Period: ~323 B.C. – 3rd century A.D. | Context: collapse of the polis after Alexander the Great; cosmopolitanism; individual pursuit of happiness (eudaimonia) and tranquility (ataraxia)
Historical Context
With Greek defeat to Philip II of Macedon (338 B.C.) and the expansion of Alexander the Great (336–323 B.C.), the polis enters into crisis. The cultural center migrates from Athens to Alexandria (the greatest library of the ancient world). Philosophy abandons political reflection and turns toward the individual: how to live well in an unpredictable world? Each school offers a distinct path to ataraxia (absence of disturbance):
| School | Path to ataraxia |
|---|---|
| Cynicism | Autarky — self-sufficiency |
| Epicureanism | Pleasure = absence of pain (aponia) + tranquility of soul |
| Stoicism | Apatheia — mastery of passions through reason |
| Skepticism | Epoché — suspension of judgment |
I. Cynicism
Antisthenes of Athens (~445–365 B.C.)
- Socratic; founder of Cynicism
- Virtue is sufficient for happiness; wealth, pleasure, and fame are indifferent
- References: Diogenes Laërtius (Lives, VI)
Diogenes of Sinope (~413–323 B.C.) — “Diogenes the Dog” (kynikós)
- Refoundand principal figure of Cynicism
- Anticultural: abstract philosophy is useless; what matters is example and action
- Lived in a large ceramic jar (pithos), reduced needs to a minimum, scorned social conventions
- Autarky: total freedom, independence from all
- “I seek a man [an honest one]” — walked with a lantern burning in broad daylight
- Met Alexander the Great: asked only that he step out of the way of the sun
- References: Diogenes Laërtius (Lives, VI); Plutarch (Life of Alexander)
Crates of Thebes (~365–285 B.C.)
- Disciple of Diogenes; married Hipparchia, who embraced Cynicism
- Lived Cynicism conjugally: without conventions, without property
II. Epicureanism
Epicurus of Samos (~341–271 B.C.)
Founded the School of the Garden (Kepoi) in Athens (307/306 B.C.) — open to women and slaves.
Tripartition of philosophy
- Logic/Canon — criteria of truth
- Physics — constitution of reality
- Ethics — how to achieve happiness
Logic: Criteria of truth
- Sensations: infallible (they are passive affections caused by atomic simulacra emanating from things)
- Prolepseis: pre-notions; memory of past sensations that allows recognition of objects
- Feelings of pleasure and pain: axiological criterion of good and evil
- Opinions: true if confirmed by experience; false if refuted
Physics: Atomistic materialism
- Inherits from Democritus: atoms and void; nothing arises from non-being
- Innovation: clinamen (parenklisis) — spontaneous swerve of atoms (avoids pure determinism, founds freedom)
- Infinite worlds are born and dissolve in time
Ethics: Moderate hedonism
- Pleasure (hêdonê) = absence of pain in the body (aponia) + tranquility in the soul (ataraxia)
- Kinetic pleasures (active) vs. catastemal pleasures (stable/negative) — these are superior
- Hierarchy of desires: natural and necessary > natural and unnecessary > vain
- Four remedies (tetrapharmakos): do not fear the gods; do not fear death; good is easy to obtain; evil is easy to endure
- Friendship (philia) as the greatest good of social life
Works and References
- Epicurus: Letter to Menoeceus (ethics), Letter to Herodotus (physics), Letter to Pythocles (meteorology); Principal Doctrines
- Lucretius: On the Nature of Things — poetic exposition of Epicureanism
III. Stoicism
A. Greek Stoicism (The Porch — Stoá Poikilê)
Zeno of Citium (~334–262 B.C.) — founder
- Taught at the Painted Porch (Stoá Poikilê) of Athens
- Virtue is the only good; everything else is indifferent (adiáphora)
- God = Logos/Fire that pervades the universe
Cleanthes of Assos (~330–230 B.C.) — Zeno’s successor
- Hymn to Zeus — poetic expression of Stoic pantheism
Chrysippus of Soli (~280–207 B.C.) — “second founder”
- Systematized Stoic logic, physics, and ethics; prolific writer
Stoic Tripartition of Philosophy
- Logic (topoi): dialectic + rhetoric; criterion of truth = cataleptic representation (phantasia katalêptikê)
- Physics: the universe is a rational whole pervaded by the Logos (divine fire/pneuma); all is material; cosmic cycles (ekpyrosis); pantheism
- Ethics: living according to nature = living according to reason; virtue as the only true good; passions = faulty judgments; four virtues: wisdom, justice, courage, temperance; cosmopolitanism — all humans are citizens of the world
B. Roman Stoicism (1st–2nd centuries A.D.)
Seneca (~4 B.C.–65 A.D.)
- Tutor and advisor to Nero; suicide by imperial order
- Philosophy as preparation for death; death as liberation
- Works: Letters to Lucilius, On the Shortness of Life, On the Tranquility of the Soul, On Clemency
Epictetus (~50–135 A.D.)
- Former slave; distinguishes what depends on us (eph’hêmin: thoughts, impulses) from what does not
- “Bear and forbear” (anékhou kai apékhou)
- Works: Enchiridion (by Arrian, his disciple), Discourses
Marcus Aurelius (121–180 A.D.) — Philosopher-Emperor
- Philosophical journal written in Greek
- Virtue is the only good; the universe is providential; memento mori
- Work: Meditations (Thoughts to Himself)
IV. Ancient Skepticism
Pyrrho of Elis (~365–270 B.C.) — founder
- Left no writings; lived consistently with epoché (suspension of all judgment)
- Aphasia (aphasia): to pronounce nothing about anything
- Tranquility as consequence of suspension of judgment
Timon of Phlius — Pyrrho’s disciple; Silli (satirical poem)
New Academy (Arcesilaus, Carneades)
- Probabilism: there is no certainty; we can act based on probability
Aenesidemus — revival of Pyrrhonism; the 10 tropes of doubt
Sextus Empiricus (2nd century A.D.)
- Most complete systematization of ancient skepticism
- Works: Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Against the Mathematicians
V. Neoplatonism (3rd–6th centuries A.D.)
Plotinus of Lycopolis (~205–270 A.D.)
The most important philosophical synthesis of late Antiquity.
Structure of Reality (Emanation)
- The One (tò hen): absolute, ineffable, beyond being and thought; lacks nothing
- Nous (Intellect): first emanation from the One; thinks itself and the Forms
- World Soul (psychê): emanation from Nous; governs the cosmos; contains individual souls
- Matter (hylê): limit of emanation; darkness, privation, relative non-being
Return (epistrophê): the soul, through contemplation and purity, can ascend back to the One — mystical ecstasy
Influences
- Platonism, Pythagoreanism, Aristotelianism (Nous as unmoved mover)
- Directly influenced: Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus; Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite; Italian Renaissance; German Romanticism (Schelling)
Porphyry (~234–305 A.D.)
- Editor of Plotinus’s Enneads (6 groups of 9 treatises)
- Isagoge — introduction to Aristotle’s Categories; central to the dispute over universals in Scholasticism
- Work: Life of Plotinus
Iamblichus (~245–325 A.D.)
- Theurgy: ritual as complement to contemplation; philosophical polytheism
- On the Mysteries
Proclus (~412–485 A.D.)
- Systematizes Neoplatonism in deductive form
- Elements of Theology, Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides
General References
- Plotinus: Enneads (ed. Porphyry); Portuguese trans. Plotinus, Enneads (Loyola)
- Reale & Antiseri, History of Philosophy, vol. 1, chapters Hellenism and Neoplatonism
- Pierre Hadot, Plotin ou la simplicité du regard