Sages of Ancient Greece. Seven Wise Men of Ancient Greece

Wisdom and erudition have always been highly valued in almost all social systems. Moreover, it was not just the possession of knowledge that was considered a higher priority, but the ability to apply it in practice at the right time. This is what was called wisdom. Hellas is considered to be the cradle of European culture. In this regard, it is not at all surprising that it was the sages of Ancient Greece who are considered the first to shed the light of knowledge on the then dark peoples of the Old World. It is they who are credited with systematizing the experience accumulated by humanity so far and implementing it using the example of their own lives.

Since ancient times, people have tried to identify the most outstanding representatives of humanity. Even in ancient times, the seven sages of Ancient Greece were named, individuals who, according to the Hellenes, possessed the greatest store of knowledge. This number was not chosen by chance. The number “seven” had a sacred and religious meaning. But if the number of geniuses remained unchanged, then their names changed depending on the time and place of compilation of the list. Several versions of it have survived to this day, in which the sages of Ancient Greece appear.

Thales of Miletus (640 – 546 BC)

Thales was one of the first ancient philosophers and the founder of the so-called Ionian school. He was born in the city of Miletus, located in Asia Minor, in the territory of modern Turkey, from where he received his nickname. In addition to philosophy, he achieved special knowledge in astronomy and geometry, thanks to the study of the heritage of the Egyptians and Mesopotamian scientists. It is he who is credited with dividing the calendar year into 365 days. Unfortunately, all the thoughts and sayings of Thales of Miletus came to us only through the works of later philosophers.

Solon of Athens (640 – 559 BC)

Solon is a famous Athenian philosopher, poet and legislator. According to legend, he came from the royal family of the Codrids, but despite this, his parents were people of little income. Then Solon was able to get rich, and then became the most influential political figure in Athens. It is he who is considered the creator of democratic laws, which lasted almost unchanged in this city for several centuries. Towards the end of his life he voluntarily stepped down from power. Solon was also highly valued by his contemporaries as a poet and thinker. When asked by the Lydian king Croesus whether Solon knew anyone happier than him, the Athenian philosopher replied that this can only be judged after the death of a person.

Socrates

Contemporaries called Socrates's appearance ugly and in no way consistent with the beauty of his soul: he was short, with a large belly, snub nose, thick lips, with a bulging bald forehead. Marble head of Socrates, 1st century. n. e. National Museum, Rome

Socrates (469–399 BC) was a distinctive philosopher who was born and spent his entire life in Athens. Like the Sophists, he was interested in issues of practical life, he was a master of the dialectical method and often criticized existing orders, however, unlike the Sophists, he believed in absolute values, justice, truth and God. His brilliant, witty dialogues were intended to force the interlocutor to abandon the thoughtless use of tradition and seek the truth on the path of self-knowledge. The destiny of man and the very meaning of his life, according to Socrates, was to live in harmony with his own nature. A person could achieve this goal through education, reflection and dialogue. A certain part of the Athenian public was dissatisfied with Socrates' reasoning, and therefore, during the period of reaction that followed the defeat in the war with Sparta, he was brought to trial on charges of disrespect for religion and corrupting youth with false ideals. The resonance of this case caused a deep split in society, but Socrates was never able to convince the judges of his innocence. In 399 BC. e. he was sentenced to death and took the cup of poison.

Biant of Priene (590 – 530 BC)

Biant is probably a more mysterious figure than the rest of the sages of Ancient Greece. Very little is known about his life. He was a judge in the city of Priene, where he became famous for his wise decisions, and once even saved his hometown from the Lydian king Alliatus. But when his homeland was conquered by the Persian ruler Cyrus, Biant had to leave the settlement without taking anything with him.

Wise quotes with meaning

1. Learn from defeat and you are doomed to victory.
2. Remember, whatever you do behind people’s backs, you do it in front of God. (We recommend reading 122 quotes about God that make you think about his existence).
3. It's bad when you don't have friends, but it's much worse when you believe that you have them.
4. Do you want to drown out the voice of your own heart? Then get the crowd's applause.
5. Surround a person with a crowd and he won’t have to think.
6. The attitude towards others greatly depends on why they surrounded you.
7. If there is a choice of whom to crucify, the crowd always saves Barrabas.
8. The lower the intelligence, the louder the insults.
9. Happiness is when you thank God more often than you ask.
10. The more pride a person has, the more irritated he is by the successes of other people.

11. Don’t ask God for an easy life, but ask him to make you stronger.
12. You can be at the top of the highest mountain, and someone else at the bottom of the deepest earthly abyss. But you are as far from the stars as he is.
13. God doesn't die when we stop believing in him. We are the ones dying!
14. It is very easy to fall in love with beautiful eyes, but you can only LOVE with a beautiful heart!
15. The most beautiful woman in the world is the one you love. The most beloved man is the one for whom you are the most beautiful in the world.
16. Real men have happy wives, others have strong wives.
17. Some people wear crosses around their necks and zeroes in their hearts.
18. Love is a feeling of deep affection, and not just a habit of being together.
19. Perhaps wisdom does not bring visible income, but it definitely helps to avoid unnecessary costs.
20. In this world, the position of a person is important, not the person himself, what he is wearing, and not what he is.

Pittacus of Mytilene (651 – 569 BC)

Pittacus was a famous sage, commander and ruler of the Asia Minor city of Mytilene.
He earned the fame of a tyrant fighter by liberating his hometown from the despotism of Melanchr. Also known as an outstanding legislator. His saying that even the gods do not argue with inevitability was very highly valued, like other aphorisms of the sages of Ancient Greece. Voluntarily relinquished power. All of the above thinkers and philosophers were included in the list of the 7 sages of Ancient Greece in absolutely all editions. Those who will be discussed below were included in Plato’s version of the list of the greatest people of Hellas and some other compilers. But still, they are not found in all lists that include seven sages from Ancient Greece.

Plato

Plato. Roman marble copy of a Greek original from IV BC. e. Vatican Museum

Plato (427–347 BC) came from an ancient Athenian family and received an excellent education, including from the Sophists. In 407 BC. e. became a student of Socrates, which determined his entire life and work. After the death of his teacher, he left Athens for many years, where he returned only in 387 BC. e. already a famous philosopher. Here Plato founded the first philosophical school, the famous Academy. His main works were written here, presented in the form of dialogues between Socrates and his students. The core of Plato's philosophy is the doctrine of the state. According to the views of the philosopher, the polis is the most important school for the education of virtue, which is understood as compliance with one’s own nature. Depending on the prevailing principle, the population of an ideal state is divided into three classes: - philosophers , whose character corresponds to the rational principle, warriors , whose defining feature is courage, and workers , whose virtue lies in obedience. The harmonious combination of the activities of all three groups and their virtues creates a fair political system. To eliminate opportunities for the development of selfishness and selfishness, Plato proposes to eliminate private property and the family institution. The state should be involved in raising children; their subsequent position in society is determined by their character and inclinations. The mystical part of Plato's thoughts is connected with the Pythagorean doctrine of the immortality of the soul and posthumous rebirth. The philosopher believed that ideal images, for example thoughts, represent “memories” of the soul of the world of ideas. The environment is only a reflection of the true reality in which the soul lived before birth and where it strives to return after death. From this premise, Plato comes to the idea of ​​immortality: “Since our soul existed previously, then, entering life and being born, it arises inevitably and only from death. However, in this case, she must certainly exist after death, because she will have to be born again.”

List of Diogenes Laertius

In addition to Plato's list, the most famous list includes the seven sages of Ancient Greece, the outstanding historian of philosophy Diogenes Laertius, who presumably lived at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd century. AD The only difference between this list and the previous one is that instead of Mison, the Corinthian tyrant Periander is included in it. Some scholars consider this list to be the original one, despite the fact that Diogenes lived much later than Plato. This paradox is explained by the fact that the latter, due to his rejection of tyranny, could exclude Periander from the list and include the lesser-known Mison. Diogenes used a more ancient source in his work.

The names of all other sages in both lists are exactly the same.

Sophists

Initially, sophists were those who were distinguished by significant knowledge, including the seven wise men, Pythagoras and his students, and Ionian natural philosophers. From the middle of the 5th century. BC e. this name came to refer mainly to wandering teachers of wisdom. The sophists were much more interested in the mysteries of nature in the problems of man and society. They considered their teaching an intermediate link between philosophy and politics. Man was at the center of their reasoning. As Protagoras, one of the most famous sophists, said: “Man is the measure of all things.” This definition implies that the world is as we experience it and that there is no fundamental and universal truth. In a dispute, you can defend absolutely any point of view if you are fluent in the art of rhetoric. The goal of the sophists was to educate future political leaders who were fluent in the art of eloquence. For this purpose, they developed a number of disciplines, primarily logic and rhetoric, which, from their point of view, were the key to public recognition.

Tradition considered the greatest sages to be seven philosophers and statesmen of the 7th–6th centuries. BC e. There was no single list; different authors included up to 20 names. The most common are Thales, Biant, Solon, Pittacus, Cleobulus, Chilo and Periander. Aphorisms were attributed to the seven sages, mainly expressing their attitude to practical life: “measure is most important” (Cleobulus), “the main thing in life is the end” (Solon), “know yourself” (Chilo), etc.

Periander of Corinth (667 – 585 BC)

Periander, the ruler of Corinth, is probably the most controversial figure of all the 7 wise men of Ancient Greece. On the one hand, he was distinguished by an amazing mind, was a great inventor and builder, who modernized the portage across the isthmus that separated the Peloponnesian Peninsula from the mainland, and then began to build a canal through it. In addition, Periander patronized the arts and also significantly strengthened the army, which allowed Corinth to rise as never before. But on the other hand, historians characterize him as a typical cruel tyrant, especially in the second half of his reign.

According to legend, Periander died because he could not bear the death of his son, to which he himself doomed him.

Other lists

In the lists of other authors, only the names of Thales, Solon, Biant and Pittacus remain unchanged. The personalities of the remaining sages may vary and differ significantly from the two classical versions.

Akusilaus (VI century BC) - Hellenic historian who lived before Herodotus. Dorian by origin. Tradition ascribes to him the first historical work written in prose.

Anaxagoras (500 - 428 BC) - philosopher and famous mathematician from Asia Minor. He also practiced astronomy. Tried to explain the structure of the Universe.

Anacharsis (605 - 545 BC) - Scythian sage. He was personally acquainted with Solon and the Lydian king Croesus. He is credited with the invention of the anchor, sail and potter's wheel. In addition, Anacharsis is known for his valuable sayings. He was killed by the Scythians for adopting Hellenic customs. The reality of its existence is questioned by many scientists.

Pythagoras (570 – 490 BC) is a famous ancient Greek philosopher and geometer. It is to him that the famous theorem on the equality of angles in a right triangle is attributed. In addition, he is the founder of a philosophical school that later adopted the name Pythagoreanism. He died of his own death in old age.

In addition, among those who were recorded as the sages of Ancient Greece, one can name the names of Forecydes, Aristodemus, Linus, Ephorus, Lasas, Epimenides, Leophanthus, Pamphilus, Epicharmus, Peisistratus and Orpheus.

Ancient Greek philosophy

Stages of development of philosophy in Ancient Greece (from Wikipedia):

1. Archaic (pre-Socratic) period (until the 6th century BC)
2. Classical period of ancient philosophy (V - IV centuries BC)
3. Early Hellenistic period (late 4th - 1st centuries BC)
4. Late Hellenistic period (late 1st century BC - 6th century)

According to the problems studied, ancient Greek philosophy went through the following periods:

1. Natural-philosophical (the main problem is the problem of the structure of the world, the problem of origin). Neighborhood-rivalry of several schools.
2. Humanistic (change of issues from nature to man and society). School of the Sophists, Socrates.
3. Classical (period of great synthesis). The creation of the first philosophical systems is a whole range of philosophical problems. Plato, Aristotle.
4. Hellenistic (the center moves from Greece to Rome). Different philosophical schools compete. The problem of happiness. Schools of Epicurus, Skeptics, Stoics.
5. Religious (development of Neoplatonism). The problem of religion is added to the sphere of philosophical problems.
6. The origin of Christian thought, monotheistic religion.

Ancient philosophy before Socrates

In Ancient Greece, it was believed that the founders of Greek philosophy were the “Seven Wise Men.” This is similar to the ancient Indian tradition, where the 7 great sages included the sons of Brahma and some other semi-divine characters. In fact, the composition of the 7 ancient Greek sages varies - there are only 17 names in different combinations. Plato in the dialogue “Protagoras” (IV century BC) first listed them in the following form:

1. Thales of Miletus;
2. Pittacus of Mytilene;
3. Biant of Priensky;
4. Solon from Athens;
5. Cleobulus of Lindia;
6. Mison Heneysky;
7. Chilo from Sparta.

Other ancient authors on this list included Akusilaus, Anaxagoras, Anacharsis, Ariotodemos, Las, Leophantus, Linus, Orpheus, Pamphilus, Periander, Pythagoras, Pherecydes, Epimenides, Epicharmus, Ephorus. For example, Diogenes Laertius lists Periandra as one of the Seven Wise Men instead of Mison.

Of these seven wise men, Thales of Miletus was considered the first (according to Aristotle). To his Milesian

school (otherwise the Ionian school of natural philosophy) later belonged to Anaximander, Anaximenes, Pherecydes of Syros, Diogenes of Apollonia and others.

Followed by the Eleatic

, who were engaged in the philosophy of existence (c. 580-430 BC). Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, and Melissus belonged to it.

Simultaneously with this school there existed the school of Pythagoras

, who studied harmony, measure, numbers, to which, along with others, belonged Philolaus (late 5th century BC), the physician Alcmaeon (c. 520 BC), music theorist, philosopher and mathematician Archytas of Tarentum ( ca. 400-365 BC). The sculptor Polykleitos the Elder (late 5th century BC) was also a follower of it.

Great loners are Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus

(together with his semi-legendary predecessor Leucippus and the Democritus school). They complete the pre-Socratic cosmology.

The early sophists ( Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, Prodicus)

).

Classical ancient philosophy

At the beginning of the 4th century. BC e. Philosophical schools were founded by some of Socrates' students. Representatives of these schools are called Socratics. The Socratic schools include:

• Cynics - founder Antisthenes (his student was the famous Diogenes of Sinope);
• Cyrene School (Cyrenaica) - founder Aristippus of Cyrene;
• Megara school (Megariki) - founder Euclid of Megara;
• The Elido-Eretrian school was founded by Phaedo of Elis.
• The Academy was founded by Plato (his student was Aristotle).

Socrates had other students who did not give rise to separate schools: Glaucon

from Athens,
Cebes, Crito, Menedemos, Simmias, Simon the tanner, Aeschines
. The writer Xenophon was also a listener of Socrates. Thanks to his writings, we know about the teachings of Socrates.

Thanks to the three most prominent representatives of Greek philosophy - Socrates, Plato and Aristotle - Athens became the center of European philosophy for approximately 2000 years. For the first time in history, Socrates raises the question of personality with its decisions dictated by conscience and its values. Plato creates philosophy as a complete worldview, political and logical-ethical system; Aristotle - science as a research and theoretical study of the real world.

Supporters of Plato group themselves into a school known as the Academies

(ancient Academy - 348-270 BC, middle - 315-215 BC, new - 160 BC - 529 AD). The most important representatives of the secondary Academy are Arcesilaus and Carneades; new - Cicero and Marcus Terentius Varro (116-28 BC). The Academy is followed by the so-called. “middle” (as opposed to “new”) Platonism, which, along with others, included Plutarch of Chaeronea (c. 45 - 120) and Thrasyllus (commentator of Plato and court astrologer of Tiberius).

Supporters of Aristotle (a student of Plato, who criticized some of the provisions of his teacher), mostly well-known scientists who dealt with issues of specific sciences, were called peripatetics; among the more ancient Peripatetics, along with others, the botanist and characterologist Theophrastus, the music theorist Aristoxenus (c. 350 BC), the historian and politician Dicaearchus from Messina are known; Among the later Peripatetics are the physicist Strato, geographer and astronomer Aristarchus of Samos (student of Strato, c. 250 BC) and Claudius Ptolemy (c. 150 AD), physician Galen, commentator on Aristotle Andronicus of Rhodes (c. 70 BC.).

Diogenes Laertius on the origin of philosophy

It would be a mistake to attribute the discoveries of the Hellenes to barbarians (Diogenes Laertius)

The study of philosophy, as some believe, first began among the barbarians: namely, the Persians had their magicians

, among the Babylonians and Assyrians -
the Chaldeans
, among the Indians -
the gymnosophists
, among the Celts and Gauls - the so-called
Druids
and
Semnothei
[?] (Aristotle writes about this in his book “On Magic” and Sotion in the XXIII book of “Successions”); Okh was a Phoenician, Zamolxis was a Thracian, and Atlas was a Libyan. The Egyptians claim that the founder of the philosophy preserved by the priests and prophets was Hephaestus, the son of the Nile; 48,863 years passed from him to Alexander the Great, and during this time there were 373 solar eclipses and 332 lunar eclipses. [!!!] And from the magicians, the first of whom was the Persian Zoroaster, and until the fall of Troy, according to the account of the Platonist Hermodorus (in the book “On the Sciences”), 5000 years passed; according to the account of Xanthus of Lydia, 6,000 years passed from Zoroaster to the crossing of Xerxes, and after Zoroaster there followed a long series of successor magicians - Ostan, and Astrampsychus, and Gobryas, and Pazat, until the destruction of Persia by Alexander the Great.

And yet it is a big mistake to attribute the discoveries of the Hellenes to the barbarians: after all, not only philosophers, but the entire human race originates from the Hellenes. In fact, it is enough to remember that it was among the Athenians that Musaeus was born, and among the Thebans Linus.

Musaeus, son of Eumolpus, was the first, according to legend, to teach about the origin of the gods and the first to build a ball; he taught that everything in the world is born from the One and is resolved in the One. He died in Falere [the Etruscan name for Valeria].

From Eumolpus, the father of this Musaeus, the Athenian family of Eumolpides received its name.

Lin, according to legend, was the son of Hermes and the muse Urania; he taught about the origin of the world, about the paths of the sun and moon, about the birth of animals and plants. His poem begins like this: There was a time when everything in the world appeared together...

This is where Anaxagoras took his teaching that everything in the world arose collectively and only then Mind appeared and brought order to it. This Linus died on Euboea from Apollo's arrow [sunstroke?].

This is how philosophy began among the Hellenes, the very name of which is alien to barbaric speech.

Those who attribute the discovery of philosophy to the barbarians also point to the Thracian Orpheus [most likely, there were 2 of them], calling him a philosopher, and the most ancient one at that. But I am not sure whether a man who spoke about the gods as he did can be called a philosopher; and in general I don’t know what to call a person who shamelessly attributes all human passions to the gods, including such vile deeds that a rare person would even think of. The legend says that Orpheus was torn to pieces by women [Orpheus-2?]; but in the Macedonian city of Dne

there is an inscription that he died from lightning [Orpheus-1?]:

Orpheus, the golden-lyred Thracian, was buried here by the muses, Zeus, the lord of the heavens, was struck down by the smoky Perun.

Supporters of the barbaric origin of philosophy also describe what form it had in each of the peoples.

The Gymnosophists [Indian yogis] and the Druids [Celtic priests], according to them, spoke in mysterious sayings, taught to honor the gods, not to do evil and to exercise courage; the gymnosophists even despised death, as Clitarchus

in the XII book.

The Chaldeans were engaged in astronomy and predictions.

The magicians spent their time serving the gods, making sacrifices and praying, believing that the gods listened only to them; they talked about the essence and origin of the gods, considering fire, earth and water to be gods; they rejected images of gods, especially the distinction between male and female gods. They composed essays on justice; they argued that putting the dead on fire is wicked, but cohabiting with a mother or daughter is not wicked (as Sotion writes in Book XXIII); They engaged in fortune-telling, divination and claimed that the gods appeared to them with their own eyes, and in general the air was full of appearances, the flow or soaring of which was discernible to the keen eye. They did not wear gold or jewelry, their clothes were white, the earth served as their bed, their food was vegetables, cheese and coarse bread, and their staff was reed; They used reeds to pierce and bring pieces of cheese to their mouths for food. They did not engage in witchcraft, as Aristotle testifies in the book “On Magic” and Dion in the V book of “Histories”; the latter adds that, judging by the name, Zoroaster was a star worshiper, and Hermodorus agrees with him on this. Aristotle in Book I of “On Philosophy” believes that the magicians are more ancient than the Egyptians, that they recognize two principles - a good demon and an evil demon, and that the first is called Zeus and Oromazd, and the second is Hades and Ahriman; Hermippus also agrees with this (in Book I of “On the Magi”), Eudoxus (in “Travel of the Earth”) and Theopompus (in Book VIII of “The History of Philip”), and the latter adds that, according to the teaching of the Magi, people will rise from the dead [ i.e., this is not only an Egyptian idea], will become immortal and that only through the spells of magicians does existence last; Eudemus of Rhodes also says the same thing. And Hecataeus reports that the gods themselves, in their opinion, had a beginning. Clearchus of Sol, in his book On Education, considers the gymnosophists [yogis] to be students of magicians, while others elevate even the Jews to magicians. By the way, the writers of books about magicians dispute the story of Herodotus: they claim that Xerxes did not shoot arrows at the sun and did not plunge shackles into the sea, for magicians consider the sun and the sea to be gods, and that Xerxes overthrew the idols of the gods in accordance with the teachings of the magicians.

The Egyptians talked about gods and justice in their philosophy. They argued that the beginning of everything is matter, from which the four elements are released and, finally, all kinds of living beings appear. They consider the sun and the moon to be gods, the first under the name of Osiris, the second under the name of Isis, and allusions to them are the beetle, snake, kite and other animals (so say Manetho in “A Brief Natural History” and Hecataeus in Book I of “On Egyptian Philosophy” ), to which the Egyptians erect idols and temples, because they do not know the form of God. They believe that the world is spherical [!], that it is born and mortal; that the stars are made of fire, and this fire, when moderated, gives life to everything that is on earth; that eclipses of the moon occur because the moon falls into the shadow of the Earth; that the soul survives its body and moves into others [!]; that rain comes from transformed air; these and their other teachings about nature are reported by Hecataeus and Aristagoras. And in their concern for justice, they established laws for themselves and attributed them to Hermes himself. They consider animals useful to humans to be gods. They are also said to have invented geometry, astronomy and arithmetic. This is what is known about the discovery of philosophy.

Philosophy is philosophy [philosophy], and Pythagoras

, when he argued in Sikyon with Leontes, the tyrant of Sikyon or Phliunt (as Heraclides of Pontus writes in the book “On the Lifeless Woman”); a sage, according to him, can only be God, not man. For it would be premature to call philosophy “wisdom,” and the one who practices it “sage,” as if he had already sharpened his spirit to the limit; and a philosopher [“wisely wise”] is simply one who is attracted to wisdom. The wise men were also called sophists [wise men], and not only wise men, but also poets: this is how Cratinus calls Homer and Hesiod in Archilochus, wanting to praise these writers.

The following men were revered as sages: Thales, Solon, Periander, Cleobulus, Chilon, Biantus, Pittacus

;
they also include Anacharsis of Scythia, Mison of Cheney, Pherecides of Syros, Epimenides of Crete
, and some of the tyrant Pisistratus [!]. That's who the wise men were.

Philosophy had two beginnings: one - from Anaximander

, and the other from
Pythagoras
;
Anaximander studied under Thales
, and Pythagoras was mentored by
Pherecydes
.
The first philosophy is called Ionian
because Anaximander's teacher Thales was an Ionian, as a native of Miletus;
the second is called Italic
because Pythagoras worked on it mainly in Italy. Ionian [Greek-Asia Minor, and Tyrrhenian in origin?] philosophy ends with Clitomachus, Chrysippus and Theophrastus, while Italian philosophy ends with Epicurus.

Namely, the successor of Thales was Anaximander, followed by Anaximenes, then Anaxagoras, then Archelaus, then Socrates, who introduced ethics; after Socrates - the Socratics, and among them Plato, the founder of the Senior Academy, after Plato - Speusippus and Xenocrates, then Polemon, then Crantor and Crates, then Arcesilaus, with whom the Middle Academy begins; then Lacides, the founder of the New Academy, then Carneades, then Clitomachus; this is how this philosophy ends with Clitomachus. With Chrysippus, it ends like this: Antisthenes was a student of Socrates, followed by the Cynic Diogenes, then Crates of Thebes, then Zeno of Citium, then Cleanthes, then Chrysippus. And with Theophrastus it ends like this: Plato’s student was Aristotle, and Aristotle’s student was Theophrastus. This is how Ionian philosophy ends.

Italian philosophy is as follows [also from the Ionians]: the student of Pherecydes was Pythagoras, followed by his son Telaugus, then Xenophanes, then Parmenides, then Zeno of Elea, then Leucippus, then Democritus, then many others, including Nausiphanes (and Naucis) 19, and behind them is Epicurus.

Philosophers are divided into dogmatists

and
skeptics
. Dogmatists are all those who reason about objects, considering them comprehensible; Skeptics are those who refrain from judgment, considering objects incomprehensible.

Some philosophers left behind works, and some wrote nothing at all. Among the latter are Socrates, Stilpon, Philip, Menedemos, Pyrrho, Theodorus, Carneades, Brison, and, according to others, also Pythagoras and Ariston of Chios (not counting a few letters). Melissus, Parmenides, and Anaxagoras left only one essay each. Zeno wrote a lot, Xenophanes wrote even more, Democritus wrote even more, Aristotle wrote even more, Epicurus wrote even more, Chrysippus wrote even more.

Some philosophers were named after cities, such as Eleans, Megaricians, Eretrians and Cyrenaicians; some - by place of study, for example, Academicians and Stoics 20; some - according to the characteristics of their occupation, for example, peripatetics - walking; some - in mockery, for example, cynic dogs; some - by predisposition, for example eudaimonics - seekers of happiness; some - according to the way of thinking, for example, philaletians-truth-lovers, elenktiki-refutators 21, analogues-comparators; some - by the names of their mentors, for example, Socratics, Epicureans and others.

Finally, some philosophers are called physicists

, for studying nature;
others - ethics
, for reasoning about morals;
still others - dialecticians
, for the intricacy of speeches. Physics, ethics and dialectics are three parts of philosophy; physics teaches about the world and everything that is contained in it; ethics - about life and human properties; dialectics takes care of arguments for both physics and ethics. Before Archelaus [inclusive], there was only one kind - physics; Ethics originates from Socrates, as stated above; from Zeno of Elea - dialectics.

There are 10 schools of ethics: academic

,
Cyrenian
,
Elidian
,
Megarian
,
Cynic
,
Eretrian
,
dialectical
,
Peripatetic
,
Stoic
,
Epicurean
. The founder of the senior academic one was Plato, the middle one was Arcesilaus, the new one was Lakis; the founder of Cyrene - Aristippus of Cyrene; the founder of Elis - Phaedon of Elis; the founder of Megara was Euclid of Megara; the founder of Cynicism is Antisthenes of Athens; the founder of Eretria - Menedemos of Eretria; the founder of the dialectical - Clitomachus of Carthage; the founder of the Peripatetic - Aristotle of Stagyria; the founder of Stoicism is Zeno of Citium; The Epicurean school is directly named after Epicurus.

However, Hippobotus in his book “On Philosophical Schools” lists 9 schools and teachings: firstly, Megarian, secondly, Eretrian, thirdly, Cyrene, fourthly, Epicurean, fifthly, Annikeridovo, sixthly , Feodorov, seventh, Zeno's stoic, eighth, senior academic, ninth, peripatetic; he does not mention either Cynic, Elidian, or dialectical [?].

Pyrrhonovskaya

the school, due to the vagueness of its views, is for the most part also not included in the count, and some believe that in part it is a school, but in part it is not.
It can be considered a school insofar as we call a school those who adhere (or pretend to adhere) to one or another interpretation of visible phenomena; on this basis we can indeed speak of skeptical
school. If we call a school those who are committed to well-known dogmas and adhere to them, then we cannot talk about a school here, because it has no dogmas.

This is what principles, continuity, division into parts and division into schools are like in philosophy. To these schools not so long ago Potamon of Alexandria added another, eclectic

, selecting from all the schools what he wanted. In his opinion (as he writes in the book “First Principles”), there are two criteria of truth: the first is the one that makes the decision, that is, the leading principle of the soul, and the second is the one thanks to which the decision is made, for example, a clear and accurate image; the beginnings of everything are substance, agent, quality and place, that is, “from what,” “what,” “how,” and “where.” Of course, he considered the goal towards which everything strives to be a life perfect in all virtues, but at the same time not depriving the body of its benefits, both natural and external.

Now I should talk about these men themselves, starting with Thales.

Ancient Greek philosophers

So, the founders of the philosophical schools of Ancient Greece were born in the 7th - 4th centuries BC (from Thales in 640 to Epicurus in 342 BC) - within 300 years. This period in historiometry is called “Axial Time”

- and not only for Hellas, but also for India, China and Israel, most likely - and Persia.

It was during this historical interval that the founders of other major teachings of mankind were born and acted - Jainism (Shoi Mahavira, 599-527 BC, but origins earlier), Buddhism (Buddha Gautama Shakyamuni, 563-483 BC, but in traditions there are other datings), Taoism (Lao Tzu, 6th-5th centuries BC), perhaps also Zoroastrianism (Zarathushtra, somewhere in 628-551 BC, but maybe perhaps in the 12th-10th centuries BC), and in Israel three of the four great Jewish prophets preached - Ezekiel

(c. 622-570 B.C.),
Jeremiah
(c. 655 B.C.),
Daniel
(VII-VI centuries B.C.). and a century earlier the first of them was Isaiah (765-685 BC).

Listing principles

It can be concluded that the Hellenes included representatives of a wide variety of activities in the list of the wisest people, but most often they were philosophers. Although, in fact, they could combine this subject with another important activity - the study of mathematics, astronomy, natural science, and government. However, almost all sciences of that time were inextricably linked with philosophy.

These lists could vary significantly and differ from the two so-called classic versions. In many ways, the specific names included in them depended on the place of residence and political views of the compiler. Thus, Plato, apparently, precisely for these reasons excluded the Corinthian tyrant Periander from the number of great sages.

The lists of great thinkers did not always include only Greeks. Representatives of other peoples were sometimes included there, such as the Hellenized Scythian Anacharsis.

Main directions of ancient philosophy

Ancient Greek philosophy was the paradigm of philosophizing for all times. The scope of issues in it was universal and Greek thinkers also paid attention to the problem of human education.

The orthogonality of the philosophical conclusions of the sages of antiquity is surprising. Dionysius the Defector

declared that the ultimate goal is pleasure.
And Eryll of Carthage
- that the ultimate goal is knowledge.

Sophistry and its influence on pan-Greek education (paideia)

Initially, Greek philosophy was cosmocentric, and its turn towards man begins with the Sophists. The main topics of sophistry were ethics, language, art, politics, rhetoric, education, everything that today we call culture. The Sophists have the idea that virtue does not depend on the nobility of blood and is based only on knowledge. Researching the truth for them was tantamount to spreading it. With the sophists, pedagogical activity takes on a new meaning, because They brought the problem of education to the forefront. The Greeks, starting with the Sophists, designated the concept of culture and education with the multifaceted word “paideia” (upbringing and education of children, an integral part of the word “encyclopedia”). It is to the sophists and their paideia that the Western model of education, based on the principle of “diffusion of knowledge,” is indebted.

Paideia is universal education as a manifestation of the inherent desire for self-realization in a person in a developed culture. This word included the idea of ​​man as the measure of all things, the call to man to “know thyself!”, the idea of ​​man as a citizen, the supremacy of human reason, as well as the ideals of democracy and humanism. Greek "paideia", creating myths about Prometheus, Apollo, Dionysus

, thereby laying the foundations for various cultural traditions.
It is no coincidence that A.F. Losev
considered myth a “miracle” (Losev A.F. Philosophy. Mythology. Culture. M. - 1991. - SS. 134-160). Without Greek paideia, neither antiquity as a historical era nor the Western European world of culture would have existed. And although this word existed among the Greeks before Plato and its content can be found among Greek writers (Homer outlined paideia in a vague and artistic form in the first four chapters of the Odyssey), we find the conceptual design of this program only in the classical period.

Paideia (from the word “pais” - child) is a philosophical and pedagogical program of the path that a Greek must go through, following the ideal of spiritual and physical perfection ( kalokagathia

) through competition with others (
agonistics
).
The content of this path is mastering philosophy (gaining wisdom), playing sports (gaining courage) and acquiring civic, moral and intellectual virtues ( arete
). As Plato and Aristotle believed, a Greek citizen had to be brilliantly educated; education for the Greeks was a value of the highest order. They outlined the program of education and upbringing in their works. Plato in the Republic and the Laws, and Aristotle in the treatise On the Soul and the Nicomachean Ethics.

The main idea of ​​paideia as a philosophy of education is individuation, i.e. identifying the natural potential of an individual, identifying his “creative core,” according to V. Vysheslavtsev. Each individual, according to this concept, has a need to stand out, to distinguish himself (it is no coincidence that the goal of every Greek was fame and public recognition of his merits), and the educator had to meet this need of the student, studying the characteristics of his psyche. Myth was a powerful means of developing a child’s mental life. This was the “starting point” of Greek paideia, which brought colossal results in Greek and European culture.

Paideia was a theory for the education of intellectually free citizens. The intellectual tradition, in particular, the tradition of philosophizing in Greece arose and was developing as a tradition of free philosophizing and as such it was bequeathed to subsequent European thinking. This was explained by the fact that the Greeks did not have a fixed and inviolable dogma [as, for example, in the East] - they did not have sacred books, the fruits of divine revelation, there was no caste of priests, guardians of dogma (ideologists, and ideology, as is known, is false consciousness ), which doomed Greek thinkers from the very beginning to search for truth and good.

• Greek paideia and its significance. Nikitich L.A.

Philosophy of Cynics

A bag, a stick, a cloak, a bedding, a bowl and porridge - But even such good things are a burden for the sage dog. Seeing how the shepherd boy slurped over the stream from his palms, he shouted: “Bowl, goodbye! You are of no use to me." ( Epitaph on Diogenes

)

• .

Stoicism

• Arrian. Foundations of Stoicism.

The importance of the topic today

Certainly, the attempt of the Greeks to select from their number the most outstanding representatives and systematize them is one of the first of its kind in the ancient world. By studying this list, we can judge which personal qualities were considered the most significant in the ancient world and were associated with wisdom. It is important to familiarize yourself with these ideas of the Hellenes in order to be able to look through the eyes of a modern person at the evolution of this concept over many centuries.

In Russia, a separate topic is dedicated to the study of this aspect in the school course - “The Sages of Ancient Greece.” 5th grade is the optimal learning period for understanding such fundamental issues.