Module 5: Hellenistic Philosophy

In this module, we will explore the philosophies of the Epicureans, Stoics, Skeptics, and Neoplatonism. The Epicureans taught us that happiness is pleasure, that we need to focus all our energies on achieving peace, and avoiding pain, identify some vain desires, and suggested a way of overcoming our fear of death. The Stoics suggested a way to face the most challenging issues without emotional distress. The Skeptics tried to show that there was no use in trying to acquire knowledge, and Neoplatonists considered that knowledge of ultimate reality could only be achieved through extra-rational vision (Palmer, 2013).

In the second half of the module, we will focus on the development of Christian philosophy, and we will briefly look at two of the most important Christian philosophers, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas.

Athens went from being the most advanced and economically powerful city-state of all of Greece to being an almost abandoned city. Its residents lost any hope of having a democracy again in which the individual counted. Power was now in the hands of the conquerors. Alexander invaded Athens. After his death, his generals struggled for power. Athens, the cradle of democracy was no man’s land. In such a scenario it was not worth it to pursue higher levels of thinking or to suggest freedom as a reality. It was better to stay away from social issues and not to get involved in politics, or even culture.

Epicurus (341 – 270 BCE)

Clarke, Jodi. (July 1, 2020) Using Epicurean Philosophy for Finding Happiness. https://www.verywellmind.com/epicurean-philosophy-and-happiness-4177914Links to an external site.

The Stoics

“We cannot control all events, but we can control our attitude toward what happens.”

Epictetus

(Image:

Philosophy. (2019, June 12). Anna Bidoonism. https://bidoonism.com/philosophy/Links to an external site. This is a highly recommended page.)

The Stoics also aim at happiness. But the Stoics focused on the development of practical virtue. The Epicureans taught that happiness was in the development of wisdom. And wisdom does not equal pleasure. On the contrary, we might have to suffer. For them, virtue equals knowledge. If you were a stoic, you knew how to effectively manage your passions by avoiding them when the moment came to solve problems and face the challenges that life posed. According to Palmer (2013), “[t]he stoic wise person is an ascete who has transcended the passions that create a disorderly condition in the soul.”

For the stoic, the world was perfect the way it was. We just needed to accept it that way. We should also desire the things that we already have. Find what nature or the universe proposes, and you will find freedom. There is a divine plan and things are the way they should be. That’s the path of the stoic. According to Stumpf (2003), the world for the stoic is “an orderly arrangement where people and physical things behave according to principles of purpose. They saw throughout all of nature the operation of reason and law”. (Stumpf, 2003)

“That man lives badly who does not know how to die well”

Seneca (On Tranquility of the Mind)

If we think of it we might realize that the stoic way is very similar to the Christianity taught at that historical moment. God had a plan. If we found ourselves within certain predicaments it meant that God wanted that way. We just needed to accept it. There was going to be a reward after death. That might be the difference with the Stoics. For the Stoics, there was no afterlife. However, “the Stoics thought of God as a rational substance not existing in some single location, but in all of nature, in all things.” (Stumpf, 2003)

Stoicism and Christianity

Similarities

Differences

Resignation

Suicide

Stoicism – justified

Christianity – sin

No attachment to earthly things

Conforming to the will of the divine providence

In terms of authority:

Stoicism – quietistic and acquiescent to political authority

Christianity – refused to take an oath to the divinity of the emperor

Skepticism

Skeptics decided that since there was no way humans could achieve knowledge, it was better not to even try. Whoever tried to pass as knowing something the Skeptics attacked them with questions that were impossible to answer about the subject. Gorgias (ca. 483 – 375 BCE), the Sophist, was maybe the most important example of this perspective on skepticism. His argument went as follows.

1. There is nothing.

2. If there were anything, no one could know it.

3. If anyone did know it, no one could communicate it.

Gorgias

The origin of the word skeptic is the Greek word skeptikoi , which originally means seekers or inquirers (Stumpf, 2003). We need some level of skepticism in our lives. There is too much information going around that is not good or might be incomplete. The Skeptics provided an opportunity for our minds to inquire even further on those things that interested us. According to Stumpf (2003) “[s]kepticism is not a denial of the possibility of finding the truth, nor is it a denial of the basic facts of human experience. It is rather a continuous process of inquiry in which every explanation of experience is tested by a counter-experience (p. 115).” By this process, the Skeptics were able to find peace at the fact that there was nothing to do but doubt it all.

Plotinus (ca. 204 – 270 CE)

Plotinus was born in Egypt. His contribution to philosophy is more toward a new interpretation of Platonism. Platonism was the path toward truth. From then on Plotinus developed a series of interpretations of Plato’s philosophy that translated more into a sort of mysticism. He combined “a speculative description of reality with a religious theory of salvation” (Stumpf, 2003). God was the source of all things, and we must return to it.

References:

Levene, L. (2017). Philosophy in bite-sized chunks. Metro Books.

Magee, B. (2001). The story of philosophy: A concise introduction to the world’s greatest thinkers and their ideas. Dorling Kindersley.

Moore, B.N. & Bruder, K. (2002). Philosophy: The power of ideas (5th ed). McGraw Hill.

Osbourne, R. (1992). Philosophy for beginners. Writers and Readers Publishers, Inc.

Palmer, D. (2013). Looking at philosophy: The unbearable heaviness of philosophy made Lighter. McGraw Hill.

Stumpf, S.E. & Fieser, J. (2003) Socrates to Sartre and beyond: A history of philosophy (7th ed.). McGraw Hill.

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