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ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY |
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Select: The Three Main Schools - Philosophy of Plotinus - Porphyry - Jamblicus - Proclus |
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PHILOSOPHY SEEKS REFUGE IN RELIGION The last period of Greek philosophy extends to the fifth century of the Christian era. It is called Religious because of its attempt to resolve the problem of human life by recourse to religion. Epicureanism viewed the world as a machine. Stoicism conceived the world as an intelligent teleological system and subordinated man to the universal will. Eclecticism turned its attention to what seemed good in all systems, pieced them together, and presented a world view from the materials at hand. Classical culture declined, philosophy became religious mysticism, ancient philosophy ended, as it began, in religion. Greek speculation, Egyptian, Chaldean, and Jewish religions tended to mingle.
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a. The Judaic-Alexandrian School Its greatest representative is Philo of Alexandria (30 B.C.-50 A.D.). By means of an allegorical interpretation, Philo endeavored to reconcile the truths revealed in the Bible with all that had been said by the Greek philosophers and especially by Plato. Philo taught that Judaism is the sum-total of human wisdom. Philo's major philosophic content is the idea of God. God, for Philo, is a reality who transcends the world and our limited intelligence; of Him we can say that He is (exists) but not what He is (negative theology). The abyss between God and the world is filled by the logos, the divine reason which comprehends the Ideas, which Philo conceives, in a Platonic way, as models of things. All things, then, are reflections of the divine ideas, and man is also a reflection of these same ideas. All these reflections are received in matter, which is the source of evil. The purpose of life is to free oneself from matter and to return to God. Such liberation is accomplished in the intellective way, by raising ourselves above the senses to the contemplation of the Ideas. The highest contemplation is ecstasy, a superrational act which unites us directly with God. b. The Neo-Pythagorean Teaching The ethical, political, and religious teaching of Pythagoras aimed at ethico-religious reform. After the death of Pythagoras, the practical phases of his doctrines survived through his school and eventually faded. Plato absorbed the Pythagorean number-theory and his religio-mystical elements. Later Greek philosophies, especially Aristotelianism, generally abandoned Pythagoreanism. Pythagorean secret societies, with their mysteries, were maintained and encouraged in the Roman world. Early Pythagoreanism was reformed, Platonized, and combined with other Greek theories. Pythagoreanism became the source of divinely knowledge and an eclectic philosophy. The principal proponent of this teaching was Apollonius of Tiana, who passed into legend as a worker of wonders. He was a Greek philosopher and seer, born in Tiana, Cappadocia. He was a zealous neo-Pythagorean teacher, hailed as a sage and a worker of miracles. He was worshipped after his death and was presented in his biography as a short of heathen rival to Jesus Christ. He taught that God is the absolute and primitive monad, who transcends all opposition between unity and multiplicity. c. The Neo-Platonic School The reconstruction of Greek philosophy culminated in Neo-Platonism, and Plato's system became the framework for a religious world view. Neo-Platonism used whatever seemed to be valuable. God is conceived as the source and goal of everything. This school was founded by Ammonius Saccas (176-242 A.D.) in Alexandria toward the first half of the third century A.D. Ammonius taught a select group of disciples who were to keep the doctrines secret. Since he did not write down his doctrines, we know them only through Plotinus. Plotinus was a disciple of Ammonius and gave to Greek philosophy its last great system, which posterity has compared to that of Plato and Aristotle but has placed on a lower level. Elsewhere On the Internet
Plotinus (205?-270 A.D.) (picture), who brought forth the last great system of Greek speculative philosophy, was born in Egypt. At the age of thirty he came into contact with Ammonius Saccas and immediately became his disciple; on meeting the master, Plotinus exclaimed, "I have found the man I need." He studied under Saccas for ten years, that is, until the death of his teacher. He then joined an expedition to the East under Jordanus, and there obtained a knowledge of Oriental religions. After the failure of the expedition, Plotinus went to Rome, where he taught for the next twenty years. He was an ascetic and a meditative man, and was reported to have twice reached the state of ecstasy which he held to be the highest state of life, and which he defined as losing one's personality and being united with God. Because of the religious character of their philosophy, both he and his pupils were considered as directors of souls and spiritual fathers. During the last years of his life, Plotinus retired to Campania, where he wished to build a town of philosophers, to be called "Platontown"; he died, however, before anything was accomplished. Porphyry put Plotinus' books in order and wrote an account of his life. General Ideas The problem: "What is man and what must he do to reach happiness?" was not completely resolved by Aristotle or by the Stoics and Epicureans. Plotinus tried to resolve this question by overcoming dualism with monism. God, according to Plotinus, is not only the supreme inconceivable reality but also the principle of all realities. The invisible world as well as the visible world, man included, is nothing other than a derivation or emanation from God. God is true happiness for man; but as man cannot reach full knowledge of God by reason, so also he cannot possess happiness of himself; his intellectual knowledge is not sufficient. Man needs a superior help in order to reach God and to possess Him. This superior help comes from God who, beyond all forces of reason, manifests Himself to man, and makes him happy. This is what Plotinus calls "ecstasy"; towards this all his speculation points. Theory of Knowledge Plotinus distinguishes four kinds of knowledge:
Metaphysics The metaphysics of Plotinus may be considered in two ways: as progression downward from God to the world (the divine emanations); and upward from the world to God (morality). Emanation is marked by four degrees: matter, world soul, Nous, and God or One. All the degrees of being partake of the divinity, but in a different way (Monism). The first three degrees (the world soul, Nous, and One) form a sort of trinity, differing from the Christian Trinity in that it is impersonal, attached to and dependent on the world. One: The One (God) is the principle of all knowledge, and all things are dependent on Him. He has neither material nor spiritual qualities; neither knowledge nor will belong to Him. He is above all understanding, and can be best approached by negative theology. All we can attribute to Him is "oneness" in contrast to everything else, which implies multiplicity. To sustain the absolute unity of God, Plotinus was compelled to deny Him thought and knowledge, for these operations suppose distinction between subject and object, between thinker and thoughts, and therefore imply multiplicity. The universe proceeds from God not by free and willing creation but by constant emanation. Through these emanations the "God-Substance" becomes common to all other degrees of reality (Pantheism). God transcends the world, yet the world-stuff is God-stuff. The emanations are the Nous, the world soul, and nature. To explain the emanations, Plotinus compared them to the superabundance of a flowing river, and a beam of light. Just as a beam of light, as it goes farther from its source, grows weaker and finally vanishes into darkness, so it is with the emanations which, after leaving the "One," lose their unity and finally vanish into matter and evil. Nous: The first emanation is the Nous; it is intelligence, unchanged thoughts. The object of its thoughts are three: the One, itself, and the ideas which are in its spiritual nature. (This roughly corresponds to the Ideal World of Plato.) The Nous is inferior to the One, because multiplicity starts with Nous; there is a distinction between the Nous and its thought. World Soul: The second emanation is the world soul. It proceeds from the Nous as the Nous proceeds from the One; it is therefore inferior to the Nous. The world soul has two kinds of activities: contemplative and plastic. Its act of contemplation is beyond matter and time and its object is the Nous. The plastic activity of the world soul consists in forming the particular things of the universe according to the ideas the world soul is contemplating in the Nous. The Universe: The third emanation is the universe (the sky, demons - good and evil spirits, human souls, matter, and evil). The plastic forces of the world soul inform the multiplicity of ideas in the visible world. Thus particular souls originating in the Nous come through the world soul into the world; first, those souls that animate the sky; second, those for the stars; third, those for demons; and lastly, human souls, which fell down into the world because of some mysterious sin. Human souls, which were in a state of preexistence in the Nous, are now imprisoned in the body. As in the universal soul there are two activities, contemplative and plastic, so also in each individual soul (in the stars and in man) there are two activities. In man these are the rational and informative virtues; the rational, tending to the formation of ideas, the informative, to the informing of the body. Matter is the final step of emanation; it is darkness and evil. Ethics In Plotinus' theory of emanation the progress is from God to the world; Plotinus' moral philosophy is the reverse process or the return to God. Man is able to make this return by means of purification from matter (catharsis). Such a purification is marked by three states: practical, contemplative, and ecstatic. Accordingly, there are three virtues in man: ethical (practical), dianoetic (theoretical), and ecstatic. Ethical Virtues: The ethical virtues are practical and are concerned with and attached to the world. They are not evil in themselves, but there is always the danger that they might oppose and rule the higher virtues in man. The practical virtues, such as temperance, fortitude, prudence, and justice, assure us of the practical domination of the sensible world, and open the way toward the operation of the superior contemplative virtues. Dianoetic Virtues: The second grade of catharsis or purification is marked by the function of contemplative virtues. Plotinus divides these into aesthetic and rational virtues. We know that in matter there are intelligible ideas with which it is informed. If these intelligibles are considered in regard to their goodness or beauty, their residence is the world soul. It is the function of the aesthetic virtues to separate these intelligibles from matter and to contemplate them as they exist in the world soul, which is the residence of beauty. On the other hand, if these intelligibles are considered as truth, their residence is the Nous. It is the function of the rational virtues to contemplate as true, that is, as they exist in the Nous, intelligible ideas separated from matter; this is philosophy. Thus through the aesthetic virtues our mind is united with the world soul, and through the rational virtues it is united with the Nous. Ecstatic Virtues: The ethical and dianoetic virtues cannot lead us to absolute perfection, which is the One. This can be done only through ecstasy, the supreme degree of virtue. In the state of ecstasy man remains passive and unconscious of everything except his union with the One. This is the supreme state of happiness for man. As in all great systems in Greek philosophy, the theory of knowledge in Plotinus corresponds to his theory of being. As there are four degrees of emanation, there are four degrees of knowledge: sensible, rational, intellectual, and ecstatic.
Religion: Plotinus placed God high above and transcending the whole world and its activities; He can be known by ecstasy alone. Between God and matter Plotinus placed emanations, but in order to justify all religions he also admitted intermediary demons or spirits. In The Radical Academy
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God, according to Plotinus, is not only the supreme inconceivable reality but also the principle of all realities. God is true happiness for man; but as man cannot reach full knowledge of God by reason, so also he cannot possess happiness of himself. The One (God) is the principle of all knowledge, and all things are dependent on Him. He is above all understanding, and can be best approached by negative theology. Porphyry (232-304) (picture), a Syrian whose original name was Malchos, was one of the last defenders of classical paganism against the Skeptics and Christians. He was a disciple and friend of Plotinus, whose writings he edited. He was also an excellent interpreter of Aristotle. In his objections to Christianity, Porphyry tried to do justice to the views he fought by informing himself as fully as possible about the and doctrines of his adversaries, and he took a great many pains to refrain from open hostility. His book Against the Christians was considered very dangerous by Christian apologists. Porphyry was convinced that truly religious men do not desire formulas, cults, sacrifices or incantations. But, he said, men of pure heart and wise conduct of life being very rare, people need the images of the gods for their moral discipline and spiritual satisfaction. In The Radical Academy
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Jamblicus (c. 270-330). So far as modern theosophy does not go back to Hindu mysticism, its adherents are using doctrines formulated mostly by Jamblicus, a Syrian and a disciple of Porphyry who tried to systematize the philosophy of Plotinus, wrote commentaries on Plato and about the Greek gods, the doctrines of the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Assyrians. Until the 19th century, Jamblicus was considered one of the great philosophers. In late antiquity his renown was enormous. He was glorified as "posterior to Plato only in time, not in genius," and his devoted disciples did not refrain from forging letters allegedly written by Emperor Julianus, in which Jamblicus was hailed as "Savior of Greece," "Treasury of the Hellenes" or "healer of the souls." For a long time these forgeries enjoyed full credit. For, in fact, Julianus did esteem Jamblicus highly and quoted him frequently in his genuine writings. Jamblicus was revered as a divine being, and many miracles were attributed to him. He attracted many adherents because he promised that the initiation into his philosophy would endow the adept with superhuman powers. Besides, he also promised success in practical life. His thoughts will not impress modern readers except by the eloquence with which they are displayed. In The Radical Academy
Pagan Neo-Platonism reached its last peak in the philosophy of Proclus (411-485) who was revered as the embodiment of the ideal of the Sage. In accordance with the ideas of late antiquity, Proclus was, at the same time, a refined rationalist, an irresistible logician and dialectician, and a mystic to whom no secret was hidden. His mind is pictured by his contemporaries as the triumph of human reason and the source of superhuman powers. He was the priest of the gods of Greece, Asia Minor and Arabia, and conducted their worship with scientific knowledge and artistic skill. Only Christianity and Judaism were despised and defied by him. But so great was his fame and the charm of his writings that the Fathers of the Church relied on the commentaries on Plato written by the enemy of Christianity, and Proclus' Elementa Theologica, the defense and glorification of paganism, became of basic importance to Christian theology of the Middle Ages. His influence extended even to the thinkers of the Renaissance and Hegelianism. In The Radical Academy Elsewhere On the Internet
This ends the period of Ancient Philosophy. We now move into the period of Medieval Philosophy, which includes in this outline-history the historical period known as the "Middle Ages."
The positive contributions of Greek philosophy to the Perennial Philosophy Greek philosophy knew how to construct a theory of transparent knowledge, in which multiplicity is made intelligible in the unity of the idea, the multiplicity of ideas ordered and rationalized by the syllogism. This knowledge was founded on the principle of contradictions, the absolute norm of all understanding. But -- and this is the basic condition of Greek thought -- the cognitive faculties have not been sequestered from reality. On the contrary, they have been retained as mirrors of reality. Greek logic is not, as it has too often been called, a formal systematizer of ideas void of all reality; it is a real logic. The measure of knowledge corresponds to the measure of the beings as they are in themselves: which means that the entities are in their reality just as they have been appraised by our cognitive faculties, and the exigencies which regulate our knowledge express the exigencies ruling the beings in their reality. The result of this logico-real coincidence has been that at the same time it was building up its logic, Greek philosophy produced the better part of itself, metaphysics. The intelligible is that which renders reasonable the Chaos which had resulted from a purely sensible perception of the universe. This rational texture of reality has been the highest ever produced by humanity, and has been imposed on all subsequent ages up to the present day. Modern thought has attempted to discard it; but this solid realism is the reason why Greek philosophy is valid for all time. Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Book...
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Introduction & Directory |
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