul, Epicurus defends materialistic views. According to Epicurus, the soul is not something incorporeal, but a structure of atoms, the finest matter scattered throughout the body. Hence the denial of the immortality of the soul. In the field of the theory of knowledge, Epicurus is a sensualist. The basis of all knowledge is the sensations that arise when separating reflections from objectively existing objects and penetrate our senses. Thus, the main prerequisite for all knowledge is the existence of objective reality and its knowability through the senses.

Epicurus paid great attention to concepts. He considered the clarity and precision of the concepts used to be the basis of any reasoning.

Ethical and generally philosophical views of Epicurus are closely connected with his open and militant atheism. He considered the main source of the emergence and existence of religion to be fear of death and ignorance of natural laws. Epicureanism represented itself in Greek philosophy of the 3rd-1st centuries. BC e. the most clearly expressed materialist direction and, in principle, played a positive role.

· Stoicism At the end of the 4th century. BC e. in Greece, stoicism was formed, which in the Hellenistic, as well as in

in the later Roman period it became one of the most widespread philosophical movements. Its founder was Zeno. Treatise "On Human Nature". The Stoics often compared philosophy to the human body. They considered logic the skeleton, ethics the muscles, and physics the soul. Chrysippus gives a more definite form to Stoic thinking. He turns Stoic philosophy into a vast system. The Stoics characterized philosophy as "an exercise in wisdom." They considered logic to be a tool of philosophy, its main part. It teaches how to handle concepts, form judgments and inferences. Without it, one cannot understand either physics or ethics, which is a central part of Stoic philosophy.

In ontology, the Stoics recognize two basic principles : material principle (material) which is considered the basis, and spiritual principle - logos (god), which penetrates all matter and forms specific individual things. Stoics, unlike Aristotle the material principle was considered the essence (although, like him, they recognized matter as a passive principle, and logos (god) as an active principle). The concept of God in Stoic philosophy can be characterized as pantheistic. Logos, according to their views, permeates all nature and manifests itself everywhere in the world. He is the law of necessity, providence. The concept of God imparts to their entire concept of existence a deterministic, even fatalistic, character, which also permeates their ethics. In the field of the theory of knowledge, the Stoics primarily represent the ancient form of sensualism. The Stoics simplify the Aristotelian system of categories - four main categories: substance (essence), quantity, certain quality and relation, according to a certain quality. With the help of these categories, reality is comprehended.

The center and carrier of knowledge, according to Stoic philosophy, is the soul . It is understood as something bodily, material. Sometimes it is designated as pneuma (combination of air and fire). Its central part, in which the ability to think and, in general, everything that can be defined in modern terms as mental activity is localized, the Stoics call reason (hegemonic). Reason connects a person with the whole world. The individual mind is part of the world mind. Although the Stoics consider feelings to be the basis of all knowledge, they also pay great attention to the problems of thinking.

Stoic ethics places virtue at the pinnacle of human endeavor. Virtue, in their opinion, is the only good. Virtue means living in accordance with reason. The Stoics recognize four basic virtues, adding four opposites: unreasonableness opposes rationality, licentiousness opposes moderation, injustice opposes justice, and cowardice and cowardice oppose valor. There is a clear, categorical difference between good and evil, between virtue and sin.

Stoic philosophy seems to be the best at dealing with the developing crisis in the spiritual life of Greek society, which was a consequence of economic and political decay. It is Stoic ethics that most adequately reflects “its time.” This is the ethics of “conscious refusal,” conscious resignation to fate. It diverts attention from the outside world, from society to inner world person. Only within himself can a person find the main and only support. Therefore, Stoicism comes to life again during the crisis of the Roman Republic and then during the beginning of the collapse of the Roman Empire.

· Skepticism. At the end of the 4th century. BC Another direction is being formed - skepticism.

Founder- Pyrrho from Elis. Just like Socrates, he expressed his ideas orally. Therefore, all information about him comes from the works of his student Timon. Skepticism had a place in Greek philosophy before. In the Hellenistic era, its principles were formed, for skepticism was determined not by methodological principles in the impossibility of further knowledge, but by the refusal of the opportunity to reach the truth. And this refusal becomes a program.

Skeptics combined the arguments against the correctness of both sensory perceptions and the knowledge of thought into 10 principles (tropes) that substantiate skeptical views. Each species of animal, each person perceives the world around them in its own way; the same things can appear differently to different subjects. The same person under different circumstances can judge the same thing differently. No one possible perception or judgment should be given preference over another. This led skeptics to agnostic conclusions.

Agnosticism - a position existing in philosophy, theory of knowledge and theology, which considers knowledge to be fundamentally possible objective reality only through subjective experience, and it is impossible to know any ultimate and absolute foundations of reality

Unlike EP. and ST. philosophy, where achievement presupposed knowledge of phenomena and laws of nature, this philosophy refuses knowledge. Achieving happiness according to Pyrrho is achieving ataraxia (calmness, equanimity).

The main goal of skepticism lay, however, not in true knowledge of reality, but in achieving mental equanimity. A skeptic, as they preached, will refrain from judgment, follow the laws of the state in which he lives and observe all rituals, taking nothing for granted. The skeptic will maintain peace of mind, not adhering to any of the possible dogmatic judgments.

Dogma - an opinion, teaching, decree, position (or doctrine) recognized as indisputable, unquestioning and unchangeable and accepted without evidence, uncritically, on the basis of religious faith or blind obedience to authority, and not on the basis of experience, logical proof and testing in practice.

15. Medieval philosophy: genesis, main problems, concepts.

Medieval philosophy - from IX to XV centuries. Its main characteristic is its close connection with Christian theology and the dominant Christian worldview. for which reason medieval philosophy is often called Christian philosophy, and for which reason during this period it is not easy to discover a philosophical system that comes into, at least obviously, conflict with this dogma. In addition, an important factor that influenced the formation and development of medieval philosophy is the fact that the vast majority of medieval thinkers were primarily theologians rather than philosophers, and used philosophy as an auxiliary tool in solving theological problems. Hence the special status of philosophy in the Middle Ages: the handmaiden of theology.

Scheme 2.13.3. Early Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoicism

Stoicism Nature is governed by one law - the law of self-preservation
It is within the power of man to be a wise man - to obey the reason of nature, or a fool - to ignore the reason of nature. Only intelligent life is good. Good is agreement with the main law of all nature - the law of self-preservation. To live virtuously is to follow this law in everything.
The sage divides all events into
Dependent on us (moral)		Out of our control (non-moral)
Bringers good	Bringers evil	Bringing neither good nor evil
The sphere of due, good, reason	The sphere of impropriety, vice, ignorance	Death, life, fame, work, pleasure, wealth, poverty, illness, health
The area of ​​free choice between virtue and vice		The area of ​​indifferent events for human freedom

Stoicism- a direction that originated in the Hellenistic era and existed until the end of the ancient world. Zeno of Kition (336-264 BC) is the founder, Chrysippus of Sol (281-208 BC) is the systematizer of Stoicism. Only fragments of their works remain. Stoicism was very popular in Ancient Rome (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius). However, in theoretical terms this period was not marked by anything significant.

In contrast to Epicurus, the Stoics sought to justify the acquisition of peace of mind through rational submission to nature.

Basic tenets of Stoicism

Only that which acts or is acted upon is real. Everything is corporeal and everything is subject to one general law– the desire of all nature and all bodies for self-preservation.

The principles of nature are passive primary matter, the condensation and rarefaction of which creates the four elements - fire, air, earth and water, and from them all individual things, and the active mind, the soul of nature - God the Logos. The human mind is part of God the Logos.

Nature is an intelligent living being with all the functions of animals - growth, reproduction and self-propulsion. Thanks to God the Logos, everything in nature is predetermined, since it has its own purpose, and everything is connected with everything.

Nature exists cyclically, burning in a global fire and being reborn every 365x18,000 years.

To live virtuously means to subject one's individual mind to the fundamental law of nature, to live in accordance with the God-Logos of nature, to strive for everything to which it is like, and to reject everything to which it is not like.

Between virtue and vice there is nothing in between (against Aristotle). A favorite saying of the Stoics: “Fate leads the willing, but drags the unwilling.” All people are divided dichotomously into wise men and fools. He who possesses one virtue possesses all others. All goods are the same and every good is “desirable to the highest degree, allowing neither increase nor decrease.”

Wisdom consists in ignoring all circumstances that do not depend on us, and among all others in preferring what is in accordance with the reason of nature. QUOTES

“The first impulse of a living being, say the Stoics, is self-preservation, for nature is initially dear to itself... Therefore, we have to say that by nature a living being is close to its condition, and therefore it resists everything that is harmful and goes towards everything that is close to him".

“And to rational beings reason is given as a perfect leader, and for them to live according to nature means to live according to reason, because reason is the adjuster of impulse.”

“The ultimate goal is to live in accordance with nature and this is the same as living with virtue. Pleasure is something secondary, arising from actions that ensure [man’s] self-preservation” (Diogenes Laertius, “On the Life, Teachings and Sayings of Famous Philosophers” ).