Questions tagged [ancient-philosophy]
Ancient philosophy consists, at least in the west, of the work by philosophers before around ~480 CE.
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What are the main elements of Stoicism? [duplicate]
My question is this: What are the main elements of Stoicism?
As a secondary question, it would also be nice to know how Epicureanism compares to or contrasts with Stoicism.
Primary source material ...
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Where does Plato discuss "having" and "possessing"?
I'm looking for textual references in Plato's dialogues where he discusses the difference between having and possessing with respect to actuality and potentiality. I would be grateful if anybody could ...
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Seeking Guidance for Reading Aristotle's Metaphysics
I've recently embarked on a journey to explore Aristotle's Metaphysics, but I must admit, I'm finding it quite challenging to grasp. As a newcomer to Aristotle's works, I wonder if there's a guide or ...
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When the soul is with the body, does the soul change the body, or does it make the body as perfect as possible?
I would be grateful if you could answer the question above. When the soul is with the body, does the soul change the body or does it make the body perfect [or should I say that as perfect as the body ...
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Understanding Aristotle's argument of simultaneously and sequentially actualisable potential infinities in response to Atomism
I am reading a book about Aristotle. Aristotle lays out a potential argument against infinite divisibility by the Atomists, that infinite division would leave components of zero-magnitude which could ...
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Are there any arguments that show the genus-species distinction does not work?
I would be grateful if someone tried to answer the question above. What are some arguments that show that genus-species relation does not correctly describe the world, that it is not a correct ...
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Preferred Translation of Plato's *Laws*?
I have been delving deeper into Greek philosophy lately, and I must say, I am quite fond of C.D.C Reeve's translations. His interpretations of various philosophical texts have always resonated with me....
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What does it mean to be a principle?
I would be grateful if you could direct me to relevant passages in Aristotle where I can read more about the nature of "principle." Not exacty about the principle of non-contradiction but ...
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How did ancient Greeks connect transcendence and rational approach to one gender(male)?
It seems to me as a modern human difficult to connect logic (may say rational approach), material world and something that stays beyond this reality (may say emotional or religious approach), ...
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Why is knowledge knowledge of explanations?
I am reading Aristotle. He seems to me to believe that knowledge is knowledge of explanations (causes - aitiai). But what ground is there for this belief? I cannot formulate a reason for this. I would ...
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Why did Pythagoras prohibit eating beans?
The legend says the Pythagoreans never ate beans because they contained the spirits of dead people. My maths teacher told me this was known because a bean and an embryo are about the same size and ...
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History of creatio ex Nihilo
In the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, it is claimed that
Before Philo there was no explicit theory of creation ex nihilo ever postulated in Jewish or Greek traditions.
Is this correct? Were ...
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Euthyphro's Dilemma
I'm current reading one of the first of plato's dialogues, Euthyphro, concerning piety. At one point in their conversation, Euthyphro proposes to Socrates the following definition,
I) What all of the ...
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Where can I find Boethius' commentary on the Isagoge?
I've read and heard many times over about Boethius' commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge, that it's an interesting text about the problem of the universals and that it was very popular in the Middle Ages.
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What does Plato mean by kingly arts?
In Euthydemus, Plato says that "the politician’s art and the kingly art
were the same" (ἔδοξε γὰρ δὴ ἡμῖν ἡ πολιτική καὶ ἡ βασιλική τέχνη ἡ
αὐτὴ εἶναι, 291 c 4–5).
I have difficulty ...
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Is the temperance resulting from the socratic maxim "know thyself" always about knowing others?
I was just thinking about what good 'know thyself' means. There is something arguably narcissistic and unnecessary - or at least self absorbed - about examining your life just to know your own flaws ...
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Gnosis vs. Episteme - Is there a change over time periods in Ancient Greek Philosophy?
"Episteme" is the word of choice in Plato, generally (although there are a few instances of "Gnosis" here and there)
By contrast, "Gnosis" is far more frequent among ...
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What is the distinction between Ancient Philosophy and Religion?
I'm currently reading Pierre Hadot book What is "Ancient Philosophy?" (Qu'est-ce que la philosophie antique?) and as I reach the third part of the book i can't stop thinking about, how ...
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What does Aristotle think about the relation between blindness, knowledge and memory?
I’m trying to understand Aristotle’s views on blindness, as given in these passages:
"just as the blind remember better, being released from having their
faculty of memory engaged with objects ...
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Where can I learn more about Ancient Egyptian philosophy?
So far, I've read the Ancient Egyptian philosophy article on wiki. Are there other sources where I can learn about this arcane and hazy subject?
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Does a philosophy scholar in the modern world need to study ancient philosophy?
I am a philosophy enthusiast and I study philosophy on my own. I wanted to know whether a philosophy scholar in the modern world needs to study the ancient philosophical ideas, such as those by ...
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Can anyone find this Menander fragment in the original Greek?
I remember when studying ancient Greek many years ago, I was memorizing Menander monostichoi, and there was one that I now want to make a little postcard of, but can't remember exactly what the ...
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What did the ancient philosophers think of crystals? [closed]
Does anyone have any quotes by ancient philosophers on what they thought crystals were made of?
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Are there visual symbols from ancient Greece that symbolize infinity?
I thought meander ornaments symbolize infinity, but I can't find any citable evidence of this. Are there any other visual symbols that are originally from ancient Greece?
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What do Ancient philosophers mean by matter?
For example Stoics thought that Pneuma pervades all matter.
There are several definitions of matter but I think the most reasonable is the one based on Elementary fermions.
But in the ancient times ...
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How do we know which dialogues Plato didn't write?
I understand that there are dialogues of Plato for which the authorship is contested, with some more than others.
How are the dialogues determined to be spurious? Is it a different process for ...
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No treatise by Plato exists or ever existed
In Plato's second epistle appears the following line:
For this reason I myself have never yet written anything on these subjects, and no treatise by Plato exists or will exist, but those which now ...
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According to Aristotle, how many unmoved movers are there in the universe?
In On The Heavens, Aristotle described there are multiple unmoved movers in different celestial spheres as the final causes of celestial movements, however, in the Physics, Aristotle concluded there ...
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Did alchemy originate from the ancient Greeks?
Did alchemy originate from the ancient Greeks? I heard alchemy is based on ancient Greek philosophy. Is this true?
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Is Thales's claim that everything starts with water/wetness, in ontological meaning, in agreement with his claim that: "Everything is full of gods"?
Thales claimed water as his arche, but Aristotle says that he also said that "Everything is full of gods". Are those two claims in agreement?
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Who first said that he who cannot govern himself cannot govern others?
What philosopher said that he who cannot govern himself cannot govern others?
I heard that Foucault said something similar, but surely Aristotle or even King Solomon may have said something similar.
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I am looking for a parable that tells about a tyrant and an honest poor man
Brief paraphrase: In a certain city there lived a tyrant and a poor man, the tyrant did not know about his tyranny and believed that he was doing the right thing, the poor man saw the tyrant's ...
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What is known of Anaximander's reasoning behind his belief that the Earth floated?
Anaximander was the first philosopher (at least that I know of) to argue that the Earth floated in space without support and without being enveloped by the cosmic ocean. I have heard his reasoning for ...
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Does the Platonic triad originate with Plato?
A Platonic triad of Good, True, and Beautiful is something I run into online and in popular philosophy books. For example: https://catholicgnosis.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/the-platonic-triad/
It's been ...
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Number of causes in Porphyry
Aristotle proposed a well known and much studied doctrine of Four causes. Seneca the Younger in the first years of the new era wrote that his quintam Plato adicit exemplar, quam ipse idean vocat (as ...
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Where in Aristotle's Topics did he say there's no exact/clear way to distinguish two concepts?
I've heard that Aristotle supposed in his Topics that there's no exact/clear way to distinguish two concepts. What exactly did he say?
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Why did Aristotle claim we can't wish our friends be gods?
Aristotle asks at the close of Book VIII, Chapter 7 of the Nicomachean Ethics: Can one wish their friend the highest good, namely, to be a god? He seems to provide several reasons to think not.
First, ...
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Academic consensus on Egypt as origins/impetus of Ancient Greek philosophy
My question concerns the controversial thesis about Ancient Egypt being the origin or cause of Ancient Greek Philosophy.
I understand that the pendulum has swung on this issue several times - my ...
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Plato Symposium - Is Socrates's Response to Agathon Warranted?
I'm reading Plato's symposium and I had a question about the section 199b - 201c where Socrates responds to Agathon. This comes after Agathon's speech, but before Socrates tells the tale of Diotima.
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Original Text Sources for 2 Aristotle ideas - 1/ nous on nous , 2/ sprial of knowledge - which texts did Aristotle first mention these in?
I am trying to track down the first mention original sources of some ideas of Aristotle in philosophy that some philosophy professors made in some university lectures.
The first idea is
1/ Nous on ...
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What is the most internally-consistent theory of forms?
I'm trying to construct a fictional reality out of the Socratic-era (ideally) theories of Forms, but every philosopher's attempt seems to have at least one fatal flaw (and most of them several big ...
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According to Plato, can there be forms for a certain class of particulars?
In the beginning of Parmenides, Plato seems to think that most, or possibly all, particulars do not have corresponding forms; but he is not very explicit about why. My question is, does it not make ...
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Apart from Religious content, what philosophical doctrines can be found in the Bible?
today i read the Eclesiastes, and found it quite alike of Stoicism, so i wondered, since the bible is just a compilation of books that are not necessarily related, i wanted to know what other ...
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The concept of nature in the Greek philosophy
My question is: Is it possible to point to a development in the concept of "nature" in the period between pre-Socratic philosophers and Aristotle (inclusive)?
Thank you very much.
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What percentage of extant Greek texts from Antiquity constitute philosophy?
I recently asked on Literature Stack Exchange, What percentage of clay tablets found in Mesopotamia contain literature?
and was only able to define an upper limit 4% literature in the overall corpus ...
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"Corresponding behaviour" in text on Socrates' philosophy
I don't know if this is the right place to post this question, but as I was reading Diogenes Laertius' 'The Life of Socrates', I came upon the following line:
"He recommended to the young the ...
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"There is no difference, if no difference can be detected"
As far as I remember there was an ancient philosopher who said something like "there is no difference (between two objects) if no difference can be detected", but I don't remember who was that and how ...
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I'm trying to identify a rhetorical device
I already asked this question on the writing forum, but I suppose the subject matter is better suited here.
Once again, I am writing a commentary on the book of Galatians, while employing a socio-...
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Are there any Good Compilations of Socrates?
Fellow Thinkers, does anyone know of a book that has compiled all the main sources that we know Socrates from (Plato, Xenophon, Aristophanes, ...)?
Thank you for your time. - SDH
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What are some arguments against the third man argument?
I'm working on a paper concerning the third man argument.
I have my own solution in mind, but I need other arguments to refute so that I can then move onto my argument. I found another thread on this ...
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