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

2. 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 ), ANAXIMANDER (ca ), ANAXIMENES (ca ) = THE MILESIANS

3. 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

4. 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)

5. EARLY MATHEMATICAL & MYSTICAL CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY (1)
PYTHAGORAS ( ): 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

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

10. 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

11. HERACLITUS C
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

12. 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

13. PARMENIDES C
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