The Concept of Cosmos in Milesian Philosophy
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Aristotle's Methods
3 History and Dialectic Metaphysics A 3, 983a24-4b8 Rachel Barney In Metaphysics A 3, Aristotle undertakes to confirm his system of the four causes as a framework for inquiry into first principles, the knowledge of which will constitute wisdom. His strategy will be to survey his philosophical predecessors, in order to establish that none has supplied a cause which cannot be subsumed under his own canonical four. Thus A 3 inaugurates a project not completed until the end of A 6—or, taken more inclusively, A 10, since A 7 summarizes its results, chapters 8 and 9 develop criticisms of some of the views discussed, and chapter 10 reads as a summation of the whole.1 (Much of Metaphysics α also reads, appropriately enough, like a series of reflections on this project: I will note its relevance on occasion below.) Our concern here is with the opening phase of this project. Here Aris- totle discusses the steps taken by the earliest philosophers and their successors towards determining the material cause, which led in turn to recognizing its inadequacy as sole first principle [archê]. I divide the text of A 3, 983a24-4b8 into five moves: (1) the introduction of the project (983a24-3b6); (2) the account of the reasoning of the first philosophers (983b6-20); (3) a discussion of Thales, with an excursus on his putative predecessors among the poets (983b20-4a5); (4) * I would like to thank all the participants in the Symposium Aristotelicum meeting for discussion of this paper, as well as Victor Caston, Nathan Gilbert, Phillip Horky, Brad Inwood, Stephen Menn, and Robin Smith for their comments. -
Epicurus Epicurus Was Born in February 341 BCE
Epicurus Epicurus was born in February 341 BCE. He earned his basic education in philosophy after four years of tutoring, and at the age of 18, Epicurus served in the military for two years in Athens. After completing his education, Epicurus began teaching around the Aegean, eventually settling back in Athens. There, he purchased some land and founded a school which was given the name of ‘The Garden’, for its construction in the garden of his house. The Garden soon became a notable institute for the progress of philosophical education, and it also held the exclusivity of being the first philosophical Greek institute that allowed women to take part in learning. Epicurus strongly advocated friendship as an important root for a happy and fulfilling life, and thus, his school provided the community with the opportunity to interact and form constructive relationships. Epicurus has played an extremely vital role in the progress of science as a discipline. Epicurus was the first Greek philosopher to attempt to break free society from religious superstitions by preaching that God does not punish or reward humans, and that a man’s sole objective should be to form a self-sufficient and happy life by surrounding oneself with reliable and cherished friends. Epicurus was a strong advocate of free will. The development of a pleasant and comfortable life, in his view, was the core purpose of life, and good and bad consequences could only be evaluated on the principles of pain and pleasure. Epicurus believed that whatever serves to provide pleasure can be termed as good, and whatever leads to discomfort can be termed as bad. -
The Cretans Always Liars
305 THE CRETANS ALWAYS LIARS. EvERY student of the New Testament knows the famous hexameter verse on the Cretans in the first chapter of the Epistle to Titus (Titus i. 12), and is also aware that it is from a lost work of Epimenides, the Cretan poet. The identification is a very early one in the Christian literature ; it occurs, for example, in Clement of Alexandria's Stro mateis (i. 14), with the remark that St. Paul recognizes Epimenides the Cretan as a Greek prophet, and is not ashamed to quote him. It is found again in the Euthalian apparatus of the New Testament, where, in the list of quotations (p.apTvplat) in the Pauline writings, we find the passage from Titus, described as- 'Emp.EVl8ov Kp1JTO~ Kal p.avT£wc; XP1Jup.6c;, Kal Ka.A.A.1p.axov Kvp1Jvalov 7rOI1JTOV ~ al!T~. Here we find a reference to Epimenides as having the Mantic gift, which explains why Clement of Alexandria and the Epistle to Titus call him a prophet, rather than a poet; and we have a further reference made to Callimachus the poet, as using the same testimony (p.aprvpla), who must, on this showing, have quoted from Epimenides. A MS. on Mount Athos1 has the Euthalian note in a more extended form and tells us that the verse from Titus is found in Callimachus' Hymn to Jove-a fact which had already been recognized by scholars. The Athos note is as follows :- 'Emp.EVt8ov Kp1]Toc; p.aii'T,wc; XP1JUp.6c;. K'XP1JTal OE Kal Ka.U.{p.axoc; rjj XP~U£1 lv Tcj {m' a&ov p1J(Uvn de; Tov ll{a VJL"'I!• and the verification of the reference is given by turning to Cal limachus, Hymn inJov. -
1 Unit 2 Pre-Socratic Thinkers and Their Contribution
UNIT 2 PRE-SOCRATIC THINKERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION Contents 2.0 Objectives 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Pre-Socratic Thinkers 2.3 The Schools of the Pre-Socratics 2.4 The Ionian School or The Milesian School 2.5 The Pythagorean Brotherhood 2.6 The Eleatic School 2.7 The Atomist School 2.8 Challenges to the Study of Pre-Socratics: 2.9 The Pre-Socratics as Scientists 2.10 So can we call Anaximanes a Scientist? 2.11 The Pre-Socratics and their Predecessors: 2.12 Pre-Socratics and Modern science 2.13 Let Us Sum Up 2.14 Key Words 2.15 Further Readings and References 2.16 Answers to Check Your Progress 2.0 OBJECTIVES This unit will help us to understand the following: • Who are the Pre-Socratics • Schools of the Pre-Socratics era • Pre-Socratics as Proto-Scientists or First Scientists • Pre-Socratics and modern Science. 1 2.1 INTRODUCTION It has become an academic sutra to say that the entire academic edifice of the western world is founded on firm foundation laid down by the Greeks. This revolution is said to have taken place in the sixth century BCE. But we know that science began even before the Greek period. Civilizations that developed around the basins of great rivers –the Nile, the Euphrates with the Tigris and the Indus manifest a lot of scientific know-how. These people developed science to meet their existential needs. But it was Greeks who discovered the philosophical explanation that led to the birth of theoretical science. This is accepted as their singular contribution as their contribution led to what we might call the scientific approach to the study of nature. -
Philosophy Sunday, July 8, 2018 12:01 PM
Philosophy Sunday, July 8, 2018 12:01 PM Western Pre-Socratics Fanon Heraclitus- Greek 535-475 Bayle Panta rhei Marshall Mcluhan • "Everything flows" Roman Jakobson • "No man ever steps in the same river twice" Saussure • Doctrine of flux Butler Logos Harris • "Reason" or "Argument" • "All entities come to be in accordance with the Logos" Dike eris • "Strife is justice" • Oppositional process of dissolving and generating known as strife "The Obscure" and "The Weeping Philosopher" "The path up and down are one and the same" • Theory about unity of opposites • Bow and lyre Native of Ephesus "Follow the common" "Character is fate" "Lighting steers the universe" Neitzshce said he was "eternally right" for "declaring that Being was an empty illusion" and embracing "becoming" Subject of Heideggar and Eugen Fink's lecture Fire was the origin of everything Influenced the Stoics Protagoras- Greek 490-420 BCE Most influential of the Sophists • Derided by Plato and Socrates for being mere rhetoricians "Man is the measure of all things" • Found many things to be unknowable • What is true for one person is not for another Could "make the worse case better" • Focused on persuasiveness of an argument Names a Socratic dialogue about whether virtue can be taught Pythagoras of Samos- Greek 570-495 BCE Metempsychosis • "Transmigration of souls" • Every soul is immortal and upon death enters a new body Pythagorean Theorem Pythagorean Tuning • System of musical tuning where frequency rations are on intervals based on ration 3:2 • "Pure" perfect fifth • Inspired -
The Higher Aspects of Greek Religion. Lectures Delivered at Oxford and In
BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIET OF Henirg m. Sage 1891 .A^^^ffM3. islm^lix.. 5931 CornelJ University Library BL 25.H621911 The higher aspects of Greek religion.Lec 3 1924 007 845 450 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924007845450 THE HIBBERT LECTURES SECOND SERIES 1911 THE HIBBERT LECTURES SECOND SERIES THE HIGHER ASPECTS OF GREEK RELIGION LECTURES DELIVERED AT OXFORD AND IN LONDON IN APRIL AND MAY igii BY L. R. FARNELL, D.Litt. WILDE LECTURER IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD LONDON WILLIAMS AND NORGATE GARDEN, W.C. 14 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT 1912 CONTENTS Lecture I GENERAL FEATURES AND ORIGINS OF GREEK RELIGION Greek religion mainly a social-political system, 1. In its earliest " period a " theistic creed, that is^ a worship of personal individual deities, ethical personalities rather than mere nature forces, 2. Anthrqgomorphism its predominant bias, 2-3. Yet preserving many primitive features of " animism " or " animatism," 3-5. Its progress gradual without violent break with its distant past, 5-6. The ele- ment of magic fused with the religion but not predominant, 6-7. Hellenism and Hellenic religion a blend of two ethnic strains, one North-Aryan, the other Mediterranean, mainly Minoan-Mycenaean, 7-9. Criteria by which we can distinguish the various influences of these two, 9-1 6. The value of Homeric evidence, 18-20. Sum- mary of results, 21-24. Lecture II THE RELIGIOUS BOND AND MORALITY OF THE FAMILY The earliest type of family in Hellenic society patrilinear, 25-27. -
The Presocratics in the Doxographical Tradition. Sources, Controversies, and Current Research*
THE PRESOCRATICS IN THE DOXOGRAPHICAL TRADITION. SOURCES, CONTROVERSIES, AND CURRENT RESEARCH* Han Baltussen Abstract In this paper I present a synthetic overview of recent and ongoing research in the field of doxography, that is, the study of the nature, transmission and interrelations of sources for ancient Greek philosophy. The latest revisions of the theory of Hermann Diels (Doxographi Graeci 1879) regarding the historiography ought to be known more widely, as they still influence our understanding of the Presocratics and their reception. The scholarly study on the compilations of Greek philosophical views from Hellenistic and later periods has received a major boost by the first of a projected three-volume study by Mansfeld and Runia (1997). Taking their work as a firm basis I also describe my own work in this area and how it can be related to, and fitted into, this trend by outlining how two important sources for the historiography of Greek philosophy, Theo- phrastus (4th–3rd c. BCE) and Simplicius (early 6th c. AD) stand in a special relation to each other and form an important strand in the doxographical tradition. Introduction In this paper I present a review of recent research on the study of the Presocratics in the doxographical tradition, and how my own work in progress is connected to this area of research. By setting out recent, ongoing and forthcoming research I hope to make a con- tribution to mapping out some important characteristics of the field by way of a critical study of its main sources, since it is quite important that these new insights are more widely known. -
Lucan's Natural Questions: Landscape and Geography in the Bellum Civile Laura Zientek a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulf
Lucan’s Natural Questions: Landscape and Geography in the Bellum Civile Laura Zientek A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2014 Reading Committee: Catherine Connors, Chair Alain Gowing Stephen Hinds Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Classics © Copyright 2014 Laura Zientek University of Washington Abstract Lucan’s Natural Questions: Landscape and Geography in the Bellum Civile Laura Zientek Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Catherine Connors Department of Classics This dissertation is an analysis of the role of landscape and the natural world in Lucan’s Bellum Civile. I investigate digressions and excurses on mountains, rivers, and certain myths associated aetiologically with the land, and demonstrate how Stoic physics and cosmology – in particular the concepts of cosmic (dis)order, collapse, and conflagration – play a role in the way Lucan writes about the landscape in the context of a civil war poem. Building on previous analyses of the Bellum Civile that provide background on its literary context (Ahl, 1976), on Lucan’s poetic technique (Masters, 1992), and on landscape in Roman literature (Spencer, 2010), I approach Lucan’s depiction of the natural world by focusing on the mutual effect of humanity and landscape on each other. Thus, hardships posed by the land against characters like Caesar and Cato, gloomy and threatening atmospheres, and dangerous or unusual weather phenomena all have places in my study. I also explore how Lucan’s landscapes engage with the tropes of the locus amoenus or horridus (Schiesaro, 2006) and elements of the sublime (Day, 2013). -
Epicurus and the Epicureans on Socrates and the Socratics
chapter 8 Epicurus and the Epicureans on Socrates and the Socratics F. Javier Campos-Daroca 1 Socrates vs. Epicurus: Ancients and Moderns According to an ancient genre of philosophical historiography, Epicurus and Socrates belonged to distinct traditions or “successions” (diadochai) of philosophers. Diogenes Laertius schematizes this arrangement in the following way: Socrates is placed in the middle of the Ionian tradition, which starts with Thales and Anaximander and subsequently branches out into different schools of thought. The “Italian succession” initiated by Pherecydes and Pythagoras comes to an end with Epicurus.1 Modern views, on the other hand, stress the contrast between Socrates and Epicurus as one between two opposing “ideal types” of philosopher, especially in their ways of teaching and claims about the good life.2 Both ancients and moderns appear to agree on the convenience of keeping Socrates and Epicurus apart, this difference being considered a fundamental lineament of ancient philosophy. As for the ancients, however, we know that other arrangements of philosophical traditions, ones that allowed certain connections between Epicureanism and Socratism, circulated in Hellenistic times.3 Modern outlooks on the issue are also becoming more nuanced. 1 DL 1.13 (Dorandi 2013). An overview of ancient genres of philosophical history can be seen in Mansfeld 1999, 16–25. On Diogenes’ scheme of successions and other late antique versions of it, see Kienle 1961, 3–39. 2 According to Riley 1980, 56, “there was a fundamental difference of opinion concerning the role of the philosopher and his behavior towards his students.” In Riley’s view, “Epicurean criticism was concerned mainly with philosophical style,” not with doctrines (which would explain why Plato was not as heavily attacked as Socrates). -
Roman Life in Cyrenaica in the Fourth Century As Shown in the Letters of Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemais
920 T3ee H. C. Thory Roman Life in Cyrenaica in the Fourth Century as Shown in the Letters of 5y nesius, , Si shop of Ptolernais ROMAN LIFE IN CYRENAICA IN THE FOURTH CENTURY AS SHOWN IN THE LETTERS OF SYNESIUS, BISHOP OF PTOLEMAIS BY t HANS CHRISTIAN THORY THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS WITH HONORS IN CLASSICS COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 1920 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS June 7 20 , 19* THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY Chrifti^„.T^ i2[ H^.s.v t : , , ROMAN LIFE IN CYRENAICA IN THE FOURTH CENTURY ENE Af*111rvi'T TLEDT?rt A? SHOWN IN THE LETTERS OF SYNESIUS, BISHOP OF PTQLEMAIS IS APPROVED BY ME AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF ^3 Instructor in Charge Approved HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF ,£M?STCS. CONTENTS Page I. Cyrenaica: the Country and its Hiatory 1 II. The Barbarian Invasions.. 5 III. Government: Military and Civil 8 IV. The Church 35 V. Organization of Society 34 VI. Agriculture Country Life 37 vii, Glimpses of City Life the Cities 46 VIII. Commerce Travel — Communication 48 IX. Language — • Education Literature Philosophy Science Art 57 X. Position of Women Types of Men 68 Bibliography 71 ********** 1 ROMAN LIFE IN CYRENAICA IN THE FOURTH CENTURY AS SHOWN IN THE LETTERS OF SYNESIUS, BISHOP OF PT0LEMAI8 I CYRENAICA: THE COUNTRY AND ITS HISTORY The Roman province of Cyrenaioa occupied the region now called Barca, in the northeastern part of Tripoli, extending eaet from the Greater Syrtis a distance of about 20C miles, and south from the Mediterranean Sea a distance of 70 to 80 miles. -
Parmenides' Theistic Metaphysics
Parmenides’ Theistic Metaphysics BY ©2016 Jeremy C. DeLong Submitted to the graduate degree program in Philosophy and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson: Tom Tuozzo ________________________________ Eileen Nutting ________________________________ Scott Jenkins ________________________________ John Symons ________________________________ John Younger Date Defended: May 6th, 2016 ii The Dissertation Committee for Jeremy C. DeLong certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: Parmenides’ Theistic Metaphysics ________________________________ Chairperson: Thomas Tuozzo Date Defended: May 6th, 2016 iii Abstract: The primary interpretative challenge for understanding Parmenides’ poem revolves around explaining both the meaning of, and the relationship between, its two primary sections: a) the positively endorsed metaphysical arguments which describe some unified, unchanging, motionless, and eternal “reality” (Aletheia), and b) the ensuing cosmology (Doxa), which incorporates the very principles explicitly denied in Aletheia. I will refer to this problem as the “A-D Paradox.” I advocate resolving this paradoxical relationship by reading Parmenides’ poem as a ring-composition, and incorporating a modified version of Palmer’s modal interpretation of Aletheia. On my interpretation, Parmenides’ thesis in Aletheia is not a counter-intuitive description of how all the world (or its fundamental, genuine entities) must truly be, but rather a radical rethinking of divine nature. Understanding Aletheia in this way, the ensuing “cosmology” (Doxa) can be straightforwardly rejected as an exposition of how traditional, mythopoetic accounts have misled mortals in their understanding of divinity. Not only does this interpretative view provide a resolution to the A-D Paradox, it offers a more holistic account of the poem by making the opening lines of introduction (Proem) integral to understanding Parmenides’ message. -
Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece
Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ancient Greek Philosophy but didn’t Know Who to Ask Edited by Patricia F. O’Grady MEET THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE Dedicated to the memory of Panagiotis, a humble man, who found pleasure when reading about the philosophers of Ancient Greece Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything you always wanted to know about Ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask Edited by PATRICIA F. O’GRADY Flinders University of South Australia © Patricia F. O’Grady 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Patricia F. O’Grady has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identi.ed as the editor of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, GU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 England USA Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask 1. Philosophy, Ancient 2. Philosophers – Greece 3. Greece – Intellectual life – To 146 B.C. I. O’Grady, Patricia F. 180 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask / Patricia F.