Ancient philosophy
Hoorcollege 1.1
Voorbereiding
4. Aristotle
Filosofie is een wetenschap die bestaat voor zichzelf en niet voor andere. En dus is het de enige
onafhankelijke wetenschap!
Assignment: Define ancient philosophy (wat is a definition?)
Definition: a statement of the exact meaning of a word, especially in a dictionary
(but a definition of something excludes the possibility of change.)
Ancient philosophy: the love of gaining wisdom (and truth).
Gains your soul in the best possible state
Makes someone’s thought immortal and divine, if truth comes within his grasp.
Exists for itself and not for others. It is the only independent science!
To understand the element of reason, wat the nature of each one is, and how they are fitted
one to another, and all the consequences of these facts.
Lecture 1: Introduction
Beginnings
Chronology
- Beginning of European philosophy: “May 28, 585 BCE”
The story of this date is twofold, both about a solar eclips:
1. There was a war going on. This war stopped because the soldiers believed the gods
were not in favour of the war and showed this with solar eclips (darkness).
2. There was a mathematician that understood enough of the physical world to predict
the eclips.
There was no May 28 at that time, so it is a symbolic date.
This story shows two radically different worldviews; gods that are in control vs. a world that
can be understood and predicted.
This is:
Thales of miletus
VS
Mythos and logos
This is the symbol of a new worldview and so the start of ancient philosophy.
Endings
The beginning of medieval philosophy?:
- 2nd c. CE – martyrs
- 313 – edict of Milan
o This is moment that rulers decided that Christian should not be harassed
anymore/beginning of freedom of believe.
- 4th-5th c. CE – Augustine/Boethius
There are different views of when ancient philosophy ended and medieval philosophy
started. It ended because of different worldview, o.a. Jezus.
, Ancient philosophy is the philosophy until hedonism disappears from philosophy, so till
Christian thinkers appear. But ofcourse there was overlap in these periods.
The end of ancient philosophy?:
- 529 – Plato’s Academy is shut down
- 640 – Alexandrian library burns down
o Was also a place where students were taught. (Not yet a university, but almost
like one.)
Truth is that there is no real end, because there is still spreading of books and the tradition
still keeps spreading.
Geography
Plaatje……
A word of warning
We are talking about ancient philosophy, but mostly from an white male perspective. And from
European!
We are not discussing ancient Chinese, Indian or Iranian philosophy. Some of them started way
earlier.
And where are the women?
They were not in a social position to join. But some still did by resisting. And most of them
hardly ever wrote, so where less visible. And some it was also deleted later.
(Hipparchia, was a women)
Also! We are reading translation! Keep that in mind.
Readings
1a.
- Sparta was considered disciplin, not luxury (short sentences!).
- “Know thyself” and “Nothing overmuch”
o Short statements that are not immediately clear. It is a feature of some ancient
philosophy, short and seems obvious, but if you think about it is more
complicated.
o It is a prescript for life. Rules/guidelines/suggestions.
o Tells you something about the worries some people had. (Je hoeft immers geen
(expliciete) morele regels te hebben, als iedereen zich moreel gedraagt.)
o By posting these, they placed themself closer to the gods.
1b.
Diogenes; We do not know much about him.
(Bestaan meerdere met dezelfde naam.)
- Complete wisdom is not something humans can acquire, it is reserved for the gods.
Suffering comes from below and not from above
- Main point story: Distinction between gods and humans. Gods are not to blame!
What is ancient philosophy?
- We have a time and place! (600 before to 600 after roughly.), but that is not what it is.
, - Change of way people saw the world from a irrational world to a world that could be
understand and thought about.
Lover of wisdom = philosopher
(You’re never done, because you are not a god (at least for ancient philosophy)).
, Lecture 1.2: Heraclitus
Voorbereiding
Hfst 1: The beginnings of Science and Philosophy in Archaic Greece
Vanuit begin van de wereld weten we veel door de gedichten van Homer and Hesiod.
Two characteristic features of the Homeric-Hesiodic word-view that are of leading significance for a
study of the “origins of science”
- Centrality of anthropomorphic gods
o Overduidelijk kenmerk
- Finitude and the vagueness about the limits of the world
o Minder duidelijk.
De goden waren de wereld. Vergelijkbaar met mensen, maar wel met bovenmenselijke krachten.
To understand anything is to know which god or gods are responsible for it.
Lecture 2: Heraclitus
Some recent notions of ancient philosophy
- …as Greek Enlightenment (mythos/logos, 19th c)
- …as continuous discussion (Annas)
o It is both characterise by discussion. And we are still in discussion with the
ancient philosophers. A discussion that can and will never end.
- …as a way of life (Hadot)
o Was the main focus of ancient philosophers. It is about life and a way of
practicing life.
- …as broad range of questions (from “What is the good life?” to “Why doesn’t the earth
fall?”, Sedley)
- Don’t explain, admire! (Luce)
o Don’t try to explain the for that time amazing things people came up with. Just
admire.
- “one and the same drama” (Gill and Pellegrin)
o To some extent we are part of the same story.
Definition that you give, tells you al lot about what you find interesting about ancient philosophy.
Historiography of philosophy
“The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.” (L.P. Hartley)
The world we are looking at had its own culture etc. There is a lot that we do not know.
Two different approaches for ancient philosophy:
- Historical reconstruction
o Try to understand it in its own historical context. You’re not judging, just
describing.
o Downside: It is superficial
- Rational reconstruction (Richard Rorty, “The Historiography of Philosophy: four genres”,
1984)
o Take a philosopher thought out of context. Use it for discussion and comparing it
to something in life know (i.e. AI). It is not historical correct and is not meant to
be. It can built on the work of a philosopher. It is normative, a philosopher is
wrong or not. It can introduce an acronym (entities that didn’t exist in the world
of the philosopher).
o Downside: It is anachronistic
Hoorcollege 1.1
Voorbereiding
4. Aristotle
Filosofie is een wetenschap die bestaat voor zichzelf en niet voor andere. En dus is het de enige
onafhankelijke wetenschap!
Assignment: Define ancient philosophy (wat is a definition?)
Definition: a statement of the exact meaning of a word, especially in a dictionary
(but a definition of something excludes the possibility of change.)
Ancient philosophy: the love of gaining wisdom (and truth).
Gains your soul in the best possible state
Makes someone’s thought immortal and divine, if truth comes within his grasp.
Exists for itself and not for others. It is the only independent science!
To understand the element of reason, wat the nature of each one is, and how they are fitted
one to another, and all the consequences of these facts.
Lecture 1: Introduction
Beginnings
Chronology
- Beginning of European philosophy: “May 28, 585 BCE”
The story of this date is twofold, both about a solar eclips:
1. There was a war going on. This war stopped because the soldiers believed the gods
were not in favour of the war and showed this with solar eclips (darkness).
2. There was a mathematician that understood enough of the physical world to predict
the eclips.
There was no May 28 at that time, so it is a symbolic date.
This story shows two radically different worldviews; gods that are in control vs. a world that
can be understood and predicted.
This is:
Thales of miletus
VS
Mythos and logos
This is the symbol of a new worldview and so the start of ancient philosophy.
Endings
The beginning of medieval philosophy?:
- 2nd c. CE – martyrs
- 313 – edict of Milan
o This is moment that rulers decided that Christian should not be harassed
anymore/beginning of freedom of believe.
- 4th-5th c. CE – Augustine/Boethius
There are different views of when ancient philosophy ended and medieval philosophy
started. It ended because of different worldview, o.a. Jezus.
, Ancient philosophy is the philosophy until hedonism disappears from philosophy, so till
Christian thinkers appear. But ofcourse there was overlap in these periods.
The end of ancient philosophy?:
- 529 – Plato’s Academy is shut down
- 640 – Alexandrian library burns down
o Was also a place where students were taught. (Not yet a university, but almost
like one.)
Truth is that there is no real end, because there is still spreading of books and the tradition
still keeps spreading.
Geography
Plaatje……
A word of warning
We are talking about ancient philosophy, but mostly from an white male perspective. And from
European!
We are not discussing ancient Chinese, Indian or Iranian philosophy. Some of them started way
earlier.
And where are the women?
They were not in a social position to join. But some still did by resisting. And most of them
hardly ever wrote, so where less visible. And some it was also deleted later.
(Hipparchia, was a women)
Also! We are reading translation! Keep that in mind.
Readings
1a.
- Sparta was considered disciplin, not luxury (short sentences!).
- “Know thyself” and “Nothing overmuch”
o Short statements that are not immediately clear. It is a feature of some ancient
philosophy, short and seems obvious, but if you think about it is more
complicated.
o It is a prescript for life. Rules/guidelines/suggestions.
o Tells you something about the worries some people had. (Je hoeft immers geen
(expliciete) morele regels te hebben, als iedereen zich moreel gedraagt.)
o By posting these, they placed themself closer to the gods.
1b.
Diogenes; We do not know much about him.
(Bestaan meerdere met dezelfde naam.)
- Complete wisdom is not something humans can acquire, it is reserved for the gods.
Suffering comes from below and not from above
- Main point story: Distinction between gods and humans. Gods are not to blame!
What is ancient philosophy?
- We have a time and place! (600 before to 600 after roughly.), but that is not what it is.
, - Change of way people saw the world from a irrational world to a world that could be
understand and thought about.
Lover of wisdom = philosopher
(You’re never done, because you are not a god (at least for ancient philosophy)).
, Lecture 1.2: Heraclitus
Voorbereiding
Hfst 1: The beginnings of Science and Philosophy in Archaic Greece
Vanuit begin van de wereld weten we veel door de gedichten van Homer and Hesiod.
Two characteristic features of the Homeric-Hesiodic word-view that are of leading significance for a
study of the “origins of science”
- Centrality of anthropomorphic gods
o Overduidelijk kenmerk
- Finitude and the vagueness about the limits of the world
o Minder duidelijk.
De goden waren de wereld. Vergelijkbaar met mensen, maar wel met bovenmenselijke krachten.
To understand anything is to know which god or gods are responsible for it.
Lecture 2: Heraclitus
Some recent notions of ancient philosophy
- …as Greek Enlightenment (mythos/logos, 19th c)
- …as continuous discussion (Annas)
o It is both characterise by discussion. And we are still in discussion with the
ancient philosophers. A discussion that can and will never end.
- …as a way of life (Hadot)
o Was the main focus of ancient philosophers. It is about life and a way of
practicing life.
- …as broad range of questions (from “What is the good life?” to “Why doesn’t the earth
fall?”, Sedley)
- Don’t explain, admire! (Luce)
o Don’t try to explain the for that time amazing things people came up with. Just
admire.
- “one and the same drama” (Gill and Pellegrin)
o To some extent we are part of the same story.
Definition that you give, tells you al lot about what you find interesting about ancient philosophy.
Historiography of philosophy
“The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.” (L.P. Hartley)
The world we are looking at had its own culture etc. There is a lot that we do not know.
Two different approaches for ancient philosophy:
- Historical reconstruction
o Try to understand it in its own historical context. You’re not judging, just
describing.
o Downside: It is superficial
- Rational reconstruction (Richard Rorty, “The Historiography of Philosophy: four genres”,
1984)
o Take a philosopher thought out of context. Use it for discussion and comparing it
to something in life know (i.e. AI). It is not historical correct and is not meant to
be. It can built on the work of a philosopher. It is normative, a philosopher is
wrong or not. It can introduce an acronym (entities that didn’t exist in the world
of the philosopher).
o Downside: It is anachronistic
