Chapter 2 Conceptual Clarification of ‘Axiology’, Its Antecedents And Parameters 2.1. Western Philosophy: 2.1.1. History of Western Philosophy: Philosophy in the Western world is traditionally traced back to ancient Greece, particularly to the region of Ionia, which includes Attica (especially Athens), Samos, Miletus, Ephesus, and the islands strung along the Aegean Sea from southeastern Greece to the western coast of Asia Minor. The three men regarded as the first philosopher were Thales (e.624-546 B.C.), Anaximander (e. 610-545 B.C.), and Anaximenes ( fl. 585-528 B.C.). Since they lived in Miletus (which was probably the capital of Ionia during the sixth century B.C.), these philosophers and their followers became known as the Milesian School. The Milesian philosophers are also referred to as Ionian Physicist because of their almost exclusive interest in physics, or more properly, cosmology, as this term used in philosophy. Cosmology is that branch of metaphysics which deals with the nature or essence of the orderly universe cosmos. History attributes remarkable intellectual accomplishments to Thales, the first of the Milesians, who predicted the eclipse of the sun (for May 28, 585 B.C.), determined height of the pyramids (by measuring their shadows), and invented a device for calculating the distance of ships at sea. Thale made his principle contribution to philosophy by postulating a single substance, water, as the cosmic stuff comprising the universe. It is not difficult to understand why he selected water as the basic component, for water exists in all three forms of matter: liquid, solid and gas. Furthermore, with keen insight he decided that all matter must consist of a single substance which remains in the same despite such different states of aggregation. Using these theories to explain the position of the earth among the planets, he concluded that the earth is floating in space, just as a ball floats in water. Thales and other philosophers believed in the doctrine of hylozoism (or hylopsychism ), the theory the matter possesses life or sensation that life and matter are inseparable. The Milesians ascribed life or soul to substance, and, according to Thales, 16 God is in everything, in all three forms and manifestation of matter. Thus he even attributed a soul to the magnet because it has the power to attract metallic objects. According to Anaximander, ultimate cosmic matter consists of Apeiron that is the Boundless , or the Infinite . The fundamental elements of matter are of necessity infinite; otherwise they could not account for the ceaseless, multifarious creations and changes which take place in nature. If natural processes are infinite, they would eventually exhaust their creative potentialities and cease; consequently, the Boundless, God, must be infinite, unlike the finite forms of matter which proceed from it. Matter is perceptible, but that fundamental reality, from which it originates, the Infinite or God, is imperceptible. Finally, Anaximander formulated a theory on the transmigration of souls. According to his theory (which appears to have been quite similar to the Hindu point of view) cosmic matter creates itself disintegrates. And then recreates itself in a perpetual life process of never ending transformations. The third philosopher selected air as the fundamental substance; also rejection the Boundless of Anaximander, he attributed the origin of the entire universe to air. Since air is the most mobile of all elements, is essential to the growth of all natural objects and thus to life itself, it contributes the only satisfactory basis for the explanation of reality. 1 From these meager beginnings among the Milesian thinkers, philosophy was introduced into the Western world. The way philosophy started proved to be most favorable to the development of science, for these earliest philosopher were interested primarily in scientific knowledge, that is to say, in knowledge about physical world, an interest which has been the centre of attention among modern scientists to the present. It was in a much later period than the Milesian, especially during the time of Socrates, that man’s thoughts turned to a philosophy of practical life, a pragmatic philosophy which a person could practice and live by. Meanwhile, the Milesian philosophers had initiated the search for ultimate answers to questions about the true nature of universe. A number of great philosophers followed the Milesians during the pre-Socratic period, beginning with Xenophanes of Colophon and Heraclitus of Ephesus. All of them concentrated on the problems of metaphysics, the attempt unveil the mysteries of ultimate reality, to account for the origin of the physical universe, and to demonstrate how the phenomenal facts manifested in human experience stem from ultimate reality. 2 The Greeks are the precursors of Western European philosophy. Pythagoras coined the term philosophy and it came to symbolize one’s love for wisdom. Pythagoras 1 . William S. Sahakian, History of Philosophy, New York, Barnes & Noble Books, 1968, pp.1ff 2 . Ibid, pp. 3f. 17 (6 th century B.C.) and the Pythagorean School represent the next important movement. They maintained that the origin of the universe is number. The Pythagoras considered this discovery a secrete doctrine. They might have thought that the world was ultimately due to some numerical relation between the ultimate part of the world, whatever they might be Russell thinks that, according to Pythagoras, these constitute might be atomic. The Pythagoras conception of number was crude and naive, being that of shapes. 3 The Pre- Socratic Greek philosophy concerned itself with the problems of origin and the nature of the universe. Socrates is credited to have brought philosophy from heaven to earth, i.e., he not only discussed philosophy with the common people where they habitually congregated but also because he made man a central theme of his philosophy. His emphasis on human values is contained in his famous statements such as ‘Virtue is knowledge’ and ‘Know thyself’ The philosophical principles such as these made philosophy a practical thing. 4 This goes with the idea of “know thyself “ of Upani ṣad , Atman is a central idea in all of the Upani ṣads and “know your Atman” is their thematic focus in Katha Upani ṣad , in book 1, hymn 3.3 to 3.4, describes the widely cited analogy of chariot for the relation of “Soul, Self” to body, mind and senses. The hymn says: +Éi¨ÉÉxÉ ®úÊlÉxÉÆ Ê´ÉvnùÒ ¶É®úÒ®ú ®úlɨÉä´É iÉÖ ¤ÉÖÎvnù iÉÖ ºÉÉ®úÊlÉ Ê´ÉÎvnù ¨ÉxÉ: |ÉOɽþ¨Éä´É SÉ **3** 5 Know that the Atman sitting within is the master of the chariot which is the body; know the pure discriminating intellect to be the charioteer and the mind as the reins. 6 In Plato’s philosophical thinking the idea of Good came to be treated as the ultimate reality as well as ultimately the highest goal of human life. Plato conceives of the ultimate real in terms of his famous value-triad of truth, beauty and goodness, the truly real is truly good and truly good is the truly beautiful. It is similar to “ºÉiªÉÆ Ê¶É´ÉÆ ºÉÖÆnù®ú¨É” of Indian philosophy. The beauty in nature is nothing but the imperfect manifestation of the idea of good. Aristotle was pre-eminently, a metaphysical thinker yet in his philosophy, there is found an emphasis on the ideas of perfection. This means that everything in this universe is constantly striving for its own perfection. The Stoics 3.Bertrand Russel, A History of Western Philosophy, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1945, p. 63. 4.S.G.Nigal, Vedic Philosophy of Values , New Delhi, Northern Book Centre, 2009, p. 4. 5.Geeta Press, Gorakhpur, Kathopnisad, 3.3, p. 76. 6. Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Nine Principle Upani ṣads, Yoga Publication Trust, 2007, p. 121. 18 also invoked the principle of moral excellence. To them, the rationality and divinity of nature and man were complementary. They maintained that the moral laws were in harmonious unison with the laws of nature. 7 In the succeeding phase of medieval philosophy, the supremacy in philosophical thinking passed from rationality to dogmatic theology. The quest for secular values was turned into veritable efforts at God-realization and this came to be upheld as the highest value of human life. For St. Augustine, Thomas Acquinas and many others. God became the ultimate value to be realized and attained faith, hope, charity and many akin theological virtues were preached by the medieval theologians and philosophers. During the renaissance, Descartes and others accepted provisional doubt of a starting point of their philosophizing. Self-consciousness according to Descartes was indubitable. Some philosophers like Locke and Hume emphasized the importance of sense experience, and others, Descartes and Spinoza emphasized reason as the source and standard of knowledge. And even here there were philosopher like Spinoza for whom philosophy was intimately connected with human life. In the eighteenth century, Kant tried to reconcile rationalism and empiricism. Though Kant was mainly concern with epistemological problems, yet he gave importance to and upheld the claims of practical or moral reason. He asserted the dignity of man as a member of “The Kingdom of ends” and showed that moral law is the expression of man’s rationality. It was the first time in Western philosophy that moral consciousness was treated as sui-generis. Fichte regarded the practical aspect of the self as more fundamental than the theoretical one. According to him, non-ego can be conquered solely through the practical activity of the self. For Hegel philosophy was concerned mainly with ontology. Thus up to Hegel the nature and the methods of Western philosophy were mainly epistemological, notwithstanding that values were implied as well as presupposed in their philosophizing 8.