Topic 2 Ancient philosophy
1. Main characteristics.
2. Pre-Socratic philosophy.
3. Classical ancient philosophy.
Main characteristics
Antique (antiquity - antiquity) covers approximately 7th century BC and 5th century AD.
Features of ancient philosophy:
a) cosmocentrism - understanding the world as a cosmos, an ordered and purposeful whole (as opposed to chaos);
b) dialectics - the idea of \u200b\u200bthe continuous variability of the Cosmos, which, however, does not generate anything new. (idea of \u200b\u200bthe cycle);
c) ahistorism is not an understanding of historical development;
d) Gelozoism - animating the entire Cosmos.
Pre-Socratic philosophy
Ancient philosophy goes through 3 stages of its development: pre-Socratic (birth), classical (dawn), Hellenic-Roman (sunset).
Pre-Socratic schools: Pythagorean, Miletus, Elea.
The Pythagorean School is a closed paramilitary organization. The founder is Pythogor. His students: Metrodar, Philolaus. They took the number as the fundamental principle of the world. "Everything is number." Number is an independent entity, Substance. Numerical ratios underlie all properties of things.
Miletus school (6th century BC, city of Miletus). The founder is Thales. Other representatives: Anaximen, Anaximander. These philosophers understood substance as the primary material from which everything arose. That is, a substance was understood as a substance. According to Thales, substance is water; according to Anaximenes, it is air. According to Anaximander, apeiron is a special substance, not observable, indefinite.
For the first time, the ideas that the phenomenon and the essence are not the same were expressed by the elets (6-5 centuries BC, the city of Elea). Representatives: Xenophanes (founder), Parmenides, Zeno of Elea. Therefore, they are considered the first philosophers whose teachings have a deeply philosophical character. The Eleatics believed that the basis of the sensually perceived world (directly given in experience) is only intelligible (comprehensible by the mind). What appears to us and what actually is are different. They introduced the categories of being and non-being into philosophy. Being was understood as what exists (everything that exists), and by non-being - everything that does not exist. They believed that being is one and motionless. Being is Thought (being \u003d thinking). To prove that being is motionless, Zeno developed aporias (insoluble contradictions) - reasoning with the help of which the inconsistency of reason is revealed in the proof of movement in the world. These are such aporias as “Arrow”, “Dichtomy”, “Achilles and the Turtle”. They are designed to prove that the attempt to think of movement leads to contradiction. Therefore, movement is only an appearance. The substance is motionless. That is why the Eleatics were called “immobiles.” They laid the foundation for a cognitive approach based on the principle of the immutability of the world. This approach is called metaphysical. In ancient Greece, everyone wanted to refute the ideas of the Eleatics, but no one could.
The opposite method of cognition is dialectics. Its founder is Heraclitus. “Space and planets are lumps of solidified lava, life arose on them. This space arose after another disaster. Someday the fire will return to itself. "This cosmos, one for all, was not created by any of the gods or any of the people, but was, is and will be a living fire, flaring up and extinguishing measures." Thus, the essence of subsistence (fire) is perpetual motion. "You cannot enter the same river twice." His disciple Cratilus argued that even once one cannot enter the same water.
The model of a mobile substance was developed within the framework of ancient atomism. Representatives: Leucippus, Democritus. They took atoms as the fundamental principle of the world - indivisible, minute material particles, the main properties of which are size and shape. Democritus: "Atoms are eternal, unchanging, there is no emptiness inside them, but emptiness separates them." Between the atoms of the human body there are “balls” of the soul. Atoms differ in order and position (rotation). The number of atoms and their variety is infinite. The eternal property of atoms is motion. Movement is an internal source. Atoms are floating in the void. When they collide, they change direction. Connecting, they form bodies. The properties of bodies depend on the type and connection of atoms. Because the movement of atoms occurs according to strict laws, everything in the world is predetermined by necessity. There are no accidents in the world (determinism).
During the Hellenistic period, atomism was developed in the teachings of Epicurus, who founded the school “The Garden of Epicurus” in Athens. Epicurus defined atoms as the limit of division of everything that exists. The number of atoms is infinite, but the number of their forms is not infinite, although it is great. At the beginning of time, there was a free fall of atoms in the void. When they deviate from the vertical fall, they collide, resulting in a world. Epicurus introduces the concept of "clinamen" - the spontaneous deviation of atoms from the original trackorium in an indefinite place and at an indefinite time. He thereby admitted the existence of accidents, which for a person means freedom and the possibility of choice. The gods reside in interstellar space and do not interfere in the affairs of people. Ancient atomism underlies the formation of classical science.
Classical ancient philosophy
Classical ancient philosophy spans 5-4 centuries BC. During this period, great philosophical teachings arose that determined the further course of Western philosophical thought. Representatives: Socrates - the founder, Plato, Aristotle.
The philosophical school of Plato in Athens was called "Academy", because was located near the Akadema Temple. His concept: there are two worlds - the sensually perceived world of things and the intelligible world of ideas - eidos. In earthly reality, we see eidos only embodied in things. In an ideal world, they exist in their pure form. The highest idea is the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Good. The existence of things is secondary to eidos. A thing is formed by combining eidos with a certain amount of substance. The material principle was called by Plato "chora" - matter. It is a passive dead substance that has no internal organization. This was the beginning of idealism.
Aristotle is a philosopher of the encyclopedic mind. He was the first to systematize all the scientific knowledge of that time. At that time, all scientific knowledge was usually called philosophy. Aristotle divides science into theoretical, practical and creative. Theoretical sciences - philosophy, physics, mathematics. It is they, and first of all philosophy, who reveal the unchanging principles of existence. He assigns a special role to philosophy. She is engaged in the cognition of the first principles, the first principles of the world, the problem of human cognition and cognition itself (the problem of distinguishing between true and false knowledge).
Aristotle did not doubt the reality of the world. "The world is one and doubts about its reality have no grounds." Aristotle: "Plato is my friend, but truth is dearer."
The fundamental place in the philosophy of Aristotle is occupied by the doctrine of matter and form. “I call matter from which a thing arises, that is. matter is the material of a thing. " Matter is indestructible and does not disappear, but it is only material. Until it takes a certain form, it is in a state of nonexistence; without a form, it is devoid of life, integrity, energy. Without form, matter is a possibility; with form, it becomes reality. Aristotle taught that the reverse transition of form into matter is also possible. Aristotle came to the conclusion that there is a first form - the form of forms, which is God.
The doctrine of the soul. The soul cannot be without a body, but it is not a body. The soul is something inherent in the body. Aristotle believed that it is in the heart. There are three types of souls: vegetable, sensual, and intelligent. The first is the cause of growth and nourishment, the second senses, and the third cognizes and thinks.
Test questions:
1. What periods are distinguished in ancient philosophy?
2. What distinguishes the natural philosophical period in the development of ancient philosophy?
3. What philosophical schools represent the ethical period in the development of ancient philosophy?
4. Whom and why is considered the first philosopher of the West?
5. What is the specificity of materialism and idealism of the ancient Greeks?
6. What is the world of ideas and the world of things in Plato?
7. What is the essence of form and matter in the teachings of Aristotle?
This is the philosophy of the ancient Greeks and Romans, which originated in the 6th century BC in Greece and existed until the 5th century AD. Formally, 529 is considered the date of its completion, when the Roman emperor Justinian closed the Platonic Academy - the last philosophical school of antiquity.
The emergence and formation of ancient philosophy proceeded in the mainstream of public life, within the framework of determining a person's attitude to the world. It was carried out through criticism of the anthropomorphism of mythology, through the creation of a categorical framework for the thought process. In search of the origin of the world and its interpretation, the philosophers of the ancient world go to the level of such abstract concepts as chaos and space, matter and idea, soul and mind.
If chaos was perceived as a formless, indefinite state of the world, its origin, then the cosmos meant an ordered, integral understanding of the world. And the whole life of nature, man and society was presented as a movement from chaos to space. To describe this movement in Greek philosophy, the concepts of "matter" and "ideas" were created: under the matter was understood a certain potential, and the idea was perceived as a form-forming principle, as cosmic creativity.
Matter and idea were associated with a certain substance, which was quite normal for the ancient world with its passive-contemplative perception of reality. Knowledge of the world was limited to the external, phenomenal side of natural phenomena and facts. Matter and idea correlated as a passive and active principle and in their unity ensured the diversity of the objective reality of the world as a sensory-material cosmos.
Space
An absolute object of ancient philosophy that has always existed, independent of anyone, which is the cause of itself and is perceived as sensual.
Matter
The passive beginning of the cosmos, the potency of any phenomena of reality.
Idea
The active principle of the cosmos, the formative principle of being.
Soul
This is what connects matter and idea.
Mind
The expedient assignment of the world, the governing body of it.
Fate
Incomprehensible by man, the predetermination of events and actions.
Periodization of the history of ancient philosophy
* Natural philosophical period - 7 - 5 centuries. BC.
* Anthropological period - 5 - 3 centuries. BC.
* Systematic period - 3rd - 2nd centuries BC.
* Ethical period - 3 c. BC. - 3 c. AD
* Religious period - 3-4 centuries. AD
Natural philosophical period
Main problems
* The problem of the origin of space;
* Unity and diversity of the world.
Main directions and schools
* Ionian (Miletus) natural philosophy.
* Pythagorean Union.
* Eleyskaya school.
* Atomists.
* Heraclitus of Ephesus.
Ionian Natural Philosophy
The main thing in this philosophy
Represented by the Miletus School. The main thing in it is the doctrine of substance, which was understood as sensually perceived matter. The most famous names are Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes.
Thales
He considered water and liquid to be the fundamental principle.
Anaximander
The substantial beginning of the cosmos is apeiron.
Anaximenes
All matter arises from the thickening and thinning of air.
Pythagorean Union
(Founded by Pythagoras (570-496 BC)
The main thing in the teachings of Pythagoras
* Form is an active principle that transforms amorphous matter into the world of tangible and knowable things.
* Number is the beginning of existence. Everything is countable.
* Mathematics is the main science.
Elea school
The main thing for the Eleats
The main thing in this philosophy is the doctrine of the absoluteness of being. True being is invariable, indivisible, beginningless, infinite, all-embracing, immovable. The most famous representatives: Xenophanes, Zeno, Parmenides.
Xenophanes
(570-478)
He is the founder of the school. He argued that the integrity and indivisibility of being is provided by God, who possesses all possible perfections. Considered the forerunner of ancient skepticism.
Parmenides
(520-460)
He is considered a key figure in early Greek philosophy. The main thing for Parmenides is the doctrine of being as one, unchanging, omnipotent and all-good. He opposes being and non-being, truth and opinion, sensual and intelligible. Wrote a treatise "On Nature".
Zeno
(480-401)
It is famous for its aporias, - arguments against the possibility of movement: "Dichotomy", "Arrow", "Moving bodies". Zeno did not recognize any other reality than spatially extended.
Atomists
The main thing in atomism
They got their name due to the fact that the central concept of their philosophy is the atom. There is no absolute being. There is only relative being, characterized by arising and annihilation. At the heart of being are many independent atoms, the combination of which forms things. The atomists were Leucippus and Democritus.
Heraclitus of Ephesus
(520 - 460)
The main thing in the philosophy of Heraclitus
* Everything is in a constantly changing state.
* The beginning of all that exists is fire, endowed with the properties of divinity and eternity.
* The idea of \u200b\u200borderliness and proportionality of the world is expressed in the concept of Logos.
* He is considered the creator of dialectics, understood as the doctrine of the unity of opposites. The saying is attributed to him: "You cannot enter the same river twice".
* The main philosophical work: "On nature".
Anthropological period
(4th - 3rd centuries BC)
This period is associated with the beginning of the crisis of ancient society. Indirect evidence of this is the emergence and spread of ideas that propagandize relativism and subjectivity. In philosophy, the first is the discursive, logical approach to things. The possibility of universals in knowledge and practice is denied. Sophists are becoming "fashionable" - paid teachers to think and speak. They were interested not in the truth, but in the art of arguing itself, to achieve victory through the use of formal logical methods, casuistry, and misleading the opponent.
The main thing in sophistry
* A common feature of sophistry is relativism, which found expression in Protagoras' statement: "Man is the measure of all things."
* Sophists opposed nature as a stable and constant part of reality to a society living according to changeable laws.
* The Sophists developed a negative form of dialectics. They were engaged in teaching, urged people to defend any point of view, for there is no absolute truth.
* The term "sophistry" has become a household name. A sophist is a person who engages in empty talk, obscuring the essence of the matter during a dispute.
* The main representatives of sophistry: Protagoras and Gorgias.
Systematic period
(3rd - 2nd centuries BC)
The scattered doctrines of substance, cognition, and man are being replaced by attempts at system analysis. The first representatives of philosophy of this period have a negative attitude towards sophistry. Cognition and practice are consistent through moral activity. Generally significant concepts are declared the goal of cognition. The main representatives of the systematic period: Socrates, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.
The philosophy of Socrates
(470-390 gg.)
The main thing for Socrates
* The main task of philosophy, he considered the search for universal definitions of morality;
* The best form of philosophizing is dialogue. From him came the original meaning of the term "dialectics": to conduct a conversation, to reason;
* Highly appreciated the role of cognitive activity in the general structure of human spirituality;
* He considered democracy the worst form of state structure, sharply and caustically criticized it;
* After the establishment of the power of the demos in Athens, for disbelief in the state gods and the corruption of young people, he was sentenced to death and died, having drunk a cup of poison by the verdict of the court;
* In principle, he did not write down his thoughts and therefore there were no written works left after him. The ideas of Socrates have come down to us mainly in the presentation of Plato.
Socratic schools
Created by the students and followers of Socrates. They disseminated and developed his philosophy, criticized the sophists. There are three main schools of sokotkov: Cyrenaics, Kiniki, Megariki.
The content of the article
ANTIQUE PHILOSOPHY- a set of philosophical teachings that arose in Ancient Greece and Rome in the period from the 6th century BC. 6 in. AD The conventional time boundaries of this period are considered to be 585 BC. (when the Greek scientist Thales predicted a solar eclipse) and 529 AD. (when the neoplatonic school in Athens was closed by the emperor Justinian). The main language of ancient philosophy was ancient Greek, from the 2nd – 1st centuries. the development of philosophical literature also began in Latin.
Sources of study.
Most of the texts of Greek philosophers are represented in medieval Greek manuscripts. In addition, valuable material is represented by medieval translations from Greek into Latin, Syriac and Arabic (especially if the Greek originals are irretrievably lost), as well as a number of manuscripts on papyri, partly preserved in the city of Herculaneum, covered with the ashes of Vesuvius - this last a source of information about ancient philosophy is the only opportunity to study texts written directly in the antique period.
Periodization.
In the history of ancient philosophy, several periods of its development can be distinguished: (1) pre-Socratics, or early natural philosophy; (2) the classical period (sophists, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle); (3) Hellenistic philosophy; (4) millennial eclecticism; (5) neoplatonism. The late period was characterized by the coexistence of the school philosophy of Greece with Christian theology, which was formed under the significant influence of the ancient philosophical heritage.
Pre-Socratics
(6th - mid 5th centuries BC). Initially, ancient philosophy developed in Asia Minor (Miletus school, Heraclitus), then in Italy (Pythagoreans, Elea school, Empedocles) and on mainland Greece (Anaxagoras, atomists). The main theme of early Greek philosophy is the beginning of the universe, its origin and structure. Philosophers of this period are mainly researchers of nature, astronomers, mathematicians. Believing that the birth and death of natural things does not happen by chance and not out of nothing, they were looking for a beginning, or a principle that explains the natural variability of the world. The first philosophers believed that such a beginning was a single primordial substance: water (Thales) or air (Anaximenes), infinite (Anaximander), the Pythagoreans considered the beginning of the limit and the infinite, giving rise to an ordered space, cognizable by means of number. Subsequent authors (Empedocles, Democritus) called not one, but several principles (four elements, an infinite number of atoms). Like Xenophanes, many of the early thinkers criticized traditional mythology and religion. Philosophers have pondered the reasons for order in the world. Heraclitus, Anaxagoras taught about the rational beginning ruling the world (Logos, Mind). Parmenides formulated the doctrine of true being, accessible only to thought. All subsequent development of philosophy in Greece (from the pluralistic systems of Empedocles and Democritus, to Platonism), to one degree or another, demonstrates a response to the problems posed by Parmenides.
Classics of Ancient Greek Thought
(end of the 5-4th century). The period of pre-Socratics is replaced by sophistry. Sophists are itinerant paid teachers of virtue, focusing on the life of a person and society. The sophists saw knowledge primarily as a means to achieve success in life, and recognized rhetoric as the most valuable - mastery of the word, the art of persuading. The Sophists considered traditional customs and moral norms to be relative. Their criticism and skepticism, in their own way, contributed to the reorientation of ancient philosophy from the knowledge of nature to the understanding of the inner world of man. The vivid expression of this "turn" was the philosophy of Socrates. He believed that the main thing was knowledge of good, since evil, according to Socrates, comes from people's ignorance of their true good. Socrates saw the way to this knowledge in self-knowledge, in caring for his immortal soul, and not for the body, in comprehending the essence of the main moral values, the conceptual definition of which was the main subject of Socrates' conversations. The philosophy of Socrates gave rise to the so-called. Socratic schools (cynics, megarics, cyrenaics), differing in their understanding of Socratic philosophy. The most prominent student of Socrates was Plato, the creator of the Academy, the teacher of another major thinker of antiquity - Aristotle, who founded the peripatetic school (Lyceum). They created holistic philosophical doctrines, in which they considered almost the entire range of traditional philosophical topics, developed philosophical terminology and a set of concepts, basic for subsequent ancient and European philosophy. Common in their teachings was: the distinction between a temporary, sensually perceived thing and its eternal indestructible, comprehended by the mind essence; the doctrine of matter as an analogue of non-being, the cause of the mutability of things; the idea of \u200b\u200bthe intelligent structure of the universe, where everything has its own purpose; understanding of philosophy as a science of higher principles and the goal of all being; the recognition that the first truths are not proven, but directly comprehended by the mind. Both the one and the other recognized the state as the most important form of human existence, designed to serve his moral improvement. At the same time, Platonism and Aristotelianism had their own characteristics, as well as differences. The peculiarity of Platonism was the so-called. theory of ideas. According to her, visible objects are only semblances of eternal essences (ideas) that form a special world of true being, perfection and beauty. Continuing the Orphic-Pythagorean tradition, Plato recognized the soul as immortal, called upon to contemplate the world of ideas and life in it, for which a person should turn away from everything material-bodily, in which the Platonists saw the source of evil. Plato put forward the doctrine of the creator of the visible cosmos, the god-demiurge, which is atypical for Greek philosophy. Aristotle criticized Plato's theory of ideas for the "doubling" of the world it produced. He himself proposed a metaphysical teaching about the divine Mind, the primary source of movement of the eternally existing visible cosmos. Aristotle laid the foundation for logic as a special doctrine about the forms of thinking and the principles of scientific knowledge, developed the style of a philosophical treatise that has become exemplary, in which first the history of the issue is considered, then the argumentation for and against the main thesis by putting forward aporias, and in conclusion, a solution to the problem is given.
Hellenistic philosophy
(late 4th century BC - 1st century BC). In the era of Hellenism, along with the Platonists and Peripatetics, the most significant schools were the Stoics, Epicureans and skeptics. During this period, the main purpose of philosophy is seen in practical life wisdom. Ethics, which is oriented not towards social life, but towards the inner world of an individual, is gaining overriding importance. Theories of the universe and logic serve ethical purposes: to develop the correct attitude towards reality in order to achieve happiness. The Stoics represented the world as a divine organism, permeated and completely controlled by a fiery rational principle, the Epicureans - as various formations of atoms, skeptics called to refrain from any statement about the world. Differently understanding the paths to happiness, they all similarly saw the bliss of a person in a serene state of mind, achieved by getting rid of false opinions, fears, inner passions that lead to suffering.
Millennium turn
(1st century BC - 3rd century AD). In the period of late antiquity, polemics between schools gave way to the search for common grounds, borrowing and mutual influence. A tendency is developing to "follow the ancients", to systematize, to study the heritage of the thinkers of the past. Biographical, doxographic, educational philosophical literature is spreading. The genre of commentary on authoritative texts (primarily the "divine" Plato and Aristotle) \u200b\u200bis developing especially. This was largely due to the new editions of the works of Aristotle in the 1st century. BC. Andronicus of Rhodes and Plato in the 1st century. AD Frasillus. In the Roman Empire, starting from the end of the 2nd century, philosophy became the subject of official teaching, funded by the state. Stoicism (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius) was very popular among Roman society, but Aristotelianism (the most prominent representative is the commentator Alexander Aphrodisia) and Platonism (Plutarch of Chaeronea, Apuleius, Albinus, Atticus, Numenius) gained more and more weight.
Neoplatonism
(3rd century BC - 6th century AD). In the last centuries of its existence, the dominant school of antiquity was the Platonic one, which perceived the influence of Pythagoreanism, Aristotelianism and partly Stoicism. The period as a whole is characterized by an interest in mysticism, astrology, magic (neo-Pythagoreanism), various syncretic religious-philosophical texts and teachings (Chaldean oracles, gnosticism, hermeticism). A feature of the neo-Platonic system was the doctrine of the origin of all that exists - the One, which is superior to being and thought and is comprehensible only in union with it (ecstasy). As a philosophical trend, Neoplatonism was distinguished by a high level of school organization, a developed commentary and pedagogical tradition. Its centers were Rome (Plotinus, Porfiry), Apamea (Syria), where the school of Iamblichus was located, Pergamum, where the school of Iamblichus' pupil Edesius was founded, Alexandria (the main representatives are Olympiodorus, John Philopon, Simplicius, Aelius, David), Athens (Plutarch of Athens , Sirian, Proclus, Damascus). A detailed logical development of a philosophical system describing the hierarchy of the world, born from the beginning, was combined in Neoplatonism with the magical practice of "communication with the gods" (theurgy), an appeal to pagan mythology and religion.
In general, ancient philosophy is characterized by the consideration of man, first of all, within the framework of the system of the universe as one of its subordinate elements, highlighting the rational principle in man as the main and most valuable, and the recognition of the contemplative activity of the mind as the most perfect form of true activity. The wide variety and richness of ancient philosophical thought determined its invariably high significance and enormous influence not only on medieval (Christian, Muslim), but also on all subsequent European philosophy and science.
Maria Solopova
The importance of ancient philosophy for the subsequent cultural development of mankind is enormous. The ancient Greeks, and then the "Hellenistic" peoples, created the first example of a developed rational philosophy. This model has not lost its appeal and authority to this day. Moreover, it was not surpassed until the 17th century.
In addition, ancient philosophy developed, in its simplest form, almost all the basic thought processes available in the philosophy of modern times. Exaggerating somewhat, it can be argued that philosophy until the 20th century in one form or another only repeated, deepened, recombined the lines of thought developed by ancient philosophy.
Periodization... There are many variants of periodization of ancient philosophy. But, in general, they are not very different from each other.
Ancient Greek and Greco-Roman philosophy has more than a thousand-year history - starting from the 6th century. BC. and until 529 AD, when Emperor Justinian closed pagan schools, dispersed their followers.
- Ancient Greek philosophy.
- Hellenic (Greco) -Roman philosophy.
The first is primarily a product of the Greek spirit. The second absorbs the content of the cultures of the Mediterranean and is an element of the universal Hellenic-Roman culture.
Within the first period, the following phases are distinguished:
1) Natural philosophers (6th - 5th centuries BC) who study physics and space: Ionians, Italians, pluralists and eclectic physicists.
2) The period of the so-called "Greek Enlightenment", the heroes of which are the sophists and Socrates, who turned to society and man.
3) The period of great synthesis carried out by Plato and Aristotle, characterized by the discovery of the supersensible and the systematic formulation of basic philosophical problems.
Second period:
4) The period of the Hellenistic schools (from the era of the conquests of Alexander the Great to the fall of the Roman Empire) - cynicism, epicureanism, stoicism, skepticism, neo-Platonism, etc.
5) Christian thought in its origin and an attempt to rationally formulate the dogma of the new religion in the light of the categories of Greek philosophy.
Sources.Only a small part of the works of ancient philosophers has survived. Only the works of Plato and Aristotle have survived almost completely. The works of the most ancient Greek thinkers have come down to us in excerpts and occasional quotations in later literature. Moreover, what has come down to us cannot be taken simply on faith. Later generations of thinkers, in addition to unintentional mistakes, also because of the desire to give their teachings a halo of ancient wisdom, repeatedly ascribed their own works to earlier philosophers or supplied their works with their own inserts. Accordingly, historians of philosophy are forced to do a tremendous amount of work, extracting reliable information from the small number of texts that have survived to this day.
Often the work of a historian of philosophy resembles the activity of an archaeologist who, using several shards, tries to recreate and reconstruct the appearance of a beautiful antique vessel. For too many systems of ancient philosophers, we can say that we have only a reconstruction of them. Reconstruction is bad because we try to compensate for the lack of facts by inferences, analogies and bold guesses. Naturally, in this case, the role of the subjectivity of the reenactor increases many times over. We can only hope that some new discoveries of ancient texts will fill the existing gaps.
In presenting the ancient philosophers, I will often, and perhaps even somewhat excessively, use the texts of Diogenes Laertes. The work of Diogenes of Laertes in Cilicia (first half of the third century AD, Athenian grammar) is the only history of philosophy written in Antiquity. It consists of ten books, which set out the teachings of ancient Greek thinkers, from the seven sages to the Stoic and Epicurean schools.
Diogenes Laertius is a very curious author. As a representative of Antiquity, he is unaware of those, of course, useful and good, but very strict requirements that modern academic science makes to texts devoted to the history of philosophy. That is why his works are full of life and special antique humor. In addition, these writings show how different ideas about the history of ancient philosophy of modern science and Antiquity itself were.
I will often use the book of Diogenes Laertes in my work, because I believe that it is difficult to find another author, in whose texts ancient philosophy would appear so alive and close to us. Let Diogenes Laertius speak better, since my task is not so much to present myself through ancient philosophy as to maximize the way that ancient philosophy could come into contact with the reader, bypassing any intermediaries. Perhaps this way of presentation will seem very vulnerable to criticism. All the same Diogenes Laertes in the chapter about Socrates reports on the accusations addressed to Euripides, and the essence of which is that Euripides was under the excessive influence of Socrates: “They thought that he (Socrates - S.Ch.) was helping to write to Euripides; therefore Mnesiloh says this:
"Phrygians" - the name of the drama Euripides,
Well-fed Socratic figs
And elsewhere:
Euripides knocked together with the nail of Socrates "(11. P. 98)
Mindful of these words, I fear an educated critic (and, at the same time, dream of him), who will paraphrase these words and brand my book as the text "Fattened by Diogenes' Figures", and me - "Chukhleb knocked together with a nail of Diogenes". I admit that everything is true, there is nothing to object.