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Ancient Philosophy Lecture Outline I. Raphael’s “The School of Athens” II. What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? III. The Nature & Outline History of Greek Philosophy IV. This Course Ancient Philosophy 1. Introduction Renaissance Rome • On 18 August 1503, Pope Alexander VI, the Borgia pope, died after leading a life characterized by greed, lust, & murder. • Despite his manifest vices, Pope Alexander was a generous patron of the arts. Among other projects, he had commissioned Pinturicchio’s paintings for the Borgia Apartments in the Vatican Palace. I. Raphael’s “The School of Athens” • Shortly after Pope Alexander’s death Giuliano della Rovere, long a rival of Alexander, was elected Pope as Julius II. • Julius refused to allow the Borgia Apartments to become the Papal residence. Instead, he decided to decorate several rooms in the floor above. • Thus it was that Cardinal Tommasso Inghirami, his librarian, programmed & Raffaello Sanzio executed the frescoes for Julius’ library, a room that has come to be known as the Stanza della Segnatura. Pope Julius’ Library (The Stanza della Segnatura) Principles of Interpretation • There are at least three approaches one could take to discussing these paintings: 1. The aesthetic—How did Raphael fit those figures so neatly into the space available? What use did he make of color? 2. The historical—Why does that historical figure have Leonardo’s face? Why did Raphael add in a figure that looks like Michelangelo late in the work? 3. The hermeneutic—What ideas does the painting express? • This lecture will offer an hermeneutic interpretation of the painting. Philosophy - There is much difference of opinion among experts on the details. Here, I rely on Poetry!! Jurisprudence • Giovanni Reale, La Scuola di Atene di Raffaello • Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier, Raphael’s Stanza della Segnatura Theology - The painting offers a Platonic interpretation of the history of Greek philosophy. • With this also, there is room for disagreement. “The School of Athens” Organization of the Room • This room was intended as a library. – The four paintings reflect a Renaissance librarian’s way of classifying books. • But it was not a haphazard classification. We can use it to reflect on the relation among the subjects represented. Revealed Rational Beauty Goodness Truth Truth The Sophists Plato Aristotle Strabo & The Socratics Ptolemy Theology Philosophy Poetry Law “The Adoration of the “The Knowledge of Sacrament” Causes” The “Parnassus” “Jurisprudence” [Popularly [“Popularly ‘The “Disputation”] School of Athens’] Orphic Mysteries Heraclitus Empedocles Pythagoras Euclid The Overall Organization of The Orphic Roots of Philosophy “The School of Athens” • Philosophy itself with Plato & Aristotle at the center. • Platonic Texts – The point here is harmonization, not contrast. “I conceive that the founders of the mysteries had a real – Plato focuses on divine matters meaning and were not mere triflers when they intimated in a figure long ago that he who passes unsanctified and • though the book he carries, the Timaeus, is, more than most of his others, uninitiated into the world below will live in a slough, but concerned with explaining the natural world. that he who arrives there after initiation and purification will – Aristotle explains natural matters dwell with the gods. For ‘many,’ as they say in the mysteries, • though the book he carries, the Ethics, ends by commending the contemplative life ‘are the thyrsus bearers, but few are the mystics.’”—Phaedo (as the one centered on the most godlike of human activities). 69c • He does not carry, say, The Gaits of Animals. “And they produce a host of books written by Musaeus and • Philosophy & Mathematics Orpheus … according to which they perform their ritual.”— – Plato is said to have placed above the entry of his Academy a motto, “Let no one Republic 364e ignorant of geometry enter here.” • The effect of Orphism on philosophy – In the painting, the mathematical arts are at the foundation of the steps leading to – Orphism offered a new anthropology (in contrast to the Homeric one), in which man philosophy: is identified, not with his body, but with his soul. • On the left, arithmetic (represented by Pythagoras) & its application, music – It emphasized the importance of a kind of purification which will make possible, not (harmonics). reincarnation, but an afterlife with the gods. • On the right, geometry (represented by Euclid) & its application, astronomy (& geography). • Modern collections of texts (Diels, Kirk & Raven) often begin with a section on Orphic religion. The Importance of Pythagoras The Exclusion of the Sophists (on this Interpretation of the History of Philosophy) • Pythagoras forms a bridge between Orphism & Plato. The Sophists make no contribution to the purification of the soul. (Note the way they are depicted with books.) – Stage #1 (Orphism): “Can it be, Hippocrates, that the Sophist is really a • Purification of the human soul (person) by magical ritual. sort of merchant or dealer in provisions on which a soul is nourished? For such is the view I take of him. – Stage #2 (Pythagoreanism): “With what, Socrates, is a soul nourished? • Pythagoreanism is a kind of (community) life including ritual “With doctrines, presumably, I replied. And we must prescriptions & proscriptions. take care, my good friend, that the Sophist, in commending his wares, does not deceive us, as both • But purification comes more through arithmetico-geometric knowledge than merchant and dealer do in the case of our bodily food. through magical rituals (& through music, whose harmonies have arithmetic For among the provisions, you know, in which these men deal, not only are they themselves ignorant roots). what is good or bad for the body, since in selling they commend them all, but the people who buy from them are so too, unless one happens to be a trainer or a doctor. And in the same way, those who – Stage #3 (Socrates) take their doctrines the round of our cities, hawking them about to any odd purchaser who desires • Plato’s early dialogs show Socrates’ life as a search for wisdom. them, commend everything that they sell, and there may well be some of these too, my good sir, who – Stage #4 (Plato) are ignorant which of their wares is good or bad for the soul; and in just the same case are the people who buy from them, unless one happens to have a doctor’s knowledge here also, but of the soul. So • Plato’s later dialogs (Phaedo, Republic) show a concern with purification through then, if you are well informed as to what is good or bad among these wares, it will be safe for you to knowledge (of the Forms), &c. buy doctrines from Protagoras or from anyone else you please: but if not, take care, my dear fellow, that you do not risk your greatest treasure on a toss of the dice.”—Plato, Protagoras 313 cd Portrayed here, probably Gorgias (center) & Protagoras (left). Apollodorus, one of the friends of Socrates, tells them that they do not belong in the painting. The Socratics The Euclideans • Socrates • Alcibiades • Euclid (fl. late C3 or early C2 BC) “a flamboyant aristocrat, … – His Elements [of geometry & number theory] was a competent military leader & a taught in schools until C19. master of intrigue, [whose] per- • Ptolemy (C2 AD) & Strabo (C1) [or Zoroaster?] sonal ambition & the excesses of [whose] private life aroused the – Ptolemy’s Almagest summarized & contributed to distrust of the Athenians” geocentric astronomy. It was superseded only in —Oxford Classical Dictionary C16–17. [Note his role in Plato’s Symposium.] – Both made important contributions to astronomy & • Xenophon geography. Ptolemy was the first to project a sphere –“They say that Socrates met him in a narrow lane, and put his stick across it and onto a plane. prevented him from passing by, asking him where all kinds of necessary things were sold. And when he had answered him, he asked him again where men where made good and virtuous. And as he did not know, he said, ‘Follow me, then, and learn.’ And from this time forth, Xenophon became a follower of Socrates.”—Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers –He later wrote dialogues about Socrates, which are still extant. • Crito –“a wealthy & devoted friend of Socrates” [OCD]. –He plays a major role in the trial & death dialogues. Wisdom in Story: The Point of Studying This Painting W. Somerset Maugham’s “Appointment in Samarra” • Cultural literacy Death speaks: • A contrast with philosophy: The painting requires reading & analysis, as does “There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to a philosophical text, but … buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and – In the hermeneutic analysis of the painting, there is a prevalence of trembling, and said, ‘Master, just now when I was in the market-place I association over argument. was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening • A kind of wisdom comes from association—suggestive juxtaposition. gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city – In philosophy, the key is arguments. and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there death will not find • Wisdom might also be presented in story, poem, or aphorism me.’ The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and (see next two slides). he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he • But in philosophy, the questions are: went. – to what extent do the authors rely on argument? “Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me – To what extent do they supplement or replace it with aphorism or standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, ‘Why did you make story? a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?’ ‘That was not a threatening gesture,’ I said, ‘it was only a start of • This is not just a combination of individual portraits, but a painting unified by surprise.
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