In ancient Greek philosophy, there are the following stages of development:

First stage covers the period from the 7th to the 5th centuries. BC. This period is usually called natural-philosophical, pre-Socratic, and the philosophers who lived at this time were characterized as presocratics(Socrates 469-399 BC). This period includes: the Miletus school, Heraclitus of Ephesus, the Elean school, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, Empedocles and Anaxagoras, the ancient Greek atomists - Leucippus and Democritus.

Second phase covers the period from about half of the 5th c. and until the end of the GU century. BC. It is usually characterized as classical. This period is associated with the activities of prominent Greek philosophers - Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, whose views were the pinnacle of ancient Greek, and perhaps even world philosophy.

Third stage in the development of ancient philosophy - the end of the GU-II centuries. BC. usually referred to as Hellenistic (Hellene - the self-name of the ancient Greeks; Hellenism - a period in the history of the Eastern Mediterranean, Western Asia and the Black Sea since the campaigns of Alexander the Great 334-324 BC). In contrast to the classical stage associated with the emergence of significant in its content philosophical systems, at the same time, a number of philosophical trends appeared: academic philosophy (Platonic Academy), peripatetics (Aristotelian Lyceum), Stoic and Epicurean schools, skepticism. Prominent philosophers of this period were Theophrastus and Epicurus. However, all schools were characterized by a transition from commenting on the teachings of Plato and Aristotle to the problems of ethics, preaching skepticism and stoicism.

Epicurus (341-270 BC), was born on the island of Samos in the family of an Athenian settler, a teacher. From the age of 14 he began to study science. At 18 years he comes to Athens, then moves to Asia Minor (modern Turkey). AT 306 BC returns to Athens and founds his own school - "Garden of Epicurus". Epicurus divided his teachings into three parts: canonics - the theory of knowledge, physics - the doctrine of nature and ethics. He developed the atomistic doctrine of Democritus, believing that in the Universe there are only bodies located in space. Bodies are perceived directly by the senses, and the existence of an empty space between bodies is explained by the fact that otherwise movement would be impossible. From the works of Epicurus, few originals have come down to posterity: "Letter to Herod from y" and "Letter to Pythocles", which reflect his views on nature; "Letter to Me" by "her" reflects ethical views, and "Main thoughts" of Epicurus give an idea of ​​​​his main ideas in an aphoristic form. Epicurus died at the age of 71, seriously ill, he was tormented by bouts of vomiting, stones came out of his kidneys, and other ailments plagued him. Once he asked to take a copper bath for himself hot water, lay down in it, drank undiluted wine, wished his friends not to forget his teachings, and so died. The Epicureans continued his teaching, gathering in the garden that belonged to Epicurus and bequeathed to him by the school. Epicurus was succeeded by Ermarchus of Mitylene, who insisted that expediency underlies all laws. The systematizer of the ideas of Epicurus was Philodemus of Gadara.

Fourth stage in the development of ancient philosophy covers the period from the 1st century. BC. and until the 5th-6th centuries, when Rome began to play a decisive role in the ancient world, under the influence of which Greece also falls. However, in Roman philosophy, the opposite is true - it is formed under the influence of the Greek, especially the Hellenistic period, which ended at the beginning of the second quarter of the 1st century BC. It has developed three directions: stoicism(Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius), epicureanism(Titus Lucretius Car), skepticism(Sext Empiric).

In the 3rd-5th centuries, in Roman philosophy, there arises and develops Neoplatonism, whose most prominent representative was Plotinus. Neoplatonism had an enormous influence not only on early Christian philosophy, but on all medieval religious philosophy.

Plotinus(204-270), the founder of Neoplatonism, is the last of the major philosophers of antiquity. Soon after his birth, significant political processes take place: military formations acquired real state power and the army command introduced the practice of electing emperors for monetary rewards. Civil strife began, the murders of emperors in order to divide the empire. it facilitated targeted invasions of the Roman Empire by the Germans from the north and the Persians from the east. The war and the epidemic reduced the population of the Roman Empire by almost a third. Cities that were carriers of culture suffered especially hard. Plotinus moves away from the spectacle of ruin and poverty in the real world to contemplate the eternal world of goodness and beauty. He interprets the works of Plato, trying to build some semblance of a system. New in Plotinus was the doctrine of the origin of all things - the one, which itself is higher than things. The One, the beginning of all things, like Plato, is called good by Plotinus and is compared with the Sun. It is opposed to dark and formless matter, the principle of evil. The universe of Plotinus is static. Every lower step in it is eternally born from the higher one, and the higher one always remains unchanged and, generating, does not suffer damage. The One eternally shines in its superbeautiful goodness.

Thus, we can say that ancient Western, ancient, at first only Greek, and then Roman philosophy, having existed for more than one millennium (from the 6th century BC to the 6th century), went through, like all ancient culture, a closed cycle from birth to flourishing, and through it to decline and death.

Stages of development and main features of ancient philosophy.

Topic 3. "Ancient Greek civilization and features of ancient philosophical traditions."

Questionnaire:

1. The main worldview ideas of ancient philosophy.

Stages of development and main features of ancient philosophy.

Despite the presence of various specialized knowledge in pre-philosophical times in Hellas, ancient Greek science arises simultaneously with philosophy. However, the ancient tradition is unanimous that the first ancient philosophers underwent preliminary training in Egypt and partly in Babylonia, where they learned the achievements of Near Eastern protoscience. According to famous myth, Europa herself is a Phoenician kidnapped by Zeus. Europe's brother Cadmus, finding himself in Greece in search of his sister, not only founded Thebes, but also brought the Phoenician alphabet to the Greeks.

Already the first ancient philosophers began to process Afro-Asiatic computational mathematics into a deductive science. On this basis, it became possible occurrence ancient philosophy as a rationalized worldview, looking for the substantive basis of the universe. Philosophy in Hellas originates as spontaneous materialism, as natural philosophy or physicophilosophy on the basis of its own worldview and Middle Eastern scientific pre-philosophy in the conditions of an anti-aristocratic social revolution.

Ancient Western, ancient, at first only Greek, and then Roman, philosophy existed for more than a millennium (from the 6th century BC to the 6th century AD). During this time, she went through, like all ancient culture, a vicious cycle from birth to flourishing, and through it to decline and death. In accordance with this, the history of ancient philosophy is divided into four periods: 1) the origin and formation (6th century BC); 2) maturity and flourishing (5th - 4th centuries BC), 3) decline - this is the Greek philosophy of the Hellenistic era and the Latin philosophy of the period of the Roman Republic (3rd - 1st centuries BC) and 4) the period of decline and death in the era of the Roman Empire (1 - 5 centuries AD).

Despite the diversity philosophical schools and traditions, some unifying features can be identified for this period. Ancient philosophy is syncretic, which means that it is characterized by a greater unity, inseparability of problems than subsequent philosophy. In modern philosophy, a detailed division of the world is carried out, for example, into the world of nature and the world of man. Each of these worlds has its own divisions. A modern philosopher is unlikely to call nature good; for him, only man can be good. The ancient philosopher, as a rule, extended ethical categories to the entire cosmos. Ancient philosophy is cosmocentric: its horizons always cover the entire Cosmos, including the world of man. Such a universal scope is not always characteristic of modern philosophy. Ancient philosophy achieved a lot at the conceptual level - the concept of Plato's ideas, the concept of Aristotle's form, the concept of meaning among the Stoics. However, she hardly knows the laws of science.

The ethical teaching of antiquity is primarily an ethics of virtues, and not an ethics of duty or values. Ancient philosophy is truly functional, which means that it is designed to help people in their lives.

Ancient pre-philosophical mythology existed in three varieties: Homeric, Hesiodian and Orphic. This period is characterized by a mythological approach to the world order and understanding of the world; the Orphics are dominated by a mystical approach to understanding the world.

The next stage in the development of ancient philosophy is Ionian philosophy. If we accept that ancient philosophy is the fruit of the ancient Greek mythological worldview and Near Eastern scientific pre-philosophy, then the fact of the birth of philosophy in Ionia is not surprising. Ionia is the advanced part of the Aegean world. It was located on the western coast of the peninsula of Asia Minor and consisted of twelve independent policies (Miletus, Ephesus, etc.). Ionia is the birthplace of epic poetry and lyrics. Ionians were the first logographers, i.e., "writing words" (meaning - prose) and the first historians. Among them are Cadmus of Miletus, the author of the book "The Foundation of Miletus", the geographer Hecateus of Miletus with his "Description of the Earth", the historian Herodotus.

Ionian philosophy was represented mainly by the Miletus school and the solitary philosopher Heraclitus. Ionian philosophy as a whole is spontaneously materialistic and naive-dialectical, which does not exclude the presence of elements of idealism in it. Ionian philosophy is protophilosophy. It is also characterized by the absence of polarization towards materialism and idealism, which explains the spontaneity of its materialism and its coexistence with the rudiments of idealism, the presence of many images of mythology, significant elements of anthropomorphism, pantheism, the absence of proper philosophical terminology and the allegoricalness associated with this, the presentation of physical processes in the context moral issues, which indicates that ancient philosophy, to a certain extent, is born as ethics.

The representatives of the Milesian school were natural scientists Thales (640-546), Anaximander (610-547), Anaximenes(575-528), who were also interested in deeply ideological issues. They were puzzled by the search for a single foundation and beginning of existence: "What is everything from?" Thales saw him in the water, Anaximander in the apeiron, Anaximenes in the air.

So the Milesian sages, still burdened with mythological views, tried to go beyond immediate visibility and give a natural explanation of the world. This line of Greek philosophy is continued by Heraclitus from Ephesus (540-480 BC). He also tries to isolate the basis of existence behind a multitude of phenomena, constantly changing and disappearing, and considers fire as such - material and most changing of the natural elements.

Heraclitus is also interested in another problem - the state of the world: how does it exist? "Everything that exists," answers the philosopher, "flows (moves), and nothing remains in place." To describe the eternal variability and dynamism of the world, Heraclitus uses the images of "fire", which gives an idea of ​​the rhythmic nature of the world process, and the river - an indomitable stream into which "one cannot enter twice". Going further in his reasoning, he raises the question of the cause of the change and calls it the struggle of opposite forces: cold and hot, wet and dry, etc.

At the end of the 6th c. BC e. the center of emerging European philosophy moves from the Far East of the Aegean world to its Far West - from Ionia to "Greater Greece" (as the Romans called this part of the Greek world), or " Great Hellas(as the Hellenes themselves called it). Italian philosophy (Aristotle) ​​was a further step in the development of ancient philosophy after Ionian philosophy. The Pythagorean Union, the school of the Eleatics and Empedocles belonged to Italian philosophy.

Pythagoras(570-497 BC) creates his own school and substantiates the mathematical approach to the knowledge of reality, in the explanation of which he proceeds not from nature, but from number - the mathematical principle. He considers the cosmos as an ordered harmonious whole, expressed in numbers. "Number owns things", "number is the basis of being", "the best numerical ratio is harmony and order" - these are the main judgments of Pythagoras and his students, who expounded the doctrine of the numerical structure of the universe. Since the Pythagoreans, philosophy, by the power of reason, transforms myth into theoretical constructions, and transforms images into concepts. There is a trend of liberation of philosophy from mythology and the formation of a rational-conceptual worldview.

Even more in the process of transition from the figurative-mythological worldview to the philosophical-theoretical, the Elean school succeeded, whose representatives Xenophanes(570-548 BC), Parmenides(520-440 BC), Zeno(490-430 BC). Like their predecessors, the subject of discussion was the problem of the essence of the world and the ways of its existence. The power of reason, according to Parmenides, consisted in the fact that with its help one can move from an infinite set of facts to some kind of their internal basis, from variability to stability, obeying certain rules, for example, the law prohibiting contradictions. Only on this path can one reveal the basis of the world, abstracting from its diversity, single out the common that is inherent in it and all things, and see the unchanging behind the changing world. Parmenides believes that such is being. Following the law of contradiction, he concludes: "Being exists, there is no non-being at all." Being is endowed with such qualities as: indivisibility, immobility, perfection, timelessness, eternity.

The merit of Parmenides and the Eleatic school is enormous. The concept of being as a fundamental philosophical category was singled out and thus the beginning of the most important branch of philosophy was laid - ontology. The problem of constant and changing in the world was also identified and preference was given to sustainable relations.

The pinnacle of philosophical thought of the pre-Socratic period was the idea of ​​ancient atomism, which was developed in philosophy Democritus(460-370 BC). In his reasoning, he tries to resolve the contradiction that the Eleatic school came to - the contradiction between the sensually perceived picture of the world and its speculative comprehension.

Unlike Parmenides, Democritus admits non-existence, which "exists no less than being." By it he means emptiness. At the same time, being is conceived as a collection of the smallest particles that interact with each other, enter into various relationships, and move in the void. Thus, the doctrine of the two states of the world: atoms and emptiness, being and non-being, is opposed to the single immovable being of the Eleatics, and being is divisible. Atoms are the smallest, indivisible, immutable and impenetrable, absolutely dense, infinite in number of the first body, which, differing from each other in size, shape and position, colliding and intertwining, form bodies.

classical period- the heyday of the ancient Greek society and its culture with polis democracy, which opened up great opportunities for the improvement of the individual, giving the free Greek the right to participate in the management of public affairs, which means making independent decisions and at the same time demanding responsibility and wisdom. The person was aware of himself as a sovereign personality. The problem of man, his cognitive and activity possibilities and his place in society was acute.

Philosophy recognizes the need to understand these problems. And the first are the sophists - ancient enlighteners and teachers of wisdom. In the person of the sophists, the philosophical worldview thought of ancient Greece put a person in the focus of worldview research. The sophists extended their relativism to religious dogma as well. In general, relativism has one positive trait- He is anti-dogmatic. In this sense, the sophists played a particularly large role in Hellas. Where they appeared, the dogmatism of tradition was shaken. With regard to historical sequence, one can speak of "senior" and "junior" sophists. Among the senior sophists stood out Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, Prodicus, Antiphon, Xeniades. Of the younger sophists, who were already active at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 4th century. BC e., the most interesting Alcidamus, Trasimachus, Critias and Callicles.

Further development ancient philosophy is associated with the names of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle - the titans of ancient philosophy.

In general, this period of ancient philosophy was characterized by a cosmocentric direction of philosophical thought, a spontaneous materialistic approach in ontological teachings. Of great importance is the moral and epistemological relativism of the sophists, which had a general anti-dogmatic orientation.

2. Philosophy of presacratics, sophists, Socrates.

2.Presocratics– philosophers ancient period to Socrates (800 - 500 BC).
Presocratics (German Vorsokratiker; French Presocratiques, English Presocratics) is a new European term for the early Greek philosophers of the 6th-5th centuries. BC e The works of the Pre-Socratics are known only from fragments preserved in the form of quotations from later ancient authors (see doxographies). The main philosophical centers of the early philosophy of Greece are Miletus (in Ionia, the western coast of Asia Minor), Sicily, Elea. The most prominent pre-Socratic philosophers: Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes (Miletian school), Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, Heraclitus, Parmenides and his followers (Elean school), Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus. The focus of the entire philosophy of the pre-Socratics is the cosmos, its elementary fundamental principles, the causes of various natural phenomena, therefore this philosophy is also called cosmological and natural philosophy. In general, the Eastern, Ionian tradition (Miletian school) is characterized by empiricism, interest in the diversity of the material and material, for the Western (Italian) tradition (Pythagoreanism, the Eleatic school, partly Heraclitus) - the predominant interest in the formal, numerical and structural aspect of things, the first the formulation of epistemological and ontological problems in their pure form, often religious and eschatological interests. The sum and result of the development of all early philosophy was the atomistic system of Democritus. In the early period, Greek philosophy formulated two universal theses that allow us to speak of it as independent school thoughts: “nothing comes from nothing” and “like is known by like”, which one way or another were present in all the constructions of the pre-Socratics.
The anthropological problems of the early tradition are included in the cosmological one: at first it does not go beyond narrow physiology and considers a person as a material, although an animated element of the cosmos, then, in atomistic philosophy, it acquires the features of rationalistic ethics, substantiating the rules of behavior in society in connection with the idea of ​​a universal good (happiness).
First time term "presocratics" was introduced in 1903 when the German philologist Hermann Diels (1848-1922) collected in his book Fragments of the Pre-Socratics ("Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker") texts" of philosophers who lived before Socrates. The book included more than 400 names, along with fragments of Orphic and other pre-philosophical theocosmogony.
Ancient philosophy (first Greek and then Roman) covers more than a thousand years from the 6th century. BC there is. to the VI century. n. is, originated in ancient Greek policies (city-states) of democratic orientation and content, methods and purpose differed from the Eastern methods of philosophizing, the mythological explanation of the world inherent in early ancient culture. Formation philosophical view the world was prepared by the ancient Greek literature, culture (the works of Homer, Hesiod, gnomic poets), where questions were raised about the place and role of man in the universe, skills were formed to establish motives (reasons) for actions, and artistic images were structured according to a sense of harmony, proportions and measure. Early Greek philosophy uses fantastic imagery and the metaphorical language of mythology. But if for myth the image of the world and the real world are separable, did not differ in any way and, accordingly, comparable, then philosophy formulates as its main goal: the desire for truth, a pure and disinterested desire to get closer to it. Possession of complete and definite truth, according to ancient tradition, was considered possible only for the gods. Man, however, could not merge with Sophia, since the mortal, of course, is limited in knowledge. Therefore, only a steady pursuit of truth is never fully completed for a person, an active, active, passionate desire for truth, love for wisdom, which follows from the very concept of philosophy. The main stages of development for the ancient Greeks who lived in the period of ancient philosophy to the renewal of civilization, the world is a huge collection of various natural and social forces and processes. How to live in such a world? Who rules the world? How to harmonize your own capabilities with the secret and powerful forces of nature? What is being and what are its foundations, the beginning? Existence was associated with a multitude of changing elements, and consciousness with a limited number of concepts, which held back the chaotic manifestation of the elements. The search for a stable source in the changeable circulation of the phenomena of the immense Cosmos is the main cognitive goal of ancient Greek philosophy. Therefore, ancient philosophy can be understood as the doctrine of "First principles and causes." According to its method, historical type philosophy seeks to rationally explain being, reality as a whole. Reasonable arguments, logical reasoning, rhetorical-deductive rationality, logos are significant for ancient philosophy.

The transition "from myth to logos" created a well-known vector for the development of both the spiritual culture and civilization of Europe.

There are four main stages in the development of ancient philosophy. :
First stage- covers the 7th-5th centuries. BC there is. and is called doso-krativsky. Philosophers who lived before Socrates are called pre-Socratic. These include the wise men from Miletus (the so-called Milet school - Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes), Heraclitus from Ephesus, the Eleatics (Parmenides, Zeno), Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, Ato-contain (Leucippus and Democritus). In the center of the early - Pre-Socratic-Greek natural philosophy were the problems of physics and the Cosmos.
Second phase- approximately from the middle of the 5th century. BC there is. - Until the end of the IV century. BC there is. – Classic. The Sophists and Socrates, who first tried to define the essence of man, made an anthropological turn in philosophy. The philosophical heritage of Plato and Aristotle, characterized by the discovery of the supersensible and the organic formulation of the main classical problems, most fully generalizes and reflects the achievements of the classical era of Greek antiquity.
Third stage in the development of ancient philosophy - the end of the IV-II centuries. BC there is. “Usually called Hellenistic. Unlike the previous one, associated with the emergence of significant, deep in content and universal in subject matter philosophical systems, various eclectic competing philosophical schools are being formed: peripatetics, academic philosophy (Platonic Academy), Stoic and Epicurean schools, skepticism. All schools are united by one feature: the transition from commenting on the teachings of Plato and Aristotle to the formation of ethical problems, moralizing frankness in the era of decline and decline of Hellenistic culture. Then the popular work of Theophrastus, Carneades, Epicurus, Pyrrho, etc.

Fourth stage in the development of ancient philosophy (I century BC-V-VI centuries AD) - the period when Rome began to play a decisive role in antiquity, under the influence of which Greece fell. Roman philosophy is formed under the influence of Greek, especially Hellenistic. There are three directions in Roman philosophy: stoicism (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius), skepticism (Sext Empiricus), epicureanism (Titus Lukretsi Kar). In III-V centuries. n. there is. Neoplatonism arises and develops in Roman philosophy, the outstanding representative of which is the philosopher Plotinus. Neoplatonism significantly influenced not only early Christian philosophy, but all medieval religious philosophy.
The main subject of philosophizing among the pre-Socratics was the cosmos. He seemed to them composed of ordinary sensual elements: earth, water, air, fire and ether, mutually passing into each other as a result of condensation and rarefaction. Man and the sphere of the social, as a rule, were not distinguished by the pre-Socratics from general cosmic life. The individual, society, the cosmos in the pre-Socratics were subject to the action of the same laws.

Ancient philosophy arose in the first half of the VI BC. e. in the Asia Minor part of the then Hellas - in Ionia, in the city of Miletus.

It was within the framework of ancient philosophy that the first scientific ideas began to develop. Mathematical knowledge of Babylonia and Egypt had a great influence on these ideas. Already in the 7th c. BC. Babylonian astronomers used mathematical methods to describe the periodicity of the movement of celestial bodies.

In ancient philosophy, the movement of heavenly bodies was described using geometric models. Astronomical research was carried out by the early philosophical thinker of antiquity Thales, who predicted a solar eclipse on May 28, 585. Thales believed that the Earth is a flat disk floating in the ocean.

Anaximander was the first to suggest the infinity of the universe and the countlessness of its worlds. He believed that the world consists of three rotating celestial rings filled with fire and surrounding the Earth. The earth, in his opinion, occupies a central place and is a flat cylinder with antipodal continents. Stars are hollow spaces in rotating rings filled with fire.

On the location of the planets, scientific judgments first appeared in the Pythagorean school. The philosopher Philolaus included the Earth in the planetary series, which, as he believed, rotating 24 hours, causes a change of day and night. Philolaus suggested that the removal of the planets from each other and from the Earth strictly corresponds to the mathematical-musical proportion. In order for the number of cosmic bodies to be perfect (ie equal to 10) and embody the fullness of being, an invisible Anti-Earth was postulated between the "central fire" and the Earth. On the basis of this postulate, the Pythagoreans and philosophers of the school of Plato developed planetary theories, on the basis of which the heliocentric theory of Aristarchus of Samos (in the 3rd century BC) subsequently arose. And although it did not become widespread, since it did not fully agree with the picture of the universe, in the center of which, as Aristarchus suggested, was the motionless Earth, it contributed to further understanding of the philosophical and physical picture of being.

Presumably Plato, and then Heraclitus of Pontus and other thinkers of antiquity put forward the idea of ​​the rotation of the Earth. Around the same time, the Egyptian system was being developed about the rotation of Mercury and Venus around the Sun, which, together with other planets, revolved around the Earth.

Aristotle in the 4th century BC. built models of concentric spheres. He created 55 crystal spheres and used these models to demonstrate his theory to students of the philosophical school. And already in the Middle Ages, Aristotle's model was complicated by the teachings of Copernicus, who brought the number of Aristotle's spheres to 79.

The ancient Greek philosopher and astronomer and one of the founders of astronomical science Hipparchus (2nd century BC) conducted the first empirical studies of the anomalies in the motion of the Sun, using a star catalog compiled a hundred years before him. He significantly improved the method of calculating the apparent motion of the Sun and Moon. He also determined the distance to the Moon and entered geographic coordinates.

Much later (in the Middle Ages), these and other astronomical discoveries of antiquity were inherited by Arab scientists, who conducted in the XII-XIII centuries. astronomical observations.

The development of ancient science was undertaken in Europe. 18 centuries after the studies of the philosopher and scientist Ptolemy, N. Copernicus considered his work as a continuation of the ideas embodied in Ptolemy's work "Almagest".

Ancient philosophy was built on concrete scientific theoretical analysis. At the same time, philosophy itself did not separate itself from science. Philosophy was a complex of scientific ideas about the world.

The first ancient Greek philosophical school was the Miletus school. The philosophers Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes and their students belonged to it. Already in the first philosophical school, philosophy was born as a separate discipline.

By ancient philosophy we mean the philosophical teachings that arose in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. VII centuries BC).

The first philosophical ideas of the Milesian school relied largely on the ancient worldview of Homer and Hesiod. At the same time, the Milesian school was already an attempt at scientific (rather than mythological) thinking. To that first stage The development of the philosophy of ancient Greece also included Heraclitus, the Eleatic school (the philosophy of the period of the 6th-5th centuries BC). This period in the development of philosophy is associated with the emergence of ancient dialectics, materialism and atomism.

For pre-Socratic philosophy (VII - 1st half of the 4th centuries BC), represented by the philosophers of the Milesian school (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus), the school of Pythagoras, the Eleatics (Parmenides, Zeno), the atomists (Leucippus, Democritus ), was characterized by a predominant interest in the development of natural-philosophical cosmological models, in the problem of the unity and plurality of the world, in the search for a single foundation of the universe (arche).

Second phase development of ancient Greek philosophy gave the world the largest thinkers - Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. (IV century BC)

Socrates, the greatest rationalist of antiquity, begins the formation of philosophy as a reflexive theoretical discipline, the main subject of which is the system of subject-object relations. In the works of Socrates, ontological themes traditional for natural philosophy are complemented by epistemological ones.

Within the framework of Socratic philosophy in the 5th - 4th centuries. BC e. in the works of Plato and Aristotle, classical examples of philosophical concepts are created, which for many centuries determined the main problem fields and features of the thinking style of European philosophy. Plato, in particular, laid the foundation for the idealistic tradition in the European classics.

Aristotle - the great philosopher-encyclopedist of antiquity, who systematized the whole complex of ancient scientific and philosophical knowledge, was the founder of formal logic, the theory of argumentation.

Third stage, called Hellenism, is associated with the decline of the ancient Greek slave society, the collapse of Greece.

Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism - the philosophical schools of the Hellenistic period (4th century BC - beginning of the 1st century) - arose during the crisis of ancient democracy and polis values. The predominance of moral and ethical issues in the works of the Cynics, Epicurus, the Roman Stoics Seneca and Marcus Aurelius testifies to the search for new goals and regulators of human life in this historical period.

The final stage in the history of ancient philosophy takes place under the influence of Neoplatonism (Plotinus, Proclus), which became a transitional link on the path to medieval philosophy. Neoplatonism brought philosophical searches beyond the limits of Greek rationalism and served as the basis for the theocentrism of medieval philosophy.

Already at the end of the IV century. BC. signs of the decline of Greek democracy intensified. The crisis led to the loss of political independence by Athens and other Greek policies (i.e., city-states). Athens became part of the huge power created by Alexander the Great. The collapse of the state after the death of the conqueror intensified the development of the crisis, which caused profound changes in the spiritual life of society. Three main currents of Hellenistic philosophy arose: Skepticism, Epicureanism and Stoicism(IV-III centuries BC).

So, the main stages in the development of ancient philosophical thought can be divided into three periods.

The first period is usually called pre-Socratic. It covers VI-V centuries. BC. It includes the Milesian and Elean philosophical schools, the teachings of Heraclitus, the Pythagoreans, the atomists.

The second period is called the classical, or Socratic. It developed during the middle of the 5th - 4th centuries. BC. This period was prepared by the teachings of the sophists, and it was at this time that the schools of the great teachers of world philosophy appeared - Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

In the third period, Hellenistic and Roman philosophy developed (the end of the 4th - 2nd centuries BC and the 1st century BC - the 5th-6th centuries AD). This period was the beginning of the formation of Christian philosophy.

Distinctive features of the philosophical thought of Ancient Greece were, first of all, ontologism and cosmologism. Ontologism (Greek: ontos - being, loqos - teaching) consisted in the steady orientation of philosophical thinking to comprehend the essence and structure of being as such, and also (in contrast to the mythological tradition) in the formation of a system of categories as logical means of knowing being: "substance" , "one-many", "existence-non-existence", etc. Cosmologism (kosmos - organized world, loqos - doctrine), which expressed a steady tendency towards demythologization of the world, consisted in creating a number of alternative models of the Cosmos as a structurally organized and ordered whole . In the early stages of the development of ancient philosophy, interest in the origin of the Cosmos, its genesis, prevailed. The classical period is characterized by the development of models of the cosmic process, in which the problems of its essence and structure are accentuated.

Features of ancient philosophy

The development of ancient philosophy is the most important stage in the historical dynamics of the subject of philosophical knowledge. Within the framework of ancient philosophy, ontology and metaphysics, epistemology and logic, anthropology and psychology, philosophy of history and aesthetics, moral and political philosophy are singled out.

Ancient Greece is the birthplace of European philosophy. It was here in the 7th-6th centuries. BC. European philosophy was born. Ancient Greek culture gave rise to a democratic form of organization of social and political life. Polises (city-states) were organized on the principles of independence not only from the external, but also from the internal ruler, which excluded the deification of power. The development of ancient philosophy followed a rationalistic path, hand in hand with the development of science, rhetoric, and logic. Unlike Eastern philosophy, ancient Greek philosophy is characterized by the understanding of man as a free, independent individual, creative individuality.. The priority was such a characteristic of a person as intelligence .

The main stages in the development of ancient philosophy:

1). Naturphilosophical, or pre-Socratic, period (VII-V centuries BC). The main problems are the explanation of natural phenomena, the essence of the Cosmos, the surrounding world (natural philosophy), the search for the origin of everything that exists.

Philosophical schools representing this period: Miletus school - "physicists" (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes); the school of the Pythagoreans; school of Heraclitus of Ephesus; Elean school; atomists (Democritus, Leucippus).

2). Classical (Socratic) period (mid-V-end of IV centuries BC)- the heyday of ancient Greek philosophy, coinciding with the heyday of the policy.

Main directions: philosophical and educational activities of the sophists; the philosophy of Socrates; the birth of "Socratic" schools; the philosophy of Plato; philosophy of Aristotle. During this period, less attention was paid to the search for the beginning; an idealistic version of the origin of beings was put forward (Plato); materialism (Democritus' doctrine of atoms as the basis of the world) and idealism (Plato's doctrine of ideas as the basis of the world) arise; interest in the problem of man, society and the state; practical philosophical and educational activities (sophists and Socrates).

3). Hellenistic period (late IV-II centuries BC)- the period of the crisis of the policy and the formation of large states of Asia and Africa under the rule of the Greeks and led by the associates of A. Macedon and their descendants.

Main directions: philosophy of cynics; stoicism; the activities of "Socratic" philosophical schools: Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, Cyrenaic schools, etc.; the philosophy of Epicurus.

Features: crisis of ancient moral and philosophical values; denial of former authorities, disregard for the state and its institutions, the search for a physical and spiritual basis in oneself; the desire to renounce reality; the predominance of a materialistic view of the world; recognition of the happiness and pleasure of an individual as the highest good (physical - Cyrenaic, moral - Epicurus).

4). Roman period (I century BC - V century AD).

The most famous philosophers: Seneca; Marcus Aurelius; Titus Lucretius Car; late Stoics; early Christians.

Features: the actual merging of ancient Greek and ancient Roman philosophy into one - ancient; the influence on ancient philosophy of the philosophy of conquered peoples (East, North Africa, etc.); the proximity of philosophy, philosophers and state institutions (Seneca raised the Roman emperor Nero, Marcus Aurelius himself was an emperor); attention to the problems of man, society and the state; the heyday of the philosophy of stoicism, whose supporters saw highest good and the meaning of life to the maximum spiritual development personality, withdrawal, serenity); the predominance of idealism over materialism; increased attention to the problem of death and the afterlife; the growth of influence on the philosophy of the ideas of Christianity and early Christian heresies; the gradual merging of ancient and Christian philosophy, their transformation into medieval Christian philosophy.

SOPHISTS AND SOCRATES

The development of ancient philosophy followed a rationalistic path, hand in hand with the development of rhetoric and logic. In other Greece, such a characteristic of a person as intelligence with his cognitive ability, activity, criticality, dynamism, creative anxiety. The democratic form of organizing the socio-political life of ancient Greece, the direct participation of citizens in the management of state affairs created a favorable atmosphere for free criticism, exchange of opinions, and discussions. This made the culture of thinking and speech in demand, the ability to logically state, argue and justify one's point of view.

Sophists(wise men, artificers) - teachers of rhetoric and "wisdom"; for a fee they taught the art of eloquence. The focus of their attention is no longer questions about the origin and structure of the cosmos, but questions of practical influence on people's opinion, the ability to prove or refute. Sophists argued that laws are established by people themselves, there are no unshakable truths, all knowledge is relative and anything can be proved or disproved. (Protagoras: different, even opposite, opinions can be expressed about any thing, and all of them are equal and true. “Man is the measure of all things ...”.) Sophists argued the indistinguishability of good and evil, questioned the existence of gods, the justice of state laws, rationality decisions made in democratic assemblies.

Socrates(c. 470 - 399 BC) - a student of the sophists; accepted their irony, but rejected their relativism and skepticism. A person, according to Socrates, can distinguish more reasonable and acceptable judgments from less reasonable, less acceptable ones. This is possible by overcoming the naive belief in the infallibility of one's opinion when dialogue, discussion, dispute. Socrates called his method "maieutics" (midwifery, obstetrics) and "dialectics" (the ability to conduct a conversation, dispute). Socrates' motto is "Know thyself". Socrates developed "ethical rationalism" (the reason for a person's bad actions is his ignorance of the truth, the good). Socrates was Plato's teacher.

Ancient philosophy refers to the directions, schools and teachings that developed in ancient Greek and ancient Roman societies. Ancient Greek philosophers, depending on what they preached, formed many currents, and the totality of these philosophical teachings, which developed in ancient Greek and ancient Roman slave-owning societies, constituted ancient philosophy. ancient philosophy- a single and unique phenomenon in the development of the philosophical consciousness of mankind.

Ancient (ancient) philosophy, that is, the philosophy of the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans, originated in the 7th century. BC e. in Greece and lasted until the VI century. n. e. In this millennium, two main trends in European philosophy were formed - materialism and idealism, dialectics arose, all the main questions of philosophy were put in the bud (and even in a fairly developed form), dozens of thinkers created, whose names are well known even to those who did not specifically study philosophy - Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Lucretius Carus, Marcus Aurelius, Cicero, Seneca, Philo.

Ancient philosophy, which was a holistic phenomenon in the history of philosophy, can be divided into a number of periods.

First period ancient philosophy - the period of its origin from the mythological worldview - refers to the 7th century. BC e. This period includes the first philosophical anti-mythological teachings, which are still full of mythological images and names. The philosophers of the Milesian school were the creators of these teachings. (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes), founder of the Eleatic school Xenophanes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus and his contemporary and philosophical antipode Parmenides - chief representative of the Eleatic school.

Second period in the history of ancient philosophy - the period of its maturity - is the main and most difficult. These include the Teachings of the great natural philosophers - Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Leucippus and Democritus, as well as the Pythagorean Philolaus, the movement of sophists who first turned to ethical and social topics, and Socrates, in whose views the problem of philosophical methodology arises. AT IV in. BC e. Plato introduces the concept of "idea" into philosophy precisely as "ideal".

This includes the beginning of the activities of the so-called Socratic schools (cynics, cyrenaics, etc.). Aristotle's teaching ends this period.

Third period in the history of ancient philosophy there is an epoch of the spread of Greek culture both to the East and to the West - to Rome. This period covers III-I centuries. BC e. In these centuries, both the old philosophical schools of Plato and Aristotle and the new ones continue to function. These are the schools of Epicurus, Zeno. Their teachings penetrate the Roman Republic, giving rise to Roman epicureanism (Lucretius Carus), skepticism and stoicism (Seneca, Marcus Aurelius) .

The last period in the history of ancient philosophy - the philosophy of the Roman Empire - passes under the influence of first Stoicism, and then Neoplatonism and the emerging Christian ideas, a philosophical support, which was the same Neoplatonism. Dispersal by the emperor Justinian in 529, the philosophical schools in Athens, and above all the Academy of Plato, marks the end of ancient philosophy.