Stages of development. The main problems and schools of ancient philosophy. Fundamental problems of ancient philosophy

The problems of ancient Eastern philosophy were determined by the cruel caste division and inequality, the influence of zoomorphic mythology. Because of totemism and ancestor worship, this type of philosophy is not rationalized enough. In the philosophy of Ancient India, it is customary to distinguish the following schools: orthodox (yoga, Vedanta, Mimamsa, Samkhya) and unorthodox (Charvaka Lokayata, Buddhism, Jainism). Most of them clearly define the concept of karma - the law on which the fate of each person entirely depends. Another fundamental concept was "samsara" - a chain of incarnations of living beings in the world. The way out of this chain is moksha, but its various principles were distinguished by the philosophical schools of ancient India.

In ancient Chinese philosophy, which was formed in the same era as the ancient Indian, there were 2 trends: materialistic and mystical. The first assumed the presence of five primary elements (metal, water, wood), opposite principles (yang and yin). Ancient Chinese philosophy usually includes Confucianism, Legalism, Yi Jin studies, and Mohism.

ancient philosophy

Ancient philosophy, formed in Ancient Greece and in Ancient Rome passed through several stages in its development. The first stage is the birth of philosophy. It is associated with the emergence of the Milesian school, to which Anaximenes, Thales, Anaximander and their students belonged. The second stage is connected with the research of such philosophers as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates. During the heyday of ancient philosophy, the formation of the school of sophists, atomists, Pythagoreans took place. The third stage is no longer ancient Greek, but ancient Roman. It includes such currents as skepticism, stoicism,.

Philosophers of antiquity observed the phenomena of nature, trying to explain them. The "heart" of the teachings of ancient philosophy can be called cosmocentrism. Man is a microcosm that exists within the macrocosm - nature and the elements. The philosophy of this period is characterized by a unique combination of natural scientific observations with aesthetic and mythological consciousness. Ancient philosophy is dozens of philosophical ideas, which were often directly opposed to each other. However, this is precisely what determined more and more types of philosophy.

medieval philosophy

In the era of feudalism, to which medieval philosophy is attributed, man was subordinated to the interests of the church and was strictly controlled by it. Religious dogmas were zealously defended. main idea of this type philosophy is the monotheism of God. Not the elements and not the macrocosm are the main force, ruling the world but only God is the creator of all things. Medieval philosophy was based on several principles:
- creationism (God's creation of the world from the void);
- providentialism (the history of mankind is a plan invented by God in advance for the salvation of man);
- symbolism (the ability to see the hidden meaning in the ordinary);
- realism (God is in everything: in things, words, thoughts).

Medieval philosophy is usually divided into patristics and scholasticism.

Renaissance philosophy

During the birth of capitalist relations in Western Europe(15th-16th centuries) a new type of philosophy begins to develop. Now in the center of the universe is not God, but man (anthropocentrism). God is perceived as a creator, a person formally depends on him, but a person is practically equal to God, because he is able to think and create. The world is viewed through the prism of the subjective perception of its personality. During the period of Renaissance philosophy, first a humanistic-pantheistic worldview appears, and later a naturalistic-deistic one. Representatives of this type of philosophy are N. Cusa, J. Bruno, J. Pico Della Mirandola, Leonardo da Vinci, N. Copernicus.

Philosophy of the New Age

The development of mathematics and mechanics as sciences, the crisis of feudalism, bourgeois revolutions, the formation of capitalism - all this became the prerequisites for the emergence of a new type of philosophy, which would later be called the philosophy of the New Age. It is based on an experimental study of being and its comprehension. Reason was recognized as the highest authority, to which everything else is subordinate. Philosophers of modern times thought about the rational and sensual form of knowledge, which determined the emergence of two main currents: rationalism and empiricism. Representatives of the philosophy of modern times are F. Bacon, R. Descartes, G. Leibniz, D. Diderot, J. Berkeley, T. Hobbes and others.

German classical philosophy

The social transformations of the end of the 18th century that took place in Germany, as well as the French bourgeois one, became the prerequisites for the emergence of a new type of philosophy, the founder of which is considered to be Immanuel Kant. He explored questions of natural science. It was Kant who hypothesized that due to the tides, the rotation of the Earth slows down and that solar system originated from a gaseous nebula. Somewhat later, Kant turns to the problem of human cognitive abilities, developing his theory of knowledge in the key of agnosticism and apriorism. According to Kant, nature does not have "reason", but is a set of human ideas about it. What is created by man is cognizable (in contrast to the chaotic and irregular world of phenomena). The epistemological concept of Kant includes 3 stages of knowledge: sensory knowledge, the area of ​​reason and the area of ​​reason, which directs the activity of reason. Kant's ideas were developed by I.G. Fichte, F. Schelling. German classical philosophy includes G. Hegel, L. Feuerbach and others.

Philosophy of modern times

This type of philosophy in the XIX century. The fundamental idea was that human knowledge is limitless and that it is the key to the implementation of the ideals of humanism. At the center of philosophy is the cult of reason. The initial principles of classical philosophy were rethought by Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer. Their theories were called neoclassical philosophy. Scientists of the Baden school suggested that there are historical sciences and natural sciences. The first are about events, the second are the sciences of laws. They recognized only individual cognition as really existing, considering any other as an abstraction.
An important part of the philosophy of modern times are the works of Karl Marx. Among other things, he formulates the concept of alienation and the principle of the revolutionary elimination of alienation, the creation of a communist society where anyone can work freely. Marx is convinced that the basis of knowledge is practice, which leads to a materialistic understanding of history.

Russian philosophy

Russian philosophy has always been original, as, indeed, the entire cultural and historical development of Russia. It originated somewhat later than in Europe, and initially professed the ideas of ancient and Byzantine thought, and then was influenced by Western European trends. Russian philosophy is closely connected with religion, artistic creativity and social and political activities. It is focused not on epistemological issues, but on ontologism (knowledge through intuitive knowledge). Special meaning in Russian philosophy is given to the existence of man (anthropocentrism). This is a historiosophical type of philosophy, since a person cannot live and think outside of socio-historical problems. Much attention in Russian philosophy is given to inner world person. G. Nissky, I. Damaskin, K. Turovsky, N. Sorsky, Elder Philotheus, V. Tatishchev, M. Lomonosov, G. Skovoroda, A. Radishchev, P. Chaadaev, A. Khomyakov, A. Herzen, N. Chernyshevsky, F. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, V. Solovyov, V. Vernadsky, N. Berdyaev, V. Lenin and others.

Philosophy of the last quarter of the 20th century

In the last quarter of the last century, philosophers around the world turned to the search for a new rationality. There are three turns in the development of philosophy: historical, linguistic and sociological. Trends emerge within theological traditions. Parallel to this, there is a process of reflexive processing of the products of myth-making. Philosophers "purify" Marxism of utopianism and direct political interpretations. The philosophy of the last quarter of the 20th century is open, tolerant, there are no dominant schools and trends in it, since the ideological boundaries between them are erased. Philosophy is partly integrated with the humanities and natural sciences. Representatives of the philosophy of the last quarter of the 20th century are G. Gadamer, P. Ricoeur, K. Levi-Strauss, M. Foucault, J. Lacan, J. Derrida, R. Rorty.

Ancient philosophy is represented by such famous thinkers as Socrates, Plato, Thales, Pythagoras, Aristotle and others. Ancient thought developed from the cosmos to man, giving rise to new trends that are still being studied by modern scientists.

Three periods of ancient philosophy

Ancient philosophy is of interest to many researchers and thinkers of our time. AT this moment There are three periods of development of this philosophy:

The first period is from Thales to Aristotle;

The second period is the philosophy of the Greeks in the Roman world;

The third period is Neoplatonic philosophy.

The first period is characterized by the development philosophical teachings about nature. In the second period, the idea of ​​anthropological problems develops. Socrates plays the main role here. The third period is also called the age of Hellenism. The subjective world of an individual, religious comprehension of the surrounding world is studied.

Problems of ancient philosophy

If ancient philosophy is considered as a whole, the problematics can be defined as follows:

Cosmology. It was developed by natural philosophers who study nature and space. Natural philosophers discussed how the cosmos arose, why it is exactly the way it is, what is the role of man in this whole universal process. Gradually, the thought moves to the other side of the problem - to man. This is how morality comes about.

Morality. It was developed by the sophists. The most main topic- knowledge of the human world, its features. There is a transition from the universe to a specific person. By analogy with Eastern philosophy, statements begin to appear that by knowing a person, you can know the world around. The philosophical view goes inside the human world, in an attempt to find answers to global questions. In search of a connection between the visible and invisible world, metaphysical methods of cognition of the world arise.

Metaphysics. Its appearance is associated with the teachings of Plato. A well-known scientist with his followers assures that existence and reality are heterogeneous. At the same time, the ideational world is much higher than the sensual one. The followers of the metaphysical doctrine study the problems of the genesis and nature of the knowledge of the world. Entire branches of the doctrine appear - aesthetics, physics, logic. Ultimately, mystical-religious problems are formed, which are characteristic of the final era of antiquity.

How many teachings were in ancient Greece

According to research conducted by scientists, Ancient Greece has at least 288 teachings. The most famous schools that are scrupulously studied in our time are the Academy of Plato, the Lyceum of Aristotle, the Stoic school, the Epicurean school, the Ionian school. Ancient philosophy did not give answers to all questions, but it gave many wise thoughts and sayings that still make human thought develop.

The main problems of ancient philosophy were:

The problem of being and non-being, matter and its forms. Ideas were put forward about the fundamental opposition of form and "matter", about the main elements, the elements of the cosmos; identity and opposition of being and non-being; structure of being; the fluidity of being and its inconsistency. The main problem here is how did the cosmos come about? What is its structure? (Thales, Anaximenes, Zeno, Anaximander, Democritus);

The problem of man, his knowledge, his relationship with other people. What is the essence of human morality, are there moral norms that do not depend on circumstances? What is politics and the state in relation to a person? How do rational and irrational correlate in human consciousness? Is there an absolute truth and is it achievable by the human mind? These questions were given different, often opposite, answers. (Socrates, Epicurus...);

The problem of will and freedom of man. Ideas were put forward of the insignificance of man before the forces of nature and social cataclysms and, at the same time, his power and strength of his spirit in the pursuit of freedom, noble thought, knowledge, in which they saw the happiness of man (Aurelius, Epicurus ...);

The problem of the relationship between man and God, divine will. The ideas of a constructive cosmos and being, the structure of the matter of the soul, society were put forward as interdependent.

The problem of the synthesis of the sensual and the supersensible; the problem of finding a rational method of cognition of the world of ideas and the world of things.(Plato, Aristotle and their followers...).

Characteristic features of ancient philosophy.

Ancient philosophy arises and develops to a large extent as a result of direct sensual contemplation peace. It was on the basis of direct sensory data that the argumentation of the world was built. A certain naivety of the ancient Greek conception of the world is connected with this.

The syncretism of ancient philosophy is the original indivisibility of knowledge. It included all the varieties of elements of emerging knowledge (geometric, aesthetic, music, crafts). This is largely due to the fact that the ancient Greek thinkers were diversified, engaged in various cognitive activities.

Ancient philosophy arose as a doctrine of nature, space (naturalistic philosophy). Later, from the middle of the 5th century (Socrates), the doctrine of man arises from that moment on two closely related lines: 1. Comprehension of nature, 2. Comprehension of man.

In ancient philosophy, a special approach is formed in the comprehension of nature and man (worldview). Cosmocentrism, the essence lies in the fact that the starting point in the development of philosophical problems was the definition of understanding the cosmos of nature as a single commensurate whole with some spiritual principle (soul, world mind). The law of the development of space as a source of development. Understanding the cosmos is at the center of understanding the world.

In accordance with the understanding of the cosmos, human nature is also understood. Man is a microcosm, in accordance with this, the relationship between man and the surrounding world (the harmony of man, the world, the mind of man, thinking) is understood.

As an important type human activity thoughtful, cognitive activity associated with the comprehension of both the cosmos and man, aimed at achieving the inner harmony of man, social harmony, harmony between man and the cosmos.

This is related to such a characteristic feature of philosophy and ancient culture as cognitive and ethical rationalism: Good is the result of knowledge, Evil is the result of not knowledge.

That is why the ideal of a person in ancient philosophy is a sage who contemplates the world around him, reflects on the world around him.

Traditionally, the development of Greek philosophy is viewed as a single cycle from its inception (VI century BC), through flourishing and maturity (V-IV centuries BC), to decline. The origin of ancient Greek philosophy has already been considered by us in describing the process of the formation of philosophy and its separation from myth. Let's take a quick look at the next steps. This is maturity and flowering, or the period of the classics; decline, or the philosophy of the Hellenistic era and the Latin philosophy of the period of the Roman Republic (III-I centuries BC), decline (I-V centuries AD).

The classical period in ancient philosophy is based on the idea of ​​a whole sensual-material Cosmos as an object of philosophical reflection. The stage of the early classics (Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, Democritus) is characterized by an intuitive consideration of the sensual-material cosmos. This is a kind of intuitive natural philosophy.

The search for the primary elements of the world is carried out here in material, real, tangible things, phenomena and elements that surround a person. A person lives on earth, this is his basis, therefore it would certainly be correct to assume that this is the basis of the Cosmos. However, the earth is motionless, and the world moves, so there must be foundations for this fluidity of the world, and they are found in water and air. But earth, water, and air, as it were, are always present, always there, and in the world there is still death and destruction, and fire, a mobile and subtle element of matter, is chosen as the element that reflects these processes. In addition, some less concrete-sensory representation was also required, reflecting the eternity of the world and matter. As such, ether acts as a special kind of fire-light.

Philosophers understood that any phenomenon, any object under study is diverse and has properties that cannot always be detected by the senses. Therefore, the Ionian tradition of Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes, which develops the doctrine of physical matter as primary in relation to form, is opposed by the Pythagorean tradition, in which an important place is occupied by the form, with the help of which matter, which has potential properties, became a concrete object (formed). The realization of this idea was the Pythagorean doctrine of numbers.

Representatives of the Eleatic school (Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno and others) argued that the form is primary. On the contrary, philosophers of the atomistic direction (Leucippus, Democritus) put matter in the first place. In the course of discussions, a synthetic direction arises, within which an attempt is made to connect matter and form, plurality and unity, and consider them as mutually passing into each other. Empedocles considered such a transition as the result of cosmic upheavals taking place with a certain periodicity. Diogenes of Apollonia, on the contrary, is like a gradual transition from one to the other.

As a result of philosophical disputes, what we now call the main achievement of antiquity was formed, namely, dialectics as a method of considering objects, in which the unity of opposite sides is seen and the possibility of synthetic, unifying reasoning about the diversity of the world around us, about the heterogeneity of processes in it.

One of the central places in ancient philosophy is the doctrine of the Logos. In the ordinary sense, "logos" is nothing more than just speech, as well as conversation, judgment, decision, or even a general mathematical meaning, order. In addition, in the Greek tradition, logos was considered as a genre of prose distinct from poetry, and people working in this prose genre were called logographers. In ancient drama, the logos denoted the dialogue of characters, in contrast to the choral performance. However, in modern culture includes a different understanding of this term in antiquity, primarily its philosophical interpretation. And here logos means the process of rational (logical) penetration of a thinking person into the meaning of phenomena, which is opposed to irrational thinking.

So, Heraclitus (550-480) believed that speech itself already streamlines, gives meaning to individual sounds, although it is necessary to speak or utter your logos with the mind. Logos is not the speech of an ordinary person, but a special property of the sensual cosmos. It, as something objective, substratum, is an expression of the activity of the Cosmos in ordering the world, it is everything that opposes the chaotic and formless. Listening to the Speech (Logos) is like understanding the world order, the world order. Just like the Cosmos, the Logos is eternal, according to it everything has happened and is happening.

At the stage of the Middle Classics, the problems of hermeneutics and dialectics are actively developed. The development of hermeneutics was associated primarily with the activities of the sophists - the first Greek philologists. During this period, a new interpretation and interpretation of the ancient texts of Homer and other Greek poets was required. The fact is that since the life of Homer there have been significant changes in the language, and the works of the poet were already at that time literary monuments. At the same time, the works of Homer and some ancient poets were the source of classical writing by which people learned to read and write. Therefore, their interpretation and translation into the new Greek language were very urgent practical tasks. Intellectual work in this area leads to the creation of a number of hermeneutic programs. But since the ancient Greeks did not know translation in the modern sense of the word, a special method of interpreting a text is emerging and gaining distribution - a paraphrase, which combines elements of commentary and translation and is the first application of contextual analysis.

Dialectics at this stage is considered by the sophists (Protagoras, Gorgias, etc.) as a certain method of substantiating the propositions being proved, often without regard to their truth in the modern sense of the word, which makes it possible to use dialectics to substantiate directly opposite statements. In the latter case, it is often referred to as "negative dialectics". "Positive dialectics", with which many researchers associate the beginning of philosophy as such, is being developed in Socratic philosophy (Socrates, Xenophon). In the history of philosophy, the period preceding this is called pre-Socratic, and the philosophers representing it are called pre-Socratic.

The stage of mature classics is characterized by the wide use of dialectics, which is already applied to the entire sensual-material cosmos. This finds its full expression in the philosophy of Plato. On the one hand, following the Socratic tradition, Plato sees in dialectics a special way of searching for truth. On the other hand, on the basis of dialectics, he creates his own understanding of the sensual-material cosmos as a synthesis of mind and necessity, ideas and matter. Matter is interpreted as something indefinite and formless, and the idea, on the contrary, as something formed and limited.

At the stage of the late classics (Aristotle), the idea of ​​universal formation is developed, and the idea acts as a formative force. The appearance of a thing generated by an idea is called an eidos (some kind of causal-target construction). The whole cosmos is interpreted as a huge eidos, a cause-and-effect construction of the whole world, "hey-

dos eidos", "idea of ​​ideas" - "mind-prime mover". He is the cause of himself, he is thinking, but also thinkable. This is a kind of self-thinking being. In Aristotle, thus, "the eternal idea is not just something immovable and inactive, but all the time is in action, in becoming, in creativity, in life's search, in the pursuit of one or another, but always definite goals ". There is no thing in itself and an idea in itself, such an opposition is purely mental, they are real mutually transform into each other.

The period, which is often referred to as the decline of ancient philosophy, is characterized by the fact that the sensual-material cosmos is considered not as an object, but as a subject who has will and feelings, who is aware of himself and can be the creator of history. In early Hellenism, three schools stand out - Epicureanism, Stoicism and Skepticism.

Epicureanism was named after its founder, Epicurus (342-271 BC). The representatives of the direction were Lucretius and Horace. The school was located on the outskirts of Athens, in the countryside, the building was in the garden. Hence the name - "philosophers of the Garden". The main provisions of the Epicurean manifesto: "1) reality is completely permeable to the human mind and amenable to comprehension; 2) in the space of the real there is a place for happiness; 3) happiness is the displacement of suffering and anxiety; 4) to achieve happiness and peace, a person does not need any than, except for oneself; 5) states, institutions, nobility, wealth, and even Gods are also superfluous for this. The school was founded on democratic principles, its doors were open to everyone, but it was not an educational institution, but a closed partnership of like-minded people.

Representatives of Epicureanism proceed from the fact that any sensation, feeling must be preceded by "sensibility" as a kind of primary property. These are atoms. Atoms were such mental structures that embodied the tangibility of being, could change their direction, and the source of their movement was in themselves. And finally, the gods were also tangible, and therefore they could not depend on anything: "neither they influence the world, nor the world can influence them." From this follows the famous principle of freedom of Epicureanism, which actually acts not just as some kind of internal active position, but as an expression of the very structure of the world. Accordingly, the principle of pleasure was a natural characteristic of human nature. This was determined not by the subjective will of man, but by the objective state of affairs.

Epicurus' theory of knowledge is empirical. The most authentic source of knowledge, which never deceives us, seems to Epicurus feelings. The mind cannot even imagine

strike as an independent source of knowledge independent of the senses. Objectively existing things "exude" flows of atoms, due to which the images of things are imprinted in the soul that perceives them. The results of this influence, sensations, are true if they correspond to things, and false if they convey only the appearance of correspondence to things (for example, due to poor lighting or remoteness). The concept of "image" in this case is an intermediary between a thing and a sensation. Feelings are the basis for the formation of representations that are stored in memory. Their totality can be called past experience. Human language names fix representations. The meaning of the names are representations, correlated through the image (a stream of atoms) with the thing. In addition to the usual five senses in Epicurus, they include pleasure and suffering, which are evaluative, allowing you to distinguish not only truth and falsehood, but also good and evil. That which promotes pleasure is good, and that which brings suffering is evil. The theory of knowledge serves Epicurus as the fundamental foundation of his ethics.

Philosophy is meant for knowing the paths to pleasure and happiness. Knowledge frees man from fear of nature, gods and death. A person must have convictions, value love and friendship, avoid negative passions and hatred in every possible way, which can destroy the social contract. The latter is the basis of the coexistence of people, with the goal of mutual benefit. The laws of social life, expressing ideas of higher justice, are a consequence of the social contract.

Stoicism (III century BC - III century AD) differs significantly from Epicureanism in many ways. For example, in the school of Epicurus, both in his time and after him, the cult of the teacher reigned, whose authority was considered indisputable, the students not only studied his theory, but also adamantly followed it. In the school of the Stoics, on the contrary, all dogma was rejected, criticism was the driving force of their teaching. The Stoics did not accept the mechanistic atomism of the Epicureans, according to which man was the same clutch of atoms as a chicken and a worm. Atomism fundamentally could not explain the moral and intellectual essence of man. Nor did the Stoics accept the Epicurean ethics of pleasure for the sake of pleasure.

Stoicism has existed for many centuries, not remaining a homogeneous trend, its philosophical problems have undergone major changes. It was extensive, but the main points were related to the study of logic, physics and ethics. The Stoics figuratively represented their philosophy in the form orchard in which logic is its fence, physics is its trees, and ethics are its fruits. Thus, the purpose and highest destination of philosophy, according to

Stoics, should be the rationale for moral ideas. Philosophy and philosophizing are the art of practical life and the guide to it.

The Stoic school was founded by Zeno of Kition (336-264 BC) in Athens. He was of Semitic origin, originally from the island of Crete, and according to the laws of the time, as a non-Athenian, he could not rent houses in Athens. Therefore, the meetings of the school were held in the Portico, in Greek - "Standing", whence the name "stoics" came from. Early Stoicism is also represented by Zeno's disciple Cleanthes of Assus in Troad (born 232 BC) and Chrysippus of Sol in Cilicia (281-208 BC). All of them develop the problems of logic, which is considered widely, including the problems of language and the theory of knowledge.

The Stoics attach great importance to the problem of the semantic significance of the word. The meaning of the word is original. This is a special state (lekton), inherent only in the word, a kind of understanding of the existing. The sound of a voice becomes a meaningful language only through the participation of the mind.

The basis of knowledge, according to the Stoics, is the perception obtained from the impact of an object on the senses; it changes the state of our material soul (Chrysippus) or even "is pressed" into it, as into wax (Zeno). The resulting imprint-impression forms the basis of the representation and correlates with the representations of other people. Representations are considered true if they are the same for many people, the joint experience of representations is a criterion for their truth and clearly indicates their correspondence to reality. In other words, concepts arise as a commonality of various perceptions, as a kind of anticipation of the inner logos.

According to the teachings of the Stoics about nature, there are two closely related foundations of being: the passive - matter and the active - the form, understood as the Logos, the divine mind. The logos of the Stoics should by no means be presented as a personified God or as his hypostasis. The logos of the Stoics is immanent in nature, it is the world mind that spiritualizes matter devoid of properties and thereby causes its planned development. Logos is inextricably linked with matter, permeates it. That is why everything in the world happens as planned by the divine Logos. There is no accident in the world, everything happens by necessity. Yet the Stoics consider human freedom possible. But it is possible only for those who penetrate their thoughts into the divine plan. And this is only for the wise. This is how the famous formula arises: "Freedom is a recognized necessity." An action or deed performed in accordance with the known laws of nature, society, the inner world of a person is free.

The ethics of the Stoics is based on the recognition of happiness as the main goal of human life, and in this it is similar to the ethics of the Epicureans. But that's where the similarity ends. Happiness, according to the Stoics, is following nature, internally rational calmness, rational adaptation to environmental conditions for the sake of self-preservation. Good is that which is aimed at preserving the human being, evil is that which is aimed at destroying it. But not every good is equally valuable. The good, aimed at preserving physical life, is essentially neutral, and the good, aimed at preserving and developing the logos, mind, is a true virtue and can be assessed as a moral quality - good (opposite to it - vice). Everything that contributes to the self-preservation of the dual essence of man is valuable. In accordance with this, the most important concept arises among the Stoics - duty, by which they understand morally perfect behavior based on rational adherence to nature, understanding of its structure, knowledge of its laws. We are all equal before nature, so the requirement of self-preservation applies to everyone. The striving for one's own preservation by each is a condition for not causing harm to another. Equality before nature pushes people to enjoy each other, to universal love, but it is possible only in a rationally organized society. As we can see, here too there is a sharp divergence from the individualistic ethics of pleasure of the Epicureans. The ethics of the Stoics also had a political significance: asserting the foundations of natural law, it called into question the foundations of slavery and turned out to be incompatible with the notions of the elitism of the Greek people.

Average Stoicism is represented by such figures as Panetius (180-110 BC) and Posidonius (135-51 BC), who "transfer" Stoic thinking to Roman soil, softening its original ethical rigidity . They actively develop problems of theology. God, according to their interpretation, is the Logos, which is the root cause of everything and carries within itself the rational germs of all things. This explains the purposefulness of the course of things and events. In average Stoicism, the Platonic idea of ​​the world of ideas is further developed, and the Cosmos is no longer interpreted only as something material, but is understood as a reflection of the world of ideas (Posidonius), as a material-semantic organism, in which extra-rational factors, such as fate, are of great importance.

Late Stoicism is associated with the names of Seneca (4-65), Epictetus (50-138) and Marcus Aurelius (121-180). Moral questions and the problem of a person's life orientation are at the center of philosophical research here. The concept of personality is changing. Prior to this, man was considered as the highest product of nature. The cruel era of this period, associated, in particular, with the intensification of persecution of the emerging Christianity, gives rise to an interpretation of human

ka as being insignificant and at the same time helpless. Many of the ideas of late Stoicism were later adopted by Christian thinkers and even writers of the Renaissance.

The Stoics receive a philosophical understanding of the change in society's attitude towards slavery. Seneca distinguishes between bodily and spiritual slavery, slavery before passions, vices, things. Epictetus, developing the views of Seneca, argues that the freedom of man consists in the possession of freedom of mind and will, which cannot be taken away from him. From this point of view, the slave is also free, the master owns only the body of the slave, he can sell it or use it as an instrument of production, even take his life. But the human soul is free. She lives in the fetters of a body that is imperfect, and a person is even free to free an immortal soul from the fetters of a sinful body by committing suicide (cases of voluntary deprivation of life at that time were quite frequent). Note, however, that Seneca did not consider suicide the best way of personal salvation. Allowing such a departure from life for the sake of the liberation of the soul, he believed that one must have good reasons for this. Rather, Seneca's goal was to free man from the fear of death by equalizing the positions of life and death: both are necessarily inherent in man, one cannot exist without the other. The fear of death is removed by an optimistic motive: whoever has not lived will not die.

But we must adequately live the period of time allotted by nature, which is commonly called life. To do this, one should be freed from the desire for vices, especially not to commit vicious actions. One should live in accordance with truth, which is the correspondence of knowledge to utility. Using knowledge, act in such a way as not to harm yourself and others. Philosophy in this regard is understood as a means of forming a character resistant to the adversities of life, only it leads to the deliverance of the soul from the mortal body, the acquisition of true freedom by a person. All philosophy is reduced to applied (or practical) philosophy; metaphysics, theory of knowledge, logic are of little concern to the Stoics. Their main ethical attitude is to live in harmony with nature. But it was an empty, meaningless principle of moralizing. As A.N. Chanyshev, "the Stoics did not know the natural, nature, they did not know a single law of nature. They ... turned nature into a metaphysical reality, to which they attributed features that were not characteristic of it: rationality and divinity."

Seneca's concept of equality was also abstract: people are equal to each other as natural beings. It was also adopted by Christianity. In Christian teaching, equality is ensured by the same attitude of people towards God. Both concepts, although not consistent, played a progressive role in the era of the dominance of slave-owning relations, protesting from different positions against the monstrous oppression of people, against slavery in the first place.

The last Roman Stoic Marcus Aurelius brings the gloomy picture of human insignificance to the last limits: complete decline, skepticism, disappointment, apathy, the absence of any positive ideals - the main motive of his writings. However, at the same time, he believes that there is a means to elevate a person above the frailty of random existence. This is prudence and a generally useful activity. The philosopher-emperor introduces the category of "citizenship" and creates a "positive ideal of a person" (of course, he could only refer to a Roman): "This being is "courageous, mature, devoted to the interests of the state", it is invested with power, feels itself in office and "with with a light heart awaits the call to leave life"; it sees "wisdom exclusively in just activity" ". It is impossible to change life, just as it is impossible to change what is given from above, but to live, performing both feats and all mortal deeds in this world, should be as if today is the last.

The third direction of early Hellenism is skepticism. Its largest representatives were Pyrrho of Elis (365-275 BC) and Sextus Empiricus (200-250). Skeptics consciously pursue the general principle of early Hellenism - the principle of the relativity of everything around us, our thoughts and actions - and come to the conclusion that it is impossible to know the cosmos. According to skeptics, one should not strive to know the world, one should simply live without expressing any judgments claiming to be true and maintaining inner peace. The previous philosophical thought has no value. To questions like "What is truth?" or "What, where and how does it happen?" not only are there no reliable answers, but they are in themselves illegal. They are put up out of vanity and idleness, out of a desire to become famous.

Historically, skepticism is a complex phenomenon. A.N. Chanyshev wrote about this: “The agnosticism of the skeptics cannot be credited to them. However, skepticism also had a positive meaning due to the fact that it sharply posed the problem of knowledge and truth, drew attention to philosophical pluralism, which, however, turned against philosophy and philosophers "The advantage of skepticism is its anti-dogmatism. About skepticism, we can say that it is twofold. Directly it leads to agnosticism, teaches about the unknowability of the world. Indirectly, it pushes philosophical thought to the search for a criterion of truth, generally arouses interest in the problem philosophical knowledge, its similarities with scientific knowledge and its differences from it.

The imperfection of the human senses, his insignificance before the greatness of nature, the historical limitations and relativity of knowledge were absolutized, and philosophy was sentenced: "Philosophy is not capable of giving adequate knowledge." Skepticism as a philosophical direction (not to be confused with doubt, criticism and skepticism as methodological techniques that are very useful for any researcher) is a sign of the extinction of the creative thought of Greek thinkers, although, according to Kant, skeptics reasonably questioned the first attempts to build philosophy: "Attempts to create such a science were even, no doubt, the first cause of skepticism that arose so early, in which the mind acts against itself so violently that such a way of thinking could appear only in complete despair to achieve a satisfactory solution to the most important problems of the mind.

The period of the decline of ancient philosophy (I-V centuries) includes not only Greek, but also Roman philosophy. He is mainly represented by Plotinus (205-270), Porfiry (233-303); Syrian Neoplatonism in the person of Iamblichus (middle of the 3rd century - c. 330), Salustius (middle of the 4th century) and Julian; Athenian neoplatonism in the person of Plutarch, Hierocles, Sirian, Proclus.

Plotinus develops the doctrine of the functioning of the Logos as a kind of world destiny. Logos is the world soul, or rather, its active part. The Logos is severe and manifests itself as a necessary law. But the Logos is perfect only in its pure form, its manifestations in the world are imperfect.

Starting with Plotinus, the Logos becomes the concept of theology and is rethought as the Word of God. The text of the Bible: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1) - receives a philosophical interpretation. God calls things, calling them out of non-existence. Jesus is the incarnation of God in the world through the Logos.

In the same period, there is a further development of the idea of ​​the Cosmos as a subject. This is some return to myth, but already at a new level, enriched with previous philosophical ideas: "Ancient philosophy ... began with a myth and ended with a myth. And when the myth was exhausted, the ancient philosophy itself turned out to be exhausted" .

Numerous areas of philosophy of the first centuries of our era are questioned and reworked taking into account the needs of Christianity. The transition from antiquity to early medieval patristics is characterized by syncretism. “So beautifully, but ingloriously and so naturally and tragically, the thousand-year-old ancient philosophy perished, which often and deeply influenced many phenomena of subsequent cultures, but which, as a living and integral worldview, perished once and for all” .

The main problems of ancient philosophy ( general characteristics). Ancient philosophy of the pre-Socratic period

Logic and philosophy

Problems of ancient philosophy. The cumulative problems of ancient philosophy can be thematically defined as follows: the cosmology of the natural philosopher in its context, the totality of the real was seen as âphysisâ nature and as cosmos order, the main question is: How did the cosmos arise; the morality of the sophist was a defining theme in the knowledge of man and his specific abilities; metaphysics Plato declares the existence of an intelligible ...

1. The main problems of ancient philosophy (general characteristics). Antique philosophy of the pre-Socratic period.

Problems of ancient philosophy.

The cumulative problems of ancient philosophy can be thematically defined as follows: cosmology (natural philosophers), in its context, the totality of the real was seen as “physis” (nature) and as cosmos (order), the main question is: “How did the cosmos arise?”; morality (sophists) was a defining theme in the knowledge of man and his specific abilities; metaphysics (Plato) declares the existence of an intelligible reality, claims that reality and being are heterogeneous, and the world of ideas is higher than the sensual; methodology (Plato,

Aristotle) ​​develops the problem of the genesis and nature of knowledge, while the method of rational search is understood as an expression of the rules of adequate thinking; aesthetics is developed as a sphere for solving the problem of art and beauty in itself; the problems of proto-Aristotelian philosophy can be grouped as a hierarchy of generalizing problems: physics (ontology-theology-physics-cosmology), logic (epistemology), ethics; and at the end of the era of ancient philosophy, mystical-religious problems are formed, they are characteristic of the Christian period of Greek philosophy.

It should be noted that in line with the ancient ability to perceive this world, philosophically theoretical philosophical thought seems to be the most important for the subsequent formation of philosophical knowledge. At the very least, the doctrine of philosophy as life has now undergone a significant change: philosophy is no longer just life, but life precisely in cognition. Of course, the elements of practical philosophy that develop the ideas of ancient practical philosophy retain their significance: the ideas of ethics, politics, rhetoric, the theory of state and law. Thus, it is the theory that can be considered that philosophical discovery

Antiquity, which determined not only the thinking of modern man, but also his life. And without a doubt, the "reverse influence" of the mechanisms of cognition generated by the ancient Greek consciousness had a very strong effect on the very structure of a person's conscious life. In this sense, if the theory is

The principle of the organization of knowledge and its results is fully verified, then its "reverse" effect as reverse principle organization of consciousness is not yet completely clear.

The first philosophical (pre-Socratic) schools of Ancient Greece

1. The first, pre-Socratic philosophical schools of Ancient Greece arose in the 7th - U centuries. BC e. in the early ancient Greek policies that were in the process of formation.

The most famous early philosophical schools of ancient Greece include:

Milesian school;

School of the Pythagoreans;

School of Heraclitus of Ephesus;

Elean school;

Atomists.

The characteristic features of pre-Socratic philosophical schools were:

Pronounced cosmocentrism;

increased attention to the problem of explaining phenomena surrounding nature;

The search for the origin that gave rise to all things;

Hylozoism (animation of inanimate nature);

Doctrinaire (non-debatable) nature of philosophical teachings.

2. The Milesian school existed in Ancient Greece in the 6th century. BC e. and got its name from the name of the city where it was founded: Miletus - a major trade and craft policy in Asia Minor.

Representatives of this school were Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes.

Philosophers of the Milesian school:

They spoke from materialistic positions;

They were engaged not only in philosophy, but also in other sciences - exact and natural;

They tried to explain the laws of nature (for which they got their second name - the school of "physicists");

They were looking for the beginning - the substance from which the surrounding world arose.

Thales (approximately 640 - 560 BC) - the founder of the Milesian school, one of the very first prominent Greek scientists and philosophers. Thales, who left a great scientific and philosophical legacy:

He considered water ("arche") to be the beginning of all things;

Represented the Earth in the form of a flat disk that rests on water;

He believed that inanimate nature, all things have a soul (that is, he was a hylozoist - he animated everything that exists);

Allowed the existence of many gods;

He considered the Earth to be the center of the universe;

Accurately determined the length of the year - 365 days;

Made a number of mathematical discoveries (theorem of Thales, etc.). Anaximander (610 - 540 BC), student of Thales:

He considered the "apeiron" - the eternal, immeasurable, infinite substance, from which everything arose, everything consists and into which everything will turn, to be the beginning of everything that exists;

He deduced the law of conservation of matter (in fact, discovered the atomic structure of matter): all living things, all things consist of microscopic elements; after the death of living organisms, the destruction of substances, elements ("atoms") remain and, as a result of new combinations, form new things and living organisms;

He was the first to put forward the idea of ​​the origin of man as a result of evolution from other animals (anticipated the teachings of Ch. Darwin).

Anaximenes (546 - 526 BC) - student of Anaximander:

He considered air to be the root cause of all things;

He put forward the idea that all substances on Earth are the result of different concentrations of air (air, compressing, turns first into water, then into silt, then into soil, stone, etc.);

He drew parallels between the human soul ("psyche") and air ("pneuma") - the "soul of the cosmos";

Identified deities with the forces of nature and heavenly bodies.

3. Heraclitus from Ephesus (2nd half of the 6th - 1st half of the 5th centuries BC) - a major ancient Greek materialist philosopher, founder of the philosophical trend (originally belonged to the logical school):

He considered fire to be the beginning of all things;

He deduced the law of unity and struggle of opposites - the key law of dialectics (the most important philosophical discovery of Heraclitus);

He believed that the whole world is in constant motion and change ("you cannot enter the same river twice");

He was a supporter of the circulation of substances in nature and the cyclical nature of history;

Recognized the relativity of the surrounding world (" sea ​​water dirty for man, but clean for fish", in different situations the same act of a person can be both good and bad);

He considered the Logos, the World Mind, to be an all-encompassing, all-penetrating deity;

He advocated the materiality of the human and world soul;

He was a supporter of sensual (materialistic) knowledge of the surrounding reality;

He considered struggle to be the driving force of all processes: "war (struggle) is the father of everything and the mother of everything."

4. Pythagoreans - supporters and followers of Pythagoras (2nd half of the 6th - beginning of the 5th centuries BC), an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician:

The number was considered the root cause of everything that exists (the whole surrounding reality, everything that happens can be reduced to a number and measured using a number);

They advocated the knowledge of the world through a number (they considered knowledge through a number intermediate between sensual and idealistic consciousness);

They considered the unit to be the smallest particle of everything;

They tried to identify "protocategories" that showed the dialectical unity of the world (even - odd, light - dark, straight - crooked, right - left, male - female, etc.).

5. Eleatics - representatives of the Elean philosophical school that existed in the VI - V centuries. BC e. in the ancient Greek city of Elea on the territory of modern Italy.

The most famous philosophers of this school were Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, Melissus of Samos.

Eleatics:

Studied the problems of cognition;

Rigidly shared sensual knowledge (opinion, "doxa") and higher spiritual idealistic;

They were supporters of monism - they deduced the entire plurality of phenomena from a single source;

They considered everything that exists to be the material expression of ideas (they were the forerunners of idealism).

6. Atomists are a materialistic philosophical school whose philosophers (Democritus, Leucippus) " building material"," the "first brick" of everything that exists was considered microscopic particles - "atoms".

Democritus was considered the founder of the materialistic direction in philosophy ("the line of Democritus" is the opposite of "Plato's line" - the idealistic direction).

In the teachings of Democritus, the following main provisions can be distinguished:

The entire material world is made up of atoms;

An atom is the smallest particle, the "first brick" of everything that exists;

The atom is indivisible (this position was refuted by science only today);

Atoms have different size(from smallest to largest) different shape(round, oblong, curves, "with hooks", etc.);

Between the atoms there is a space filled with emptiness;

Atoms are in perpetual motion;

There is a cycle of atoms: things, living organisms exist, decay, after which new living organisms and objects of the material world arise from these same atoms;

Atoms cannot be "seen" by sensory knowledge.

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1. The main question is the question of the essence of the cosmos, nature as an integral unified world, the universe. The cosmos was seen as finite creature, harmoniously calculated, hierarchically arranged, spiritualized. The cosmos is arranged according to the principle of unity and forms such a structure where everything resides in everything, where each element serves as a representation and reflection of the whole and restores this whole in itself in its entirety, where each part is also everything, not mixed and inseparable from the whole. Every person, thing, event has its own meaning. The harmony of the cosmos manifests itself at all levels of the hierarchy, so that man is a microcosm.

2. The problem of being and becoming is based on the empirically observed difference between the stable and the changeable. That which is always unchanging is being, being, and that which is changeable is becoming. Being absolutely is, i.e. exists before all its possible divisions; it is whole, simple and one. It is perfect, immutable, has no other being as its beginning, is necessary, i.e. cannot but be, already become and identical.

3. Understanding the cosmos and being is based on expediency. If something happens, then there must be a reason that generates it - a goal. “The beginning of a thing,” says Aristotle, “is that for which it exists. And becoming is for the sake of the goal. If there is a goal, there is also a meaning - “for the sake of what”. For many ancient thinkers, what everything strives for is the Good as the first and last goal of the cause of existence.

4. Putting unity above multiplicity, ancient philosophers identified unity and wholeness. The whole was primarily understood as the indivisible. Among the representatives of the Milesian school, this various varieties the beginning (water, air, apeiron), Heraclitus - fire, atomists - atom. For Plato and Aristotle, these are eidoses, forms, ideal existential essences.

5. Ancient philosophers were basically epistemological optimists, considering it possible to know the world. They considered reason to be the main means of knowledge. They are characterized by recognition in accordance with the principle of hierarchy and hierarchically dissected structure of cognitive abilities that depend on the parts of the human soul.

6. The problem of man is the clarification of the essence of man, his connection with the cosmos, his moral predestination, rationality and self-worth.

7. The problem of soul and body as a kind of problem of the correlation between the material and the ideal. The soul is understood either as independent of the material and predetermined by supernatural forces, immortal (Plato), or as a kind of material (the fiery atoms of Democritus). Universal animation (hylozoism) is recognized by Democritus and Aristotle.

8. Ethical problems in which a person appears as a being with base passions and desires and at the same time virtuous, endowed with the highest virtues. Within the framework of antiquity, he identifies several ethical areas:

- eudomonism- harmony between virtue and the pursuit of happiness (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle),

- hedonism- virtue is intertwined with pleasure, vice with suffering (Democritus, Epicurus),

- asceticism- self-restraint as a means of achieving moral superior qualities(cynics, stoics).

9. Ethical issues are closely intertwined with political issues. The individual and the citizen are considered as identical, therefore the problems of the state are ethical problems and vice versa.

10. The problem of the genesis, nature and systematization of scientific knowledge, an attempt to identify sections of philosophical knowledge (Aristotle).

11. A certain classification of sciences based on the cognitive abilities of a person or determined by the degree of significance of the object of study.

12. Development of ways to achieve truth in a dispute, i.e. dialectics as a method of thinking (Socrates, Zeno of Elea).

13. The discovery and subsequent development of a kind of objective dialectics, stating the fluidity, variability, inconsistency of the material world (Miletian school, Heraclitus).

14. The problem of the beautiful, reflected in art, is recognized as either illusory (a copy of a copy according to Plato cannot be beautiful), or capable of freeing a person from power from feelings and giving scope to a reasonable beginning in a person (Aristotle’s catharsis).