Questions tagged [ancient-philosophy]
Ancient philosophy consists, at least in the west, of the work by philosophers before around ~480 CE.
1
vote
0answers
4 views
Is there any evidence that Nietzsche read anything by Zarathrutha?
Here are two verses of Zarathrutha from his gathas published in the Hymns of Zarathrustha by M. L. West:
40.10
And that reward, Mindful One
Thou dost keep in your house
Good thought,...
3
votes
1answer
100 views
Random Emergence
In De Caelo 300b, Aristotle introduces the idea of the random emergence of the natural:
"it is possible that with this disorderly motion some of the elements might have unified in those combinations ...
4
votes
2answers
130 views
Allegory of the cave and Forms?
In my philosophy class, the professor told us about the allegory of the cave and how it relates to the Forms. From what I understood, regular people only see shadows of the Forms; but by doing ...
2
votes
1answer
64 views
What sort of philosophy does this come into?
Okay so I'm going to have a very hard time trying to convey what I want to because I myself am unsure on how to frame this question.
Is there any philosophical branch that deals with 'binarial' ...
2
votes
0answers
34 views
Does the concept of Axis Mundi imply the idea of a symmetric universe?
In the mythologies of many cultures the universe is thought to have a center ( i do not mean the geographical concretisations which are obviously not accurate, i mean the philosophical conception ) ...
3
votes
2answers
161 views
Did Ancient Greeks believed that only God can give Agape Love, the unconditional love for everyone?
Ancient Greeks defined love as 6 different types.
Eros, Philia, Ludus, Agape, Pragma, Philautia.
Agape love is Unconditional Love.
Can God only give Agape Love, the unconditional love for everyone?
...
0
votes
0answers
18 views
Did Plato really use the concept of “God” or only of “gods”? [duplicate]
In medieval philosophy texts, it seems that Plato is presented as having the concept of "eternal light" if not of "God" - I'm taking, very indirectly, from this SEP entry: The problem of universals in ...
0
votes
1answer
63 views
How similar were Epicureans and Stoics to Buddhism on suffering?
One of the main goals of the Buddhist philosophy/religion is to be free of suffering.
Buddhism identifies ego, desire, non acceptance of impermanence, ignorance and all negative emotions(because the ...
4
votes
1answer
52 views
Which ancient Greeks are known to have commentated on Zeno's Paradoxes?
The Stanford Encycl. of Philosophy mentions that we know of Zeno's work only through various secondary sources, "principally through Aristotle and his commentators."
I was wondering, which other ...
3
votes
1answer
58 views
Which works of Plato and Aristotle (Ancient Greek if there is more worth it) should I read to get a context to study Continental Rationalism?
I'm trying to get a better ground to get into Continental Rationalism between Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, etc. I read on the Plato Encyclopedia of Philosophy that Plato and Aristotle influenced them, ...
1
vote
0answers
66 views
How does one understand the second and third triad in Hegels Logic?
The first dialectical triad in Hegels Logic and put in a mathematical form is
Being + Nothing = Becoming
Although a strange sum, I find this understandable. His second dialectical triad takes the ...
4
votes
3answers
98 views
Do wholes tell us what the parts are?
According to one reading of the atomic hypothesis it is parts that are fundamental and they tell us what wholes are, and in fact, what wholes are possible. For example:
A tree is made up of roots, ...
5
votes
4answers
275 views
Dasein and know thyself
Socrates famously asked the question 'know thyself'.
When I first read of this it impressed me. It seemed like an important question. What could be more important than knowing your own self? It ...
1
vote
1answer
98 views
Is there an ur-philosophy behind the philosophy of Pythagoras and Lao Tze Tung?
Chapter forty-two of the Dao De Jing has the following:
The Dao engenders One
One engenders Two
Two engenders Three
And Three engenders the many myriad things
This looks rather ...
2
votes
0answers
60 views
Some similarity of Leibniz and Anaxagoras
As early as 1666 Leibniz was able to compose "A Conjecture Why It Seems That Anaxagoras Could Have Said That Snow Is Black" (A II, 1, 4-5). Later, as a librarian, he became extraordinarily well read ...
1
vote
1answer
84 views
What is the meaning of the quote from Anaxogoras? “even those who have occasion for a lamp supply it with oil.”
According to Plutarch, When Pericles heard that Anaxagoras was starving himself, Pericles approached Anaxagoras begging him to stop starving himself since if Anaxagoras were to die,Pericles will lose ...
2
votes
1answer
96 views
The clay theory of the universe
The Aristotelian notion of hylomorphism involves the form/matter duality where the matter in question is not the atomist conception we learn in physics, but a kind of primordial clay that all forms ...
4
votes
1answer
78 views
According to Aristotle, can knowledge of geometry exist outside of particular subjects?
In the Categories, Aristotle gives the example of Socrates' knowledge of grammar for something that is 'present in' a subject, i.e. inseparable from it. That makes sense to me: if Socrates dies, his ...
3
votes
1answer
162 views
Why does Philo skip Genesis 1?
In Νόμων Ἱερῶν Ἀλληγορίαι, (Legum Allegoriæ), Stoic Philosopher Philo of Alexandria sets out to make an allegorical commentary on Genesis 2-3. Why does Philo choose to pick up with chapter 2 instead ...
4
votes
1answer
109 views
Marsilio Ficino' commentary on the Symposium on Love guidance
Is Marsilio Ficino's commentary on the Symposium on Love a good book to read alongside the Symposium for someone who is reading the Platonic dialogue?
Does it give a good understanding of the ...
8
votes
1answer
633 views
Why is it true that anything that changes must be divisible according to Aristotle?
Aristotle states in Physics 6:4:
Further, everything that changes must be divisible. For since every
change is from something to something, and when a thing is at the goal
of its change it is ...
4
votes
1answer
142 views
Does Aristotle think universals are identical to particulars?
In this passage: (Physics 189a7-9)
For that which is universal is more easily known in the former way, since accounts are of what is universal, and that which is particular in the latter, since ...
5
votes
2answers
165 views
What does Timaeus mean in this saying?
The proportion perfectly achieves this goal. For, when three numbers, three masses or three forces whatever, the mean is to the last what the first is to the mean and to the first what the last is to ...
3
votes
0answers
189 views
How did the philosophy of Ancient Greece influence Ancient Rome?
Mostly, I'm curious about the lasting impacts of classical philosophy, but in the name of brevity and specifics I'll confine my question to the influence classical Greek philosophy had on the next ...
4
votes
2answers
231 views
Why cannot matter be infinitely divisible according to Plato?
Why cannot matter be infinitely divisible, according to Plato?
Thanks in advance!
1
vote
3answers
197 views
Can somebody please give me good tips about how to write a high quality philosophy essay? [duplicate]
I am quite well read, and I understand the philosophy papers I read quite well. But I am a very sloppy writer. Whatever I write comes back with commentaries degrading my papers. What should I do to ...
5
votes
1answer
228 views
Did Greek philosophers know about Eastern philosophies?
Were the philosophers of Ancient Greece aware of Eastern Philosophies, such as Zoroastrianism or Buddhism? Is there any mention of them, either directly, or similar concepts in existing writings?
1
vote
1answer
315 views
Why does Leonardo da Vinci make the following claim?
In Excursus 6, in Agamben's book Language & Death he excerpts the following quotations from da Vinci's notebooks (Cod. Arundel. f.131r):
Among the magnitude of things around us, the being of ...
2
votes
3answers
400 views
What are some contemporary debates regarding Plato's & Aristotle's writings?
What are some major contemporary issues in Plato and Aristotle scholarship in recent years?
3
votes
5answers
174 views
Must everything in time be subject to time?
Take Lucretian atoms, are they subject to time?
For how they arrange themselves, when they move and collide; they are subject to time; but this is in relation to other atoms, or to the place they ...
0
votes
0answers
22 views
How accurate can Plato's recital of dialogues & events be? [duplicate]
In Dialogues, there are hundreds of conversations between Socrates and many others that was written word by word. Did Plato actually write everything down as it happened, or try to recite from memory ...
6
votes
2answers
578 views
What was ancient Philosophy written on/with?
What did ancient philosophers, like Plato, use to write their works on/with, physically? (Tree bark, animal skin, types of writing utensils, etc)
3
votes
1answer
73 views
What Epictetus meant in “Enchiridon” XLVI?
In Enchiridon ch. XLVI Epictetus wrote:
If any conversation should arise among uninstructed persons about any theorem, generally be silent [...] And when a man shall say to you, that you know ...
2
votes
0answers
36 views
What developments prompted Cliffords picture of spacetime?
In 1870, Clifford, the English mathematician and sometime philosopher wrote the following in his book, On the Space theory of Matter;
I hold as a fact:
That small portions of space are in ...
3
votes
3answers
310 views
Is “the mind” in Phaedo the same as “Nous” in Neoplatonic philosophy?
Phaedo 97c speaks about Anaxagoras that he says "that it is the mind that arranges and causes all things. I was pleased with this theory of cause, and it seemed to me to be somehow right that the mind ...
9
votes
6answers
4k views
Was Socrates a monotheist?
I know my question seems weird, but in Plato's books Apology, Crito, and Phaedo (and probably in other books since I read only these 3 and I am in the middle of the third one) when Socrates want to ...
4
votes
5answers
996 views
Is there a theory of time consistent with Heraclitus?
Heraclitus is recorded as saying:
Upon those who step into the same river, different and again different waters flow (Arius Didymus, Dox. Gr.)
It is not possible to step twice into the same ...
0
votes
1answer
100 views
Is the noumena, in a sense apeiron?
Consider Anaximanders apeiron, the indeterminate in the context of Platos theory of Forms; a form, an idea makes the indeterminate determinate in some particular way (In Anaximanders system - rotation ...
2
votes
4answers
727 views
Were there any prominent philosophers / philosophies pre-Ancient Greece?
Do most modern ways of thinking which stem back to ancient times originate in Greece, or have any important ideas come from before that time?
What, if any, was the role of the philosopher in pre-...
5
votes
7answers
1k views
What Did Plotinus Mean by Contemplation?
Plotinus' philosophy is intriguing, but his use of contemplation stumps me. In particular, he speaks of non-humans (even non-living things IIRC) contemplating. So what does he mean by contemplation? ...
2
votes
0answers
43 views
Factors causing entelechia not to realize
Is there a term in Aristotle's work for the factors that cause entelechia not to realize? Does he address these somewhere? I mean, bodies work in certain energeia and can be interrupted from ...
1
vote
0answers
38 views
Can a priori principles be applied to deduce 'Principal Bundles' as principles in Modern Physics?
Kant supplied a priori arguments for Newtonian Physics in his Metaphysics of Natural Science
Has something similar been done for Modern Physics; which in its geometrical intepretation are concieved ...
3
votes
2answers
378 views
Why doesn't Parmenides argument hold for fields - or does it?
The SEP points out
For Descartes argued in his 1644 Principles of Philosophy (see Book II) that the essence of matter was extension (i.e., size and shape) because any other attribute of bodies ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
What social class was Socrates from?
Its well known that Plato was from the aritocratic elite of Athenian society. In his writings Socrates figure as his pre-eminent philosophical spokesperson.
There is a adage, which might be a truism ...
2
votes
3answers
864 views
Aristoi vs. Hoi Polloi - Was it a genuine division created by Heraclitus or was it somehow misinterpreted?(and its implications)
When I was looking for information about the novel The Collector, there was a paragraph on the writer's intention of writing about a division supposedly proposed by ancient Greek philosopher ...
6
votes
4answers
15k views
Why is Nietzsche so against Socrates?
Nietzsche recalls the story that Socrates says that 'he has been a long time sick', meaning that life itself is a sickness; Nietszche accuses him of being a sick man, a man against the instincts of ...
3
votes
1answer
183 views
Can Euclid's Elements be used to rigorously prove 2+2=4?
It is possible to formally prove that 2+2=4 using Peano's five axioms for the natural numbers and elementary set theory (actually a long and tedious process). Is it possible to prove it based on the ...
4
votes
1answer
72 views
Chrysippus and Strict Implicature
In A History of Ancient Philosophy, Karsten Friis Johansen claims that Chrysippus offers a theory of truth for conditionals that is a version of strict implicature and intensional semantics. However, ...
3
votes
1answer
64 views
Who were the major innovators of new types of syllogisms?
Who were the major innovators of new kinds of syllogisms (i.e. introduced disjunctive syllogisms, etc) in the ancient and medieval periods aside from Aristotle, Theophrastus, the Stoics, and Goclenius?...
9
votes
2answers
327 views
Did Thales really argue this?
Neil deGrasse Tyson in “Deeper, Deeper, Deeper Still” (Cosmos) says something to the following effect.
The ancient Greek philosopher Thales argued that natural events such as weather patterns weren'...
