Ancient Greek philosophy is considered the ancestor of all European philosophy. From the time of its appearance (VII century BC), it immediately differed from the eastern one. First of all, because the latter was based on the idea of despotic rule, supported the cult of ancestors, honored their customs and did not at all contribute to the development of free thinking. What factors shaped ancient Greek philosophy? What schools, philosophers and ideas did it represent? Let's take a closer look in the article.
First of all, let's talk about what became the impetus for the active development of philosophy in Ancient Greece. The main factors were:
All these prerequisites contributed to the formation of a free personality who had her own opinion. Such qualities as: a thirst for knowledge, the ability to think and draw conclusions, and mental acuity actively developed. The desire to philosophize was also supported by the principle of competition, which was applied not only in sports competitions, but also in intellectual disputes and discussions of various kinds.
At the early stages of the development of ancient Greek philosophy, its connection with mythology was very clearly visible. They asked the same questions:
However, mythology and philosophy have a very significant difference - the latter tries to find a rational explanation for everything, to comprehend the world around us through reason. Therefore, it is thanks to its development that new questions arise:
The answer required a different mindset - critical. A thinker who relies on this form of knowledge of the world must question absolutely everything. It should be noted that the veneration of the gods was preserved until the very last period of the development of ancient Greek thought, when pantheism began to be actively replaced by the Christian religion.
Researchers believe that ancient Greek philosophy went through several periods in its development:
Not much information about the activities of the first ancient Greek philosophers has survived to this day. Thus, we receive a large amount of information from the works of other, later thinkers, primarily Plato and Aristotle.
All periods are united, perhaps, by a type of philosophizing that is called cosmocentric. This means that the thinking of the sages of Ancient Greece was aimed at the surrounding world and nature, their origin and interconnection. In addition, for cognition, the method of abstraction was used, through which concepts were formed. They were used to be able to describe objects, listing their properties and qualities. Also, the ancient Greeks were able to generalize everything they already knew scientific theories, observations of nature and achievements of science and culture.
Let us take a closer look at the most important ancient Greek schools (or directions) of philosophy.
Representatives of the Milesian school belong to this direction for the most part. They viewed the world as a living and indivisible whole. In it, all the things surrounding people were animated: some to a greater extent, others to a lesser extent.
Their main goal was to search for the beginning of being (“From what everything comes and everything consists”). At the same time, natural philosophers could not agree on which of the elements should be considered the main one. For example, Thales considered water to be the beginning of everything. At the same time, a representative of the same direction named Anaximenes gave primacy to air, and to fire.
This direction is also called Eleatic. Among his famous followers: Zeno and Parmenides. Their teaching became the impetus for the development of idealism in the future. They denied the possibility of movement and change, believing that only being really exists. It is eternal, unique and frozen in place, and it cannot be destroyed.
It was the Eleatics who were the first to discover that there are things that exist in reality and are comprehended by thinking, and there are also those that can only be known through the senses.
Its founder was. He believed that there is not only existence, but also non-existence, and our entire world consists of the smallest particles - atoms. They differ from each other in shape, size, position and form bodies. A person sees the world, objects and phenomena with his eyes. But atoms cannot be examined with the “senses”; this can only be done with the mind.
Within this school, attention should be paid to prominent figures of that time: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
Hellenism is often divided into early and late. It is considered the longest period in the history of ancient Greek philosophy, even spanning the beginning of the Roman stage. At this time, a person’s search for consolation and reconciliation with the new reality comes first. Ethical issues become important. So, what schools appeared during this period.
Thus, ancient Greek philosophy existed and developed for about 1200 years. It still has a strong influence of mythology, although it is considered the first conceptual system within which thinkers tried to find a rational explanation for all surrounding phenomena and things. In addition, its rise was facilitated by the “free” thinking of the inhabitants of ancient city-states, or poleis. Their inquisitive mind, interest in nature and the world allowed the ancient philosophy of Greece to lay the foundations for the development of all European philosophy as a whole.
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Ancient Greek philosophers
Ancient Greek philosophy is a philosophy that originated in Ancient Greece. The philosophy of Ancient Greece is a set of teachings that developed from the 6th century BC to the 6th century AD. This millennium of development of philosophical ideas demonstrates an amazing commonality, an obligatory focus on uniting nature, man and the gods in a single cosmic universe. This is largely due to the pagan roots of Greek philosophy. For the Greeks, nature is the main absolute, it was not created by the gods, the gods themselves form part of nature and personify the main natural elements. Man does not lose his original connection with nature, but lives not only “according to nature,” but also “according to institution.” The human mind of the Greeks freed itself from the power of the gods, the Greek respects them and will not insult them, but in his everyday life he will rely on the arguments of reason, relying on himself and knowing that it is not because a person is happy that he is loved by the gods, but because the gods love a person that he is happy.
The most important discovery of the human mind for the Greeks was law. The nature of Greek life explains the Greeks' trust in reason and theory, and the worship of the impersonal absolute (nature) - the constant closeness and even inseparability of physics (the doctrine of nature) and metaphysics (the doctrine of the fundamental principles of being). Contemplation - consideration of worldview problems in the unity of nature, gods, man - served as a justification for the norms of human life, the position of man in the world, ways to achieve piety, justice and even personal happiness.
Early Greek natural philosophy is a way of philosophizing and a way of understanding the world. Actually, space is the cosmic world of human everyday life. In such a world, everything is correlated, adjusted and arranged: the earth and rivers, the sky and the sun - everything serves life. The natural environment of man, his life and death, the bright, transcendental world of the gods, all the functions of man’s life were previously described by Greek natural philosophers visually and figuratively. Cosmos is not an abstract model of the universe, but a human world, however, unlike a finite person, it is eternal and immortal.
Thanks to the three most outstanding representatives of Greek philosophy - Socrates, Plato and Aristotle - , for approximately a thousand years they became the center of Greek philosophy. For the first time in history, Socrates raises the question of personality with its decisions dictated by conscience and its values. Plato created philosophy as a complete worldview, political and logical-ethical system; Aristotle – science as a research and theoretical study of the real world.
In general, ancient Greek philosophy gave a fairly meaningful, orderly picture of the world. Usually the beginning of ancient Greek philosophy is associated with the name of Thales of Miletus (625 - 547 BC), the end - with the decree of the Roman emperor Justinian on the closure of philosophical schools in Athens (529 AD).
Thales
Thales (625 - 547 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician from Miletus (Asia Minor). He is a representative of Ionic natural philosophy and the founder of the Milesian (Ionian) school, with which the history of European science begins. Traditionally considered the founder of Greek philosophy (and science) - he, invariably, opened the list of “seven wise men” who laid the foundations of Greek culture and statehood. The name Thales already in the 5th century BC became a common noun for the sage. Thales was already called the “Father of Philosophy” and its “ancestor” in ancient times.
Thales was of a noble Phoenician family and received a good education in his homeland. Thales was a merchant and traveled a lot. For some time he lived in Thebes and Memphis, where he studied with the priests, studied the causes of floods, and demonstrated a method for measuring the height of the pyramids. It is believed that it was he who “brought” geometry from Egypt and introduced it to the Greeks. His activities attracted followers and students who formed the Milesian (Ionian) school, and of which Anaximander and Anaximenes are the best known today.
Thales was a “subtle diplomat and wise politician”; he tried to unite the cities of Ionia into a defensive alliance against the Achaemenid power. In addition, Thales was a close friend of the Milesian tyrant Thrasybulus. Information about the life of Thales is scanty and contradictory, often anecdotal.
Being a military engineer in the service of King Croesus of Lydia, Thales, in order to facilitate the crossing of the army, diverted the Halys River along a new channel. Not far from the city of Mytel, he designed a dam and a drainage canal and supervised their construction himself. This structure significantly lowered the water level in Halys and made the crossing of troops possible.
During the era of Thales, the Greeks, and the whole world, experienced a number of amazing discoveries. Thales “discovered” the constellation Ursa Minor for the Greeks as a guiding tool; Previously, this constellation was used by the Phoenicians. He was the first to discover the inclination of the ecliptic to the equator and draw five circles on the celestial sphere: the Arctic circle, the summer tropic, the celestial equator, the winter tropic, and the Antarctic circle. He learned to calculate the time of the solstices and equinoxes, and established the inequality of the intervals between them.
Thales was the first to point out that the Moon shines by reflected light; that eclipses of the Sun occur when the Moon covers it. He predicted a solar eclipse (585 BC), after which he became famous. Thales was the first to determine the angular size of the Moon and the Sun; he found that the size of the Sun is 1/720th of its circular path, and the size of the Moon is the same part of the lunar path. We can say that Thales created a “mathematical method” in the study of the movement of celestial bodies. In addition, Thales introduced a calendar based on the Egyptian model (in which the year consisted of 365 days, divided into 12 months of 30 days, and five days were left out).
Thales also knew a lot about geometry. Thales was the first to formulate and prove that vertical angles are equal, that there is equality of triangles on one side and two adjacent angles, that the angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal, that the diameter divides a circle into two equal parts, and also that the inscribed angle, resting on the diameter is straight.
Thales knew how to determine the distance from the shore to the ship, for which he used the likeness of triangles. IN 
This method is based on a theorem, later called Thales’s theorem: if parallel straight lines intersecting the sides of an angle cut off equal segments on one side, then they cut off equal segments on the other side. While in Egypt, Thales amazed Pharaoh Amasis by being able to accurately establish the height of the pyramid by waiting for the moment when the length of the shadow of the stick became equal to its height, and then he measured the length of the shadow of the pyramid.
When Thales, due to his poverty, was reproached for the uselessness of philosophy, he, having made a conclusion from the observation of the stars about the coming harvest of olives, hired all the oil presses in Miletus and Chios in the winter. He hired them for next to nothing (because no one would give more), and when the time came and the demand for them suddenly increased, he began to rent them out at his own discretion. Having thus collected a lot of money, he showed that philosophers, if they wanted, could easily get rich, but that was not what they cared about. Thales predicted the harvest “by observing the stars,” that is, thanks to knowledge.
According to Thales, “water is the best.” He declared that the whole world, everything that exists, is formed from water. Everything is formed from water through its solidification/freezing, as well as evaporation; When water condenses, it becomes earth; when it evaporates, it becomes air. The reason for the formation/movement is the spirit “nesting” in the water. According to Thales, nature, both living and inanimate, has a moving principle, which is called by such names as soul and God. The cosmos is animated and full of divine powers. The soul, as an active force and bearer of rationality, is involved in the divine.
Thales assumed that the Earth floats in water (like a piece of wood, a ship or some other body that, by nature, tends to float in water); earthquakes, whirlwinds and the movements of stars occur because everything sways on the waves due to the mobility of water. The sun and other celestial bodies are fed by the vapors of this water. The stars are made of earth, but at the same time they are red-hot; and the Sun and Moon are of earthy composition (consist of earth). Also, he believed that the Earth is at the center of the Universe; If the Earth is destroyed, the whole world will collapse. That is, Thales argued that the Earth, as dry land, as a body itself, physically rests on a certain “support”, which has the properties of water (non-abstract, that is, specifically fluidity, instability, and the like). And the circulation of celestial phenomena occurs around the Earth, and thus it is Thales who is the founder of the geocentric system of the world.
Unfortunately, Thales's writings have not survived. It is reported that his entire legacy amounted to only 200 poems written in hexameter. However, it is possible that Thales did not write anything at all, and everything known about his teaching comes from secondary sources.
The value of Thales' philosophy lies in the fact that it captures the beginnings of philosophical reflection about the physical world; the difficulty of studying it is that due to the lack of reliable sources, it is easy to attribute to Thales thoughts characteristic of the early period of Greek philosophy in general.
Anaximander
Anaximander of Miletus (610 - 540 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher, student of Thales of Miletus and teacher of Anaximenes. He is also the author of the first Greek scientific work written in prose. He introduced the term “law”, applying the concept of social practice to nature and science. For the first time in Greece, he installed a gnomon - the simplest sundial - and improved the Babylonian sundial, which had the shape of a spherical bowl - the so-called scaphis.
Anaximander is credited with one of the first formulations of the law of conservation of matter. It was he who introduced another concept of the beginning of all things - apeiron. This indefinite substance “embraces all worlds.” Apeiron, as a result of a vortex-like process, is divided into physical opposites of hot and cold, wet and dry, and so on, the interaction of which gives rise to a spherical cosmos. The confrontation between the elements in the emerging cosmic vortex leads to the appearance and separation of substances. In the center of the vortex there is “cold” - the Earth, surrounded by water and air, and outside - fire. Under the influence of fire, the upper layers of the air shell turn into hard crust. This sphere of solidified aer begins to burst with vapor from the boiling earth's ocean. The shell cannot stand it and swells. At the same time, it must push the bulk of the fire beyond the boundaries of our world. This is how a sphere of fixed stars arises, and the stars themselves become pores in the outer shell. Anaximander considered the celestial bodies not to be separate bodies, but to be “windows” in opaque shells that hide fire.
Anaximander made the first map of the Earth. The earth looks like part of a column - a cylinder, diameter 
the base of which is three times the height: “of two flat surfaces we walk on one, and the other is opposite to it.” According to his theory, the Earth floats in the center of the world, not supported by anything. The earth is surrounded by gigantic tubular rings filled with fire. In the closest ring, where there is little fire, there are small holes - stars. In the second ring with stronger fire there is one large hole - the Moon. It can partially or completely overlap (this is how Anaximander explains the change lunar phases and lunar eclipses). In the third, farthest ring, there is the largest hole, the size of the Earth; the strongest fire shines through it - the Sun. Anaximander's universe is closed by heavenly fire.
Anaximander believed that all heavenly bodies are at different distances from the Earth. Order 
following follows the principle: the closer it is to the heavenly fire and, therefore, the further from the Earth, the brighter it is. It is assumed that the basis of Anaximander's Universe is a mathematical principle: all distances are multiples of three. Anaximander made an attempt to determine the numerical parameters of the world system. The size of the Sun's ring is 27 or 28 times the size of the Earth's cylinder, the Moon's ring is 19 times the size of the Earth. The universe, according to Anaximander, develops on its own, without the intervention of the Olympian gods. The Universe is thought of as centrally symmetrical; hence, the Earth, located in the center of the Cosmos, has no reason to move in any direction. Thus, Anaximander was the first to suggest that the Earth rests freely in the center of the world without support.
The final stage of the emergence of the world is the appearance of living beings. Anaximander suggested that all living things originated from the sediments of the dried seabed. All living things are generated by moisture evaporated by the sun; when the ocean boils away, exposing the land, living creatures arise “from the heated water with the earth” and are born “in the moisture, enclosed inside a muddy shell.” That is, natural development, according to Anaximander, includes not only the emergence of the world, but also the spontaneous generation of life.
Anaximander considered the Universe to be similar to a living being. Unlike ageless time, it is born, reaches maturity, grows old and must die in order to be reborn.
Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus (544 - 483 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher. Founder of the first historical or original form of dialectics. Heraclitus was known as the Gloomy or Dark One, and his philosophical system contrasted with the ideas of Democritus. He is credited with the authorship of the famous phrase “Everything flows, everything changes.”
Heraclitus was born and lived in. According to some sources, he belonged to the family of basileus (priest-kings with purely nominal power), descendants of Androcles, however, he voluntarily renounced the privileges associated with origin in favor of his brother. Heraclitus, “hating people, withdrew and began to live in the mountains, feeding on pasture and herbs.” Heraclitus “was no one’s listener.” He was familiar with the views of the philosophers of the Milesian school, Pythagoras, and Xenophanes. He also did not have any direct students, however, his intellectual influence on subsequent generations of ancient thinkers was significant.
Heraclitus, a materialist and dialectician, considered fire to be the fundamental principle of all things, because it is the most mobile and capable of change. From fire came the world as a whole, individual things and even souls. Fire is the most dynamic, changeable of all the elements. Therefore, for Heraclitus, fire became the beginning of the world, while water is only one of its states. Fire condenses into air, air turns into water, water into earth (“the downward path”, which gives way to the “upward path”). The Earth itself, on which we live, was once a red-hot part of the universal fire, but then cooled down. Changes between fire, sea and earth establish balance among themselves; pure or ethereal fire plays a decisive role.
Souls are made of fire; they arise from it and return to it, moisture completely absorbed by the soul, 
leads her to death. We correlate the fire of the soul with the fire of the world. The awake, sleeping and dead are correlated according to the degree of fieryness in the soul. In sleep, souls are partially separated from the world fire and, thus, their activity is reduced.
The life of nature is a continuous process of movement. “This cosmos is the same for everyone, is and will be an eternally living fire, gradually flaring up and gradually dying out.” This equally applies to the “psyche” – the ideal-subjective beginning of life. The psyche, like nature, is characterized by a “self-increasing logos.” Logos is the world soul, the law, the meaning that embraces the Cosmos.
Heraclitus establishes 4 different types of connections between apparent opposites:
a) the same things produce the opposite effect: “The sea is the purest and dirtiest water: for fish it is drinkable and life-saving, for people it is undrinkable and destructive”; “Pigs enjoy mud more than clean water”; “The most beautiful of monkeys is ugly in comparison with man.”
b) different aspects of the same things can find opposite descriptions (writing is linear and round).
c) good and desirable things, such as health or rest, seem possible only if we recognize their opposite: “Sickness makes health pleasant and good, hunger makes satiety, fatigue makes rest.”
D) some opposites are essentially connected, since they follow each other, are pursued by each other and by nothing but themselves. So hot-cold is a hot-cold continuum, these opposites have one essence, one thing in common for the whole pair - temperature. Also, the pair day-night - the temporal meaning of “day” will be common to the opposites included in it.
For Heraclitus, God appears as immanent in things or as the sum of pairs of opposites. Heraclitus is not 
associated God with the need for cult or service. Wisdom consists of truly understanding how the world works. Only God can be wise; man is endowed with reason and intuition, but not with wisdom. God is the common connecting element for all opposite ends of any oppositions. The total multiplicity of things, thus, forms a single, connected, definite complex - unity.
Some researchers interpret the gloomy and contradictory legends about the circumstances of the death of Heraclitus (“he ordered himself to be covered with manure and, lying there, died”; “he became prey for dogs”) as evidence that the philosopher was buried according to Zoroastrian customs. And Emperor Marcus Aurelius writes in his memoirs that Heraclitus died of dropsy, and smeared himself with manure as a remedy for the disease.
Parmenides
Parmenides (520 - 450 BC) is an ancient Greek philosopher, founder and main representative of the Eleatic school. It is to him that the beginnings of metaphysics go back. He turned to questions of being and knowledge, laying the foundation of ontology and the origins of epistemology; separated truth and opinion.
Parmenides came from a noble and wealthy family; he was distinguished by incomprehensibility and even a certain madness. His poem “On Nature” has reached us. In it, the philosopher discusses issues of knowledge and existence. Parmenides reasoned that there is only eternal and unchanging Being, which is identified with thinking. According to his logic, it is impossible to think about non-existence, which means it does not exist. After all, the idea “there is something that is not” is contradictory. Being is not generated by anyone or anything; otherwise one would have to admit that it came from Non-Existence, but there is no Non-Existence. There is no non-existence, since one cannot think about it. In addition, being is not subject to corruption and destruction; otherwise it would turn into Nothingness, and Nothingness does not exist. Being has neither past nor future. Being is pure present. It is motionless, homogeneous, perfect and limited; has the shape of a ball.
The following statements of Parmenides have also reached us: there is one being, and there cannot be 2 or more “beings.” 
Otherwise, they would have to be delimited from each other – by Non-existence (and there is none). Being is continuous (one), that is, it has no parts. If being has parts, then the parts are delimited from each other – by Non-existence (and there is none). If there are no parts and if being is one, then there is no movement and there is no multiplicity in the world. Otherwise, one Being must move relative to another. Since there is no movement and multiplicity and Being is one, then there is neither creation nor destruction. So during the emergence (destruction) there must be Non-Existence (but, there is no Non-Existence). Being eternally remains in the same place.
“Parmenides is a thinker of truly extraordinary depth,” said Socrates in Plato’s dialogue “Theaetetus.”
Protagoras
Protagoras (481 - 411 BC) is an ancient Greek philosopher, the most prominent representative of the Sophists. Also, he is classified as a skeptic and materialist. He gained fame thanks to his teaching activities during his many years of wanderings. Protagoras owns the famous thesis “Man is the measure of all things.”
In his youth, Protagoras carried heavy loads for money. One day Democritus met him with a bundle of firewood. Surprised at how rationally the firewood was stacked in the bundles, he invited Protagoras to become his student. However, much points to the anecdotal nature of this story, appealing to the fact that Protagoras was much older than Democritus. And many even believe that Democritus (along with Plato) was one of those philosophers who experienced the greatest influence of Protagoras.
Protagoras gained fame not only in many Greek cities, but also in Sicily and 
namely, thanks to his teaching craft. He charged high fees for his teaching, which allowed him to travel a lot. His lectures were a success in the homes of famous and wealthy people interested in culture. From 484 to 406 BC he closely communicated in Athens with Pericles and Euripides.
The philosopher Protagoras is a pupil of the Persian magicians, and also the founder of the sophistic way of life. Protagoras is also known for laying the foundation for scientific grammar - the difference between types of sentences, genders of adjectives and nouns, moods of verbs and tenses. He also took on issues of correct speech. Protagoras enjoyed great authority among his predecessors. He is the main character of the dialogue between one of the works of Heraclides Pontus and Plato.
Protagoras was a sensualist and taught that the world is as it is represented in human feelings. “Man is the measure of all things that exist, that they exist, and non-existent, that they do not exist” (in other words: since people differ from each other, there is no objective truth). “What we feel is how it really is.” “Everything is as it appears to us.”
Protagoras points to the relativity of our knowledge, to the element of subjectivity in it. Subjectivism was understood by Protagoras as a conclusion from the teaching of Heraclitus about the universal fluidity of things: if everything changes every moment, then everything exists only insofar as it can be grasped by the individual at one time or another; You can say about everything both one thing and, at the same time, something else that contradicts it.
But not everyone was ready to accept the philosophy of Protagoras. In 411 BC in Athens, for the essay “On the Gods,” in which he categorically doubts the existence of celestial beings, he was accused of dishonor and atheism and expelled. After which, he soon died during a shipwreck on the way to Sicily.
Democritus
Democritus of Abdera (460 - 370 BC) is an ancient Greek philosopher, one of the founders of atomism and materialist philosophy.
Born in the city of Abdera in Thrace. During his life he traveled a lot, studying the philosophical views of various peoples ( Ancient Egypt, Babylon, Persia, , ). Democritus spent a lot of money, which he inherited, on these travels. Embezzlement of inheritance, in those days, was prosecuted in court. At the trial, instead of defending himself, Democritus read excerpts from his work, “The Great World-Building,” and was acquitted: his fellow citizens decided that his father’s money had not been spent in vain.
Democritus was a very strange man. He constantly left the city, hiding in cemeteries, where, far from the bustle of the city, he indulged in reflection. In addition, Democritus, for no apparent reason, burst into laughter, human affairs seemed so funny to him against the backdrop of the great world order. It was for this habit that Democritus received the nickname “The Laughing Philosopher.” Many considered Democritus insane, and even invited the famous physician Hippocrates to examine him. But he ruled that Democritus is absolutely healthy, both physically and mentally, and affirmed that Democritus is one of the smartest people with whom he had to communicate.
Democritus, practically, was the first to widely expand the anthropological aspects of ancient Greek philosophy, discussing such issues as man, God, the state, and the role of the sage in the polis. Democritus believed that true existing being cannot, in itself, either arise or disappear. Democritus was the first to express the idea that the world consists of atoms. At the same time, atoms are indivisible and unchanging particles of matter; they are in constant motion, and differ from each other only in shape, order, size and position. Atoms, according to this theory, move in empty space (the Great Emptiness, as Democritus said) chaotically, collide and, due to the correspondence of shapes, sizes, positions and orders, either stick together or fly apart.
The resulting compounds are held together and thus produce the appearance of complex bodies. Movement itself is a property naturally inherent in atoms. Bodies are combinations of atoms. The diversity of bodies is due to both the difference in the atoms composing them and the difference in the order of assembly, just as different words are made from the same letters. Atoms cannot touch, since everything that does not have emptiness inside itself is indivisible, that is, a single atom. Consequently, between two atoms there are always at least small gaps of emptiness, so that even in ordinary bodies there is emptiness. It follows that when atoms approach very small distances, repulsive forces begin to act between them. At the same time, mutual attraction is also possible between atoms, according to the principle “like attracts like.” Essentially, this is a clear statement of the principle of inertia - the basis of all modern physics. Thin shells (images) of things flow from the bodies and separate, affecting the senses. But, sensory perception gives only “dark” knowledge about things; “lighter”, more subtle knowledge is achieved through the mind. Democritus was "the most subtle of all ancient thinkers."
The Great Void is spatially infinite. In the initial chaos of atomic movements in the Great 
A vortex spontaneously forms in the void. The symmetry of the Great Emptiness turns out to be broken inside the vortex, a center and periphery arise there. Heavy bodies formed in a vortex tend to accumulate near the center of the vortex. The difference between light and heavy is not qualitative, but quantitative, and this alone constitutes significant progress. In their rush to the center of the vortex, heavier bodies displace lighter ones, and they remain closer to the periphery of the vortex. In the center of the world, the Earth is formed, consisting of the heaviest atoms. On outer surface world, something like a protective film is formed, separating space from the surrounding Great Void. Since the structure of the world is determined by the tendency of atoms to the center of the vortex, the world of Democritus has a spherically symmetrical structure.
However, he was not a supporter of the spherical Earth theory. If the Earth were a sphere, then the sun, setting and rising, would intersect the horizon in an arc of a circle, and not in a straight line, as in reality. According to Democritus, the order of the luminaries is as follows: Moon, Venus, Sun, other planets, stars (as the distance from the Earth increases). Moreover, the further away the light is from us, the slower (relative to the stars) it moves. In addition, Democritus believed that centrifugal force prevents the fall of celestial bodies to Earth. Democritus also had the brilliant guess that the Milky Way is a multitude of stars located at such a small distance from each other that their images merge into a single faint glow.
The worlds are infinite in number and differ from each other in size. All worlds move in different directions, since all directions and all states of motion are equal. At the same time, worlds can collide, collapsing. If the formation of the world occurs now, then somewhere it must occur both in the past and in the future; currently different worlds are at different stages of development. In the course of its movement, a world whose formation has not completed can accidentally penetrate into the confines of a fully formed world and find itself captured by it (this is how Democritus explained the origin of the heavenly bodies in our world).
Democritus considered the basic principle of human existence to be in a state of blissful, serene state of mind, devoid of passions and extremes. This is not just simple sensual pleasure, but a state of “peace, serenity and harmony.” Democritus believed that all evil and misfortune happen to a person due to the lack of necessary knowledge. From this he concluded that the solution to problems lies in the acquisition of knowledge. Democritus was a supporter of ancient democracy and an opponent of the slave-owning aristocracy.
The writings of ancient authors mention about 70 different works of Democritus, of which not a single one has survived to this day. There is a legend that Plato ordered to buy up and destroy all the works of Democritus, his philosophical antagonist.
Socrates
Socrates (469 - 399 BC) is an ancient Greek philosopher, whose teaching marks a turn in philosophy - from consideration of nature and the world to consideration of man. His activities opened a new direction in the development of ancient philosophy. He directed the attention of philosophers to the importance of the human personality. Socrates is called the first philosopher in the proper sense of the word. In the person of Socrates, philosophizing thought first turns to itself, exploring its own principles and techniques.
Socrates was the son of the sculptor Sophroniscus and the midwife Phenareta; he had an older maternal brother, Patroclus, who inherited his father’s property. Born on the 6th Farhelion on an unclean day of the Athenian calendar, Socrates became a “pharmakom,” that is, a lifelong priest of the health of the Athenian state without salary, and in archaic times could be sacrificed by the verdict of the people’s assembly in order to solve emerging public problems. In his youth he studied the arts with Damon and Conon, listened to Anaxagoras and Archelaus, knew how to read and write, however, he did not leave any compositions behind him. He was married for the second time to a woman named Xanthippe and had several sons from her, the youngest of whom was seven years old at the time of the philosopher’s death.
Socrates led the life of an Athenian parasite and a beggar sage and never left Attica in times of peace. He was famous as an invincible debater and unmercenary, who refused expensive gifts and always wore old clothes and barefoot. Socrates believed that noble people would be able to rule the state without the participation of philosophers, but in defending the truth, he was often forced to take an active part in the public life of Athens.
He took part in the Peloponnesian War - he fought at Potidaea, at Delia, at Amphipolis. He defended the strategists condemned to death from the unfair trial of the demos, including the son of his friends Pericles and Aspasia. He was the mentor of the Athenian politician and commander Alcibiades, saving his life in battle.
Socrates first noticed that previous philosophers did not answer the questions: “how to live?” and “how to think?” True knowledge presupposes a person's knowledge of himself. Hence the famous formula: “Know yourself.” The highest task of knowledge is not theoretical, but practical - the art of living. Socrates spent his entire life in debates and conversations. He believed that on the paths of monologue and lonely thought lies false knowledge, imaginary wisdom. Socrates discovered the method of maeutics - a method of finding truth by confronting opposing opinions on a subject, eliminating them by asking new questions. Socrates argued that morality and virtue are identical to knowledge. A person who knows what good is will not act evil. Evil deeds are born only from ignorance and no one is evil of their own free will. “Know thyself” is the point of contact between philosophy, religion and psychology. Self-knowledge is working on yourself; it underlies all culture, all practice and creativity. This call is addressed not only to the individual, but also to nations.
Man for Socrates is a microcosm that reflects the social cosmos. What is important is that a person has 
a meaningful picture of this space. Socrates compared his research techniques to the “art of the midwife”; his method of questioning, suggesting a critical attitude to dogmatic statements, was called “Socratic irony.” Socrates did not write down his thoughts, believing that this weakened his memory. And he led his students to a true judgment through dialogue, where he asked a general question, received an answer, asked the next clarifying question, and so on until the final answer. At the same time, the opponent, getting to know himself, was often forced to admit that he was ridiculous.
Socrates saved Alcibiades' life (if Alcibiades had died, he would not have been able to harm Athens). With one large club, he dispersed the Spartan phalanx, who were about to throw spears at the wounded Alcibiades; not a single enemy warrior wanted the dubious glory of killing or at least wounding the elderly sage. In 399 BC, the inhabitants charged Socrates with the fact that “he does not honor the gods whom the city honors, but introduces new deities and is guilty of corrupting youth.” Socrates rejected all accusations of blasphemy and corruption of youth and declared “that there is no man more independent, just and reasonable than Socrates.” When Socrates was asked to impose a fine, he neither imposed it himself nor allowed his friends to do so, but, on the contrary, even said that imposing a fine on oneself means admitting guilt. Then, when his friends wanted to kidnap him from prison, he did not agree and, it seems, even laughed at them, asking if they knew a place outside of Attica where death would not have access.
Before his death, Socrates asked to sacrifice a rooster to Asclepius (usually this ritual was performed as gratitude for recovery), thereby symbolizing his death as recovery, liberation from earthly shackles. According to Socrates, the philosopher’s soul does not resist this liberation, therefore, he is calm in the face of death. Socrates was poisoned by hemlock. “Socrates walked at first, then he said that his legs were getting heavy, and he lay down on his back: that’s what the man ordered. When Socrates lay down, he felt his feet and legs, and a little later - again. Then I squeezed his foot tightly and asked if he could feel it. Socrates answered no. After that, he again felt his legs and, gradually moving his hand up, showed us how the body grew cold and numb. Finally, he touched me for the last time and said that when the cold comes to my heart, it will go away. A little later he shuddered, and the servant opened his face: Socrates’ gaze stopped. Seeing this, Crito closed his mouth and eyes.”
Xenophon
Xenophon (430 - 356 BC) - famous ancient Greek writer, philosopher, historian, 
commander, politician. His work was highly valued by ancient rhetoricians; moreover, it had a huge influence on Latin prose. Xenophon's main work is Anabasis Cyrus.
Xenophon was born in Athens into a wealthy family, possibly belonging to the equestrian class. His children's and teenage years took place in the context of the Peloponnesian War, which did not prevent him from receiving not only a military, but also a broad general education. From a young age he became a follower of Socrates.
After the Peloponnesian War was lost to Sparta in 404 BC, Xenophon left his homeland to join the expedition of Cyrus. After the death of Cyrus himself, Xenophon bravely and skillfully led the retreat of ten thousand Greeks through enemy territory. Xenophon completed the entire campaign - starting from the attack on Babylon and the Battle of Kunax, ending with the retreat through Trebizond, and then to the West to Byzantium, Thrace and Pergamon. It was in Pergamon that Xenophon became one of the strategists of the Greek army. Since he became close to the Spartan king Agesilaus, and then went with him to Greece, in Athens he was convicted of high treason and his property was confiscated. Xenophon began to serve under the command of Agesilaus, took part in battles and campaigns against the enemies of Sparta - even against Athens. When the Spartans gave him a small estate near the Elisian city of Skillunta, he settled there in solitude and began to engage in literary works.
Xenophon's biographer was Diogenes. All the philosophical ideas of that time, as well as the teachings of Socrates, all had a slight influence on the philosopher. But this was quite clearly reflected in his religious views - they are, first of all, characterized by belief in the intervention of the gods in the affairs of people, as well as belief in all sorts of signs through which the gods communicate their will to mortals. True, Xenophon’s ethical views do not at all rise above conventional morality, but his political sympathies are completely on the side of the Spartan aristocratic state structure. In addition to historical books, he also wrote a number of philosophical ones. As a student of Socrates, he sought to give an idea of his personality and teaching in a popular form.
Xenophon, in his essay “On Revenue,” proposed that the Athenian state ultimately create a gigantic, at that time, enterprise to develop the Laurian silver mines and conduct it in such a way as to ensure the well-being of the entire Athenian citizenry.
Plato
Plato (428 - 347 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher, student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle. Plato is one of the greatest philosophers of Ancient Greece and, to this day, remains the greatest philosopher of Western Europe.
Plato is the first philosopher whose writings have been preserved not in short passages quoted by others, but in their entirety. Plato was born in Athens at the height of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, into a family of aristocratic origins, the family of his father, Ariston, went back, according to legend, to the last king of Attica, Codrus, and the ancestor of his mother, Periktion, was the Athenian reformer Solon. Periktione was the sister of Charmides and Critias, two prominent figures among the Thirty Tyrants of the short-lived oligarchic regime that followed the collapse of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War. According to ancient tradition, his birthday is considered to be Thargelion 7 (May 21), a holiday on which, according to mythological legend, the god Apollo was born on the island of Delos. Plato's real name is Aristocles (literally, "best glory"). The nickname Plato (from the Greek word “plato” - breadth), meaning “broad, broad-shouldered”, was given to the wrestler Ariston from Argos, his gymnastics teacher, for Plato’s strong build. Some believe that he was so nicknamed for the breadth of his speech, and Neanf for his broad forehead.
Around 408 BC, Plato met “the wisest of the Hellenes” - Socrates, he became one of his students of philosophy; before that he studied poetry. Socrates is an invariable participant in almost all of Plato's works, written in the form of dialogues between historical and sometimes fictional characters. During the trial of Socrates, Plato was among his students who offered bail for him. After the verdict, Plato fell ill and was not present at the last conversation in prison.
After the death of Socrates in 399 BC, Plato, with some other students, moved to Megara. Plato developed the theory of the ideal state. Philosophers take over the management of the state, since only they are able to comprehend the idea (essence, problems) of the state. Warriors protect the state, and commoners work. Everyone takes their place in the state, each layer of society has its own level of intelligence, human soul and virtue. For Plato, the state is the embodiment of law, order and measure.
In 389, Plato went to Sicily with the help of Dionysius of Syracuse to found an ideal state there, in which philosophers, instead of a cup of poison, would receive the reins of government. Plato was invited to be his teacher by the brother of the wife of the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius I, Dion. Dion dreamed that Plato would be able to influence the tyrant with the help of philosophy and he would improve his rule. Dionysius was a very suspicious person and eventually sent Plato home along with an ambassador who was tasked with killing or selling the philosopher into slavery. Ambassador Pollides sells Plato into slavery on the island of Aegina, where he is redeemed by one of his admirers.
In 386, Plato returned to Athens, where he began to gather around himself a circle of students, with whom he talked about philosophy in a suburban public garden (about a kilometer from Athens), and established the Academy.
The foundation of Plato's philosophy is the doctrine of ideas. He believed that everything that exists in the world has its own idea. Ideas are supersensible patterns of things. Ideas indicate the essential properties, composition and structure of a thing, its purpose and meaning. Ideas are primary, eternal. Real trees die, the triangle pattern can be erased, but the ideas of a tree and a triangle are eternal and immortal. In particular, ideas rule the universe. Ideas organize matter as a disordered mass. Matter is “non-being” (“menon”), which accepts the definition of ideas. Plato's pyramid of ideas is crowned by the idea of good, the idea of beauty, and the idea of truth.
Plato's theory of knowledge is based on his doctrine of the soul and memories. The immortal soul, coming into contact with things, remembers what it dealt with in the world of ideas. These images, the true faces of things, are imprinted in our soul. After all, the soul is immortal and carries within itself this immortal knowledge. Reliable knowledge is possible only about truly existing “species”, that is, about ideas. About sensory things and phenomena, not knowledge is possible, but probable “opinion.” The main method of cognition is dialectics, that is, the ability to reduce everything particular and individual to a common feature. Plato often contrasts soul and body as two dissimilar entities. The body is decomposable and mortal, but the soul is eternal. Unlike the body, which can be destroyed, nothing can prevent the soul from existing forever. If we agree that vice and wickedness cause harm to the soul, then even in this case it remains to admit that vice does not lead the soul to death, but simply perverts it and makes it ungodly. That which is incapable of perishing from any evil can be considered immortal: “since something does not perish from any of these evils - neither from one’s own nor from a stranger, then it is clear that it must certainly be something forever existing, and since it exists eternally, it is immortal.”
Plato gave the famous image of the chariot of the soul. He painted the following picture: “Let us liken the soul 
the combined power of the winged pair of teams and the charioteer. Among the gods, both horses and charioteers are all noble and descend from nobles, while among the rest they are of mixed origin. Firstly, it is our lord who rules the team, and then his horses - one is beautiful, noble and born from the same horses, and the other horse is his opposite and his ancestors are different. It is inevitable that ruling us is a difficult and tedious task.” The driver here represents the mind, the good horse the strong-willed part of the soul, and the bad horse the passionate or emotional part of the soul.
In the dialogue “The Republic,” Plato examines these three components of the human psyche in more detail. Thus, he likens the rational part of the soul - the shepherd of the flock, the strong-willed or furious part of the soul - to the dogs accompanying the shepherd, helping him manage the flock, and he calls the unreasonable, passionate part of the soul a flock, the virtue of which is to obey the shepherd and the dogs. Thus, Plato identifies three principles of the soul:
1) The rational principle, directed towards knowledge and entirely conscious activity.
2) A furious beginning, striving for order and overcoming difficulties. The violent principle is especially noticeable in a person, “when he believes that he is being treated unfairly, he boils up, gets irritated and becomes an ally of what seems fair to him, and for this he is ready to endure hunger, cold and all similar torments, just to win ; he will not give up his noble aspirations - either achieve his goal or die, unless he is humbled by the arguments of his own reason.”
3) Passionate principle, expressed in countless human desires. This principle, “because of which a person falls in love, experiences hunger and thirst, and is overwhelmed by other lusts, we will call the beginning unreasonable and lustful, a close friend of all kinds of satisfaction and pleasure.”
Further, in the course of his reasoning, Plato notes: “When the soul and body are united, nature commands the body to obey and be a slave, and the soul to rule and be a mistress. Having taken this into consideration, tell me which of them, in your opinion, is closer to the divine and which to the mortal? Don't you think that the divine was created for power and leadership, and the mortal - for submission and slavery? “Yes, it seems,” his interlocutor answers. – So what is the soul similar to? “The soul is similar to the divine, and the body is similar to the mortal.”
Plato introduces ethical and religious aspects into his doctrine of the immortality of the soul. So, in particular, he mentions the possibility of posthumous punishments and rewards for the soul for its earthly accomplishments. In the dialogue “The State,” he cites a mythological tale about the posthumous fate of human souls, allegedly known from the words of a certain Pamphylian Er, who “once he was killed in a war; when ten days later they began to pick up the bodies of the already decomposed dead, they found him still whole, brought him home, and when on the twelfth day they began the burial, then, already lying on the fire, he suddenly came to life, and having come to life, he told what he saw there.”
Plato's greatest service to philosophy is the discovery of the objective existence of the world of ideas (mind), as the formative principle of the world. Without this discovery, no philosophy, no science, no human knowledge is possible. Plato's ideas express the idea of the laws of nature and society. The art of understanding the world is available to those who have mastered the highest ideas. At the same time, by “operating” with ideas, Plato revealed the focus, the core of all philosophizing. To ask about the meaning of things or the world as a whole, you need to go beyond the phenomena or the world, ask where they come from and why, do they have meaning, are they real or not, what is hidden behind them?
Plato's philosophy is a unique attempt to unite the world of meanings (ideas) with the phenomena of the physical and social cosmos. The focus on comprehending ideas and rationally comprehending the world forever immortalized the name of Plato. In the dialogue “State” the concept of the idea of good as the highest object of knowledge is given. The word “good” itself means not just something that is ethically assessed positively, but also ontological perfection, for example, the goodness of a particular thing, its usefulness and high quality. Good cannot be defined as pleasure, because we have to admit that there are bad pleasures. We cannot call something good that only benefits us, because the same thing can harm others. Plato's good is “good in itself.”
Plato likens the idea of good to the Sun. In the visible world, the Sun is a necessary condition both for the fact that objects become accessible to vision and for the fact that a person receives the ability to see objects. In exactly the same way, in the sphere of pure knowledge, the idea of good becomes a necessary condition both for the knowability of the ideas themselves and for a person’s ability to know ideas.
According to ancient legends, Plato died on his birthday in 347 BC (the 13th year of the reign of the Macedonian king Philip). He was buried at the Academy. It is believed that he was buried under the name Aristocles.
Diogenes
Diogenes of Sinope (412 - 323 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher, student of Antisthenes, founder of the Cynic school. The most famous of the Cynic philosophers, Diogenes Sinope served as an example for the Cynic sage in ancient times. Diogenes supports asceticism and emphasizes ethics, but brings to these philosophical positions a dynamism and a sense of humor unsurpassed in the history of philosophy. It is still debated whether Diogenes left anything behind in writing. As a cynic, Diogenes lived and wrote in two parts of ethical practice, but Diogenes is very similar to Socrates, and even to Plato, in his feelings regarding the superiority of direct oral interaction over written accounts.
The philosopher Diogenes was the son of the money changer Hykesius. Diogenes was a citizen of Sinope who either fled or was exiled due to currency problems. Once in Delphi, he asked the oracle what he should do, to which he received the answer: “revaluation of values.” Initially, he understood this saying as “recoining,” however, being exiled, he realized his calling in philosophy. Diogenes moved to Athens. He built his dwelling near the Athenian agora in a large clay vessel - pithos, which was buried in the ground and in which grain, wine, oil were stored or people were buried. One day the boys destroyed his house. The Athenians later provided him with a new pithos.
One day the philosopher Aristippus, who made a fortune by praising a tyrant, saw Diogenes washing lentils and said: “If you glorified the tyrant, you would not have to eat lentils!” To which Diogenes objected: “If you learned to eat lentils, then you would not have to glorify the tyrant!”
When the Athenians were preparing for war with Philip of Macedon and bustle and excitement reigned in the city, Diogenes began to roll his clay barrel in which he lived through the streets back and forth. When asked why he was doing this, Diogenes replied: “Everyone is in trouble now, that’s why it’s not good for me to be idle, but I roll pithos because I have nothing else.”
Diogenes proclaimed the ideal of asceticism using the example of a mouse that was not afraid of anything, did not strive for anything and was content with little. Diogenes' life in a clay jug - pithos, and the use of a cloak instead of a bed illustrated this principle. The only things he had were a bag and a staff. Sometimes he was seen walking barefoot in the snow. The meaning of asceticism was that true happiness lies in freedom and independence. Diogenes begged for alms from the statues “to accustom himself to refusal.”
Diogenes argued with Plato on several occasions. Once, trampling a mat, he exclaimed: “I am trampling Plato’s arrogance.” When Plato said that man is “a biped without feathers,” Diogenes plucked the rooster and called him Plato’s man. When Plato was asked who Diogenes was, he replied: “Socrates, gone mad.” Seeing the meager lifestyle of Diogenes, Plato noticed that even in slavery to the tyrant of Syracuse Dionysius, he did not wash his own vegetables, to which he received the answer that if he had washed the vegetables himself, he would not have ended up in slavery.
Diogenes took part in the Battle of Chaeronea, but was captured by the Macedonians. At the slave market, when asked what he could do, he answered: “to rule over people.” He was bought by a certain Xeniad as a mentor to his children. Diogenes taught them horse riding, throwing darts, as well as history and Greek poetry.
Diogenes was a very shocking person. He shocked his contemporaries, in particular, he ate food in the square (in the time of Diogenes, public eating was considered indecent) and openly engaged in masturbation, saying: “If only hunger could be quelled by rubbing the stomach!” One day Diogenes began to give a philosophical lecture in the city square. Nobody listened to him. Then Diogenes screeched like a bird, and a hundred onlookers gathered around. “This, Athenians, is the price of your mind,” Diogenes told them. - “When I told you smart things, no one paid attention to me, and when I chirped like an unreasonable bird, you listen to me with your mouth open.” Diogenes considered the Athenians unworthy to be called people. He mocked religious ceremonies and despised those who believed in dream-readers.
When Alexander the Great came to Attica, he, of course, wanted to get to know the famous “outcast,” like many others. Alexander waited a long time for Diogenes himself to come to him to pay his respects, but the philosopher spent his time calmly at home. Then Alexander himself decided to visit him. And, finding Diogenes in Crania (in a gymnasium near Corinth), when he was basking in the sun, he approached him and said: “I am the great King Alexander.” “And I,” answered Diogenes, “the dog Diogenes.” “And why do they call you a dog?” “Whoever throws a piece, I wag, whoever doesn’t throw, I bark, whoever is an evil person, I bite.” “Are you afraid of me?” – Alexander asked. “What are you,” asked Diogenes, “evil or good?” “Good,” he said. “And who is afraid of good?” Finally, Alexander said: “Ask me whatever you want.” “Move away, you are blocking the sun for me,” said Diogenes and continued to bask. On the way back, Alexander remarked: “If I were not Alexander, I would like to become Diogenes.”
Ironically, Diogenes died on the same day as Alexander the Great. A marble monument in the shape of a dog was erected on his grave, with the epitaph:
Let the copper grow old under the power of time - still,
Your glory will survive the centuries, Diogenes.
You taught us how to live, being content with what you have,
You showed us a path that couldn’t be easier.
Aristotle
Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher. Disciple of Plato. From 343 BC - tutor of Alexander the Great. Naturalist of the classical period. The most influential of the ancient philosophers; founder formal logic. Aristotle was the first thinker to create a comprehensive system of philosophy that covered all spheres of human development: sociology, philosophy, politics, logic, physics. His views on ontology had a serious influence on the subsequent development of human thought. Karl Marx called Aristotle the greatest thinker of antiquity.
Aristotle was born in Stagira (hence, nicknamed Stagirite), a Greek colony in Chalkidiki, near Mount Athos. Aristotle's father, Nicomachus, was from the island of Andros. Mother Thestis came from Euboean Chalcis. Aristotle was a pure Greek on both his father and mother. Nicomachus, Aristotle's father, was a hereditary Asclepiad and traced his family back to the Homeric hero Machaon, the son of Asclepius. The philosopher's father was a court physician and friend of Amyntas III, father of Philip II and grandfather of Alexander the Great. He was Aristotle's first tutor, as the Asclepiads had a tradition of teaching their children from a young age. Apparently, this is where his interest in biology began.
However, Aristotle's parents died when he had not yet reached adulthood. At seventeen 
age Aristotle came to Athens. Aristotle spent 20 years at Plato's Academy until the death of his teacher. Both positive and negative aspects stand out in their relationship. The fact is that Aristotle suffered from speech impediments, was “short-legged, had small eyes, wore smart clothes and a trimmed beard.” Plato did not approve of Aristotle's lifestyle or his manner of dressing. “And there was some kind of mockery on his face, inappropriate talkativeness, also testifying to his character.”
After Plato's death, Aristotle, along with Xenocrates, Erastus and Coriscus, goes to Assos, a coastal city in Asia Minor, located opposite the island of Lesbos. During his stay in Assos, Aristotle became close to Hermias. The closeness contributed to the fact that Aristotle married his adopted daughter and niece Pythias, who gave birth to a girl who received her mother’s name. Pythias was not Aristotle's only woman. After her death, he illegally married the maid Herpellida, from whom he had a son, named, according to ancient Greek tradition, in honor of Nicomachus's father.
After a three-year stay in Assos, Aristotle went to the island of Lesbos and stopped in the city of Mytelene, where he taught until he received an invitation from Philip II to become the tutor of the royal son Alexander. Aristotle began teaching Alexander when he was 14 years old. Aristotle taught Alexander various sciences, including medicine. The philosopher instilled in the prince a love of Homeric poetry, so that, subsequently, the copy of the Iliad, which Aristotle compiled for Alexander, would be kept by the king along with the dagger under his pillow. In 335/334, Aristotle suspended the education of Alexander, due to the fact that the latter’s father was killed and the young prince had to take power into his own hands.
The entire philosophy of Aristotle is characterized by the idea of realizing form, the paradigm of reason, both in the things themselves and in systematic thinking. He is the founder of formal logic. Science begins with Aristotle as a way of obtaining knowledge about the world using logical and conceptual means. Aristotle divided all philosophy into three parts: theoretical, the purpose of which is knowledge for the sake of knowledge, a categorical analysis of existence, practical or “philosophy of humanity,” and poetic or creative, the purpose of which is to provide knowledge for creativity. Aristotle wrote natural science treatises “On Physics”, “On Heaven”, “On the Parts of Animals”, in particular, the treatise “On the Soul”. Considering the soul to be the beginning of life, he gives a typology of the levels of the soul; distinguishes the plant, animal and rational soul.
One of the central teachings of Aristotle’s “first philosophy” is the doctrine of four causes, or 
in the beginning In “Metaphysics” and other works, Aristotle develops the doctrine of the causes and principles of all things. These reasons are:
1. Matter – “that from which.” The variety of things that exist objectively; matter is eternal, uncreated and indestructible; it cannot arise from nothing, increase or decrease in quantity; she is inert and passive.
2. Form – “that which”. The essence, stimulus, purpose, and also the reason for the formation of diverse things from monotonous matter.
3. The efficient or producing cause is “that from where.” Characterizes the moment in time from which the existence of a thing begins. The beginning of all beginnings is God.
4. Purpose, or final cause - “that for the sake of which.” Each thing has its own particular purpose. The highest goal is Good.
With Aristotle, the basic concepts of space and time begin to take shape: 
Substantial - considers space and time as independent entities, the principles of the world.
Relational. According to this concept, space and time are not independent entities, but systems of relations formed by interacting material objects.
The categories of space and time act as a “method” and number of motion, that is, as a sequence of real and mental events and states, and therefore are organically connected with the principle of development. Aristotle saw the specific embodiment of Beauty as the principle of the world structure in the Idea or Mind.
He denied the intervention of the gods in the affairs of the world and proceeded from the recognition of the eternity of matter, which has an internal source of movement. Like Democritus, he argued that the world consists of atoms and emptiness. According to Aristotle, world movement is an integral process: all its moments are mutually determined, which presupposes the presence of a single engine. God is the first cause of movement, the beginning of all beginnings, since there cannot be an infinite series of causes or a beginningless one. The absolute beginning of any movement is deity, as a universal supersensible substance. Aristotle justified the existence of a deity by considering the principle of improvement of the Cosmos.
Aristotle believed that the soul, which has integrity, is nothing more than its organizing principle, inseparable from the body, the source and method of regulation of the organism, its objectively observable behavior. The soul is the entelechy of the body. The soul is inseparable from the body, but itself is immaterial, incorporeal. What makes us live, feel and think is the soul. “The soul is the cause, as the source of movement, as the goal, and as the essence of animate bodies.” Thus, the soul is a certain meaning and form, and not matter, not a substratum. Aristotle gave an analysis of the various parts of the soul: memory, emotions, the transition from sensations to general perception, and from it - to a generalized representation; from opinion through concept to knowledge, and from directly felt desire to rational will.
The basis of experience is sensations, memory and habit. Any knowledge begins with sensations: it is that which is capable of taking the form of sensory objects without their matter; the mind sees the general in the individual. Aristotle considered sensations to be reliable, reliable evidence about things, but added with a reservation that, in themselves, sensations determine only the first and lowest level of knowledge, and a person rises to the highest level thanks to the generalization in thinking of social practice.
There are two principles in a person: biological and social. From the moment of his birth, a person is not left alone with himself; he joins in all the achievements of the past and present, in the thoughts and feelings of all humanity. Human life outside society is impossible.
Aristotle taught that the Earth, which is the center of the Universe, is spherical. Aristotle saw evidence of the sphericity of the Earth in the nature of lunar eclipses, in which the shadow cast by the Earth on the Moon has a rounded shape at the edges, which can only be if the Earth is spherical. Referring to the statements of a number of ancient mathematicians, Aristotle considered the circumference of the Earth to be equal to 400 thousand stadia (about 71,200 km). Aristotle, in addition, was the first to prove the sphericity of the Moon, based on the study of its phases. The universe consists of a series of concentric spheres moving at different speeds and driven by the outermost sphere of fixed stars. The firmament and all the heavenly bodies are spherical. However, Aristotle proved this idea incorrectly, based on a teleological idealistic concept. Aristotle deduced the sphericity of the heavenly bodies from the false view that the so-called “sphere” is the most perfect form.
The “sublunar world,” that is, the region between the orbit of the Moon and the center of the Earth, is a region of chaotic, uneven movements, and all bodies in this region consist of the four lower elements: earth, water, air and fire. Earth, as the heaviest element, occupies a central place. Above it are successively the shells of water, air and fire. The “supralunar world,” that is, the region between the orbit of the Moon and the outer sphere of the fixed stars, is a region of eternally uniform movements, and the stars themselves consist of the fifth, most perfect element - ether. Ether (the fifth element) is part of the stars and sky. It is divine, incorruptible, and completely unlike the other four elements. The stars, according to Aristotle, are fixedly fixed in the sky and rotate with it, and the “wandering stars” (planets) move in seven concentric circles. The cause of heavenly movement is God.
The philosopher created the doctrine of the state and civil community, which arose naturally from such 
primary social associations, such as family, village. The philosopher analyzed the “correct” forms of political government (monarchy, aristocracy and politics) and the “wrong” ones (tyranny, oligarchy, democracy). Aristotle criticized Plato's doctrine of the perfect. He believed that the community of property, wives and children proposed by Plato would lead to the destruction of the state. Aristotle was a staunch defender of individual rights, private property and the monogamous family, as well as a supporter of slavery. However, Aristotle did not recognize the justification for turning prisoners of war into slavery; in his opinion, slaves should be those who, while possessing physical strength, do not have reason.
Aristotle considered the first result of social life to be the formation of a family - husband and wife, parents and children... The need for mutual exchange led to the communication of families and villages. This is how the state arose. The state is created not in order to live in general, but to live mainly happily. The state arises only when communication is created for the sake of a good life between families and clans, for the sake of a perfect and sufficient life for itself. The nature of the state is “ahead” of the family and the individual. He identified three main layers of citizens: the very wealthy, the average, and the extremely poor. According to Aristotle, the poor and the rich “turn out to be elements in the state that are diametrically opposed to each other, and depending on the preponderance of one or another element, the corresponding form of the state system is established.” The best state is a society that is achieved through the middle element (that is, the “middle” element between slave owners and slaves), and those states have the best system where the middle element is represented in greater numbers. When there are many people deprived of political rights in a state, when there are many poor people in it, then there will inevitably be hostile elements in such a state.
Politics is a science, knowledge of how to best organize the common life of people in 
state. Politics is the art and skill of public administration. The goal of politics is the just (common) good. Achieving this goal is not easy. A politician must take into account that people have not only virtues, but also vices. Therefore, the task of politics is not to educate morally perfect people, but to cultivate virtues in citizens. The virtue of a citizen consists of the ability to fulfill one's civic duty and the ability to obey authorities and laws.
Aristotle's works in biology are also interesting. Aristotle was of the opinion that the more perfect the creation, the more perfect its form, but at the same time, the form does not determine the content. He identified three types of soul:
The plant soul, responsible for reproduction and growth;
The feeling soul, responsible for mobility and feelings;
A rational soul, capable of thinking and reasoning.
He attributed the presence of the first soul to plants, the first and second to animals, and all three to humans. Aristotle, following the Egyptians, believed that the place of the rational soul is in the heart, not in the brain. It is interesting that Aristotle was one of the first to separate feeling and thought.
Aristotle recognized the existence of two kingdoms in the surrounding world: inanimate and living nature. He classified plants as animate, living nature. According to Aristotle, plants have a lower level of soul development compared to animals and humans. Aristotle noted certain common properties in the nature of plants and animals. He wrote, for example, that in relation to some sea inhabitants it is difficult to decide whether they are plants or animals.
Actually, Aristotle ends the classical period in the development of Greek philosophy. Aristotle died of stomach disease. His body was transferred to Stagiri, where grateful fellow citizens erected a crypt for the philosopher. In honor of Aristotle, festivals were established that bore the name "Aristotelia", and the month in which they were held was called "Aristotle".
Pyrrho
Pyrrho of Elis (360 - 275 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher. Founder of the ancient skeptical school. He was of the opinion that nothing, in reality, is neither beautiful nor ugly, nor just nor unjust, since everything in itself is the same, and therefore, it is no more one than the other. Everything that is unequal and different is (arbitrary) human institutions and customs. Things are beyond our knowledge; This is the basis of the method of suspending judgment. As a practical-moral ideal method, “equanimity”, “serenity” (ataraxia) is derived from this.
Pyrrho's teaching is called Pyrrhonism. This name is meaningfully identified with skepticism. The most important source for studying his theory is the work of Sextus Empiricus “Pyrrhonian propositions”. Pyrrho became famous for the fact that, as a thinker, he proclaimed the principle of “abstinence from judgment.” It formed the basis of the main method of philosophy and philosophizing. The subject of philosophy in skepticism involves highlighting ethical issues. People who understand philosophy began to highlight issues that related to life in a changed and, as yet, unstable world. The questions in accordance with which they tried to understand how the world works had a secondary nature.
Philosophy, according to the philosopher, is a science that helps in the fight against dangers, frees one from worries, and helps in overcoming difficulties. Therefore, Pyrrho is a sage, not a theorist. He could give answers on how to cope with any problems in life. Pyrrho thought that a philosopher was a person who strived for happiness as such. It, in his opinion, consisted in the absence of suffering and equanimity to everything that happens in life. Pyrrho himself believed that one cannot say anything definite about things. Every object in life can be described in different ways. You can't judge him categorically.
Sensory impressions are something that should be perceived without skepticism. If a person finds something sweet or bitter, then so be it. This is where equanimity arises, which will lead to the highest happiness.
Theophrastus
Theophrastus, or Theophrastus, (370 - 287 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher, natural scientist, music theorist. Along with Aristotle, he is the founder of botany and plant geography. Thanks to the historical part of his teaching about nature, he acts as the founder of the history of philosophy (especially psychology and the theory of knowledge).
Born into the family of clothier Melantha in Lesbos. At birth his name was Tirtham. He was later nicknamed Theophrastus (“God-speaking”). He was a student of Plato, spent a long time in Athens, after the death of his teacher he went to school with Aristotle and soon became his favorite student. Traditions claim that he received his name from Aristotle. Theophrastus was received by the Macedonian king Cassander, the founder of the Alexandria Museum, Demetrius of Phalerum, and his successor as head of the Lyceum, Strato. He lived to be 85 years old and was buried with honors in Athens.
Theophrastus left behind more than two hundred scientific works on a variety of topics. The influence of Theophrastus’s works on the subsequent development of botany, for many centuries, was enormous, since the scientists of the Ancient world did not rise above him, either in understanding the nature of plants or in describing their forms. In accordance with the level of knowledge contemporary to him, certain provisions of Theophrastus were naive and unscientific. Scientists of that time did not yet have high research technology, and there were no scientific experiments. But, with all this, the level of knowledge achieved by the “father of botany” was very significant. His works “History of Plants” and “Causes of Plants” set out the basics of the classification of plants and their physiology, and also described more than five hundred species of plants. He outlined with insight the most important problems of scientific plant physiology. How are plants different from animals? What organs do plants have? What is the activity of the root, stem, leaves, fruits? Why do plants get sick? What effect do heat and cold, humidity and dryness, soil and climate have on the plant world? Can a plant arise by itself (generate spontaneously)? Can one type of plant change into another?Theophrastus was one of the first to suggest that nature develops and acts based on its own interests, and not in order to be useful to man. Also, the scientist described the functions and physiological characteristics of the roots, leaves, stems and fruits of plants.
The most famous work of Theophastus “On the Properties of Human Morals”, in which he 
masterfully described the character traits of a person, providing them with vivid examples of the behavior of certain people in different situations. This is a collection of 30 essays on human types, which depict a flatterer, a talker, a braggart, a proud person, a grouch, a distrustful person, and so on, and each is depicted with vivid situations in which this type manifests itself. So, when the collection of donations begins, the stingy one leaves the meeting without saying a word. Being the captain of the ship, he goes to bed on the helmsman's mattress, and on the Feast of the Muses (when it was customary to send a reward to the teacher) he leaves the children at home. They often talk about the mutual influence of the characters of Theophrastus and the characters of the new Greek comedy. His influence on all modern literature is undoubted.
The thinker paid a lot of attention to the study of the nature and purpose of music; from his two-volume work “On Music” only a fragment has reached us, from which we can conclude that Theophrastus denied the accepted understanding of music at that time as a sounding incarnation of numbers (Pythagorean-Platonic teaching). His work says the following on this subject: “The nature of music is not in numbers or intervallic movement, but in the soul, which gets rid of evil through experience. Without this movement of the soul, there would be no essence of music.”
Epicurus
Epicurus (341 - 270 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher, founder of Epicureanism in Athens (“Garden of Epicurus”). Epicurus founded one of the fundamental philosophies of ancient Greece, helping to lay the intellectual foundations for modern science and for secular individualism. Many aspects of his thought are still very relevant some twenty-three centuries later.
The Athenian Epicurus, the son of Neocles and Chaerestrata, grew up on the island of Samos and from the age of 14 (according to other sources, from 12) years old he began to be interested in philosophy. At the age of 18 he came to Athens. At the age of 32, he founded his own philosophical school, which was initially located in Mytilene (on the island of Lesbos) and Lampsacus (on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles), and from 306 BC - in Athens. In this city, Epicurus and his students settled in the garden he bought (hence the name of the Epicureans: “philosophers of the Garden”). In The Garden, Epicurus and his friends pondered and reflected on their ideals of human life, talking about philosophical problems, but, deliberately, separating them directly from active involvement in social affairs. Above the entrance there hung a saying: “Guest, you will feel good here. Here pleasure is the highest good.”
Epicurus wholeheartedly accepted the atomism of Leucippus and Democritus, arguing that all objects, including events and human lives, are, in reality, nothing more than physical interaction in an environment of indestructible particles. As they fall towards the center of the earth, the atoms deviate from their paths, which collide with each other and form a temporary existing being. There is no need for a mandatory order of things; everything happens by chance.
The universe is the result of the collision and separation of atoms, beyond which nothing exists except empty space. Epicurus considered the Universe infinite. In the space between these worlds, immortal and happy, the gods live, not caring about the world and people. In the same way, living beings arise and disappear, as well as the soul, which consists of the finest, lightest, most round and mobile atoms.
Explanation natural phenomena Epicurus is extremely close to the point of view of modern physicists. He dwells on the origin of such phenomena as thunder, lightning, wind, snow, rainbows, earthquakes and comets. Epicurus is considered the discoverer of empirical natural science. Epicurus considered reason to be completely dependent on sensations. Since sensory knowledge, according to Epicurus, is infallible, errors in knowledge or delusions arise from erroneous judgments about what is given in sensations. “Imaginative leap of thought” is defined as intuition or intellectual intuition. According to Epicurus, “only that which is observable or grasped by a flash of thought is true,” and “the main sign of perfect and complete knowledge is the ability to quickly use flashes of thought.”
Unlike the Stoics, Epicurus was not interested in participating in everyday politics, believing that this would lead to trouble. Epicurus preached the principle of “live inconspicuously”; he believed that you need to go through life without attracting attention to yourself; do not strive for fame, power or wealth, but enjoy the little joys of life - delicious food, the company of friends, and so on.
Laws and punishments are necessary to keep fools in check, because of which the contract may suffer. 
However, the benefit of the contract is obvious to the sage and due to the fact that his desires are small, he has no need to break the laws. Laws that are useful for human communication and happiness are fair; those that are useless are unjust. Epicurus believed that in different geographical areas, people, under the influence of the same things, made different sounds (due to the different influence of the environment on the human lungs). Thus, the first words spoken by people were different, and therefore the languages became different.
Epicurus' philosophy combines physics based on atomistic materialism with a rational hedonistic ethic that emphasizes the moderation of desires and the cultivation of friendship. His worldview is very optimistic, and emphasizes that philosophy can free man from fears of death and the supernatural, and can teach us how to find happiness in almost any situation. His practical insights into human psychology, as well as his science-friendly worldview, are of great contemporary importance to Epicureanism, as well as playing a venerable role in the intellectual development of Western Civilization.
The philosopher died “of a kidney stone” in 271 or 270 BC.
Plutarch
Plutarch (46 - 127 AD) - ancient Greek writer and philosopher, public figure. He is best known as the author of the work “Comparative Lives,” in which he recreated the images of outstanding political figures of Greece and Rome.
Plutarch came from a wealthy family living in the small town of Chaeronea in Boeotia. In his youth in Athens, Plutarch studied philosophy (mainly from the Platonist Ammonius), mathematics, and rhetoric. Even in his youth, Plutarch, together with his brother Lamprius and teacher Ammonius, visited Delphi, where the cult of Apollo, which had fallen into decline, was still preserved. This journey had a serious impact on the life and literary work of Plutarch. While teaching his own sons, Plutarch gathered young people in his house and created a kind of private academy, in which he played the role of mentor and lecturer.
Plutarch visited Rome and other places in Italy many times, had students, with whom he taught classes in Greek (he began to study Latin only “in his declining years”). In Rome, Plutarch met with the Neo-Pythagoreans, and also struck up friendships with many outstanding people. Having become, purely formally, a member of the Mestrian family (in accordance with Roman legal practice), Plutarch received Roman citizenship and a new name - Mestrius Plutarch. Thanks to Senecion, he became the most influential man in his province: Emperor Trajan forbade the governor of Achaia to carry out any events without prior approval from Plutarch. This position allowed Plutarch to freely engage in social and educational activities in his homeland in Chaeronea, where he held not only the honorary position of archontaeponym, but also more modest magistracy.
Despite the personal modesty of the philosopher, his fame spread throughout Greece when Plutarch 
turned fifty years old, he was elected priest of the temple of Apollo of Delphi. In 1877, during excavations in this area, archaeologists discovered a pedestal erected in his honor, with a poetic laudatory dedication.
Plutarch left behind about 210 works. A significant part of them has survived to our time. The philosopher's worldview is quite simple: he believed in the existence higher intelligence– a wise teacher who tirelessly reminds his careless students about the eternal universal human values. Many of his creations are dedicated precisely to these values; they cover a wide range of topics, from practical psychology to cosmogony. According to tradition, all these works are usually combined into one general treatise called “Moralia”. Moralia traditionally includes about 80 essays. Plutarch was a deeply pious man and recognized the importance of traditional pagan religion for the preservation of morality.
The second conventional part of Plutarch’s creative heritage is called “Parallel Lives”; of the more than seventy biographies he compiled, about fifty have survived to this day. In addition to the biographies of specific people, the works also contain stories about everyday life and social events of that time; in general, this is a monumental historical work about the Greco-Roman past. Plutarch was also interested in animal psychology (“On the Intelligence of Animals”).
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Introduction
1. Philosophy of the Sophists and Socrates
2. Plato's philosophy
3. Philosophy of Aristotle
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
Philosophy is one of the oldest spheres of spiritual life. The entire multifaceted culture that determines the various civilizations that existed in the past and that exist today includes as its most important component one or another amount of philosophical knowledge
Greek culture VII - V centuries. BC. - this is the culture of a society in which the leading role belongs to slave labor, although free labor was widely used in certain industries that required highly qualified producers, such as artistic crafts.
During antiquity, great importance was attached to upbringing in the educational process.
Considering education as a unique fact of human existence, the essence of man was defined in a certain way, which was tempered in the ability to educate oneself and educate others.
The Athenian system of education left its mark in the history of philosophy of education as a predictor of high spiritual culture, the formation of a harmonious person, the main objectives of which were spiritual wealth, moral purity and physical perfection.
It was in Athens that the idea of harmonious development of personality as a goal of education arose.
There are four main stages in the development of philosophy in ancient Greece:
I 7th-5th centuries BC - pre-Socratic philosophy
II V-IV centuries BC - classic stage
III IV-II centuries BC - Hellenistic stage.
(Decline of Greek cities and establishment of Macedonian dominance)
IV 1st century BC - V, VI centuries AD - Roman philosophy.
The most significant phenomena of the classical period of Greek philosophy were the sophistry and teachings of the three greatest philosophers of Ancient Greece: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
1. Philosophy of the Sophists and Socrates
The sophists were the first professional teachers of “wisdom” and eloquence, the center of whose philosophical research was man and his relationship to the world.
As a philosophical movement, the Sophists do not represent a completely homogeneous phenomenon. Most characteristic feature, common to all sophistry, is the assertion of the relativity of all human concepts, ethical norms and assessments.
The sophists appeared when the development of Greek democracy had already greatly blurred the boundaries that existed between the classes. It thus washed away the previous channels of everyday life and values. The individual no longer felt like just a member of his “guild,” but an independent person and realized that everything he had previously taken for granted must be criticized. He considered himself the subject of criticism. In the second half of the 5th century. BC. An intellectual movement called sophistry arose in Greece. The word comes from two words: love and wisdom.
The Sophists were rightly called representatives of the Greek Enlightenment. They not only deepened the philosophical teachings of the past, but also popularized knowledge, disseminating among the wide circles of their numerous students what had already been acquired by philosophy and science by that time. The Sophists created in Greece an unprecedented cult of the word and thereby the exaltation of rhetoric. Language was a tool for influencing consciousness. To defeat the enemy with any argument is the strategy of the sophists. But on the other hand, sophistry is a dishonest way of conducting disputes, with the help of which tricks are used to discourage others, any argument, just to achieve the goal. The sophists laid the foundation for such a science as argumentation. The sophists did not pay attention to the study of nature, but they were the first to distinguish between the laws of nature, as something unshakable, and the laws of society, arising from human establishment. Many sophists doubted the existence of Gods or even denied them, considering them a human invention. Sophists are usually divided into those belonging to the older and younger generations.
Senior group of sophists. This includes Protagoras, Gorgias, Grippias and Prodicus. Protagoras was a materialist and taught about the fluidity of matter and the relativity of all perceptions. Protagoras argued that every statement can be countered with equal grounds by a statement that contradicts it. Protagoras' materialism is associated with atheism. The treatise “On the Gods” attributed to him begins with the thought: “I can know nothing about the gods: neither that they exist, nor that they do not exist, nor what similarity they have.” According to surviving information, Protagoras was accused of atheism and forced to leave Athens. Most of Protagoras’ thoughts relate directly to man, his life, to practical and cognitive activities.
Gorgias, developed on the basis of Eleatic criticism of the concepts of non-existence, movement and many teachings, became very famous. He developed an argument in which he argued:
1) nothing exists;
2) if there is something that exists, then it is not knowable;
3) even if it is knowable, then its knowledge is inexpressible and inexplicable.
Gorgias distinguishes the meanings of words very accurately and uses changes in meaning in different contexts. Manipulation with speech, its logical and grammatical structure, is also characteristic of other sophists. He paid great attention to rhetoric and its theory, to the influence of verbal influence on listeners. He considered speech to be the best and most perfect human instrument.
Gorgias's contribution to philosophy is not limited to rhetoric; his relativism and skepticism, awareness of the difference between the knowable and the knower, between thought and its presentation, played a positive role in the confrontation with Eleatic philosophy.
Grippius attracted attention not only with his geometric studies of curves, but also with his reflections on the nature of legislation.
Finally, Prodicus developed the relativistic view to the view that “as are the people who use things, so are the things themselves.” The older group of sophists were major thinkers on legal and socio-political issues. Protagoras wrote the laws that determined the democratic system of government in the Athenian colony of Thurii in southern Italy, and substantiated the idea of equality of free people. Grippius pointed in his definition of law to violent coercion as a condition for the possibility of legislation. The same older group of sophists tried to critically examine religious beliefs. Protagoras's writings on the gods were publicly burned and became the reason for the philosopher's expulsion from Athens, despite the extremely careful formulation of religious skepticism. Prodicus, developing the views of Anaxagoras and Democritus, began to interpret religious myths as the personification of the forces of nature.
Junior group of sophists . The most prominent representatives of the younger sophists include Lycophro, Alcidamantus, and Trassimachus. Thus, Lycophro and Alcidamant opposed the barriers between social classes: Lycophro argued that nobility is a fiction, and Alcidamant argued that nature did not create anyone as slaves and that people are born free. Thrassimachus extended the doctrine of relativity to social and ethical norms and reduced justice to what is useful for the strong, asserting that each power establishes laws useful to itself; democracy - democratic, and tyranny - tyrannical, etc.
Sophists are characterized by:
· critical attitude to the surrounding reality;
· the desire to test everything in practice, to logically prove the correctness or incorrectness of a particular thought;
· rejection of the foundations of the old, traditional civilization;
· denial of old traditions, habits, rules based on unproven knowledge;
· the desire to prove the conditionality of the state and law, their imperfection;
· perception of moral norms not as an absolute given, but as a subject of criticism;
· subjectivism in assessments and judgments, denial of objective existence and attempts to prove that reality exists only in human thoughts.
Representatives of this philosophical school proved their rightness with the help of sophisms - logical techniques, tricks, thanks to which a conclusion that was correct at first glance ultimately turned out to be false, and the interlocutor became confused in his own thoughts.
An example of this conclusion is “horned” sophism:
“What you have not lost, you have, you have not lost a horn; that means you have them.”
This result is achieved not as a result of paradox, the logical difficulty of sophism, but as a result of incorrect use of logical semantic operations. In this sophism, the first premise is false, but is presented as correct, hence the result.
Despite the fact that the activities of the sophists were disapproved by both the authorities and representatives of other philosophical schools, the sophists made a great contribution to Greek philosophy and culture. Their main merits include the fact that they:
· took a critical look at the surrounding reality;
· spread a large amount of philosophical and other knowledge among the citizens of Greek city-states (for which they were later called the ancient Greek enlighteners).
Currently sophistry They call logically incorrect reasoning, imaginary evidence presented as correct.
The most respected of the philosophers associated with sophistry was Socrates.
Socrates was born in 469 BC. e. He was the son of a stonecutter and a midwife. Received a diverse education. He studied the sciences of his time (in particular, mathematics, astronomy and meteorology), and in his youth he was interested in the natural sciences. In terms of property status, Socrates was more likely to be poor than rich; he received a small inheritance and led an unpretentious lifestyle and did not complain about his fate.
During the Peloponnesian War, Socrates took part in three military operations as a hoplite (heavily armed infantryman) and proved himself to be a courageous and resilient warrior, who did not lose his presence of mind when the army retreated and was loyal to his comrades-in-arms. A year before the start of the Peloponnesian War, Socrates took part in the siege of Potidaea, which announced its withdrawal from the Athenian League.
Socrates showed not only military valor on the battlefields, but also civic courage in the complex vicissitudes of the socio-political life of his homeland. True, on the issue of participation in the politics of the state, in the activities of its institutions, Socrates chose a very unique position. He deliberately avoided participation in state life, citing the fundamental discrepancy between his inner convictions regarding justice and legality and the observed multitude of injustices and lawlessness that were committed in the state. At the same time, he did not consider himself to have the right to evade the fulfillment of civil duties (attending a national assembly, participating in a jury trial, etc.) imposed on him by the laws of the state.
By nature he was very a kind person. Walking around the square in a patched cloak, he loved to start conversations with passers-by. And when they asked him why you, Socrates, walk barefoot and in such attire, he answered: “You live in order to eat, but I eat in order to live.” It would seem like such a simple answer, but there is so much wisdom in these words.
Socrates did not leave significant philosophical works, but went down in history as an outstanding polemicist, sage, and philosopher-teacher.
Socrates taught that there are unwritten moral laws that are binding on everyone, but only a few succeed in mastering morality, who were able to learn this and follow the acquired knowledge. Virtue, the highest and absolute good, constitutes the goal of human life, for only it gives happiness.
Socrates is a man whose ancient Greek philosophical teaching marks a turn from materialistic naturalism to idealism. He is a representative of an idealistic religious and moral worldview, openly hostile to materialism. For the first time, it was Socrates who consciously set himself the task of substantiating idealism and spoke out against the ancient materialistic worldview, natural science and atheism. Socrates historically was the founder of Plato's line in ancient philosophy.
Socrates considered his most important calling to be “the education of man,” which he saw in discussions and conversations, and not in the systematic presentation of some field of knowledge. He never considered himself “wise” (sophos), but a philosopher “loving wisdom” (philosophia). The title of sage, in his opinion, befits a god. If a person smugly believes that he knows ready-made answers to everything, then such a person is lost to philosophy, there is no need for him to rack his brains in search of the most correct concepts, there is no need to move further in search of new solutions to this or that problem. As a result, the sage turns out to be a “parrot” who has memorized several phrases and throws them into the crowd.
At the center of Socrates' thought is the theme of man, the problems of life and death, good and evil, virtues and vices, right and duty, freedom and responsibility of society. And Socrates' conversations are an instructive and authoritative example of how one can navigate more often than not these ever-relevant issues. Turning to Socrates at all times was an attempt to understand oneself and one’s time. Socrates considered the main task of his life to teach a person how to think, the ability to find a deep spiritual principle within himself.
The method he chose to solve this difficult problem is irony, freeing a person from self-confidence, from uncritical acceptance of other people's opinions.
The purpose of irony is not the destruction of general moral principles; on the contrary, as a result of an ironic attitude towards everything external, towards preconceived opinions, a person develops a general idea of the spiritual principle that lies in every person. Reason and morality are fundamentally identical, Socrates believed. Happiness is a conscious virtue. Philosophy should become a teaching about how a person should live. Philosophy develops a general concept of things, reveals a single basis for existence, which for the human mind turns out to be good - the highest goal. The single basis of human life does not exist in isolation from the spiritual efforts of man himself; it is not an indifferent natural principle. Only when the one becomes a person’s goal, is presented in the form of a concept, will it constitute his happiness.
In his research, Socrates concentrates on the problems of man, understanding man not as a natural being with the autonomy of existence, but meaning a man who knows, who is in a state of knowledge. Socrates changes the very direction of intellectual searches.
He poses and solves the question: “What is the nature and ultimate reality of man, what is the essence of man?” At the same time, Socrates comes to the answer: a person is his soul, but from the moment the soul becomes truly human, mature, capable of distinguishing a person from other beings. “Soul” is the mind, thinking activity, moral behavior. The soul in this understanding is the philosophical discovery of Socrates.
Philosophy, from the point of view of Socrates, is a genuine way of knowing good and evil. Socrates carries out this knowledge in the process of his conversations. In them, Socrates proceeds from facts privacy, from specific phenomena of the surrounding reality. He compares individual moral actions, distinguishes in them common elements, analyzes them in order to discover the contradictory aspects preceding their explanation and, ultimately, reduces them to a higher unity based on the isolation of some essential features. In this way he reaches a general concept of good, evil, justice, beauty, etc. The goal of the critical work of the mind, according to Socrates, should be to obtain a concept based on a strictly scientific definition of the subject.
Socrates taught that philosophy - the love of wisdom, the love of knowledge - can be considered a moral activity if knowledge in itself is good. And this position is the driving force behind all his activities. Socrates believed that if a person knows exactly what is good and what is bad, then he will never act badly. Moral evil comes from ignorance, which means knowledge is the source of moral perfection.
Truth and morality, for Socrates, are coinciding concepts. It can be argued that there is true morality. According to Socrates, knowledge of what is good, and at the same time what is useful to a person, contributes to his bliss, his happiness in life. Socrates named three basic human virtues:
· moderation (knowing how to curb passion);
· courage (knowing how to overcome dangers);
· justice (knowledge of how to observe divine and human laws).
Thus, Socrates tried to find in consciousness and thinking a solid support on which the building of morality and all social life, including the state, could stand.
The main method developed and applied by Socrates was called “maieutics”. The essence of maieutics is not to teach the truth, but to use logical techniques and leading questions to lead the interlocutor to independently find the truth.
Socrates conducted his philosophy and educational work in the midst of people, in squares, markets in the form of an open conversation (dialogue, dispute), the topics of which were topical problems of that time, relevant today: good; evil; Love; happiness; honesty, etc. The philosopher was a supporter of ethical realism, according to which:
· any knowledge is good;
· any evil or vice is committed out of ignorance.
The historical significance of Socrates' work is that he
· contributed to the dissemination of knowledge and education of citizens;
· looked for answers to the eternal problems of humanity - good and evil, love, honor, etc.;
· discovered the maieutics method, widely used in modern education;
· introduced a dialogical method of finding truth - by proving it in a free debate, and not by declaring it, as a number of previous philosophers did;
· educated many students who continued his work (for example, Plato), stood at the origins of a number of so-called “Socratic schools”.
Socrates was not understood by the official authorities and was perceived by them as an ordinary sophist, undermining the foundations of society, confusing young people. For this he was in 399 BC. sentenced to death. According to surviving evidence, the accusers did not “thirst for blood”; it would have been enough for them if Socrates, who was not arrested, voluntarily left Athens and did not appear at trial. But despite the warning, he appeared at the trial, fully aware of the danger threatening him. The court's decision was not in Socrates' favor; he was found guilty. Socrates' friends prepared everything for his successful escape from prison, but he refused, because he believed that escape could mean abandoning his ideas, the moral principles that he professed and taught to other people. According to the verdict of the court, Socrates drank a deadly poison, thereby he wanted to prove that a true philosopher must live and die in accordance with his teachings.
2. Plato's philosophy
Plato (427 - 347 BC) - the greatest ancient Greek philosopher. Plato's real name is Aristocles, "Plato" being a nickname meaning "broad-shouldered". He was the son of an Athenian citizen. In terms of his social status, he came from the Athenian slave-owning aristocracy. In his youth, he was a student of the circle of a supporter of the teachings of Heraclitus - Cratylus, where he became acquainted with the principles of objective dialectics; he was also influenced by Cratylus's tendency towards absolute relativism. At the age of 20, he was preparing to participate in a competition as the author of a tragedy and accidentally overheard a discussion in which Socrates participated. She captivated him so much that he burned his poems and became a student of Socrates.
Plato, the great student of Socrates, the founder of his own school - the Academy, which existed for almost a thousand years, develops an image of the world worthy of the emerging human personality; sets goals for a person worthy of the harmony of the Cosmos. Being and non-being in his system are not two equal explanatory principles of the world order, indifferent to man, his goals and hopes. The world is “centered” around a person, formless matter swirls at his feet - non-existence, his gaze is turned to the sky - beautiful, good, eternal - existence.
Philosophy for Plato is a kind of contemplation of truth. It is purely intellectual, it is not just wisdom, but the love of wisdom. Everyone who engages in any kind of creative work is in a state of mind when the truth or the beautiful appears in a sudden insight.
Plato is the founder of objective idealism. The central place in Plato's philosophy is occupied by the doctrine of ideas. So, ideas are the essence of things, that which makes each thing exactly “this”, given, and not another. Otherwise, ideas are what makes every thing what it is. Plato uses the term "paradigm", indicating that ideas form a timeless (permanent) model of every thing. Plato understands supersensible reality as a hierarchy of ideas: the lower ideas are subordinate to the upper ones.
At the top of the hierarchy is the idea of the Good in itself - it is not conditioned by anything, therefore, it is absolute. In the dialogue "The Republic", Plato writes about it as generating being itself. The sensory world (cosmos) is structured by ideas. The physical world comes from ideas. Plato's sensory world is a perfect order (cosmos), which is an expression of the triumph of logos over the blind necessity of matter. Matter is the repository of the sensible, in Plato’s definition, it is “chora” (spatiality). She is in the grip of formless and chaotic movement.
The main question of Plato's cosmology: how is the cosmos born from the chaos of matter? Plato answers as follows: there is a Demiurge (God the creator, willful, thinking, personal), who, taking the world of ideas as a model, created the physical cosmos from matter. Moreover, the reason for the creation of the universe lies in the pure desire of the Demiurge. Plato defines main motive creation in the dialogue “Timaeus” as follows: “He was good, and he who is good never experiences envy in any matter. Being alien to envy, he wished that all things should become as similar to himself as possible... God took care of all visible things, which were not at rest, but in discordant and disorderly movement, he brought them out of disorder into order, believing that the second is certainly better than the first. Sophist idealism Aristotle morality
It is impossible now and it was impossible from ancient times for the one who is the highest good to produce something that would not be the most beautiful; Meanwhile, reflection showed him that of all things that are by their nature visible, not a single creation devoid of intelligence can be more beautiful than one that is endowed with intelligence, if we compare both as a whole; and the mind cannot dwell in anyone separately from the soul. Guided by this reasoning, he arranged the mind in the soul, and the soul in the body, and thus built the Universe, intending to create a creation that was most beautiful and best in nature.
In outer space there is a world soul (spirit). The human soul is independent of the body and immortal. The longer the soul stays in the realm of ideas, the more knowledge it will bring to a person. The soul inhabits the body. It consists of 3 parts:
· Passion.
· Sensual desires.
The victory of reason over passion and desires is possible through proper education. Man himself cannot improve. Personal efforts are not enough for self-education. The state and laws help a person with this. He wrote the book “State, Politics, Law.”
The state is an organization of political figures who have an apparatus of coercion, territory, and sovereignty, giving their orders a generally binding character. He divided states into positive and negative and identified 4 types of negative states.
· Timocracy - a state that reflects the interests of owners and creates material values. “Power is based on the dominance of the ambitious. First the features of a perfect state, then luxury (luxury as a way of life).
· Oligarchy is the rule of the few over the majority; these are the few spendthrifts, the rich and the drones, giving rise to evil, crime and theft.
· Democracy - it develops from an oligarchy into a worse state form. Democracy is the rule and power of the majority, where contradictions arise between the poor and the rich. They escalate and result in an uprising. The victory of the poor, they expel the old rulers, then divide power, but cannot govern and give power to dictators and tyrants.
· Tyranny - the power of one over all,
He proposes a new type of state - a perfect one. A perfect state is the best government, where a few gifted, professional people are in charge. The main principle of which is justice.
· The perfection of the state in its own organization and means of protection.
· The ability to systematically supply the country with material goods, lead and direct the creativity and spiritual activity of the country.
Plato points out that citizens live in a perfect state. According to the moral inclinations and characteristics of a person and their professions, they are divided into categories:
· Workers in various industries (potters, peasants, traders, etc.) producing food and products are the lowest class of citizens.
· Warriors are guards above the first category.
· Philosopher rulers are morally superior to warriors, and warriors are superior to producers. Rulers must be guided by the principles that form the basis of the state: wisdom, courage, moderation, justice, unanimity.
According to Plato, a perfect state has four virtues:
wisdom
· courage,
· prudence,
· justice.
By “wisdom” Plato means the highest knowledge. Only philosophers should rule the state and only under their rule the state will prosper.
“Courage” is also the privilege of a few (“A state is courageous only thanks to one of its parts”). “I consider courage to be a kind of preservation ... that preserves a certain opinion about danger - what it is and what it is.”
The third valor - prudence, unlike the previous two, belongs to all members of the state. "Something like order - that's what prudence is."
The presence of “justice” in the state is prepared and conditioned by “prudence”. Thanks to justice itself, each class of society and each individual person receives their own special task to perform. “This doing your own thing is probably justice.”
It is interesting that Plato, who lived during a time of universal slave-owning system, does not pay special attention to slaves. All production concerns are entrusted to artisans and farmers. Here Plato writes that only “barbarians”, non-Hellenes, can be enslaved during war. However, he also says that war is an evil that arises in vicious states for enrichment, and in an ideal state war should be avoided, therefore, there will be no slaves. In his opinion, the highest ranks (castes) should not have private property in order to maintain unity.
However, in the dialogue “Laws,” where problems of government are also discussed, Plato shifts the main economic concerns to slaves and foreigners, but condemns warriors. Philosophers, on the basis of reason, control the other classes, limiting their freedom, and warriors play the role of “dogs” keeping the lower “herd” in obedience. This aggravates the already cruel division into categories. Plato wants to achieve the same result by “socializing” not only human property, but also wives and children.
According to Plato, men and women should not marry on their own whim. It turns out that marriage is secretly controlled by philosophers, pairing the best with the best, and the worst with the worst. After childbirth, children are selected and given to their mothers after some time, and no one knows whose child he got, and all men (within the caste) are considered the fathers of all children, and all women are the common wives of all men.
Plato opened a school in Athens - Academy. Plato's school got its name from the fact that classes took place in the halls of a gymnasium in the vicinity of Athens, called the Academy (named after the Greek hero Academus). Near this gymnasium, Plato acquired a small plot of land where members of his school could gather and live.
Access to the school was open to everyone. While studying at the Academy, Plato combined the teachings of Socrates and the teachings of the Pythagoreans, whom he met during his first trip to Sicily. From Socrates he adopted the dialectical method, irony, and interest in ethical problems; from Pythagoras - inherited the ideal of the common life of philosophers and the idea of education with the help of symbols, based on mathematics, as well as the possibility of applying this science to the knowledge of nature.
Plato died in 348 or 347 BC. at the age of eighty, retaining the fullness of his powerful mind until the end of his life. His body is buried in Ceramics, not far from the Academy.
3. Aristotle's philosophy
Aristotle was born in Stagira, a Greek colony in Chalkidiki, near Mount Athos, in 384 BC. Aristotle's father's name was Nicomachus, he was a physician at the court of Amyntas III, king of Macedon. Nicomachus came from a family of hereditary healers, in which the art of medicine was passed on from generation to generation. His father was Aristotle's first mentor. Already in childhood, Aristotle met Philip, the future father of Alexander the Great, which played an important role in his future appointment as Alexander’s tutor.
In 369 BC. e. Aristotle lost his parents. Proxenus became the young philosopher's guardian (later Aristotle spoke warmly of him, and when Proxenus died, he adopted his son Nicanor). Aristotle inherited significant funds from his father, which gave him the opportunity to continue his education under the guidance of Proxenus. Books were very expensive then, but Proxenus bought him even the rarest ones. Thus, Aristotle became addicted to reading in his youth. Under the guidance of his guardian, Aristotle studied plants and animals, which in the future developed into a separate work, “On the Origin of Animals.”
Aristotle's youth coincided with the beginning of the heyday of Macedonia. Aristotle received a Greek education and was a native speaker of this language; he sympathized with the democratic form of government, but at the same time he was a subject of the Macedonian ruler. This contradiction will play a certain role in his fate.
Aristotle is the greatest ancient Greek philosopher. Aristotle was deservedly called the encyclopedist of Ancient Greece. Aristotle is the founder of a number of sciences: philosophy, logic, psychology, biology, political science, economics, history, etc., the founder of dualism, the “father” of logic, a student and decisive opponent of Plato.
He received his education in Athens, at the school of Plato. He criticized Plato's concept of being. Aristotle saw Plato's mistake in that he attributed independent existence to ideas, isolating and separating them from the sensory world, which is characterized by movement and change. Aristotle viewed being as the objective world, the actual principle of a thing, inseparable from it, as an unmoving mover, the divine mind or the immaterial form of all forms. Being is a living substance characterized by special principles or four principles (conditions) of being:
· Matter - “that from which.” The variety of things that exist objectively; matter is eternal, uncreated and indestructible; it cannot arise from nothing, increase or decrease in quantity; she is inert and passive. Formless matter represents nothingness. Primary formed matter is expressed in the form of five primary elements (elements): air, water, earth, fire and ether (heavenly substance).
· Form - “that which”. The essence, stimulus, purpose, and also the reason for the formation of diverse things from monotonous matter. God (or the prime mover mind) creates the forms of various things from matter. Aristotle approaches the idea of the individual existence of a thing, a phenomenon: it is a fusion of matter and form.
· Effective cause (beginning) - “that from where.” The beginning of all beginnings is God. There is a causal dependence of the phenomenon of existence: there is an efficient cause - this is an energetic force that generates something in the peace of the universal interaction of the phenomena of existence, not only matter and form, act and potency, but also the generating energy-cause, which, along with the active principle, has a target meaning, that is
· Purpose - “that for the sake of which.” The highest goal is Good.
Aristotle developed a hierarchical system of categories in which the main one was “essence” or “substance”, and the rest were considered its characteristics.
With Aristotle, the basic concepts of space and time begin to take shape:
· substantial - considers space and time as independent entities, the principles of the world.
· relational - considers the existence of material objects.
The categories of space and time act as a “method” and number of motion, that is, as a sequence of real and mental events and states, and therefore are organically connected with the principle of development.
Aristotle saw the specific embodiment of Beauty as the principle of the world structure in the Idea or Mind.
Aristotle created a hierarchy of levels of all things (from matter as a possibility to the formation of individual forms of being and beyond):
· inorganic formations (inorganic world).
· the world of plants and living beings.
· the world of various animal species.
· Human.
According to Aristotle, world movement is an integral process: all its moments are mutually determined, which presupposes the presence of a single engine. Further, based on the concept of causality, he comes to the concept of the first cause. And this is the so-called. cosmological proof of the existence of God. God is the first cause of movement, the beginning of all beginnings, since there cannot be an infinite series of causes or a beginningless one. There is a cause that determines itself: the cause of all causes.
The absolute beginning of any movement is deity as a universal supersensible substance. Aristotle justified the existence of a deity by considering the principle of improvement of the Cosmos. According to Aristotle, deity serves as the subject of the highest and most perfect knowledge, since all knowledge is aimed at form and essence, and God is pure form and the first essence.
Aristotle's ethics is closely related to his doctrine of the soul. The soul, in his opinion, belongs only to living beings. The soul is entelechy. Entelechy is the implementation of a purposeful process, conditioning through a goal. The soul is closely connected with the body; it contributes to the development of all the possibilities hidden in a living being. There are three types of soul. The vegetable soul (the ability to eat), the animal soul (the ability to sense). These two types of soul are inseparable from the body and are also inherent in man. The rational soul is inherent only in man, it is not an entelechy, it is separable from the body, is not innate to it, and is immortal.
The main goal of man is the pursuit of good. The highest good is happiness, bliss. Since man is endowed with a rational soul, his good is the perfect performance of rational activities. The condition for achieving good is the possession of virtues. Virtue is the achievement of perfection in every type of activity, it is skill, the ability to find the only right solution oneself. Aristotle identifies 11 ethical virtues: courage, moderation, generosity, magnificence, magnanimity, ambition, evenness, truthfulness, courtesy, friendliness, justice. The latter is the most necessary for living together.
· reasonable (virtues of the mind) - develop in a person through learning - wisdom, intelligence, prudence.
· moral (character virtues) - are born from habits and morals: a person acts, gains experience, and on the basis of this, his character traits are formed.
Virtue is a measure, a golden mean between two extremes: excess and deficiency.
Virtue is “the ability to do the best in everything that concerns pleasure and pain, and depravity is its opposite.”
Virtue is the inner order or disposition of the soul; order is achieved by man through conscious and purposeful effort.
In explaining his teaching, Aristotle gives a short essay presenting a “table” of virtues and vices in their correlation with various types activities:
· courage is the middle ground between reckless courage and cowardice (in relation to danger).
· prudence is the mean between licentiousness and what might be called “insensibility” (in relation to the pleasures associated with the senses of touch and taste).
· generosity is the middle ground between extravagance and stinginess (in relation to material goods).
· majesty is the mean between arrogance and humiliation (in relation to honor and dishonor).
· evenness is the middle ground between anger and “lack of anger.”
· truthfulness is the middle ground between boasting and pretense.
· wit is the middle ground between buffoonery and uncouthness.
· friendliness is the middle ground between nonsense and servility.
Shyness is the middle ground between shamelessness and timidity.
A moral person, according to Aristotle, is one who is guided by reason coupled with virtue. Aristotle accepts the Platonic ideal of contemplation, but leads activity towards it, since man is born not only for intellect, but also for action.
For Aristotle, a person is, first of all, a social or political being (“political animal”), gifted with speech and capable of understanding such concepts as good and evil, justice and injustice, that is, possessing moral qualities. There are two principles in a person: biological and social. From the moment of his birth, a person is not left alone with himself; he joins in all the achievements of the past and present, in the thoughts and feelings of all humanity. Human life outside society is impossible.
Aristotle criticized Plato's doctrine of a perfect state, and preferred to talk about a political system that most states could have. He believed that the community of property, wives and children proposed by Plato would lead to the destruction of the state. Aristotle was a staunch defender of individual rights, private property and the monogamous family, as well as a supporter of slavery. About Aristotle, man is a political being, that is, a social one, and he carries within himself an instinctive desire for “cohabitation together.”
Aristotle considered the first result of social life to be the formation of a family - husband and wife, parents and children... The need for mutual exchange led to the communication of families and villages. This is how the state arose. The state is created not in order to live in general, but to live mainly happily.
Having identified society with the state, Aristotle was forced to search for the goals, interests and nature of people’s activities depending on their property status and used this criterion when characterizing various strata of society. He identified three main layers of citizens: the very wealthy, the average, and the extremely poor. According to Aristotle, the poor and the rich “turn out to be elements in the state that are diametrically opposed to each other, and depending on the preponderance of one or another element, the corresponding form of the state system is established.”
As a supporter of the slave system, Aristotle closely connected slavery with the issue of property: an order is rooted in the very essence of things, by virtue of which, from the moment of birth, some beings are destined for subordination, while others are destined for dominion. This is a general law of nature and animate beings are also subject to it. According to Aristotle, whoever by nature belongs not to himself, but to another, and at the same time is still a man, is by nature a slave.
Aristotle taught that the Earth, which is the center of the Universe, is spherical. Aristotle saw evidence of the sphericity of the Earth in the nature of Lunar eclipses, in which the shadow cast by the Earth on the Moon has a rounded shape at the edges, which can only be if the Earth is spherical. The stars, according to Aristotle, are fixedly fixed in the sky and rotate with it, and the “wandering stars” (planets) move in seven concentric circles. The cause of heavenly movement is God.
Aristotle's enduring merit remains the creation of a science he called ethics. For the first time among Greek thinkers, he made will the basis of morality. Aristotle considered thinking free from matter as the supreme principle in the world - a deity. Although man will never reach the level of divine life, yet, as far as is within his power, he should strive for it as an ideal. The affirmation of this ideal allowed Aristotle to create, on the one hand, realistic ethics based on what exists, i.e. on norms and principles taken from life itself, as it really is, and on the other, ethics, not devoid of an ideal.
According to the spirit of Aristotle's ethical teachings, a person's well-being depends on his mind, prudence, and foresight. Aristotle placed science (reason) above morality, thereby making the contemplative life the moral ideal.
Aristotle's humanism is different from Christian humanism, according to which “all men are brothers,” i.e. everyone is equal before God. Aristotelian ethics proceeds from the fact that people are not the same in their abilities, forms of activity and degree of activity, therefore the level of happiness or bliss is different, and for some, life may turn out to be generally unhappy. Thus, Aristotle believes that a slave cannot have happiness. He put forward a theory about the “natural” superiority of the Hellenes (“free by nature”) over the “barbarians” (“slaves by nature”). For Aristotle, a person outside of society is either a god or an animal, but since slaves were a foreign, alien element deprived of civil rights, it turned out that slaves were, as it were, not people, and a slave becomes a person only after gaining freedom.
Aristotle's ethics and politics study the same issue - the issue of cultivating virtues and forming habits of living virtuously in order to achieve happiness, accessible to a person in different aspects: the first - in aspects of the nature of an individual, the second - in terms of the socio-political life of citizens. To cultivate a virtuous lifestyle and behavior, morality alone is not enough; laws that have coercive force are also necessary. Therefore, Aristotle states that “public attention (to education) arises thanks to laws, and good attention - thanks to respectable laws.”
Conclusion
The specificity of ancient Greek philosophy is the desire to understand the essence of nature, the world as a whole, and the cosmos. It is no coincidence that the first Greek philosophers were called “physicists” (from the Greek phisis - nature). The main question in ancient Greek philosophy was the question of the beginning of the world. In this sense, philosophy echoes mythology and inherits its ideological problems. But if mythology strives to solve this question according to the principle - who gave birth to existence, then philosophers are looking for the substantial beginning - from which everything came.
The first Greek philosophers sought to construct a picture of the world, to identify the universal foundations of the existence of this world. The accumulation of a body of knowledge by philosophy, the development of tools for thinking about changes in social life, under the influence of which the human personality is formed, and the formation of new social needs determined a further step in the development of philosophical problems. There is a transition from the primary study of nature to the consideration of man, his life in all its diverse manifestations, and a subjectivist-anthropological tendency arises in philosophy.
Starting with the Sophists and Socrates, philosophy for the first time formulates the basic ideological question as a question about the relationship of the subject to the object, the spirit to nature, thinking to being. What is specific to philosophy is not the separate consideration of man and the world, but their constant correlation. Philosophical perception of the world is always subjective, personally colored, in it one cannot abstract from the presence of a cognizing, evaluating and emotionally experiencing person. Philosophy is self-conscious thinking.
Bibliography
1. Chernyshev N.F. Ancient philosophy. - M.: Republic, 2012. - 615 p.
2. Albensky N.N. Lecture course on ancient philosophy. - M.: Infra-M, 2012 - 519 p.
3. Lomteva A.S. Ancient philosophy. - M.: Knorus, 2011 - 327 pp..
4. Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Sovremennik, 2010 - 394 p.
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Prominent philosophers ancient Greece. Features of ancient Greek philosophy. Spiritual Europe has a birthplace,” said E. Husserl, a German philosopher who lived and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This place is Greece of the 7th-6th centuries BC. The same idea is expressed in one form or another by most philosophers of various directions. “The Greeks will forever remain our teachers,” wrote K. Marx.
Ancient Greek philosophy is the generally accepted spiritual source of modern philosophy and all European culture. Therefore, the origins of Greek philosophy itself are also the subject of close attention. The emergence of philosophy is a complex interaction of changing social and individual needs and the possibilities for their implementation. The interaction of mythological ideas and emerging scientific knowledge, on the one hand, and a special social atmosphere, on the other, led to the emergence of philosophy - a qualitatively new phenomenon, different from ancient myth, pre-philosophical ideas, worldly wisdom and empirical observations.
The formation of Greek philosophy is associated with the names of Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and the philosophers of the Eleatic school. Greek philosophy acted as an undivided, comprehensive science, as a science of sciences, which, due to the underdevelopment of scientific thinking, included all areas of knowledge.
Thales. (625 BC – 547 BC) Thales is considered the founder of astronomy and geometry. He assumed that the primary substance is water, but not ordinary, but abstract. At the same time, there was no complete abstraction from ordinary water; it also exhibited the properties of ordinary, empirical water. The cosmos seemed to Thales as a living, super-complex being, and like for any creature, water is a necessary basis for its life. All other objects are also somehow composed of water. Thales paid great attention to cosmology, especially the structure of the near cosmos. For the first time, he expressed the idea that the Earth is not a pancake, but some body in space, but not very thick. The idea of some kind of world order, a law to which the whole world obeys, was also expressed.
Anaximenes. (c. 585 BC - c. 525 BC) Anaximenes simplified the idea of primordial matter, taking it as air, citing the fact that air is the necessary basis of life. Accordingly, all other things are condensation or rarefaction of air. He proposed an interesting idea in cosmology. He suggested that the Moon is closer than the Sun, and based on this he explained solar eclipses. It was Anaximenes and Anaximander who first thought that life appeared in water and only then came to land
Heraclitus. (c. 535 BC - c. 475 BC) Heraclitus, in his theories, eliminated peace and immobility from the universe, because he believed that this was the property of the dead. He attributed movement to all things. The world, according to Heraclitus, consists of opposites that fight among themselves. Opposites transform into each other. Therefore, the presence of one opposite determines the existence of the other. Heraclitus taught about the identity of opposites and saw the source of development and change in the struggle of opposites. All changes are subject, from his point of view, to the strictest laws; the life of the world does not depend on the providence of the gods. He called this pattern logos. “Everything is accomplished through struggle and out of necessity.” We must listen to the voice of nature, “act in accordance with it,” he said. He taught about the universal fluidity of things; he reduced the essence of the world process to the natural transformations of eternal matter.
Democritus (460 BC - 360 BC) Democritus is one of the founders of the atomic theory. His bold and revolutionary view of the essence of nature anticipated the development of science for many centuries. According to Democritus, there are two principles of things: atoms and emptiness. Moreover, atoms, i.e., indivisible, according to Democritus, particles of matter are unchangeable; they are eternal and in constant motion. They differ from each other only in shape, size, position and order. Other properties such as sound, color, and taste are not inherent in atoms. These properties exist, according to Democritus, only conditionally, “not by the nature of the things themselves. In this view of his there are already the germs of a false doctrine about the primary and secondary qualities of things. From the combination of atoms bodies are formed; the disintegration of atoms leads to the death of bodies. The soul, according to Democritus, also consists of atoms.
Socrates. Socrates is a man whose ancient Greek philosophical teaching marks a turn from materialistic naturalism to idealism. He is a representative of an idealistic religious and moral worldview, openly hostile to materialism. For the first time, it was Socrates who consciously set himself the task of substantiating idealism and spoke out against the ancient materialistic worldview, natural science and atheism. Socrates historically was the founder of Plato's line in ancient philosophy. Socrates, the great ancient sage, stands at the origins of the rationalistic and educational traditions of European thought. He has an outstanding place in the history of moral philosophy and ethics, logic, dialectics, political and legal teachings. The influence he had on the progress of human knowledge is felt to this day. He forever entered the spiritual culture of mankind
Aristotle (384 -322 BC) - ancient Greek scientist, founder of the science of logic and a number of branches of special knowledge, was born in Stagira (the eastern coast of the Cholkidiki peninsula); He received his education in Athens, at the school of Plato. He criticized Plato's concept of being. Aristotle saw Plato's mistake in that he attributed independent existence to ideas, isolating and separating them from the sensory world, which is characterized by movement and change. Aristotle's ethics is closely related to his doctrine of the soul. The soul, in his opinion, belongs only to living beings. The rational soul is inherent only in man, it is not an entelechy, it is separable from the body, is not innate to it, and is immortal.
The philosophical teachings of Ancient Greece formed the basis of the culture of many peoples. Ancient myths became the basis for the emergence of a new history of the ancient world.
The early teachings of philosophy originated in the 7th-5th centuries BC. during the formation of the first large ancient Greek city-states. This includes such ancient philosophical schools: Milesian, Elean, Pythagoreans, school of Heraclitus of Ephesus. Philosophers of these movements tried to explain the phenomena of the external world, animated nature and looked for the fundamental principle of everything, without using discussions as a means of knowing the truth.
The Milesian school arose in the 6th century BC. V . It was named after the great city of Miletus, where it was formed. The founder of this school of philosophy was Thales. Thales' student Alexander first identified the law of conservation of matter. His follower Anaximenes equated the gods with the forces of nature, planets and stars.
Pythagoreans are followers of the great mathematician Pythagoras. This teaching arose in the 6th-5th centuries BC. The Pythagoreans considered numbers to be the fundamental principle of the origin of the world and all phenomena.
The Eleatic school was born in the city of Elea in the 6th-5th centuries BC. Its most outstanding thinkers were: Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, Melissus of Samos. The Eleatics became the progenitors of idealism.
Democritus laid the foundations for the movement of materialism in philosophy. He assumed that everything living and nonliving around consists of the smallest particles - eternal atoms. It is the movement of these particles that is the cause of life.
Socrates, a famous ancient Greek philosopher, did not support the democratic structure of the state. He shifted the perspective of knowledge from the surrounding reality to the inner world of a person (“Know yourself”). He was executed in 399 BC.
Plato is one of the greatest thinkers in Ancient Greece, a student of Socrates. Many European and ancient Greek philosophies are based on his teachings. A supporter of idealism believed that only the world of ideas exists, and everything else is just derivatives of it.
Aristotle is another famous philosopher who wrote works such as the Organon and Politics. Later he was guided by them.
Philosophers of Ancient Greece and RomeIn the 3rd century BC. - 6th century AD The main teaching of antiquity was Neoplatonism, famous for its pedagogical tradition. This school combined elements of Platonism with other philosophical movements. The center of Neoplatonism became
