Greek Philosophers Biographies Part 1

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2015-12-20 : the website is under construction. THE PROVERBS ARE O.K., but It will take me a few hours to re-insert the images of the greek philosophers, which for some reason were lost, after my last revision, which i have done a few days ago. so until i remove the sign 'website - under - construction' ... you can study the proverbs with safety !. Please stay on Alert !.

Notes: 1. Diogenes of Sinope ... and ... Sinope ... is the same Greek Philosopher

2. Heraclitus of Ephesus ,,, and ... Ephesus is the same Greek Philosopher

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Greek Philosophers Biographies Part 1 in English

The Greek philosophers were among the most influential people in history because they invented both philosophy and science. By asking questions about themselves and the world around them, these philosophers helped create modern civilization.

Interestingly enough, the Greek philosophers thought of themselves as scientists rather than thinkers. They called themselves seekers and lovers of wisdom and often studied a wide variety of subjects, including history, physics, law, sociology, politics, mathematics, and biology. The famous philosophers were also teachers, educating wealthy children and operating schools as well as thinkers.

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Author Birth - Death

GREAT GREECE ( GREEK SPEAKING LOWER ITALY ) ( MAGNA GRAECIA ) - PYTHAGOREANS - Alcmaeon of Croton

01 PRE-SOCRATIC - PLURALISTS - Anaxagoras of Clazomenes ( or Clazomenae) (or Klazomenai) 500 BC - 428 BC

PRE-SOCRATIC - IONIANS - Anaximander of Miletus

PRE-SOCRATIC - IONIANS - Anaximenes of Miletus

02 CYNICISM - Antisthenes 444 BC - 371 BC

GREAT GREECE ( GREEK SPEAKING LOWER ITALY ) ( MAGNA GRAECIA ) - PRE-SOCRATIC PYTHAGOREANS - Archytas of Tarantum

03 PERIPATETIC - Aristotle 384 BC - 322 BC

CYNICISM - Crates of Thebes

04 PRE-SOCRATIC - ATOMISTS - Democritus of Abdera 460 BC - 370 BC

05 CYNICISM - Diogenes of Sinope 412 BC - 323 BC

06 GREAT GREECE ( GREEK SPEAKING LOWER ITALY ) ( MAGNA GRAECIA ) ( Sicily ) - PLURALISTS - Empedocles of Acragas 490 BC - 430 BC

07 STOICISM - Epictetus 55 - 135

08 EPICUREANISM - Epicurus 341 BC - 271 BC

NEOPLATISM - Hierocles of Alexandria

PRE-SOCRATIC - SOPHISTS - Gorgias

09 INDIVIDUAL - IONIANS - Heraclitus 544 BC - 483 BC

10 NEOPLATONISM - Hypatia 350 - 415

11 Julius Caesar

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GREAT GREECE ( GREEK SPEAKING LOWER ITALY ) ( MAGNA GRAECIA ) - PYTHAGOREANS - Alcmaeon of Croton

Πυθαγόρειοι φιλόσοφοι - Αλκμαίων από τον Κρότωνα ( ο Κροτωνιάτης )

Alcmaeon (c. 6th c. BC) was a contemporary of Pythagoras. He is known as philosopher and physiologist. He seems to be the first who supported the significance of the brain as the seat of consciousness and intelligence as well as he practiced dissection of human bodies for research purposes. For Alcmaeon the soul is the source of life. The soul is immortal yet we die because we cannot join the beginning with the end. He also stated that cosmic harmony is the harmony between pairs of contraries. Alcmaeon also believed that that health consists in the equilibrium of the body’s component contraries.

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BIOGRAPHY

A Crotonean Pythagorean philosopher, physicist and doctor. He was taught personally but Pythagoras himself, and he is one of the few lucky that got to know the great master and have a close relationship with him. In order to show the limited view of human knowledge he points out early in his book that while Gods have a clear view of the visible and invisible world, people can only suppose and come to conclusions through their observations. It is obvious that in his long lost –except a few extracts- book, he wanted to talk about the visible world, rather than the invisible. As a result his ideas concerned the areas of medicine, physiology and psychology.

Alkmaeon was the first to recognize the human brain as the main organ connecting all of the human senses. The difference between humans and animals is that while animals just fell, people can rationalize and understand.

His interest in medicine and physiology led him to express some remarkable ideas concerning health and sickness. He states that health, is harmony of the several forces affecting the body, the equality of rights inside the body of liquid, dry, hot, cold, bitter, sweet etc, but when one of them takes full control, sickness is born. Health is the symmetrical mixture of the different qualities inside us. The living body is a system where the basic forces that it consists of should be equal to their opposites and when that happens, the system works in harmony. Harmony is affected when a force gains power over her normal measures. Sickness is the disharmony created because of that. Healing as a result consists of balancing the disturbed equilibrium.

Alkmaeon also tried to give a reasonable explanation of aging and death of organisms. He explained the course of the body through the time, and towards death, as the consequence of a series of constant internal changes. Each living organism lives a linear course of life, not a circular one, but a straight line towards the end of death.

It is by similar case that he tried to prove the immortality of the soul. If the body is perished duo to his straight limited course, the celestial bodies are immortal because they move in a constant, eternal circle. Taking the sun as the best example of a seemingly endless circular eternal movement, we can understand Alkmeon’s teaching that the soul is immortal, moving constantly like the sun.

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcmaeon_of_Croton

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01 PRE-SOCRATIC - PLURALISTS - Anaxagoras of Clazomenes ( or Clazomenae) (or Klazomenai)

προσωκρατικοί φιλόσοφοι - Αναξαγόρας απο τις Κλαζομενές

Anaxagoras; part of a fresco in the portico of the National University of Athens.

Anaxagoras, depicted as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg Chronicle

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Introduction

Anaxagoras (c. 500 - 428 B.C.) was an early Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Ionia, although he was one of the first philosophers to move to Athens as a base.

He is sometimes considered to be part of the poorly-defined school of Pluralism, and some of his ideas also influenced the later development of Atomism. Many of his ideas in the physical sciences were quite revolutionary in their day, and quite insightful in retrospect.

Life

Anaxagoras (pronounced an-ax-AG-or-as) was born around 500 B.C. to an aristocratic and landed family in the city of Clazomenae (or Klazomenai) in the Greek colony of Ionia (on the west coast of present-day Turkey). As a young man, he became the first of the major Pre-Socratic philosophers to move to Athens (which was then rapidly becoming the centre of Greek culture), where he remained for about thirty years.

During this time he became a favourite (and possibly a teacher) of the prominent and influential statesman, orator and general Pericles (c. 495 – 429 B.C.), one of the architects of Athens' primacy during the Golden Age. Although it seems that Anaxagoras and the young Socrates never actually met, one of Socrates' teachers, Archelaus, studied under Anaxagoras for some time. His work was also known to the major writers of the day, including Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus and Aristophanes.

In about 450 B.C., however, Anaxagoras was arrested by Pericles' political opponents on a charge of contravening the established religion by his teachings on origins of the universe, the first philosopher before Socrates to be brought to trial for impiety. With Pericles' influence he was released, but he was forced to retire from Athens to exile in Lampsacus in Ionia, where he died around the year 428 B.C.

Work

Anaxagoras wrote at least one book of philosophy, but only fragments of the first part of this have survived in work of Simplicius of Cilicia in the 6th Century A.D.

He is best known for his cosmological theory of the origins and structure of the universe. He maintained that the original state of the cosmos was a thorough mixture of all its ingredients, although this mixture was not entirely uniform, and some ingredients are present in higher concentrations than others and varied from place to place. At some point in time, this primordial mixture was set in motion by the action of nous ("mind"), and the whirling motion shifted and separated out the ingredients, ultimately producing the cosmos of separate material objects (with differential properties) that we perceive today.

For Anaxagoras, this was a purely mechanistic and naturalistic process, with no need for gods or any theological repercussions. However, he did not elucidate on the precise nature of Mind, which he appears to consider material, but distinguished from the rest of matter in that it is finer, purer and able to act freely. It is also present in some way in everything, a kind of Dualism.

Anaxagoras developed his metaphysical theories from his cosmological theory. He accepted the ideas of Parmenides and the Eleatics that the senses cannot be trusted and that any apparent change is merely a rearrangement of the unchanging, timeless and indestructible ingredients of the universe. Not only then is it impossible for things to come into being (or to cease to be), he also held that there is a share of everything in everything, and that the original ingredients of the cosmos are effectively omnipresent (e.g. he argued that the food an animal eats turns into bone, hair, flesh, etc, so it must already contain all of those constituents within it). He denied that there is any limit to the smallness or largeness of the particles of the original cosmic ingredients, so that infinitesimally small fragments of all other ingredients can still be present within an object which appears to consist entirely of just one material (presaging to some extent the ideas of Atomism).

In the physical sciences, Anaxagoras was the first to give the correct explanation of eclipses, and was both famous and notorious for his scientific theories, including his claims that the sun is a mass of red-hot metal, that the moon is earthy, and that the stars are fiery stones.

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Life and Work

Anaxagoras (c. 500-428 BC) was born in the Ionian city of Clazomenae but he is the first Presocratic who activated in Athens. He seems to be the teacher of Pericles. Anaxagoras is the first philosopher before Socrates who brought in trial for impiety. But in contrast to Socrates, and probably with the political help of Pericles, he exiled and died in Lampsacus. He wrote a book in prose with the title On Nature.

Cosmogony

For Anaxagoras, in the beginning of the cosmos, there was not one but two principles all infinite and everlasting in nature: (1) Mind (Nous) and (2) the Primeval Mixture (Migma). In the beginning ‘everything was in everything’. The revolutionary formation of the cosmos started when the infinite ‘seeds’ (spermata) within the primeval mixture separated from the mixture by the motive power of Mind. Mind initiated the rotation of the ‘seeds’ resulting in the predominantly heavy parts coming to the center of the vortex and the subtler parts to the outer part encircling them.

The Seeds

The compact ingredients of the primeval mixture were an infinite number of ‘seeds’ such as the opposite qualities of the wet and the dry, the hot and the cold, the bright and the dark. The ‘seeds’ are not generated nor destroyed; they are the ultimate combined, indivisible, and imperishable elements, unlimited in number and different in shape, colour and taste, with each ‘stuff’ containing everything. Anaxagoras’ ‘seeds’ are not elemental principles, as in Empedocles, but aggregations of the homoiomeroi. Homoiomeria means that for any given substance, its greater ratio is comprised of an infinite number of smaller particles having the same nature as the whole (and thus of all particles in existence), included in all physical mixtures.

Nous

Mind (nous) is the motive force that initiated the primeval matter. Mind is completely separate from matter, the only exception to the universal criterion ‘everything in everything’. Matter under the control of Mind expands continually and indefinitely outwards from the original microdot which contained everything in the whole universe. Nous is described as ‘unlimited’, ‘self-controlling’, ‘unmixed’, ‘alone in itself and by itself’, ‘the finest’, ‘the purest’, ‘possessing complete knowledge’, ‘supreme in power’, ‘the controller of everything alive’.

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaxagoras

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PRE-SOCRATIC - IONIANS - Milesian school - Anaximander of Miletus

προσωκρατικοί φιλόσοφοι - Αναξίμανδρος ο Μιλήσιος

Life and Work

Anaximander (c.612-545 BC) was a discipline of Thales. He studied systematically the natural phenomena and he made the first comprehensive attempt to explain the origins both of man and the cosmos. Anaximander wrote a book in prose with the influential title On Nature. His thought includes significant theories on the fields of cosmology, cosmogony and biology. Anaximander was the first to draw the inhabited world on a map or tablet. He was also famous for explaining winds, rains, earthquakes and other natural phenomena in a rational non-mythological way.

Earth and Heavenly Bodies

For Anaximander the earth is cylindrical in shape; curved and round like a drum. Its surfaces are flat and stays in equilibrium at the center of the cosmos. The heavenly bodies are ‘breathing holes’ in the air. For Anaximander the first living organisms were born from moisture evaporated by the sun. Man was born from a different kind, a fish-like creature. That is because man, in contrast to other creatures, is not self-supporting but needs prolonged nursing.

The Apeiron

Anaximander is the first philosopher to say that the ‘principle’ (arche) and ‘element’ (stoicheion) of everything existent is the ‘unlimited’ (apeiron): it is the derivative source of all things. From the apeiron all things arise in coming-to-be and return by necessity in passing-away. The apeiron is the eternal originative substance without limits in (1) Space (2) Time (3) Quality (4) Quantity. It is this nature of the apeiron that brings it close to the ontological neutrality of the Hesiod’s Chaos.

Fragments and Testimonies

1(1) From the source from which they arise, to that they return of necessity when they are destroyed, 'for they suffer punishment and make reparation to one another for their injustice according to the assessment of time', as he says in somewhat poetical terms.

2 (A11 from Hippolytus) He said that the arche ('beginning and basis') of existing things is an apeiron ('limitless') nature of some kind, from which come the heavens and the kosmos ('world order') in them.

3(3) ... deathless and indestructible <the indefinite>

4(5) He compared the earth to a stone column section.

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BIOGRAPHY

A famous wise man of Ancient Greece, possibly a pupil of his fellow citizen Thales. According to some ancient writers, Anaximander invented the solar clock, using the sun and a shadow to calculate time. As Herodotus mentions that this instrument came to Greece from Babylon, it is a possibility than Anaximander perfected it and made it known. It is also said that he mad the first geographical map where Earth was depicted in the shape of a cylinder.

He was the first Greek philosopher who put down his opinions and thoughts written in a book using prose, and the first who inserted the term «Αρχη», the greek word for principle, a term well used in philosophy ever since. He thought that the “Infinite” was the origin of everything, a vast and interminable primary matter, from which everything comes and to which everything returns. It is said that he once predicted an earthquake in Sparta, and his prediction proved to be correct.

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaximander

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PRE-SOCRATIC - IONIANS - Milesian school - Anaximenes of Miletus

προσωκρατικοί φιλόσοφοι - Αναξιμένης ο Μιλήσιος

Life and Work

Anaximenes (fl. c.545 BC) was a discipline of Anaximander. He is the third and the last of the Milesian philosophers. Only a few sources survive for his life and activities. He wrote a book in prose probably within the same framework of natural philosophy as that of Anaximander. Anaximenes speculated on cosmology, cosmogony and meteorology.

The Air

For Anaximenes, in contrast to Anaximander, the source of all things is not an indefinite and unlimited apeiron but the air (aer): a definite material substance. The air by the process of ‘rarefaction’ becomes fire and by the process of ‘condensation’ becomes water and earth. Hot and cold do not have an ontological or material status but they are due to rarefaction and condensation. For Anaximenes the earth is flat and rides on a cushion of air. A heavenly firmament revolves like a felt cap around it. The heavenly bodies were made by rarefaction into fire, they are also flat and rest on air.

The Soul

For Anaximenes, the air is divine and causes life. It is also the source of life which encloses the cosmos as well as the first principle that is responsible for the maintenance of all living organisms. The air is the divine psychic principle between microcosm and macrocosm. As the soul (air) of an individual organism maintains the single individual organism, so the soul of the cosmos (universal breath) surrounds and maintains the whole universe. Hence Anaximenes’ cosmos is conceived as a huge animate being with divine origins.

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaximenes_of_Miletus

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02 CYNICISM - Antisthenes

Αντισθένης

Portrait bust of Antisthenes, found at the Villa of Cassius at Tivoli, 1774 (Museo Pio-Clementino).

Antisthenes, part of a fresco in the National University of Athens.

Giulio Bonasone - Diogenes and Antisthenes

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For your information ...

Cynicism was not so much a philosophy, but a way of life characterized by asceticism, anti-conformism and anti-conventionalism. The Cynics are regarded as one of the minor Socratic schools. It was founded in the fourth century BC by Antisthenes the Athenian. The name ‘cynic’ derives from the Greek word for ‘dog’ (kuon) denoting their denial of luxuries, wealth and social status. The core of cynicism is the virtue of well being and happy life beyond any conventional value. Eminent Cynics were Diogenes of Synope and Crates of Thebes. Cynicism had a strong influence to Stoic philosophy.

Cynicism: Antisthenes, Diogenes of Sinope, Crates of Thebes (taught Zeno of Citium, founder of Stoicism)

BIOGRAPHY 1

A well known philosopher of ancient Greece, Antisthenes was born in Athens, son of an Athenian and a woman from Thrace. Contemporary to Plato, although older, he was a student of Gorgias and a friend and faithful admirer of Socrates. After the death of his great tutor, he founded an academy near Cynosarges Gymnasium. It is from that name that his students were named Cynicals and their movement Cynism. A famous pupil was Diogenes of Sinope.

Socrates admired him for his abstinent and ascetic way of life. In his conversations he tried to falsify the definition Socrates gave to general concepts. He fought against the Platonic theory of ideas, and believed that the only real concepts are the ones we feel using our senses (aesthetic teaching, aesthisi= the greek word for senses).

General concepts according to Antisthenes do not exist (“I see a horse, but I cannot see the “horseness”). By this he concludes that we cannot give to a subject a different meaning other than what makes its identity to be such (eg, gold is gold rather than gold is yellow, mortal is mortal rather than a man is mortal)

That is why Antisthenes rejected the definition of the primary characteristics. These teachings were willingly adopted by the Cynicals, leading them to the effort of making themselves totally independent of human needs, reducing their personal needs to the least, exercising to endure every discomfort and considering pleasure as the ultimate evil.

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BIOGRAPHY 2

Antisthenes of Athens (c.445-c.360 BC) is regarded as the founder of Cynicism. He was a student of Gorgias, but later he became a pupil and follower of Socrates. He usually expressed his distain for conventional values and pleasure. For Antisthenes, desire leads to pleasure and pleasure to the misery of insufficient and temporal happiness. For Antisthenes only virtue is sufficient for real happiness, that is well-being. A virtuous person is sufficient with whatever is present and with future expectations and social conventions. According to Diogenes Laertius (Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers VI ):

And the doctrines he adopted were these. He used to insist that virtue was a thing which might be taught; also, that the nobly born and virtuously disposed, were the same people; for that virtue was of itself sufficient for happiness. And was in need of nothing, except the strength of Socrates. He also looked upon virtue as a species of work, not wanting many arguments, or much instruction; and he taught that the wise man was sufficient for himself; for that everything that belonged to any one else belonged to him. He considered obscurity of fame a good thing, and equally good with labour. And he used to say that the wise man would regulate his conduct as a citizen, not according to the established laws of the state, but according to the law of virtue.

Translated by Yonge

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisthenes

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GREAT GREECE ( GREEK SPEAKING LOWER ITALY ) ( MAGNA GRAECIA ) - PRE-SOCRATIC - PYTHAGOREANS - Archytas of Tarantum

προσωκρατικοί φιλόσοφοι - Πυθαγόρειοι φιλόσοφοι - Αρχύτας ο Ταραντίνος

Archytas (c. 400-350 BC) was the major Pythagorean mathematician specialized in mathematical mechanics. He developed a theory of acoustics and mathematical harmony as well as he solved the problem of doubling the cube by constructing a three-dimensional model. Archytas was also a politician and commander of the city of Tarantum. His philosophical are not clearly known but as a devoted Pythagorean he focused on the importance of numbers in explaining natural and psychical phenomena.

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BIOGRAPHY 1

Greek scientist, philosopher and an important Pythagorean mathematician from Tarantum in southern Italy. He is considered the founder of mathematical mechanics along with the most important researcher of acoustics in ancient Greece.

He was an active member of the political life. Thanks to his knowledge, ethics and personal virtues, his fellow citizens admired him so much that they chose him to be the governor of Tarantum seven times (although the city law did not allow one to rule more than one year. Aristotle and Aristoxenus wrote about his life and writings, while his dear friend Plato found in Archytas a supporter during his persecution by Dionysus of Syracuse. Plato himself used the results of Archytas’ research in his mathematical works, and there is strong belief than Eukleides himself used the proof Archytas wrote in his 8th book “of the Elements”.

Tradition has him to have constructed a wooden pigeon flying around using compressed air.

Archytas, who was a second generation student of Pythagoras (the Greek philosopher who pointed out the importance of numbers as tools to interpret everything around us) tried to combine practical observation with Pythagorean theory. In geometry he solved the so called “delian problem” (doubling the cube) using semi-cylinders to a 3d model. Archytas must have took active part in the Pythagorean research of spaces. He tried to define their relativity in all three genes of ancient Greek music.

The fame of Archytas as a scientist and mathematician is mostly due to his achievements in geometry, acoustics, and music theory, rather than his idealistic explanations of human relationship and nature of society according to the Pythagorean theory of numbers.

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archytas

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03 PERIPATETIC - Aristotle

ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΗΤΙΚΟΙ - Αριστοτέλης

Roman copy in marble of a Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by Lysippus, c. 330 BC. The alabaster mantle is modern.

"Aristotle" by Francesco Hayez (1791–1882)

Aristotle portrayed in the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle as a scholar of the 15th century AD.

Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his hand, whilst Plato gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The Forms, while holding a copy of Timaeus

"Aristotle" by Jusepe de Ribera

"Aristotle with a bust of Homer" by Rembrandt.

An thirteenth-century Islamic portrayal of Aristotle (right).

Statue by Cipri Adolf Bermann (1915) at the University of Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau

"ARISTOTLE" near the ceiling of the Great Hall in the Library of Congress.

Aristotle writing

Aristotle with Alexander the Great

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Classical Greek philosophy - Aristotle

Aristotle moved to Athens from his native Stageira in 367 BCE and began to study philosophy (perhaps even rhetoric, under Isocrates), eventually enrolling at Plato's Academy. He left Athens approximately twenty years later to study botany and zoology, became a tutor of Alexander the Great, and ultimately returned to Athens a decade later to establish his own school: the Lyceum. At least twenty-nine of his treatises have survived, known as the corpus Aristotelicum, and address a variety of subjects including logic, physics, optics, metaphysics, ethics, rhetoric, politics, poetry, botany, and zoology.

Aristotle is often portrayed as disagreeing with his teacher Plato (e.g., in Raphael's School of Athens). He criticizes the regimes described in Plato's Republic and Laws, and refers to the theory of forms as "empty words and poetic metaphors." He is generally presented as giving greater weight to empirical observation and practical concerns.

Aristotle's fame was not great during the Hellenistic period, when Stoic logic was in vogue, but later peripatetic commentators popularized his work, which eventually contributed heavily to Islamic, Jewish, and medieval Christian philosophy. His influence was such that Avicenna referred to him simply as "the Master"; Maimonides, Alfarabi, Averroes, and Aquinas as "the Philosopher."

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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Aristotle is famous as one of the three founding fathers of Greek philosophy along with Plato and Socrates. He is also known as the teacher of Alexander the Great. Aristotle studied a wide variety of subjects, including science, ethics, government, physics, and politics, and wrote extensively on them. Aristotle's ideas on science were widely believed for centuries and had a profound influence on Islamic thinkers. Aristotle was one of the first people to try to classify animals and to study psychology.

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Aristotle the Philosopher of Reason

Aristotle, student of Socrates and Plato, is the third most famous philosopher of the Greek antiquity. He studied in the Academy of Plato, the first university of the world. When Plato died, he went to teach the son of king Phillip of Macedon, Alexander the Great. On his return to Athens, he founded Lyceum, a school of philosophy and other sciences. Although only one third of his work survives today, it can be seen that he studied almost all sciences known in the ancient times. His philosophical notions survived for centuries and influenced a lot the Western culture.

Aristotle is one of the most renowned philosophers of ancient Greek period. His name is remembered along with other great philosophers of that time, such as Socrates and Plato. Although only one third of Aristotle's works has survived, his concepts have been instrumental and extremely influential for modern ideologies. Aristotle was in fact the student of Plato and had studied in the Academy, founded by Plato, for almost twenty years. When Plato died, it is at this time that he left the institution.

His life

Aristotle was born in 384 BC at Stagira, Halkidiki. His father, Nichomachus, worked at the royal residence of the King of Macedon, Amyntas, as a physician. At the age of 18, Aristotle went to Athens to study at the Academy that Plato had founded. He remained there for almost 20 years, till 347 BC, the year of Plato's death. Then Aristotle left for Asia Minor where he visited his dear friend Hermias of Atameus. With another friend, he went to the island of Lesvos where he spent time studying zoology and botany. In Asia Minor, Aristotle married Pythias, the adoptive daughter of Hermias, who gave him a girl child. When Hermias passed away, Aristotle was invited by King of Macedon, Philip II, to teach his son, Alexander the Great. He also taught philosophy, literature and politics to other Macedonian nobles. In 335 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens and established his own school, Lyceum, where he taught for about 12 years. At that time, he wrote most of his works, which used to be lecture aids for his students. Unfortunately, today only some fragments of these material survive and they are mostly in form of discourses. In the meantime, Pythias, his wife, had died and Aristotle had taken a second wife, Herpyllis, who gave him a son. However, as Aristotle had a lot of students, he also had a lot of adversaries. When he was accused that he showed no respect to the gods with his philosophical ideas, Aristotle left Athens and went to Halkis, the birthplace of his mother. There, he died in 332 BC of natural causes.

His work

Aristotle dealt with every possible subject of his time: from anatomy, zoology, physics and metaphysics, to theology, rhetoric, psychology, geology and meteorology. It is said by historians that Aristotle literally studied everything that constituted the Greek encyclopedia of that time.

Logic

Aristotle also was the founder of notion of formal logic, as its references can be seen in most of his works. His theories on logic were considered till the 19th century as the ultimate concepts of Western Logic.

The three notions of science

His method of dealing with philosophy is both inductive and deductive. His concept of natural philosophy deals with the exploration of nature in terms of physics, biology and other similar sciences. He considered philosophy to have a harmonic balance with another science, known as reasoning. To him, science had an altogether different meaning. Science had three basic characteristics or better explained as having a certain sort of classification. The three words "practical, poetical and theoretical" very well explains science. Practical science would suggest concepts dealing with ethics and politics. Poetical science deals with research of poetry and artistic endeavours, and by theoretical science he refers to physics, mathematics and metaphysics.

The five elements of the Universe

Aristotle in his study of Physics has said that there are basically five elements which constitute the universe: these are fire, earth, air, water and aether. These elements are positioned according to their gravitational pull from the centre of the universe. When, by chance, they tend to shift from their natural domain, then they again fall back to the same region or place without the use of necessary force. Thus heavy objects tend to sink in water, air bubbles usually rise upwards, rain water falls on the earth and flames shoots up in the air.

Biology

In the field of biology, especially zoology, Aristotle has dissected and studied animals during his stay on the island of Lesvos which enabled him to understand a lot about various species. He used to categorize animals as having blood and not having blood. Moreover, the animals having blood were further divided into two types: life bearing and egg bearing. In case of animals without blood there were basically three types: insects, crustacea and testacea.

Ethics

In Ethical theory, it is seen that Aristotle regards the concept of ethics to be a part of practical science. In this sphere, actions bear more importance than reasoning. Ethical knowledge is basically general knowledge. Moreover, he says that virtue is related to an object's proper actions. Soul functions as the giver of happiness. An individual must not be tempted to have excess and thereby should be happy with whatever he has. He also introduced the golden mean, believing that virtue in not in excess or in deficiency, but somewhere in the middle.

Politics

Aristotle's concept of politics was however different. He considered city to be a political community. This city can thrive on the basis of political partnership. The creation of a city gives one a good life. He stated that man was a political animal. He makes us comprehend the fact that individual leads to the formation of the family which in turn leads to the formation of a city. This order in Aristotelian concept is in the reverse. Politics functions like an organism and is the collective action of several individual parts, which are all interrelated.

Poetics

In the field of Poetics, Aristotle considered all forms of art (epic poetry, tragedy, comedy or music) to be an imitation. He believed that mankind has advantage over animals as they can subject themselves to imitation. Aristotle's Poetics had two parts: tragedy and comedy. He believed that comedy makes people look worse than the average,while tragedy makes them look better than the average man. Tragedy is the resultant effect of actions that lead to the arousal of emotions, like pity or fear, and thereby causes catharsis of these emotions. In any case, they both deal with imitation, which is natural in man. Unfortunately, most of Aristotle's works were actually lost after the fall of Rome. Still his philosophies have been instrumental in shaping modern thoughts and language structures. Till the 20th century, Aristotle's Logic was considered supreme. With the arrival of Renaissance, many of Aristotle's theories of the Universe were taken as the basis for the formation of newer theories by astronomers of those periods. Before Charles Darwin came to the forefront in the field of zoology, Aristotle's findings and classifications had great importance. The 20th century saw Aristotle being praised for the amount of work he had done and the theories he had left behind in education, literary criticism, human and political analysis being studied worldwide.

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Peripatetic school

Περιπατητική Σχολή

The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece.

Its teachings derived from its founder, the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, and peripatetic is an adjective ascribed to his followers. The school originally derived its name Peripatos from the peripatoi "colonnades") of the Lyceum in Athens where the members met. A similar Greek word peripatetikos refers to the act of walking, and as an adjective, "peripatetic" is often used to mean itinerant, wandering, meandering, or walking about. After Aristotle's death, a legend arose that he was a "peripatetic" lecturer – that he walked about as he taught – and the designation Peripatetikos came to replace the original Peripatos.[citation needed]

The school dates from around 335 BCE when Aristotle began teaching in the Lyceum. It was an informal institution whose members conducted philosophical and scientific inquiries. Aristotle's successors Theophrastus and Strato continued the tradition of exploring philosophical and scientific theories, but after the middle of the 3rd century BCE, the school fell into a decline, and it was not until the Roman era that there was a revival. Later members of the school concentrated on preserving and commenting on Aristotle's works rather than extending them, and the school eventually died out in the 3rd century CE.

Although the school died out, the study of Aristotle's works continued by scholars who were called Peripatetics through Later Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the works of the Peripatetic school were lost to the west, but in the east they were incorporated into early Islamic philosophy, which would play a large part in the revival of Aristotle's doctrines in Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Contents

1 Background

2 Doctrines

3 History of the school

4 Influence

5 See also

6 Notes

7 References

Background

The term "Peripatetic" is a transliteration of the ancient Greek word peripatêtikos, which means "of walking" or "given to walking about". The Peripatetic school was actually known simply as the Peripatos. Aristotle's school came to be so named because of the peripatoi ("colonnades" or "covered walkways") of the Lyceum where the members met. The legend that the name came from Aristotle's alleged habit of walking while lecturing may have started with Hermippus of Smyrna. Unlike Plato, Aristotle was not a citizen of Athens and so could not own property; he and his colleagues therefore used the grounds of the Lyceum as a gathering place, just as it had been used by earlier philosophers such as Socrates. Aristotle and his colleagues first began to use the Lyceum in this way in about 335 BCE., after which Aristotle left

Plato's Academy and Athens, and then returned to Athens from his travels about a dozen years later. Because of the school's association with the gymnasium, the school also came to be referred to simply as the Lyceum. Some modern scholars argue that the school did not become formally institutionalized until Theophrastus took it over, at which time there was private property associated with the school.

Originally at least, the Peripatetic gatherings were probably conducted less formally than the term "school" suggests: there was likely no set curriculum or requirements for students, or even fees for membership. Aristotle did teach and lecture there, but there was also philosophical and scientific research done in partnership with other members of the school. It seems likely that many of the writings that have come down to us in Aristotle's name were based on lectures he gave at the school, or vice versa.

Among the members of the school in Aristotle's time were Theophrastus, Phanias of Eresus, Eudemus of Rhodes, Clytus of Miletus, Aristoxenus, and Dicaearchus. Much like Plato's Academy, there were in Aristotle's school junior and senior members, the junior members generally serving as pupils or assistants to the senior members who directed research and lectured. The aim of the school, at least in Aristotle's time, was not to further a specific doctrine, but rather to explore philosophical and scientific theories; those who ran the school worked rather as equal partners.

Sometime shortly after Alexander's death in June 323 BCE, Aristotle left Athens to avoid persecution by anti-Macedonian factions in Athens due to his ties to Macedonia.

After Aristotle's death in 322 BCE, his colleague Theophrastus succeeded him as head of the school. The most prominent member of the school after Theophrastus was Strato of Lampsacus, who increased the naturalistic elements of Aristotle's philosophy and embraced a form of atheism.

Doctrines

The doctrines of the Peripatetic school are the doctrines laid down by Aristotle, and henceforth maintained by his followers.

Whereas Plato had sought to explain things with his theory of Forms, Aristotle preferred to start from the facts given by experience. Philosophy to him meant science, and its aim was the recognition of the "why" in all things. Hence he endeavoured to attain to the ultimate grounds of things by induction; that is to say, by a posteriori conclusions from a number of facts to a universal. Logic either deals with appearances, and is then called dialectics; or of truth, and is then called

analytics.

All change or motion takes place in regard to substance, quantity, quality and place. There are three kinds of substances – those alternately in motion and at rest, as the animals; those perpetually in motion, as the sky; and those eternally stationary. The last, in themselves immovable and imperishable, are the source and origin of all motion. Among them there must be one first being, unchangeable, which acts without the intervention of any other being. All that is proceeds from it; it is the most perfect intelligence – God. The immediate action of this prime mover – happy in the contemplation of itself – extends only to the heavens; the other inferior

spheres are moved by other incorporeal and eternal substances, which the popular belief adores as gods. The heavens are of a more perfect and divine nature than other bodies. In the centre of the universe is the Earth, round and stationary. The stars, like the sky, beings of a higher nature, but of grosser matter, move by the impulse of the prime mover.

For Aristotle, matter is the basis of all that exists; it comprises the potentiality of everything, but of itself is not actually anything. A determinate thing only comes into being when the potentiality in matter is converted into actuality. This is achieved by form, the idea existent not as one outside the many, but as one in the many, the completion of the potentiality latent in the matter.

The soul is the principle of life in the organic body, and is inseparable from the body. As faculties of the soul, Aristotle enumerates the faculty of reproduction and nutrition; of sensation, memory and recollection; the faculty of reason, or understanding; and the faculty of desiring, which is divided into appetition and volition.

By the use of reason conceptions, which are formed in the soul by external sense-impressions, and may be true or false, are converted into knowledge. For reason alone can attain to truth either in understanding or action.

The best and highest goal is the happiness which originates from virtuous actions. Aristotle did not, with Plato, regard virtue as knowledge pure and simple, but as founded on nature, habit, and reason. Virtue consists in acting according to nature: that is, keeping the mean between the two extremes of the too much and the too

little. Thus valor, in his view the first of virtues, is a mean between cowardice and recklessness; temperance is the mean in respect to sensual enjoyments and the total avoidance of them.

History of the school

Aristotle and his disciples – Alexander, Demetrius, Theophrastus, and Strato; part of a fresco in the portico of the National University of Athens.

The names of the first seven or eight scholarchs (leaders) of the Peripatetic school are known with varying levels of certainty. A list of names with the approximate dates they headed the school is as follows:

Aristotle (c. 334 – 322)

Theophrastus (322–288)

Strato of Lampsacus (288 – c. 269)

Lyco of Troas (c. 269 – 225)

Aristo of Ceos (225 – c. 190)

Critolaus (c. 190 – 155)

Diodorus of Tyre (c. 140)

Erymneus (c. 110)

There are some uncertainties in this list. It is not certain whether Aristo of Ceos was the head of the school, but since he was a close pupil of Lyco and the most important Peripatetic philosopher in the time when he lived, it is generally assumed that he was. It is not known if Critolaus directly succeeded Aristo, or if there were any leaders between them. Erymneus is known only from a passing reference by Athenaeus. Other important Peripatetic philosophers who lived during these centuries include Eudemus of Rhodes, Aristoxenus, Dicaearchus, and Clearchus of Soli.

After the time of Strato, the Peripatetic school fell into a decline. Lyco was famous more for his oratory than his philosophical skills, and Aristo is perhaps best known for his biographical studies; and although Critolaus was more philosophically active, none of the Peripatetic philosophers in this period seem to have contributed anything original to philosophy. The reasons for the decline of the Peripatetic school are unclear. Undoubtably Stoicism and Epicureanism provided many answers for those people looking for dogmatic and comprehensive philosophical systems, and the scepticism of the Middle Academy may have seemed preferable to anyone who rejected dogmatism. Later tradition linked the school's decline to Neleus of Scepsis and his descendents hiding the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus in a cellar until their rediscovery in the 1st century BCE, and even though this story may be doubted, it is possible that Aristotle's works were not widely read.

In 86 BCE, Athens was sacked by the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla, all the schools of philosophy in Athens were badly disrupted, and the Lyceum ceased to exist as a functioning institution. Ironically, this event seems to have brought new life to the Peripatetic school. Sulla brought the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus back to Rome, where they became the basis of a new collection of Aristotle's writings compiled by Andronicus of Rhodes which forms the basis of the Corpus Aristotelicum which exists today. Later Neoplatonist writers describe Andronicus, who lived around 50 BCE, as the eleventh scholarch of the Peripatetic school, which would imply that he had two unnamed predecessors. There is considerable uncertainty over the issue, and Andronicus' pupil Boethus of Sidon is also described as the eleventh scholarch. It is quite possible that Andronicus set up a new school where he taught Boethus.

Whereas the earlier Peripatetics had sought to extend and develop Aristotle's works, from the time of Andronicus the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work. The most important figure in the Roman era is Alexander of Aphrodisias (c. 200 CE) who commentated on Aristotle's writings. With the rise of Neoplatonism (and Christianity) in the 3rd century, Peripateticism as an independent philosophy came to an end, but the Neoplatonists sought to incorporate Aristotle's philosophy within their own system, and produced many commentaries on Aristotle's works. In the 5th century, Olympiodorus the Elder is sometimes described as a Peripatetic.

Influence

Main article: Aristotelianism

See also: Avicennism, Averroism and Scholasticism

The last philosophers in classical antiquity to comment on Aristotle were Simplicius and Boethius in the 6th century. After this, although his works were mostly lost to the west, they were maintained in the east where they were incorporated into early Islamic philosophy. Some of the greatest Peripatetic philosophers in the Islamic philosophical tradition were Al-Kindi (Alkindus), Al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd). By the 12th century, Aristotle's works began being translated into Latin during the Latin translations of the 12th century, and gradually arose Scholastic philosophy under such names as Thomas Aquinas, which took

its tone and complexion from the writings of Aristotle, the commentaries of Averroes, and The Book of Healing of Avicenna.

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Aristotelianism

Αριστοτελισμός

Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings. In the Islamic world, the works of Aristotle were translated into Arabic, and under philosophers such as Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, Aristotelianism became a major part of early Islamic philosophy.

Moses Maimonides adopted Aristotelianism from the Islamic scholars and based his famous Guide for the Perplexed on it; and that became the basis of Jewish Scholastic Philosophy. Although some knowledge of Aristotle's logical works was known to western Europe, it wasn't until the Latin translations of the 12th century that the works of Aristotle and his Arabic commentators became widely available. Scholars such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas interpreted and systematized Aristotle's works in accordance with Christian theology.

After retreating under criticism from modern natural philosophers, the distinctively Aristotelian idea of teleology was transmitted through Wolff and Kant to Hegel, who applied it to history as a totality. Although this project was criticized by Trendelenburg and Brentano as non-Aristotelian, Hegel's influence is now often said to be responsible for an important Aristotelian influence upon Marx. Postmodernists, in contrast, reject Aristotelianism's claim to reveal important theoretical truths. In this, they follow Heidegger's critique of Aristotle as the greatest source of the entire tradition of Western philosophy.

Recent Aristotelian ethical and 'practical' philosophy, such as that of Gadamer and McDowell, is often premissed upon a rejection of Aristotelianism's traditional metaphysical or theoretical philosophy. From this viewpoint, the early modern tradition of political republicanism, which views the res publica, public sphere or state as constituted by its citizens' virtuous activity, can appear thoroughly Aristotelian.

The most famous contemporary Aristotelian philosopher is Alasdair MacIntyre. Especially famous for helping to revive virtue ethics in his book After Virtue, MacIntyre revises Aristotelianism with the argument that the highest temporal goods, which are internal to human beings, are actualized through participation in social practices. He juxtaposes Aristotelianism with the managerial institutions of capitalism and its state, and with rival traditions - including the philosophies of Hume and Nietzsche - that reject Aristotle's idea of essentially human goods and virtues and instead legitimate capitalism. Therefore, on MacIntyre's account, Aristotelianism is not identical with Western philosophy as a whole; rather, it is "the best theory so far, [including] the best theory so far about what makes a particular theory the best one." Politically and socially, it has been characterized as a newly 'revolutionary Aristotelianism'. This may be contrasted with the more conventional, apolitical and effectively conservative uses of Aristotle by, for example, Gadamer and McDowell. Other important contemporary Aristotelian theorists include Fred D. Miller, Jr. in politics, Rosalind Hursthouse in ethics, and Ayn Rand with Objectivism.

Contents

1 History

1.1 Ancient Greek

1.2 Islamic world

1.3 Europe

1.4 Modern era

1.5 Contemporary Aristotelianism

2 Criticism

3 See also

4 Notes

5 Further reading

6 External links

History

Aristotle, by Francesco Hayez

Ancient Greek

Main article: Peripatetic school

The original followers of Aristotle were the members of the Peripatetic school. The most prominent members of the school after Aristotle were Theophrastus and Strato of Lampsacus, who both continued Aristotle's researches. During the Roman era the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work. The most important figure in this regard was Alexander of Aphrodisias who commentated on Aristotle's writings. With the rise of Neoplatonism in the 3rd century, Peripateticism as an independent philosophy came to an end, but the Neoplatonists sought to incorporate Aristotle's philosophy within their own system, and produced many commentaries on Aristotle.

Islamic world

In the Abbasid Empire, many foreign works were translated into Arabic, large libraries were constructed, and scholars were welcomed. Under the caliphs Harun al-Rashid and his son Al-Ma'mun, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad flourished. Christian scholar Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873) was placed in charge of the translation work by the caliph. In his lifetime, Ishaq translated 116 writings, including works by Plato and Aristotle, into Syriac and Arabic. Al-Kindi (801–873) was the first of the Muslim Peripatetic philosophers, and is known for his efforts to introduce Greek and Hellenistic philosophy to the Arab world. He incorporated Aristotelian and Neoplatonist thought into an Islamic philosophical framework. This was an important factor in the introduction and popularization of Greek philosophy in the Muslim intellectual world.

The philosopher Al-Farabi (872–950) had great influence on science and philosophy for several centuries, and in his time was widely thought second only to Aristotle in knowledge (alluded to by his title of "the Second Teacher"). His work, aimed at synthesis of philosophy and Sufism, paved the way for the work of Avicenna (980–1037). Avicenna was one of the main interpreters of Aristotle. The school of thought he founded became known as Avicennism, which was built on ingredients and conceptual building blocks that are largely Aristotelian and Neoplatonist.

At the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, during the reign of Al-Hakam II (961 to 976) in Córdoba, a massive translation effort was undertaken, and many books were translated into Arabic. Averroes (1126–1198), who spent much of his life in Cordoba and Seville, was especially distinguished as a commentator of Aristotle. He often wrote two or three different commentaries on the same work, and some 38 commentaries by Averroes on the works of Aristotle have been identified. Although his writings had only marginal impact in Islamic countries, his works would eventually have a huge impact in the Latin West, and would lead to the school of thought known as Averroism.

Europe

Although some knowledge of Aristotle seems to have lingered on in the ecclesiastical centres of western Europe after the fall of the Roman empire, by the ninth century nearly all that was known of Aristotle consisted of Boethius's commentaries on the Organon, and a few abridgments made by Latin authors of the declining empire, Isidore of Seville and Martianus Capella. From that time until the end of the eleventh century, little progress is apparent in Aristotelian knowledge.

The renaissance of the 12th century saw a major search by European scholars for new learning. James of Venice, who probably spent some years in Constantinople, translated Aristotle's Posterior Analytics from Greek into Latin in the mid-twelfth century, thus making the complete Aristotelian logical corpus, the Organon, available in Latin for the first time. Scholars travelled to areas of Europe that once had been under Muslim rule and still had substantial Arabic-speaking populations. From central Spain, which had come under Christian rule in the eleventh century, scholars produced many of the Latin translations of the 12th century. The most productive of these translators was Gerard of Cremona, (c. 1114–1187), who translated 87 books, which included many of the works of Aristotle such as his Posterior Analytics, Physics, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption, and Meteorology. Michael Scot (c. 1175–1232) translated Averroes' commentaries on the scientific works of Aristotle.

Aristotle's physical writings began to be discussed openly, and at a time when Aristotle's method was permeating all theology, these treatises were sufficient to cause his prohibition for heterodoxy in the Condemnations of 1210–1277. In the first of these, in Paris in 1210, it was stated that "neither the books of Aristotle on natural philosophy or their commentaries are to be read at Paris in public or secret, and this we forbid under penalty of excommunication." However, despite further attempts to restrict the teaching of Aristotle, by 1270 the ban on Aristotle's natural philosophy was ineffective.

William of Moerbeke (c. 1215–1286) undertook a complete translation of the works of Aristotle or, for some portions, a revision of existing translations. He was the first translator of the Politics (c. 1260) from Greek into Latin. Many copies of Aristotle in Latin then in circulation were assumed to have been influenced by Averroes, who was suspected of being a source of philosophical and theological errors found in the earlier translations of Aristotle. Such claims were without merit, however, as the Alexandrian Aristotelianism of Averroes followed "the strict study of the text of Aristotle, which was introduced by Avicenna, [because] a large amount of traditional Neoplatonism was incorporated with the body of traditional Aristotelianism".

Albertus Magnus (c. 1200–1280) was among the first medieval scholars to apply Aristotle's philosophy to Christian thought. He produced paraphrases of most of the works of Aristotle available to him. He digested, interpreted and systematized the whole of Aristotle's works, gleaned from the Latin translations and notes of the Arabian commentators, in accordance with Church doctrine. His efforts resulted in the formation of a Christian reception of Aristotle in the Western Europe. Yet it should be noted that Magnus did not repudiate Plato. In that, he belonged to the dominant tradition of philosophy that preceded him, namely the "concordist tradition", which sought to harmonize Aristotle with Plato through interpretation (see for example Porphyry's On Plato and Aristotle Being Adherents of the Same School). Magnus famously wrote:

"Scias quod non perficitur homo in philosophia nisi ex scientia duarum philosophiarum: Aristotelis et Platonis." (Metaphysics, I, tr. 5, c. 5)

(Know that a man is not perfected in philosophy if it weren't for the knowledge of the two philosophers, Aristotle and Plato)

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the pupil of Albertus Magnus, wrote a dozen commentaries on the works of Aristotle. Thomas was emphatically Aristotelian, he adopted Aristotle's analysis of physical objects, his view of place, time and motion, his proof of the prime mover, his cosmology, his account of sense perception and intellectual knowledge, and even parts of his moral philosophy. The philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work of Thomas Aquinas was known as Thomism, and was especially influential among the Dominicans, and later, the Jesuits.

Modern era

After retreating under criticism from modern natural philosophers, the distinctively Aristotelian idea of teleology was transmitted through Wolff and Kant to Hegel, who applied it to history as a totality.citation needed] Although this project was criticized by Trendelenburg and Brentano as un-Aristotelian,[citation needed] Hegel's influence is now often said to be responsible for an important Aristotelian influence upon Marx. Postmodernists, in contrast, reject Aristotelianism's claim to reveal important theoretical truths. In this, they follow Heidegger's critique of Aristotle as the greatest source of the entire tradition of Western philosophy.

Contemporary Aristotelianism

Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as critically developing Plato's theories. Recent Aristotelian ethical and 'practical' philosophy, such as that of Gadamer and McDowell, is often premised upon a rejection of Aristotelianism's traditional metaphysical or theoretical philosophy.[citation needed] From this viewpoint, the early modern tradition of political republicanism, which views the res publica, public sphere or state as constituted by its citizens' virtuous activity, can appear thoroughly Aristotelian.[citation needed]

The contemporary Aristotelian philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre is specially famous for helping to revive virtue ethics in his book After Virtue. MacIntyre revises Aristotelianism with the argument that the highest temporal goods, which are internal to human beings, are actualized through participation in social practices. He opposes Aristotelianism to the managerial institutions of capitalism and its state, and to rival traditions—including the philosophies of Hume, Kant, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche—that reject its idea of essentially human goods and virtues and instead legitimize capitalism. Therefore, on MacIntyre's account, Aristotelianism is not identical with Western philosophy as a whole; rather, it is "the best theory so far, [including] the best theory so far about what makes a particular theory the best one." Politically and socially, it has been characterized as a newly 'revolutionary Aristotelianism'. This may be contrasted with the more conventional, apolitical and effectively conservative uses of Aristotle by, for example, Gadamer and McDowell. Other important contemporary Aristotelian theorists include Fred D. Miller, Jr. in politics and Rosalind Hursthouse in ethics.

In metaphysics, an Aristotelian realism about universals is defended by such philosophers as David Malet Armstrong and Stephen Mumford, and is applied to the philosophy of mathematics by James Franklin.

Criticism

Bertrand Russell criticizes Aristotle's logic on the following points:

The Aristotelian system allows formal defects leading to "bad metaphysics". For example, the following syllogism is permitted: "All golden mountains are mountains, all golden mountains are golden, therefore some mountains are golden", which insinuates the existence of at least one golden mountain. Furthermore, according to Russell, a predicate of a predicate can be a predicate of the original subject, which blurs the distinction between names and predicates with disastrous consequences; for example, a class with only one member is erroneously identified with that one member, making impossible to have a correct theory of the number one.

The syllogism is overvalued in comparison to other forms of deduction. For example, syllogisms are not employed in mathematics since they are less convenient.

In addition, Russell ends his review of the Aristotelian logic with these words:

I conclude that the Aristotelian doctrines with which we have been concerned in this chapter are wholly false, with the exception of the formal theory of the syllogism, which is unimportant. Any person in the present day who wishes to learn logic will be wasting his time if he reads Aristotle or any of his disciples. Nonetheless, Aristotle's logical writings show great ability, and would have been useful to mankind if they had appeared at a time when intellectual originality was still active. Unfortunately, they appeared at the very end of the creative period of Greek thought, and therefore came to be accepted as authoritative. By the time that logical originality revived, a reign of two thousand years had made Aristotle very difficult to dethrone. Throughout modern times, practically every advance in science, in logic, or in philosophy has had to be made in the teeth of the opposition from Aristotle's disciples.

See also

Commentaries on Aristotle

Corpus Aristotelicum

Hylomorphism

Peripatetic School

Phronesis

Platonism

Wheel of fire

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CYNICISM - Crates of Thebes

Κράτης ο Θηβαίος ο κυνικός

[Detail from a wall painting from the garden of the Villa Farnesina, Museo delle Terme, Rome]

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For your information ...

Cynicism: Antisthenes, Diogenes of Sinope, Crates of Thebes (taught Zeno of Citium, founder of Stoicism)

Crates (fl. c.328-325 BC) was a Boeotian from Thebes. He is the most famous successor of Diogenes and the principal master of Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism. He was a popular figure in Athens. He used to reconcile family quarrels and give practical and moral advices to the Athenians. As for the other Cynics, Crates believed in the ascetic way of life. Happiness is self-sufficiency and not the balance between pleasure and pain, since in our lives the moments of pleasure are surpassed by the moments of pain.

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04 PRE-SOCRATIC - ATOMISTS - Democritus of Abdera

Δημόκριτος ο Αβδηρίτης

Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.

Democritus was one of the first advocates of democracy, equality, and liberty. He was also the first person to advance the hypothesis that all matter is composed of small invisible particles called atoms, anticipating the discoveries of modern physics. Democritus was one of the first known critics and a proponent of the just theory—the idea that people should take up arms to defend themselves from tyrants. Democritus was also one of the first scientists who wrote books on a wide variety of topics, including animals and plants. Democritus was one of the first people to advance the idea that there are worlds besides the Earth.

Democritus by Hendrick ter Brugghen, 1628

Rembrandt, The Young Rembrandt as Democritus the Laughing Philosopher (1628-29)

Democritus meditating on the seat of the soul by Léon-Alexandre Delhomme (1868).

Democritus by Luca Giordano (c. 1600).

Crying Heraclitus and laughing Democritus, from a 1477 Italian fresco, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

Democritus - Painting By Diego Velazquez (1640)

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Life and Work

The Atomists is the last Presocratic school of thought. The most important figure is Democritus (c. 460-370 BC), the philosopher who actually developed the atomic theory. He was a pupil of Leucippus (fl. 450-420 BC) who probably initiated the theory. Both Leucippus and Democritus flourished in the city of Abdera. Democritus visited Athens, but he was disappointed for not finding support in his theories. Another important figure is Metrodorus of Chios.

The Atomic Theory

The Atomic Theory is based on the following principles:

(1) Matter consists of separate, partless, solid, eternal, immutable, invisible and intangible unit-particles which are physically and theoretically indivisible atoms (the ‘uncuttable’);

(2) Atoms differ in shape (A from B), position (Z from N) and order (AN from NA) but not in quality;

(3) Empty space or void is necessary for their movement;

(4) Perceptible change and plurality are the result of the transfer of momentum by the moving atoms and such transfer occurs only by contact and not by distinct action.

Atoms and Void

The theory of indivisible atoms should be regarded as a direct reply to Eleatic monism and in particular to Zeno’s argument of infinite divisibility. Contra the Eleatic absolute denial of non-being, the Atomists state that non-being exists as emptiness: ‘what-is’ (to den) is the plenum of atoms, while ‘what-is-not’ (to meden) is the emptiness of void (kenon). Emptiness can explain natural phenomena and physical plurality; what-is-not is in existence spatially as the fundamental prerequisite of physical motion.

Motion and Necessity

Physical motion is the result of reason (logos) and necessity (anagke) and not of divine justice or moral law (dyke). Generation is an arbitrary motion from one state of atomic conglomeration to another through void. A structure of infinite uncuttable and invisible atoms lies behind the world of everyday experience, and consequently perceptible qualities are merely by convention. Reality consists only of atoms and void.

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05 CYNICISM - Diogenes of Sinope

Διογένης απο τη Σινώπη ( ο Σινωπεύς )

ο Κυνικός

Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.

Diogenes was known as Diogenes the cynic because he was one of the founders of the Cynic school of philosophy. Diogenes rejected society as corrupt and hypocritical and lived a simple lifestyle instead. Legend has it that he lived in a barrel and mocked authority figures, including Alexander the Great and Plato. Diogenes used stunts such as carrying a lamp in the daytime to express his philosophy and refused to write. Diogenes was a radical who rejected all political and social organizations and even the idea of private property. Instead, he believed that simplicity was the key to happiness.

Diogenes sheltering in his barrel as painted by John William Waterhouse

Diogenes sitting in his tub. Painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1860)

Diogenes searches for an honest man. Painting attributed to J. H. W. Tischbein (c. 1780)

Alexander the Great visits Diogenes at Corinth by W. Matthews (1914)

Alexander and Diogenes by Caspar de Crayer (c. 1650)

Diogenes by Jules Bastien-Lepage (1873)

Statue of Diogenes at Sinop, Turkey

A 17th century depiction of Diogenes

Giulio Bonasone - Diogenes and Antisthenes

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For your information ...

Cynicism: Antisthenes, Diogenes of Sinope, Crates of Thebes (taught Zeno of Citium, founder of Stoicism)

BIOGRAPHY 1

Diogenes of Sinope (c.400-c.325 BC) was a follower of Antisthenes and probably the most popular of the Cynics. Plato called Diogenes ‘Socrates gone mad’. He had an extreme personality with strong views. He denied pleasure and physical wealth for asceticism. He had the nickname ‘the dog’ because of his shamelessness. He used to live in a barrel with only possessions a robe to wear and a stick to walk. There are many stories for Diogenes’ rebellious and anti-conformal character. According to some ancient sources Diogenes carried a lighted lamp in broad daylight looking in the streets of Athens for the honest man. But the most famous anecdote of his life is related to Alexander the Great. When Alexander stood before him and asked him if he had any desire, Diogenes asked Alexander to move a little to one side because he was blocking the sun.

There lived a wise man in ancient Greece whose name was Diogenes. Men came from all parts of the land to see him and talk to him.

Diogenes was a strange man. He said that no man needed much, and so he did not live in a house but slept in a barrel, which he rolled about from place to place. He spent his days sitting in the sun and saying wise things to those who were around him.

When Alexander the Great came to that town he went to see the wise man. He found Diogenes outside the town lying on the ground by his barrel. He was enjoying the sun.

When he saw the king he sat up and looked at Alexander. Alexander greeted him and said:

"Diogenes, I have heard a great deal about you. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes," said Diogenes, "you can step aside a little so as not to keep the sunshine from me."

The king was very much surprised. But this answer did not make him angry. He turned to his officers with the following words:

"Say what you like, but if I were not Alexander, I should like to be Diogenes."

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope

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06 GREAT GREECE ( GREEK SPEAKING LOWER ITALY ) ( MAGNA GRAECIA ) ( Sicily ) - PLURALISTS - Empedocles of Acragas

Εμπεδοκλής ο Ακραγαντίνος

Empedocles, 17th-century engraving

Empedocles as portrayed in the Nuremberg Chronicle

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Life and Work

Empedocles (c. 490-430 BC) flourished in the city of Acragas, Sicily. Like Parmenides he wrote in the form of Homeric hexameter. The subject of the first poem On Nature. Is the nature and structure of the physical world, while the second poem On Purifications includes some practical guidance for soul’s purification. The legend of Empedocles’ death describes him flinging into the crater atop of Mount Etna to convince his pupils of his divinity.

The Four Roots

Empedocles maintained the theory that the material world is composed of four elements or roots: fire, air, water and earth. The botanical terms ‘roots’ indicate the vitality of the substructure, their unseen depths and the potentiality for growth. These four essential ingredients are immortal, distinct and equally balanced in cosmos. While themselves remain imperishable, immobile and unchanged, they can produce the various beings in this material world. On this basis, the indestructible nature of the four roots echo Parmenides’ indestructibility of Being.

Love and Strife

Due to the completeness of the four elements, being is continuous, without spatial gaps. Empedocles accepts Parmenides’ thesis that nothing comes-to-be or passes-away. Generation and destruction have to be denied; so-called generation is merely the ‘mixing’ of the elements in various proportions, while destruction is the ‘separation’ of the various compounds into their original elements. The former corresponds to the force of Love, the latter to the force of Strife. Love and Strife are the eternal motive forces which combine and separate the elements within the cosmic cycle.

The Holy Mind

Empedocles’ god is immortal and everlasting, described as a rounded sphere rejoicing in encircling stillness, equal to itself in every direction, without any beginning or end. Empedocles’ God contains holy-mind which embraces all the immortal principles of the cosmos, a God who has little in common with the traditional anthropomorphic gods. The divine nature is conceivable only through human mind. The senses can tell us only about the perceptible world.

The Soul

Whereas God is immortal and unchangeable, human beings are mortal and subject to alteration of the four elements under the act of Love and Strife. The human soul experiences a life of suffering wandering for many years through many mortal bodies and reincarnations. Empedocles further maintains that between the life of mortals and the life of immortals there is a middle-life, the life of spirits or daemons. The daemons are also subject to alteration but though a longer period of time.

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

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07 STOICISM - Epictetus

Στωικισμός - στωικοί φιλόσοφοι - Επίκτητος

An artistic impression of Epictetus, including his crutch

An 18th century engraving of Epictetus.

Prisoner of war James Stockdale receiving the Medal of Honor from American president Gerald Ford; Stockdale was able to retain his sanity during capture by relying on the philosophy of Epictetus

James Stockdale

The philosophy of Epictetus is well known in the U.S. military through the writings and example of James Stockdale, an American fighter pilot who was shot down over North Vietnam, became a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, and later a vice presidential candidate. InCourage under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior (1993), Stockdale credits Epictetus with helping him endure seven and a half years in a North Vietnamese military prison—including torture—and four years in solitary confinement.

In his conclusion, Stockdale quoted Epictetus as saying, "The emotions of grief, pity, and even affection are well-known disturbers of the soul. Grief is the most offensive; Epictetus considered the suffering of grief an act of evil. It is a willful act, going against the will of God to have all men share happiness" (p. 235).

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The Enchiridion by Epictetus (Audio Book)

FULL audio books for everyone

The Enchiridion

by Epictetus (c.55-135). Translated by Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806).

Epictetus (Greek: Επίκτητος; c.55--c.135) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. The name given by his parents, if one was given, is not known -- the word epiktetos in Greek simply means "acquired."

Epictetus spent his youth as a slave in Rome to Epaphroditos, a very wealthy freedman of Nero. Even as a slave, Epictetus used his time productively, studying Stoic Philosophy under Musonius Rufus. He was eventually freed and lived a relatively hard life in ill health in Rome.

So far as is known, Epictetus himself wrote nothing. All that we have of his work was transcribed by his pupil Arrian. The main work is The Discourses, four books of which have been preserved (out of an original eight). Arrian also compiled a popular digest, entitled the Enchiridion, or Handbook. In a preface to the Discourses, addressed to Lucius Gellius, Arrian states that "whatever I heard him say I used to write down, word for word, as best I could, endeavouring to preserve it as a memorial, for my own future use, of his way of thinking and the frankness of his speech".

duration 51:26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBwH2iYC-8c

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The Discourses

By Epictetus

The Discourses has been divided into the following sections:

Book One [190k] http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/discourses.html

Book Two [209k] http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/discourses.2.two.html

Book Three [220k] http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/discourses.3.three.html

Book Four [186k] http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/discourses.4.four.html

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The Enchiridion

By Epictetus

Written 135 A.C.E.

Translated by Elizabeth Carter

http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html

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The Golden Sayings

By Epictetus

The Golden Sayings has been divided into the following sections:

Section 1 [86k] http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/goldsay.1.1.html

Section 2 [91k] http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/goldsay.2.2.html

Section 3 [13k] http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/goldsay.3.3.html

Section 4 [12k] http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/goldsay.4.4.html

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epictetus

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08 EPICUREANISM - Epicurus

Επίκουρος

It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.

Epicurus might be the most misunderstood Greek philosopher. Even though he thought that a simple lifestyle was the key to happiness, in the modern world, the term Epicurean is known as a lover of fine things. Epicurus founded a school which taught an opinion that a peaceful life free of pain was the path to happiness. Epicurus believed in atoms and taught that the humans had no control over fate. He also refused to believe in the gods and taught that the universe had no purpose. Epicurus believed in equality: he educated slaves and women in his school when most Greeks believed they were incapable of learning. Even though Epicurus is believed to have written 300 works, none of his writings are known to have survived.

Roman marble bust of Epicurus

Small bronze bust of Epicurus from Herculaneum. Illustration from Baumeister, 1885

Bust of Epicurus leaning against his disciple Metrodorus in the Louvre Museum

Epicurus, Nuremberg Chronicle

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus

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NEOPLATISM - Hierocles of Alexandria

Ιεροκλής ο Αλεξανδρινός

Hierocles of Alexandria (Greek: Ieroklis) was a Greek Neoplatonist writer who was active around AD 430.

Life

He studied under Plutarch (the Neoplatonist) at Athens in the early 5th century, and taught for some years in his native city. He seems to have been banished from Alexandria and to have taken up his abode in Constantinople, where he gave such offence that he was thrown into prison and flogged. The causes of this are not recorded.

Works

The only complete work of his which has been preserved is the commentary on the Chrysa Epe (Golden Verses) of Pythagoras. It enjoyed a great reputation in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and there are numerous translations in various European languages. Several other writings, especially one on providence and fate, a consolatory treatise dedicated to his patron Olympiodorus of Thebes, are quoted or referred to by Photius and Stobaeus. Hierocles argued against astrological fatalism on the basis that it is supported by an irrational necessity rather than a divine, rational Providence of God. For the same reason, he opposed theurgic and magic practices as they were attempts to supersede the divine providential order.

Although he never mentions Christianity in his surviving works, his writings have been taken as an attempt at reconciliation between Greek religion traditions and the Christian beliefs he may have encountered in Constantinople.

The collection of some 260 witticisms attributed to Hierocles and Philagrius has no connection with Hierocles of Alexandria, but is probably a compilation of later date, founded on two older collections. It is now agreed that the fragments of the Elements of Ethics preserved in Stobaeus are from a work by a Stoic named Hierocles, contemporary of Epictetus, who has been identified with the "Hierocles Stoicus vir sanctus et gravis" in Aulus Gellius (ix. 5. 8). This theory is confirmed by the discovery of a papyrus (ed. H. von Arnim in Berliner Kiassikertexte, Iv. 1906.)

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierocles_of_Alexandria

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PRE-SOCRATIC - SOPHISTS - Gorgias

προσωκρατικοί φιλόσοφοι - Σοφιστές - Σοφιστική κίνηση - Γοργίας

Introduction

Gorgias (c. 487 - 376 B.C.) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, orator and rhetorician

from Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he was one of the major figures in the first generation

of Sophists.

Both Plato and Aristotle criticized Gorgias severely, labelling him as a mere sophist (in

the derogatory sense of "sophistry") whose primary goal was to make money by appearing wise

and clever, and not a true philosopher. However, he was undeniably highly influential and,

in bringing his rhetorical innovations from his native Sicily to Athens and Attica, he also

contributed to the diffusion of the Attic dialect as the language of literary prose.

Life

Gorgias (pronounced GOR-jas) was born around 487 B.C. (or possibly 483 B.C.) in Leontini, a

Greek colony in Sicily. His father was named Charmantides, and he had at least two siblings,

a brother named Herodicus and a (unnamed) sister. In his youth, he may have been a pupil of

Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger. He was familiar with the

works of Zeno of Elea and used his paradoxes (especially the so-called "arguments against

motion") in his own work.

He was already about sixty when he was sent in 427 B.C. to Athens by his fellow-citizens at

the head of an embassy to ask for Athenian protection against the aggression of the

neighbouring Syracusans. On completing his mission, he subsequently settled in Athens,

probably due to the enormous popularity of his style of oratory and the profits he could

make from his performances and rhetoric classes.

Like other Sophists, he was an itinerant, practising in various cities and giving public

exhibitions of his rhetorical skill at the great pan-Hellenic centers of Olympia and Delphi

(including inviting questions from the audience and giving impromptu replies), and charged

substantial fees for his instruction and performances. His florid, rhyming style seemed to

almost hypnotize his audiences, and his powers of persuasion were legendary.

Among his distinguished students in Athens were Isocrates (436 - 338 B.C., one of the

greatest and most influential orators of his time), Critias (460 - 403 B.C., a leading

member of the so-called Thirty Tyrants of Athens), Alcibiades (c. 450 - 404 B.C., a

prominent Athenian statesman, orator and general), Thucydides (c. 460 - 395 B.C., an

important historian), Agathon (c. 448 - 400 B.C., a popular tragic poet) and Pericles (c.

495 - 429 B.C., a prominent and influential statesman, orator and general of Athens).

Gorgias is reputed to have lived to be over one hundred years old, before dying at Larissa

in Thessaly in about 375 B.C. or 376 B.C. He had accumulated considerable wealth by the time

of his death, enough to commission a gold statue of himself for a public temple.

Work Back to Top

Gorgias transplanted rhetoric from his native Sicily to Athens and Attica, and in the

process contributed to the diffusion of the Attic dialect as the language of literary prose.

He ushered in rhetorical innovations involving structure and ornamentation and the

introduction of paradoxes and paradoxical expression, for which he has been labelled the

"father of sophistry". His rhetorical works (including the "Encomium of Helen", "Defence of

Palamedes" and "Epitaphios") come down to us via a work entitled "Technai", a manual of

rhetorical instruction.

Unlike other Sophists like Protagoras, Gorgias did not profess to teach arete (or virtue),

believing that there was no absolute form of virtue but that it was relative to each

situation. He believed that rhetoric was the king of all other sciences, since it was

capable of persuading any course of action. Thus, much of the debate over the nature and

value of rhetoric, began with Gorgias. Plato (one of Gorgias’ greatest critics) was speaking

in direct opposition to Gorgias, when he argued that rhetoric gives the ignorant the power

to seem more knowledgeable than an expert to a group, and that Gorgias was merely an orator

who entertains his audience with his eloquent words while believing that it is unnecessary

to learn the truth about actual matters.

A lost work, "On Nature" or "On Non-Existence", was one of Gorgias few essays into

Metaphysics. It is available to us only in paraphrases from Sextus Empiricus (2nd or 3rd

Century A.D.) and others, and it is generally skeptical in outlook, intended both as a

refutation and as a parody of the Eleatic School, and particularly of Parmenides. It is

usually presented as a three-point argument: 1) nothing exists; 2) even if something exists,

nothing can be known about it; and 3) even if something can be known about it, knowledge

about it can't be communicated to others. His point was to prove that it is just as easy to

demonstrate that being is one, unchanging and timeless as it is to prove that being has no

existence at all.

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias

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09 INDIVIDUAL - IONIANS - Heraclitus

Ηράκλειτος

Heraclitus by Johannes Moreelse. The image depicts him as "the weeping philosopher" wringing his hands over the world, and as "the obscure" dressed in dark clothing—both traditional motifs

Heraclitus (with the face and in the style of Michelangelo) sits apart from the other philosophers in Raphael's School of Athens.

Bust of Heraclitus, 'The Weeping Philosopher' by Johann Christoph Ludwig Lücke ca. 1757.

Heraclitus by Hendrick ter Brugghen

Crying Heraclitus and laughing Democritus, from a 1477 Italian fresco, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

Democriet (laughing) & Herakliet (crying) by Cornelis van Haarlem

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Life and Work

Heraclitus (fl. c.500 BC) was born in Ephesus, the second great Ionian city. He was a man of strong and independent philosophical spirit. Heraclitus wrote a single book, with the title On Nature, perhaps divided in three sections: cosmology, politics and theology. He dedicated and placed his book in the temple of Artemis.

The Obscure Philosopher

Heraclitus is characterized as the obscure philosopher, due to the insignificance of his language and the enigmatic aphorisms of his writings. It is noteworthy that his book was purposely written rather obscurely so that only those of rank and influence should have access to it, and it should not be easily despised by the populace. For this reason, when Socrates read his book said: the concepts I understand are great, but I believe that the concepts I cant understand are great too. However, the reader needs to be an excellent swimmer like those from Dilos, so not to be drown from his book.

Fire and Logos

Like the Milesian philosophers, Heraclitus focused on the material origins of the world. Moreover, he inspired the internal hidden rhythm of nature which moves and regulates things, namely, the logos. Heraclitus accepted only one material source of natural substances, fire (pyr). Fire is the manifestation of logos which creates an infinite and uncorrupted world, without beginning or end in time. In turn fire changes or transforms to water and earth.

Eternal Change

Heraclitus is the philosopher of the eternal change. His well known statement is that ‘everything flows’. He expresses this notion of eternal change and mobility in terms of the continuous flow of the river which always renews itself. Heraclitus’ view of cosmos is that of continuous conflict between species. He converts this world into various shapes as a harmony of the opposites. The composition of opposites sustains everything in nature. Good and evil, just and unjust are simply opposite sides of the same single thing.

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus

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10 NEOPLATONISM - Hypatia

Υπατία

Cameron's 1867 photograph Hypatia

"Hypatia", at the Haymarket Theatre, January 1893

An actress, possibly Mary Anderson, in the title role of the play Hypatia, circa 1900.

"Death of the philosopher Hypatia, in Alexandria" from Vies des savants illustres, depuis l'antiquité jusqu'au dix-neuvième siècle, 1866, by Louis Figuier.

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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page

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Julius Caesar

The Tusculum portrait, perhaps the only surviving statue created during Caesar's lifetime.

The Arles bust

Bust in Naples National Archaeological Museum, photograph published in 1902

Bust in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples

Bust of Julius Caesar from the British Museum

Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar, Rimini, Italy

A denarius depicting Julius Caesar, dated February–March 44 BC; the goddess Venus is shown on the reverse, holding Victoria and a scepter.

Vercingetorix throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar. Painting by Lionel Royer.

Caesar's soldiers

Cleopatra and Caesar, 1866 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme

The senators encircle Caesar, a 19th-century interpretation of the event by Carl Theodor von Piloty

Cleopatra and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion at the Temple of Dendera.

A 1783 edition of The Gallic Wars

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