Philosophy of Ancient Greece and the characteristic of its early period
The origin of philosophy in ancient Greece isin the period between the VIII and VI centuries BC. In that era, Greece is experiencing a period of colonization, or apoitization (apotheos - the overseas territory of the Greek polis, almost independent of the metropolis). Huge spaces such as Asia Minor and Graecia Magna (Italy) outnumbered their Greek cradle and gave rise to the first philosophers, for Athenian philosophy became the second, the next step in the development of Greek thought. The worldview of the ancient Greeks was strongly influenced by the structure of life in policies and the classical type of slavery. It was the existence of the latter in ancient Greece that played a huge role in the division of labor, and, as Engels noted, allowed a certain stratum of people to engage exclusively in science and culture.
Therefore, the philosophy of ancient Greece hasa certain specificity in relation to the modern philosophy of the Ancient East. First of all, since the time of Pythagoras, it has been revealed as a separate discipline, and since Aristotle goes hand in hand with science, is distinguished by rationalism and separates itself from religion. During the Hellenistic period, it becomes the basis of such sciences as history, medicine and mathematics. The main "slogan" and the embodiment of the ideal of the education of ancient Greek philosophy (as well as culture) is the "kalos kai agatos" - connections of physical beauty and health with spiritual perfection.
Philosophy in ancient Greece raised two majorthemes - ontology and epistemology, as a rule, contrasting the concepts of mind and activity (the latter was considered an occupation of the second, "inferior" sort, in contrast to pure contemplation). Ancient Greek philosophy is also the birthplace of such methodological systems as metaphysical and dialectical. She also mastered many categories of philosophy of the Ancient East, especially Egypt, and introduced them into the pan-European philosophical discourse. The early philosophy of ancient Greece is divided into two periods: archaic and pre-Socratic.
Philosophy of ancient Greece in the archaic periodis characterized by the cosmocentrism of mythopoetic works in which epic poets described the emergence of the world and its driving forces in mythological images. Homer systematized myths and glorified heroic morality, and Hesiod embodied the history of the origin of the world in the figures of Chaos, Gaia, Eros and other gods. He was one of the first in the literary form to present the myth of the "golden age" when justice and labor were valued, and began to mourn the fate of the modern "Iron Age", the domination of the kulak, the time where power generates law. Traditionally, it is believed that the so-called "seven wise men" played a huge role in the formation of philosophical thought of that time, which left wise sayings or "gnomes" dedicated to such moral principles as moderation and harmony.
In the pre-Socratic period, the philosophy of Ancient Greeceis characterized by the presence of several philosophical schools. The Miletus school of natural philosophy was distinguished by pragmatism, the desire to search for a single beginning and the first scientific discoveries, such as astronomical instruments, maps, sundials. Almost all of its representatives came from the merchant class. Thus, Thales of Miletus studied solar eclipses and considered the water to be the origin of everything, Anaximander is the creator of the Earth map and the model of the celestial sphere, and originally called "apeiron" - the first-quality lacking qualities, the contradictions of which gave rise to the emergence of the world, and his pupil Anaximenes believed that the single cause of all is air. The most famous representative of the Ephesian school is Heraclitus, nicknamed Crying. He put forward the idea that the world has not been created by anyone, but in its essence it is fire, then inflaming, then extinguishing, and also asserting that if we know through perception, the basis of our cognition is the logos.
The philosophy of Ancient Greece, presentedEleatic and Italian schools, is based on several other categories. Unlike the Milesians, Eleatic - aristocrats by origin. In theory, they prefer the process to the system, and infinity to measure.
Xenophanes from Colophon criticized the mythologicalideas about the gods and proposed to divide the existing and the apparent. Parmenides of Elea developed his ideas and stated that what we perceive is apparent senses, and what exists is logic. Therefore, for a reasonable person there is no non-existence, because any of our thoughts are a thought of being. His follower Zeno explained the position of his teacher with the help of the famous paradoxes-aporias.
The Italian school is known for such mysteriousthinker like Pythagoras, who proposed the doctrine of numbers and their mystical connection with the world and left behind a secret teaching. Equally interesting philosopher was Empedocles from the Sicilian city of Agregent. The cause of all that existed he considered four passive elements - water, fire, air and earth, and two active principles - love and hate, and in his philosophical system tried to unite Parmenides and Heraclitus. Later classical Greek philosophy largely based its findings on the ideas of Italian thinkers.
