Socratic Philosophy
In the Socratic literature, Socrates was arguably the most influential philosopher of antiquity. He did not write anything, but his influence is at the origin of the so-called Socratic literature. It’s a collection of books written by Socratic followers. By reading Socratic literature, we discover philosophy. Plato’s interpretation of Socrates is the one most familiar […]
Pre-Socratic Philosophy
Sophia (wisdom) Philosophy is a Greek invention. It is a phenomenon. Ancient Greeks referred themselves to SOPHISTÊS, coming from SOPHIA (wisdom or knowledge). SOPHIA is an inquiry into nature that investigates the causes of everything, why it comes to be, why it perishes, and why it exists. For Greeks, SOPHIA does not have to be […]
Artistotle on Final Causes and Necessity in Nature
To explain something by reducing it to the matter (physicism) is an old style of presocratic philosophy. Empedocles explained things in this way. He looked at ‘becoming’ and using ‘becoming’ explained ‘being’. Aristotle rejects this method as life cannot be explained by material terms. He is trying to combine goals, necessity with the matter. If […]
Aristotle on Nature
According to Aristotle, nature is an internal principle of motion. No production thing has within itself the principle of its own production. In some things (for instance, a house or any other product of handicraft) the principle comes from outside, and it is withing other things. In other things (those that might turn out to […]
Aristotle on Causality
According to Artistotle, there are 4 types of causes: Consider the production of an artifact like a bronze statue. The bronze is the material cause in the production of the statue. The bronze is also a subject to change, the thing that undergoes the change and results in a statue. The bronze is melted and […]
Aristotle on Happiness
By Aristotle, an ethical life is a rational life which should be centered around the goal understood as the good. This is the central good. There are other goods in life, such as prosperity, friendship, power, health. However, they are all pointless without the central good. This good gives the other goods their point. Aristotle […]
Epicurus on Happiness
By Epicurus, happiness is pleasure. It is a state of the soul that is free of disturbances and the state of the body that is free of pain. There is a final goal and it’s name is ATARAXIA / TRANQUILITY. Epicurus argues that pleasure is natural. As soon as each animal is born, it seeks […]
The Stoic Conception of the Good
For the Stoics, self-love is our primary motivation. It is natural for us to have a concern for ourselves, to select what is conductive to our survival and avoid what is detrimental to it. As we grow, we become increasingly aware of what is about the things that attract and repulse us. The behavior of […]
The Stoics on fate
By Stoics, everything happens by fate. Everything is causally determined, which is fate. Fate is the connecting cause of the things which exist, or a rational principle according to which the cosmos is arranged. Cosmos is a chain of events, a chain which is inescapable. It is determined by God. Then what I am doing […]
The Stoics on Agent Autonomy
There were two opinions of the older philosophers regarding the fate. One belonging to those men who believed that everything occured by fate in such a way that everything necessitated (The Fate Principle Argument). The others held that there were voluntary motions of the mind without fate. Chrysippus, a Greek Stoic philosopher, rejected necessity but […]