History of Philosophy

Julian Marias

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780486121932
• Topic: Philosophie
• Subtopic: Geschichte & Theorie der Philosophie

Thorough and lucid survey of Western philosophy from pre-Socratics to mid 20th century: major figures, currents, trends, literature, significance, and more. Valuable section on contemporary philosophy — Brentano, Ortega, Heidegger, others. One of the best elementary history of philosophy available. `Brevity and clarity of exposition...` — Ethics.

GREEK PHILOSOPHY

The Suppositions of Greek Philosophy

If we ignore the obscure problem of Oriental (Indian, Chinese) philosophy, in which what is most problematic is the meaning of the word “philosophy” itself, and focus our attention on what philosophy has been in the West, we will find that its first stage is the philosophy of the Greeks. This initial phase, which lasted for more than a millennium, differs from all later phases in that it does not have a philosophic tradition behind it; that is, Greek philosophy emerges from a concrete human situation—that of “ancient” man—which contains no philosophical element or ingredient. This circumstance has two important consequences: in the first place, the birth of philosophy in Greece has a purity and originality superior to all that is to come later; secondly, ancient man’s vital and historical situation directly conditions Hellenic speculation to the point that the major theme of the history of Greek philosophy consists in determining why man, upon reaching a certain stage in his development, found himself compelled to fulfill a completely new and unknown need, which today we call philosophizing. We cannot discuss this problem here, but we must at least point out some of the historic suppositions which made philosophy possible and necessary in the Hellenic world.³

A way of life is defined above all by its repertory of beliefs. Naturally, beliefs change, as Ortega has shown, from generation to generation—this is what constitutes historical mutation. But a certain basic core of beliefs endures through several generations and gives them the higher unity which we designate by such words as epoch, era or age. What are the basic beliefs held by Greek man which limit and give form to his philosophy?

Hellenic man finds himself in a world which has always existed and which is therefore never a problem; all questioning presupposes this world, takes it for granted. The world is interpreted as nature and, therefore, as an original principle, or as that from which all concrete reality emerges or issues. Thus the world appears to be endowed with potentiality, with productive capacity. But at the same time it is a multiplicity ; the world contains many things which are capable of changing and are defined by opposites. Every one of these things has an independent consistency, but the things themselves are not permanent. They change, and their properties are understood in terms of opposites: cold is the opposite of warm, even the opposite of odd, and so on. This polarity is characteristic of the ancient mind. The properties inherent in the things permit them to be used in a technic basically different from magical procedures, in which things are treated as powers.

The Greek’s world is intelligible. It can be understood, and comprehension consists in seeing or contemplating that reality and of explaining it. Theory, lógos and being are the three decisive terms of Hellenic thought, and they are rooted in this primary attitude toward the world. As a consequence, the world appears as something which is ordered and subjected to law: this is the notion of the cosmos. Reason is inserted into this lawful order of the world, which can be governed and directed, and the concrete form of this lawful order in human affairs is the political coexistence of men in cities. It is necessary to keep this basic outline of ancient beliefs in mind in order to understand the historical fact of Greek philosophy.

The Pre-Socratics

1. THE MILESIAN SCHOOL

The Greek philosophers prior to Socrates are called the pre-Socratics. This name has, to begin with, a chronological value: these are the thinkers who lived from the end of the seventh century to the close of the fifth century before Christ. However, the term also has a more profound meaning: the earliest beginnings of Greek philosophy can be considered true philosophy because after them there existed a full and indisputable philosophy. Examined in the light of mature philosophy—from Socrates onward—the first Hellenic speculations are seen to be philosophic, although not all of them would merit this designation were they not the beginning and promise of something to come later on. By being pre-Socratics, by announcing and preparing a philosophic maturity, the first thinkers of Ionia and Magna Graecia are themselves already philosophers. One must not forget that if it is true that the present depends on the past, then the present sometimes redounds on the past and colors it as well. Specific affirmations of the oldest Indian and Chinese thinkers are often similar to those of the Greeks; the major difference between these two philosophies is that after the pre-Socratics came Socrates, whereas the stammering Oriental speculation was not followed by a philosophic fullness in the sense which this phrase has taken on in the West. This explains the fundamental difference which we notice between the earliest thinking of the Hellenic people and that of the Orientals.

The last pre-Socratics do not predate Socrates; they are his contemporaries in the second half of the fifth century. However, they remain part of the group that antedates him because of the theme and character of their speculation. Nature (φ

σις) is the subject of the entire first stage of philosophy. Aristotle calls these thinkers φυσιoλóγoι, physicists; they create a physics by philosophic method. Confronted by nature, the pre-Socratic adopts an attitude that differs enormously from that of Hesiod, for example. The latter attempts to narrate how the world has been shaped and ordered, or supply the genealogy of the gods; he creates a theogony, relates a myth. Myth and philosophy are closely related, as Aristotle has observed, and this constitutes a serious problem; but myth and philosophy are two different things. The pre-Socratic philosopher confronts nature with a theoretical question; he attempts to tell what it is. Philosophy is chiefly defined by the question which motivates it: What is all this? This question cannot be answered with a myth, but only with a philosophy.

MOTION. What is it that makes the Greeks wonder about the nature of things? What is the root of the awe that first moved the Greeks to philosophize? In other words, what is it that alienates Hellenic man and makes him feel strange in the world in which he finds himself? Bear in mind first that the pre-Socratics’ situation differs from that of all later philosophers. The later men, upon setting themselves a problem, found united with it a repertory of solutions already proposed and tried, whereas the pre-Socratics abandoned the answers given by tradition or myth for a new instrument of certainty—reason.

The Greek wonders at and is awed by motion. What does this mean? Motion (κíνησις) has a fuller meaning in Greek than in English or the Romance languages. What we call motion is only a particular form of kínesis, whereas in Greek “motion” means change or variation. The Greeks distinguished four types of motion: (1) local motion (φoρ

), change of place; (2) quantitative motion, that is, augmentation or diminution (α

ξησις κα

φθíσις); (3) qualitative motion, or alteration (

λλo

ωσις); and (4) substantial motion, that is, generation and decay (γ

νεσις κα

φθoρ

). All these kinds of motion, and especially the last named, which is the most profound and radical, perturb and trouble Greek man because they make the existence of things problematic; they overwhelm him with uncertainty to the point that he does not know what to rely on in respect to them. If things change, what are they really? If a white object ceases to be white and becomes green, it is and it is not white; if something that is ceases to be, then the thing both is and is not, Multiplicity and contradiction permeate the very being of things; thus, the Greek wonders what the things really are, that is, what they are permanently, behind their many appearances. Confronted by the numerous aspects of the things, the Greek searches for their permanent and immutable roots, which are superior to this multiplicity and which can give it meaning. Therefore, what is truly interesting is the initial question of philosophy: What is all this really? Or: What is Nature, the source from which all things emerge? The history of Greek philosophy is made up of the various answers given to this question.

Greek philosophy has a very concrete and well-known origin. It begins on the Ionian coasts, in the Hellenic cities of Asia Minor in the first years of the sixth century before Christ—or perhaps at the end of the seventh century. The origin of philosophy can be said to be ex-centric, since it took place outside the center of the Greek world; it was not until much later (the fifth century B.C.) that philosophic speculation appeared in Greece proper. The cities on the eastern coast of the Aegean were richer and more prosperous than those of Hellas, and it was in the Aegean cities that an economic, technical and scientific awakening first developed. This awakening was promoted in part by contact with other cultures, especially with the Egyptian and Persian civilizations. It was in Miletus, the most important city in this region, that philosophy first appeared. There, a group of philosophers who were also men of great stature ...

Table of contents

• DOVER BOOKS ON WESTERN PHILOSOPHY
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Preface to the English Edition
• Table of Contents
• Introduction.
• GREEK PHILOSOPHY
• CHRISTIANITY
• MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
• MODERN PHILOSOPHY
• SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY IDEALISM
• EMPIRICISM
• GERMAN IDEALISM
• NINETEENTH-CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
• CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY
• Bibliography
• Index
• A CATALOG OF SELECTED DOVER BOOKS IN ALL FIELDS OF INTEREST