MAIN PERIODS OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY THE MATURITY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY HELENISTIC PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY BEGINNING OF 6TH – MIDDLE OF 5TH CENTURY BC: IONIC PHILOSOPHY EARLY COSMOLOGICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY: BASIC SUBSTANCE UNDERLYING ALL THINGS, NATURE & ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE A COMPLETE FUSION OF PHILOSOPHY & SCIENCE, SPECULATION & EMPIRICAL RESEARCH MAIN FIGURES: THALES (ca 640-562), ANAXIMANDER (ca 610-546), ANAXIMENES (ca 588-524) = THE MILESIANS

THE MILESIAN SCHOOL (1) BASIC PRESUPPOSITIONS: [1] BENEATH THE APPARENT MULTIPLICITY & CHANGING UNIVERSE, EXISTS A HIDDEN UNITY & PERMANENCE, A FUNDAMENTAL SIMPLICITY & STABILITY WHICH REASON MAY DISCOVER; [2] THE STABILITY MUST BE SOUGHT IN THE SUBSTANCE OF WHICH THE WORLD WAS MADE

THE MILESIAN SCHOOL (2) MAIN QUESTION: WHAT IS THE WORLD MADE OF? – LOOKING FOR THE ARCHE, THE CONCEPT OF PHYSIS AS ONE, VITAL, DIVINE, MATERIAL PRINCIPLE METHOD: [1] EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE [2] SCIENCE [3] IMPLICIT METAPHYSICS [4] THEOLOGY THE PRIMORDIAL PRINCIPLE: WATER (THALES); APEIRON (ANAXIMANDER); AIR (ANAXIMENES)

EARLY MATHEMATICAL & MYSTICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY (1) PYTHAGORAS (569-494): BEYOND THE MILESIAN PHYSICAL FRAMEWORK – MATHEMATICAL & MORAL INVESTIGATION SHIFT FROM A PHILOSOPHY OF MATTER TO A PHILOSOPHY OF FORM; primary Pythagorean scientific contribution was the mathematical concept of the formal structure of reality, vaguely foreshadowed Plato’s forms & Aristotle’s formal cause NUMBERS: THE SUPREME FORMAL PRINCIPLE OF REALITY

EARLY MATHEMATICAL & MYSTICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY (2) MOTIVE FOR DOING PHILOSOPHY: NOT SIMPLY OUT OF SIMPLE SCIENTIFIC CURIOSITY BUT ALSO FOR RELIGIOUS ENLIGHTENMENT – PURIFICATION OF THE SOUL & UNION WITH THE DIVINE METHOD: I. MATHEMATICS II. MYSTICISM

EARLY MATHEMATICAL & MYSTICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY (3) 2 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PYTHAGOREANISM: (1) THE DOCTRINE OF THE KINSIP OF NATURE; (2) LOOKING FOR THE FORMAL CHARACTER OF PHYSIS WITH ITS QUANTITATIVE RELATIONS & METRIC PROPORTION – THE EXALTATION OF THE IDEA OF LIMIT (PERAS), ORDER, HARMONY

EARLY MATHEMATICAL & MYSTICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY (4) A KIND OF PANTHEISM: THE WORLD IS DIVINE, GOOD, A SINGLE WHOLE = ORDERLY, LIMITED = KOSMOS MAN/WOMAN = MICRO COSMOS -- THE STUDY OF MEDECINE = RIGHT PROPORTION & MINGLING OF INGREDIENTS (KRASIS), QUANTITATIVE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN OPPOSITE QUALITIES

CONVINCED MORAL DUALIST GOOD THINGS LIGHT UNITY MALE LIMIT BAD THINGS DARKNESS PLURALITY FEMALE UNLIMITED

EARLY METAPHYSICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY PROBLEM OF MOTION: PERMANENCE & CHANGE, BEING & BECOMING, BEING & NON-BEING, THE ONE & THE MANY MAIN FIGURES: HERACLITUS, PARMENIDES, THE MONISTS & THE PLURALISTS

HERACLITUS C.544-484 ALL THINGS CHANGE & NOTHING AT REST (panta rei kei ouden manai); ‘WAR IS THE FATHER OF ALL” “ STRIFE IS JUSTICE” STRUGGLE IS GOOD, SINCE IT IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE (everything is born in strife and everything is in constant flux) METHOD: EMPIRICO-RATIONAL APPROACH THE DIVINE LOGOS = THE DYNAMIC PRINCIPLE BEHIND THE ORDERLY CHANGE IN THE UNIVERSE, HARMONIZES THE TENSIONS OF OPPOSITES & PRESERVES THE UNITY OF DIVERSIFIED WORLD

HERACLITUS C.544-484 EVER-LIVING FIRE: PRIMORDIAL COSMOLOGIC PRINCIPLE RELIGIOUS METAPHYSICS & ETHICS GROUNDED IN THE LOGOS AS THE SOURCE OF MEANING, ORDER, UNITY AND DIVINITY

PARMENIDES C. 515-470 PHILOSOPHY OF BEING – BEING IS ONE, COMPLETE, INDIVISABLE, INDISTRUCTIBLE AND PERMANENT- “WHAT IS, IS” THE WAY OF OPINION AND THE WAY OF TRUTH – SENSE & REASON; APPEARANCE & TRUTH CHANGE & PLURALITY = ILLUSION