Epicureanism is the ethical teaching of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. epicurus teaching

I saw it in teaching a person a happy life, because everything else is unimportant.

Epicurus' theory of knowledge - briefly

AT theory of knowledge Epicurus urged to trust sensory perceptions, since we still have no other criterion of truth. He believed that the criticism of sensationalism by skeptics is of purely theoretical interest, but in practice it is completely fruitless. The main conclusion to which Epicurus brings the listener with these arguments is there is nothing supersensible. Even if it were, we would not be able to perceive it, since nothing but feelings is given to us. This conclusion is very important for the theory of Epicurus: it is from here that her materialism and atheism follow.

Physics of Epicurus, his atomism - briefly

In physics, Epicurus is an ardent supporter of Democritus' idea of atoms. In his opinion, it is entirely confirmed by sensory experience, because the mixing of different environments that constantly occurs before our eyes cannot be explained without the assumption that they consist of the smallest particles. At the same time, atoms cannot be divisible to infinity (Democritus' term "atom" in literal translation means "indivisible"), because then matter would be scattered in the void, and there would be no bodies at all.

Roman follower of Epicurus Titus Lucretius Carus

The popularity of Epicurus was unusually great in Rome as well. A majestic exposition of his philosophy was given in his poem "On the Nature of Things" by Titus Lucretius Car. During the decline of the empire, the societies of the followers of Epicurus seemed to be quiet havens from political storms. Under Hadrian, under the Antonine dynasty, the number of Epicureans increased. But from the middle of the 4th century AD, the influence of the philosophy of Epicurus falls: she died along with the entire ancient world, without surviving the triumph of Christianity.

Introduction

Life and writings of Epicurus

Philosophy of Epicurus

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Epicurus is characteristic of an era when philosophy begins to be interested not so much in the world as in the fate of a person in it, not so much in the mysteries of the cosmos, but in an attempt to indicate how, in the contradictions and storms of life, a person can find the calm, serenity, equanimity that he so much needs and desires so much. and fearlessness. To know not for the sake of knowledge itself, but exactly as much as is necessary to preserve the bright serenity of the spirit - this is the goal and task of philosophy, according to Epicurus. Materialism had to undergo a profound transformation in this philosophy. It had to lose the character of a purely theoretical, contemplative philosophy, only comprehending reality, and become a doctrine that enlightens a person, freeing him from his oppressive fears and rebellious unrest and feelings. Epicurus' atomistic materialism underwent just such a transformation.

Life and writings of Epicurus

Epicurus was born in 341 BC. on the island of Samos. His father Neocles was a school teacher. Epicurus began studying philosophy at the age of 12. In 311 BC he moved to the island of Lesvos, and there he founded his first philosophical school. After another 5 years, Epicurus moved to Athens, where he led a philosophical school known as the "Garden of Epicurus", until his death in 271 BC.

Epicurus worked literally until the last day of his life. He wrote more than 300 works, of which are mentioned, in particular: 37 books "On Nature", then "On Atoms and Emptiness", "On Love", "Doubts", "On Preference and Avoidance", "On the Ultimate Goal", "On the Gods", 4 books "On the Way of Life", then "On Vision", "On Angles in Atoms", "On Touch", "On Destiny", "On Ideas", "On Music", "On Justice and other virtues", "Opinions on diseases", "On royal power", etc. As Diogenes testifies: "They do not contain a single extract from the outside, but everywhere the voice of Epicurus himself."

None of these books has come down to us: they, along with many works of antiquity, were destroyed by Christian fanatics in the 4th and subsequent centuries. The same fate befell the books of his students. As a result, only three letters have come down to us from Epicurus' own texts (to Herodotus, Pythocles, and Menekey), as well as a short treatise, The Main Thoughts.

Philosophy of Epicurus

Apart from these few surviving passages, we can judge the philosophy of Epicurus from the retellings and expositions of his ideas by other philosophers. However, it should be remembered that these retellings are often very inaccurate, and some authors generally attribute their own fabrications to Epicurus, which contradict the statements of the Greek philosopher that have survived to this day.

So, it is customary to think that Epicurus considered bodily pleasure the only meaning of life. In reality, however, Epicurus' view of pleasure is not so simple. By pleasure, he understood, first of all, the absence of displeasure, and emphasized the need to take into account the consequences of pleasures and pains:

“Since pleasure is the first and inborn good for us, therefore we do not choose every pleasure, but sometimes we bypass many pleasures when a great unpleasantness follows them. We also consider many sufferings better than pleasure when a greater pleasure comes for us, after how we endure suffering for a long time. Thus, all pleasure is good, but not all pleasure should be chosen, just as all pain is evil, but not all suffering should be avoided.

Therefore, according to the teachings of Epicurus, bodily pleasures must be controlled by the mind: "It is impossible to live pleasantly without living reasonably and justly, and just as it is impossible to live reasonably and justly without living pleasantly."

And to live wisely, according to Epicurus, means not to strive for wealth and power as an end in itself, being satisfied with the minimum necessary in order to be satisfied with life: “The voice of the flesh is not to starve, not to thirst, not to be cold. Who has this, and who hopes to have this in the future, he can argue with Zeus himself about happiness ... The wealth required by nature is limited and easily obtained, and the wealth required by empty opinions extends to infinity.

Epicurus divided human needs into 3 classes:

1) natural and necessary - food, clothing, housing;

2) natural, but not necessary - sexual satisfaction;

3) unnatural - power, wealth, entertainment, etc.

Needs (1) are easiest to satisfy, (2) is somewhat more difficult, and needs (3) cannot be fully satisfied, but, according to Epicurus, it is not necessary.

“Among our desires,” he writes to Menekey, “one should be considered natural, others idle; and among natural ones, some are necessary, others are only natural; and among the necessary, some are necessary for happiness, others for the peace of the body, and still others are simply for life. If such a consideration is not to be mistaken, then every preference and every avoidance will lead to bodily health and peace of mind.

Epicurus believed that "pleasure is achievable only by dispelling the fears of the mind," and expressed the main idea of his philosophy with the following phrase: "The gods do not inspire fear, death does not inspire fear, pleasure is easily achievable, suffering is easily endured."

Contrary to the accusations made against him during his lifetime, Epicurus was not an atheist. He recognized the existence of the gods of the ancient Greek pantheon, but had his own opinion about them, which differed from the views that dominated contemporary ancient Greek society.

"Let's assume that the sufferings of the world are of interest to the gods. The gods can or cannot, want or do not want to destroy suffering in the world. If they cannot, then these are not gods. If they can, but do not want, then they are imperfect, which is also not befitting gods And if they can and want to, then why haven't they done it yet?"

Another famous saying of Epicurus on this subject: "If the gods listened to the prayers of people, then soon all people would die, constantly praying much evil to each other."

At the same time, Epicurus criticized atheism, believing that the gods are necessary to be a model of perfection for man.

But in Greek mythology, the gods are far from perfect: human traits and human weaknesses are attributed to them. That is why Epicurus was opposed to the traditional ancient Greek religion: "Not the impious one who rejects the gods of the crowd, but the one who applies the ideas of the crowd to the gods."

Epicurus denied any divine creation of the world. In his opinion, many worlds are constantly born as a result of the attraction of atoms to each other, and the worlds that have existed for a certain period also decay into atoms. This is in full agreement with the ancient cosmogony, which affirms the origin of the world from Chaos. But, according to Epicurus, this process is carried out spontaneously and without the intervention of any higher powers.

Epicurus developed the doctrine of Democritus about the structure of the world from atoms, while putting forward assumptions that were confirmed by science only after many centuries. So, he stated that different atoms differ in mass, and, consequently, in properties. Epicurus builds amazing guesses about the properties of microparticles: “The atoms of bodies, indivisible and solid, from which everything complex is composed and into which everything complex is decomposed, are immensely diverse in appearance ... Atoms move continuously and forever alone - at a distance from each other, and others - oscillating on place, if they accidentally interlock or be embraced by interlocked atoms ... atoms have no other properties than appearance, size and weight; as for color, it changes depending on the position of the atoms ... "

Unlike Democritus, who believed that atoms move along strictly defined trajectories, and therefore everything in the world is predetermined, Epicurus believed that the movement of atoms is largely random, and, therefore, various scenarios are always possible.

Based on the randomness of the movement of atoms, Epicurus denied the idea of fate and predestination. "There is no expediency in what is happening, because a lot of things are not happening the way they should have happened."

But, if the gods are not interested in the affairs of people, and there is no predetermined fate, then, according to Epicurus, there is no need to be afraid of both. "The one who does not know fear himself cannot inspire fear. The gods do not know fear, because they are perfect." Epicurus was the first in history to declare that people's fear of the gods is caused by fear of natural phenomena that are attributed to the gods. Therefore, he considered it important to study nature and find out the real causes of natural phenomena - in order to free a person from a false fear of the gods. All this is consistent with the position of pleasure as the main thing in life: fear is suffering, pleasure is the absence of suffering, knowledge allows you to get rid of fear, therefore, without knowledge there can be no pleasure - one of the key conclusions of the philosophy of Epicurus.

The cosmological ideas of Epicurus deserve special discussion: “What the Universe is now, such it has always been and will always be, because there is nothing for it to change into, - for, apart from the Universe, there is nothing that could enter into it, making a change. Further, the worlds are innumerable, and some are similar to ours, and some are dissimilar.In fact, since the atoms are innumerable, they spread very, very far, for such atoms, from which the world arises or from which it is created, are not completely spent on any world, nor to a limited number of them, whether similar to ours or not similar. Therefore, nothing prevents the innumerability of worlds. Explaining his opinion, he writes to Herodotus: “It should be assumed that the worlds and in general any limited complex body of the same kind as the objects that we observe all the time - all originated from infinity, standing out from separate clots, large and small; and they all decompose again from one cause or another, some more quickly, others more slowly.

Adhering to this principle, he comes to the universal law of conservation: "Nothing arises from the non-existent, otherwise everything would arise from everything, not needing any seeds, and if the disappearing were destroyed into the non-existent, everything would have perished long ago, because what comes from destruction, would not exist."

In the time of Epicurus, one of the main topics for the discussion of philosophers was death and the fate of the soul after death. Epicurus considered disputes on this topic meaningless: “Train yourself to the idea that death has nothing to do with us. After all, everything good and bad lies in sensation, and death is a deprivation of sensation. Therefore, the correct knowledge that death has nothing to do with us relationship, makes the mortality of life delightful, not because it adds an unlimited amount of time to it, but because it takes away the thirst for immortality. There is nothing to fear from life, therefore, he who says that he fears death is foolish, not because it causes suffering when it comes, but because it causes suffering when it comes: for if something does not disturb the presence, then in vain to grieve when it is yet expected. Thus the worst of evils, death, has nothing to do with us, since when we exist, death is not yet present; and when death is present, then we do not exist. Thus, death has nothing to do with either the living or the dead, since for some it does not exist, while for others it no longer exists. People of the crowd either avoid death as the greatest of evils, or crave it as a respite from the evils of life. And the sage does not shy away from life, but he is not afraid of unlife, because life does not interfere with him, and unlife does not seem to be some kind of evil. Just as he chooses food that is not at all the most plentiful, but the most pleasant, so he enjoys the time that is not the longest, but the most pleasant ... "

According to Epicurus, people are afraid not so much of death itself as of death throes: “We are afraid of languishing with illness, being struck by a sword, torn by the teeth of animals, turned into dust by fire - not because all this causes death, but because it brings suffering. Of all evils, the greatest is suffering, not death." He believed that the human soul is material and dies with the body.

“The soul is a body of fine particles, scattered throughout our composition ... it should be assumed that it is the soul that is the main cause of sensations; but it would not have them if it were not closed in the rest of our body. As long as the soul is contained in the body, it does not lose sensitivity even with the loss of any member: with the destruction of its cover, complete or partial, particles of the soul also perish, but as long as something remains of it, it will have sensations ... when our entire composition is destroyed, then the soul dissipates and has no more of its former powers, motions, and likewise sensations.Those who say that the soul is incorporeal are talking nonsense: if it were like that, it could neither act nor be affected, while we We clearly see that both these properties are inherent in the soul. In other words, Epicurus, through simple observations, concluded that the necessary presence of a nervous system that determines mental activity.

Epicurus can be called the most consistent materialist of all philosophers. In his opinion, everything in the world is material, and the spirit as some entity separate from matter does not exist at all. In many ways, it was he who laid the foundations of the modern scientific method of cognition. So, in a letter to Pythocles, Epicurus explains the principle of alternative hypotheses: “Being carried away by one explanation, do not idly reject all the others, as happens when you don’t think about what is knowable for a person and what is not, and therefore you strive to study the inaccessible. And no celestial phenomenon will not escape from explanation, if we remember that there are many such explanations, and if we consider only those assumptions and reasons that fit in with these phenomena, and which do not fit, we ignore those, do not attach imaginary importance to them and do not slip here and there to attempts at a uniform explanation. No celestial phenomena should deviate from this path of investigation. "

Epicurus considers direct sensations, and not judgments of the mind, to be the basis of knowledge. In his opinion, everything that we feel is true, sensations never deceive us. Mistakes and errors arise only when we add something to our perceptions, i.e. Reason is the source of error.

Perceptions arise as a result of the penetration of images of things into us. These images separate from the surface of things and move with the speed of thought. If they enter the sense organs, they give real sensory perception, but if they penetrate the pores of the body, they give fantastic perception, including illusions and hallucinations.

Epicurus owns a clear formulation of the scientific style of discussing problems: “It should be understood,” he writes to Herodotus, “what is behind the words, so that all our opinions, searches, perplexities can be reduced to them for discussion, so that they do not remain undiscussed in endless explanations. and the words were not empty."

As Diogenes Laertes writes about Epicurus: “He called all objects by their proper names, which the grammarian Aristophanes considers a reprehensible feature of his style. His clarity was such that in his essay “On Rhetoric” he does not consider it necessary to demand anything but clarity.

In general, Epicurus was against abstract theorizing not connected with facts. In his opinion, philosophy should have a direct practical application - to help a person avoid suffering and life's mistakes: "Just as there is no use in medicine if it does not drive out the sufferings of the body, so there is no use in philosophy if it does not drive out the sufferings of the soul."

The most important part of the philosophy of Epicurus is his ethics. However, the teaching of Epicurus about the best way of life for a person can hardly be called ethics in the modern sense of the word. The question of fitting the individual to social settings, as well as all other interests of society and the state, occupied Epicurus least of all. His philosophy is individualistic and aimed at enjoying life regardless of political and social conditions.

Epicurus denied the existence of universal morality and common for all concepts of goodness and justice, given to mankind from somewhere above. He taught that all these concepts were created by people themselves: "Justice is not something in itself, it is some kind of agreement between people not to harm and not to endure harm."

In the same way, he approaches the foundations of law: “Natural law is a contract of benefit, the purpose of which is not to cause or suffer harm. Justice does not exist in itself; it is a contract not to cause or suffer harm, concluded in communication people and always in relation to the places where it is located.On the whole, justice is the same for all, since it is a benefit in the mutual communication of people; but in application to the peculiarities of the place and circumstances, justice is not the same for all.

Of those actions that the law recognizes as just, only that is really just, the benefit of which is confirmed by the needs of human communication, whether it will be the same for everyone or not. And if someone issues a law from which there will be no benefit in human communication, such a law will already be unjust by nature ... Where, without any change in circumstances, it turns out that laws that are considered just entail consequences that do not correspond to our anticipation of justice, there they and weren't fair. Where, with a change in circumstances, the previously established justice turns out to be useless, there it was fair while it was useful in the communication of fellow citizens, and then it ceased to be fair, ceasing to be useful.

Epicurus gave a large role in the relationship of people to friendship, opposing it to political relations as something that brings pleasure in itself. Politics, on the other hand, is the satisfaction of the need for power, which, according to Epicurus, can never be fully satisfied, and therefore cannot bring true pleasure. In the Main Thoughts, Epicurus states: "Security, even in our limited existence, is most fully realized through friendship." Epicurus argued with the followers of Plato, who put friendship at the service of politics, considering it as a means of building an ideal society.

In general, Epicurus does not put before man any great goals and ideals. We can say that the goal of life according to Epicurus is life itself in all its manifestations, and knowledge and philosophy are the way to get the greatest pleasure from life.

Humanity has always been prone to extremes. While some people greedily strive for pleasure as an end in itself and all the time cannot get enough of it, others torment themselves with asceticism, hoping to get some kind of mystical knowledge and enlightenment. Epicurus proved that both of them are wrong, that enjoyment of life and knowledge of life are interconnected. The philosophy and biography of Epicurus are an example of a harmonious approach to life in all its manifestations. However, Epicurus himself said it best of all: "Always have a new book in your library, a full bottle of wine in the cellar, a fresh flower in the garden."

Conclusion

The philosophy of Epicurus is the greatest and most consistent materialistic teaching of ancient Greece after the teachings of Leucippus and Democritus. Epicurus differs from his predecessors in understanding both the task of philosophy and the means leading to the solution of this task. The main and final task of philosophy Epicurus recognized the creation of ethics - the doctrine of behavior that can lead to happiness. But this problem can be solved, he thought, only under a special condition: if the place that a person - a particle of nature - occupies in the world is investigated and clarified. True ethics presupposes true knowledge of the world. Therefore, ethics must be based on physics, which contains, as its part and as its most important result, the doctrine of man. Ethics is based on physics, anthropology is based on ethics. In turn, the development of physics must be preceded by research and the establishment of a criterion for the truth of knowledge.

New and original was the idea of Epicurus about the closest connection between ethics and physics, about the theoretical conditionality of ethics by physics.

The concept of freedom became the central of the concepts connecting the physics of Epicurus with his ethics. The ethics of Epicurus is the ethics of freedom. Epicurus spent his whole life in the struggle against ethical teachings that are incompatible with the concept of human freedom. This put Epicurus and his entire school in a state of constant struggle with the Stoic school, despite a number of concepts and teachings common to these two materialistic schools. According to Epicurus, the doctrine of the causal necessity of all phenomena and all events of nature, developed by Democritus and accepted by Epicurus, should in no case lead to the conclusion that freedom is impossible for a person and that a person is enslaved by necessity (fate, fate, fate). Within the framework of necessity, the path to freedom must be found and indicated for behavior.

The Epicurean ideal man (sage) differs from the sage in the depiction of the Stoics and skeptics. Unlike the skeptic, the Epicurean has strong and thoughtful convictions. Unlike the Stoic, the Epicurean is not impassive. Passions are known to him (although he will never fall in love, for love enslaves). Unlike the Cynic, the Epicurean will not defiantly beg and despise friendship, on the contrary, the Epicurean will never leave a friend in trouble, and if necessary, he will die for him. An epicurean will not punish slaves. He will never become a tyrant. The Epicurean does not grovel before fate (as the Stoic does): he understands that in life one thing is really inevitable, but the other is accidental, and the third depends on ourselves, on our will. The epicurean is not a fatalist. He is free and capable of independent, spontaneous actions, being similar in this respect to atoms with their spontaneity.

As a result, the ethics of Epicurus turned out to be a doctrine that opposes superstition and all beliefs that degrade the dignity of man. For Epicurus, the criterion of happiness (similar to the criterion of truth) is the feeling of pleasure. Good is that which gives rise to pleasure, evil is that which gives rise to suffering. The development of a doctrine of the path that leads man to happiness must be preceded by the elimination of everything that stands in this path.

The doctrine of Epicurus was the last great materialistic school of ancient Greek philosophy. Her authority - theoretical and moral - was great. Late antiquity highly revered the structure of thought, character and strict, temperate, bordering on asceticism lifestyle and behavior of Epicurus. Even the sharp and irreconcilably hostile controversy that the Stoics always waged against the teachings of Epicurus could not cast a shadow on them. Epicureanism stood firm under their attack, and its teachings were strictly preserved in their original content. It was one of the most orthodox materialistic schools of antiquity.

List of used literature

Fundamentals of philosophy. Tutorial. Almaty. Daneker. 2000.

Spirkin A.G. Philosophy. Textbook. M., 1999.

Radugin A.A. Philosophy. M., 1996.

Introduction to philosophy. T1. M., 1991.

Ortega - and - Gasset H. Dehumanization of art. M., 1990.

Epicurus Synopsis >> Philosophy

... (Cyrenaic) and others; philosophy Epicurus etc. Distinctive features of the Hellenistic philosophy: the crisis of ancient moral ... Question 18. Philosophy Epicurus 1. Epicurus(341 - 270 BC) - Ancient Greek philosopher-materialist. Philosophy Epicurus divided by...

Epicurus was born in 341 BC. in the family of Neocles and Herestrata. A few years before the birth of a boy, his father moves to an Athenian settlement on the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea. Epicurus is brought up there. For four years he studied philosophy under the guidance of Pamphylius, a follower of the teachings of Plato. After that, at the age of eighteen, Epicurus went to Athens, where he would serve in the military for two years. After the death of Alexander the Great, his successor Perdiccas relocates the Athenians from the island of Samos to the city of Colophon, located on the territory of modern Turkey. Epicurus goes there after completing his service. He learns from Nosiphanes, who revealed to him the teachings of Democritus. Between 311 and 310 BC. Epicurus teaches in Mitylene, but after some disagreements with the local authorities, he leaves this city. From there he goes to Lampsak, where he establishes his own school. In 306 BC Epicurus returns to Athens, where he will stay until his death in 270 BC. In this city, the philosopher acquires a plot of land, where he establishes a school, called the "Garden of Epicurus."

This name was given to the school because the classes were held in the garden, located near the philosopher's house. His very first students were Germarch, Idomeneo, Leonteus and his wife Themista, the author of the satirical philosophical works Kolot, Polien from Lampsak and Metrodorus from Lampsak. The Garden of Epicurus was the first Greek school to admit a woman to teaching. Epicurus always proclaimed friendship a very important element on the path to a happy life, and therefore his school in every possible way contributed to the formation of friendly companies. Despite the fact that the teachings of his predecessors, and Democritus in particular, influenced the formation of the philosophy of the school, Epicurus would later renounce them. Of all the written sources, only three letters have survived to this day, which are included in the 10th volume of Diogenes Laertes' Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Here we also find two cycles of quotations known as Epicurus' Principled Doctrines. Some fragments of this work, which once consisted of XXXVII volumes and bears the title "Treatise on Nature", were found in the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum.

Teachings of Epicurus

Epicurus played a significant role in the development of science and scientific methods, calling for conclusions to be based on direct observation and deductive reasoning. His ideas in many ways anticipate the most important scientific theories of our time. The teachings of Epicurus and his egalitarian views made him a prominent figure in the Axial Age, which lasted from 800 to 200 AD. BC. It was Epicurus, with his theory of “mutual benefit”, that laid the foundations for the ancient Greek concept of ethics as such. His teachings originate from various theories of ancient Greek thinkers, but to a greater extent intersect with the principles of the teachings of Democritus. Like Democritus, Epicurus is an atomist and firmly believes that the world is made up of invisible material particles moving through space. According to his teaching, everything that happens in the world happens due to the collision, mutual repulsion and interaction of atoms, the actions of which have neither patterns nor goals. Epicurus' theory of atomism diverged from the early theory of Democritus, arguing that atoms do not always move in a straight line, but often spontaneously deviate from their own trajectory. This statement served as strong evidence for the existence of free will. Epicurus was the first to overcome the fear of the gods and violated the existing traditions of worshiping them. In addition, he actively participated in the religious life of society.

According to the teachings of Epicurus, religious activity is an integral element of meditation on God, setting a pattern for a happy life. He denied the conventional wisdom that God punishes the evil and rewards the good. On the contrary, according to Epicurus, God does not care about human beings at all. The philosopher proclaims that everything good that happens to people originates from pleasure or pain. Everything that causes pain is bad, just like everything that brings pleasure is good. His teaching also says that there are cases when pain, preferred to pleasure, subsequently leads to bliss. His calls to seek bliss with all his might were misunderstood by many, but the true meaning of these words is that, having got rid of pain, a person is freed from fear and punishment from heaven. From this, Epicurus deduces that, without feeling pain, a person no longer needs pleasure, and therefore achieves the highest peace of mind. He strongly warns against excesses, as they invariably lead to pain. This law applies to everything, including love. Epicurus calls friendship the surest way to happiness. He also refutes the fear of death, arguing that "death is nothing to us." The philosopher develops this idea, adding that all feeling, consciousness and sensation disappears with death, after which neither pain nor pleasure remains.

Death

Epicurus suffered from urolithiasis, which in 270 BC. wins over him, leading to death. The philosopher died at the age of 72. During his life he never married, and therefore he left no heirs behind him.

Philosopher's Legacy

Many thinkers and ideological movements throughout the history of Western philosophical thought have been taken as the basis of the theory of Epicurean teachings. Its influence can be clearly seen in atomistic poems - such as "Everything in the world is ruled by an atom" - as well as in the natural philosophy of Margaret Cavendish. During the French Revolution, the theory of "mutual benefit" of Epicurus will be adopted by the ideologists of the coup d'état. His egalitarian views would form the basis of the American Liberation Movement and the US Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson called himself an Epicurean and proclaimed that "all men are created equal." The influence of these teachings on Western philosophical thought is also confirmed by the fact that Karl Marx received his doctorate for his work on the topic "The difference between the philosophy of nature of Democritus and Epicurus." The teachings of Epicurus became a source of inspiration for the works of many philosophers, including Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche. The similarity of the philosophy of the latter with the ideology of Epicureanism is evident in his works "Merry Science", "Beyond Good and Evil", as well as in personal correspondence with Peter Gast.

Epicurus was born in 341 BC. on the island of Samos. He began studying philosophy at the age of 14. In 311 BC he moved to the island of Lesvos, and there he founded his first philosophical school. After another 5 years, Epicurus moved to Athens, where he founded a school in the garden, where there was an inscription on the gate: “Guest, you will be fine here; here pleasure is the highest good. This is where the very name of the school “Garden of Epicurus” and the nickname of the Epicureans – philosophers “from the gardens” later arose. He led this school until his death in 271 BC. It is generally accepted that Epicurus considered bodily pleasure the only meaning of life. In reality, however, Epicurus' view of pleasure is not so simple. By pleasure, he understood, first of all, the absence of displeasure, and emphasized the need to take into account the consequences of pleasures and pains:

“Since pleasure is the first and innate good for us, therefore we do not choose every pleasure, but sometimes we bypass many pleasures when a great unpleasantness follows them. We also consider many sufferings better than pleasure when a greater pleasure comes for us, after how we endure suffering for a long time. Thus, all pleasure is good, but not all pleasure should be chosen, just as all pain is evil, but not all suffering should be avoided.

Therefore, according to the teachings of Epicurus, bodily pleasures must be controlled by the mind: "It is impossible to live pleasantly without living reasonably and justly, and it is just as impossible to live reasonably and justly without living pleasantly." And to live wisely, according to Epicurus, means not to strive for wealth and power as an end in itself, being satisfied with the minimum necessary in order to be satisfied with life: “The voice of the flesh is not to starve, not to thirst, not to be cold. Whoever has this, and who hopes to have it in the future, can argue with Zeus himself about happiness ... The wealth required by nature is limited and easily obtained, and the wealth required empty opinions stretches to infinity."

Epicurus divided human needs into 3 classes: 1) natural and necessary - food, clothing, housing; 2) natural, but not necessary - sexual satisfaction; 3) unnatural - power, wealth, entertainment, etc. Needs (1) are easiest to satisfy, (2) is somewhat more difficult, and needs (3) cannot be fully satisfied, but, according to Epicurus, it is not necessary. Epicurus believed that "pleasure is attainable only by dispelling the fears of the mind", and expressed the main idea of his philosophy with the following phrase: "The gods do not inspire fear, death does not inspire fear, pleasure is easily attainable, suffering is easily endured." Contrary to the accusations made against him during his lifetime, Epicurus was not an atheist. He recognized the existence of the gods of the ancient Greek pantheon, but had his own opinion about them, which differed from the views that dominated contemporary ancient Greek society.

According to Epicurus, there are many inhabited planets like Earth. The gods live in the outer space between them, where they live their own lives and do not interfere in people's lives. Epicurus argued this as follows: "Let's assume that the sufferings of the world are of interest to the gods. The gods can or cannot, want or do not want to destroy suffering in the world. If they cannot, then these are not gods. If they can, but do not want, then they are imperfect, which is also not befitting gods And if they can and want to, then why haven't they done it yet?"

Another famous saying of Epicurus on the subject: "If the gods listened to the prayers of people, then soon all people would die, constantly praying a lot of evil to each other." At the same time, Epicurus criticized atheism, believing that the gods are necessary to be a model of perfection for man.

But in Greek mythology, the gods are far from perfect: human traits and human weaknesses are attributed to them. That is why Epicurus was opposed to the traditional ancient Greek religion: "Not the impious one who rejects the gods of the crowd, but the one who applies the ideas of the crowd to the gods."

Epicurus denied any divine creation of the world. In his opinion, many worlds are constantly born as a result of the attraction of atoms to each other, and the worlds that have existed for a certain period also decay into atoms. This is in full agreement with the ancient cosmogony, which affirms the origin of the world from Chaos. But, according to Epicurus, this process is carried out spontaneously and without the intervention of any higher powers.

Epicurus developed the doctrine of Democritus about the structure of the world from atoms, at the same time put forward assumptions that only after many centuries were confirmed by science. So, he stated that different atoms differ in mass, and, consequently, in properties. Unlike Democritus, who believed that atoms move along strictly defined trajectories, and therefore everything in the world is predetermined, Epicurus believed that the movement of atoms is largely random, and, therefore, various scenarios are always possible. Based on the randomness of the movement of atoms, Epicurus denied the idea of fate and predestination. "There is no expediency in what is happening, because a lot of things are not happening the way they should have happened." But, if the gods are not interested in the affairs of people, and there is no predetermined fate, then, according to Epicurus, there is no need to be afraid of both. One who does not know fear cannot inspire fear. The gods know no fear because they are perfect. Epicurus was the first in history to say that people's fear of the gods is caused by the fear of natural phenomena that are attributed to the gods. Therefore, he considered it important to study nature and find out the real causes of natural phenomena - in order to free a person from a false fear of the gods. All this is consistent with the position of pleasure as the main thing in life: fear is suffering, pleasure is the absence of suffering, knowledge allows you to get rid of fear, therefore without knowledge there can be no pleasure- one of the key conclusions of the philosophy of Epicurus. In the time of Epicurus, one of the main topics for the discussion of philosophers was death and the fate of the soul after death. Epicurus considered the debate on this topic meaningless: "Death has nothing to do with us, because while we exist - death is absent, when death comes - we no longer exist." According to Epicurus, people are afraid not so much of death itself as of death throes: "We are afraid to languish with illness, to be struck by a sword, torn by the teeth of animals, turned into dust by fire - not because all this causes death, but because it brings suffering. Of all evils, the greatest is suffering, not death." He believed that the human soul is material and dies with the body. Epicurus can be called the most consistent materialist of all philosophers. In his opinion, everything in the world is material, and the spirit as some entity separate from matter does not exist at all. Epicurus considers direct sensations, and not judgments of the mind, to be the basis of knowledge. In his opinion, everything that we feel is true, sensations never deceive us. Mistakes and errors arise only when we add something to our perceptions, i.e. Reason is the source of error. Perceptions arise as a result of the penetration of images of things into us. These images separate from the surface of things and move with the speed of thought. If they enter the sense organs, they give real sensory perception, but if they penetrate the pores of the body, they give fantastic perception, including illusions and hallucinations. In general, Epicurus was against abstract theorizing not connected with facts. In his opinion, philosophy should have a direct practical application - to help a person avoid suffering and life's mistakes: “Just as medicine is of no use if it does not drive out the sufferings of the body, so philosophy is of no use if it does not drive out the sufferings of the soul.” The most important part of the philosophy of Epicurus is his ethics. However, the teaching of Epicurus about the best way of life for a person can hardly be called ethics in the modern sense of the word. The question of fitting the individual to social settings, as well as all other interests of society and the state, occupied Epicurus least of all. His philosophy is individualistic and aimed at enjoying life regardless of political and social conditions. Epicurus denied the existence of universal morality and common for all concepts of goodness and justice, given to mankind from somewhere above. He taught that all these concepts are created by people themselves: "Justice is not something in itself, it is some kind of agreement between people not to harm and not to endure harm". Epicurus gave a large role in the relationship of people to friendship, opposing it to political relations as something that brings pleasure in itself. Politics, on the other hand, is the satisfaction of the need for power, which, according to Epicurus, can never be fully satisfied, and therefore cannot bring true pleasure. Epicurus argued with the followers of Plato, who put friendship at the service of politics, considering it as a means of building an ideal society. In general, Epicurus does not put before man any great goals and ideals. We can say that the goal of life according to Epicurus is life itself in all its manifestations, and knowledge and philosophy are the way to get the greatest pleasure from life. Humanity has always been prone to extremes. While some people greedily strive for pleasure as an end in itself and all the time cannot get enough of it, others torment themselves with asceticism, hoping to get some kind of mystical knowledge and enlightenment. Epicurus proved that both of them are wrong, that enjoyment of life and knowledge of life are interconnected.

The philosophy and biography of Epicurus are an example of a harmonious approach to life in all its manifestations. However, Epicurus himself said it best: "Always have a new book in your library, a full bottle of wine in your cellar, a fresh flower in your garden."

EPICOREISM- one of the most influential schools of Hellenistic philosophy. The main ideological content and theoretical justification for the practiced way of life of the supporters of this school is the philosophical system of its founder Epicurus (c.

341–270 BC).

As a philosophical doctrine, Epicureanism is characterized by a mechanistic view of the world, materialistic atomism, the denial of teleology and the immortality of the soul, ethical individualism and eudemonism; has a strong practical focus. According to the Epicureans, the mission of philosophy is akin to healing: its goal is to heal the soul from fears and suffering caused by false opinions and absurd desires, and to teach a person a blissful life, the beginning and end of which they consider pleasure.

In Athens, the Epicureans gathered in the garden that belonged to Epicurus. From here came the second name of the school - "Garden", or "Garden of Epicurus", and its inhabitants were called philosophers "from the gardens." The school was a community of like-minded friends living in accordance with the principles of the philosophical teachings of Epicurus. There was an inscription on the gates of the school: “Guest, you will be fine here; here pleasure is the highest good, ”and at the entrance stood a jug of water and a bread cake. Women and slaves were admitted to the school, which was rather unusual at the time. Life within the Epicurean community was modest and unpretentious; unlike the Pythagorean union, the Epicureans did not believe that property should be shared, as this could become a source of mistrust between them.

Don't be afraid of the gods

should not be afraid of death,

the good is easily achievable,

evil is easily tolerated.

The personality of Epicurus played a paramount role in the school, acting as the embodiment of wisdom and a role model. He himself established the principle for his students: “Do everything as if Epicurus is looking at you” (Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, XXV, 5). Apparently, therefore, his images could be found everywhere in the school: on clay and wooden tablets, and even on rings. Although, it is worth noting that, unlike Pythagoras, he was never deified by his followers.

The school of Epicurus existed for almost 600 years (until the beginning of the 4th century AD), not knowing strife and preserving the succession of students who, according to Diogenes Laertes, were riveted to his teachings like the songs of the Sirens (Diogenes Laertes, X, 9 ). The most prominent of these was Metrodorus of Lampsacus, who died seven years before his master. In a polemically pointed form, he emphasized that sensual pleasures are the source of all blessings. In his will, Epicurus asks his schoolmates to meet each month in memory of him and Metrodorus, and to take care of Metrodorus's children. Epicurus' successor in leadership of the school was Hermarchus of Mitylene, and then Polystratus.

Quite early, Epicureanism penetrated Roman soil. In the 2nd century BC. Gaius Anafinius expounds the teachings of Epicurus in Latin. And in the 1st century BC. in the vicinity of Naples, the Epicurean school of Siron and Philodemus arose, which became the main center of culture and education in Italy during the decline of the republican institutions of Rome. Philodema's estate gathers the flower of educated Roman society, including the famous Roman poets Virgil and Horace.

Epicureanism is gaining a lot of supporters and followers among the Romans. Among them, the most prominent and famous is Titus Lucretius Car, whose poem On the nature of things played a huge role in the spread of Epicureanism. In the conditions of civil wars and social upheavals, Lucretius Carus is looking in the philosophy of Epicurus for a way to achieve serenity and equanimity of spirit. According to Lucretius, the main enemies of human happiness are the fear of the underworld, the fear of afterlife retribution and the fear of the intervention of the gods in people's lives, generated by ignorance about the true nature of man and his place in the world. In overcoming them, Lucretius sees the main task of his poem, which has become a kind of encyclopedia of Epicureanism.

At the end of the 2nd c. AD By order of the Epicurean Diogenes, giant inscriptions were carved in the city of Enoanda in Asia Minor in order to acquaint fellow citizens with the teachings of Epicurus.

Epicureanism became widespread during the Renaissance. Its influence can be traced in the works of Lorenzo Valla, F. Rabelais, C. Raimondi, and others. .

Polina Gadzhikurbanova

Literature:

Lucretius. On the nature of things, tt. 1–2. M. - L., 1947
Materialists of ancient Greece. Collection of texts by Heraclitus, Democritus and Epicurus. M., 1955
Losev A.F. History of ancient aesthetics. Early Hellenism. M., 1979

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Introduction

Ancient philosophy is a consistently developed philosophical thought and covers a period of over a thousand years - from the end of the 7th century BC. up to the 6th century AD. Despite all the diversity of views of the thinkers of this period, ancient philosophy, at the same time, is something unified, uniquely original and extremely instructive. It did not develop in isolation - it drew the wisdom of the Ancient East, the culture of which goes back to a deeper antiquity, where the formation of civilization took place writing was formed, the beginnings of the science of nature, and proper philosophical views were developed.

The ethics of antiquity is addressed to man. The most important feature of the ethical position of the ancient sages was the attitude towards the understanding of morality, the virtue of behavior as rationality. Reason "rules the world" of ancient ethics, its paramount importance (in any particular moral choice and in choosing the right path in life) is not questioned. Another characteristic of the ancient worldview is the desire for harmony (harmony within the human soul and its harmony with the world), which, depending on certain sociocultural circumstances, took various forms of embodiment.

So, Greek philosophy in the 7th-6th centuries BC. was the first attempt at a rational comprehension of the surrounding world. The purpose of this work is to consider the main philosophical and ethical schools of ancient Greece, such as epicureanism, hedonism, stoicism and cynicism.

In accordance with the goal, the following tasks can be distinguished:

identify common and special features of the schools of Epicurus and Aristippus;

compare the ideas and traditions of the Stoic and Cynic schools.

1. Basic ideas and principles of the schools of Epicureanism and Hedonism

Hellenism, covering the period from the conquest of Alexander the Great to the fall of the Roman Empire, also determines the nature of the development of philosophical ethics in that period. Having preserved much of the ancient classics, Hellenism essentially completed it. The initial principles laid down by the great Greeks were systematized, certain aspects of the achievements of the previous period were developed, and attention was focused on the problem of man and society. Philosophy focused on the subjective world of man.

The predominant success in the Hellenistic world was enjoyed by those that arose at the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries. BC e. the teachings of the Stoics and Epicurus, which absorbed the main features of the worldview of the new era.

One of the most influential philosophical currents of the Hellenistic-Roman era was Epicureanism. Epicurus is characteristic of an era when philosophy begins to be interested not so much in the world as in the fate of a person in it, not so much in the mysteries of the cosmos, but in an attempt to indicate how, in the contradictions and storms of life, a person can find the calm, serenity, equanimity that he so much needs and desires so much. and fearlessness. To know not for the sake of knowledge itself, but exactly as much as is necessary to preserve the bright serenity of the spirit - this is the goal and task of philosophy, according to Epicurus.

Epicureanism is a variety of atomistic philosophy, one of the most influential schools of Hellenistic philosophy. As a philosophical doctrine, Epicureanism is characterized by a mechanistic view of the world, materialistic atomism, the denial of teleology and the immortality of the soul, ethical individualism and eudemonism; has a strong practical focus. According to the Epicureans, the mission of philosophy is akin to healing: its goal is to heal the soul from fears and suffering caused by false opinions and absurd desires, and to teach a person a blissful life, the beginning and end of which they consider pleasure.

The school of Epicureanism owes its name to its founder, Epicurus, whose philosophical system underlies the ideological content and theoretical justification of the doctrine. Epicurus (341-270 BC) was born on the island of Samos and was an Athenian by birth. In 306 BC. e. he came to Athens and founded a school called the "Garden of Epicurus", hence the name of the Epicureans: "philosophers of the Garden." The school was a community of like-minded friends living in accordance with the principles of the philosophical teachings of Epicurus. There was an inscription on the gates of the school: “Guest, you will be fine here; here pleasure is the highest good, ”and at the entrance stood a jug of water and a bread cake.

Women and slaves were admitted to the school, which was rather unusual at the time. Epicurus was in poor health. He only called for pleasures in words, but in fact he ate mainly bread and water, and considered cheese and wine to be a rare luxury. Epicurus urged a person to measure the pleasure that he receives, with the possible consequences. “Death has nothing to do with us when we are alive, there is no death yet, when it comes, then we are no longer there,” the philosopher argued. The philosopher died of a kidney stone. He died in the following way: he lay down in a copper bath with hot water, asked for undiluted wine, drank it, wished his friends not to forget his ideas, and then died.

He even managed to die with bliss in accordance with his principles.

The basis of the Epicurean union was loyalty to the teachings of Epicurus and reverence for his personality. The school practiced a number of philosophical exercises that were an integral part of the Epicurean way of life: conversations, analysis of one's actions, reading the treatises of Epicurus, memorizing the main provisions of the doctrine, for example, the “fourfold medicine”:

Don't be afraid of the gods

should not be afraid of death,

the good is easily achievable,

evil is easily tolerated.

The personality of Epicurus played a paramount role in the school, acting as the embodiment of wisdom and a role model. He himself established the principle for his students: "Do everything as if Epicurus is looking at you." Apparently, therefore, his images could be found everywhere in the school: on clay and wooden tablets, and even on rings. Although, it is worth noting that, unlike Pythagoras, he was never deified by his followers.

Epicurus divided philosophy into physics (the doctrine of nature), canon (the doctrine of knowledge, in which he adhered to sensationalism) and ethics . In physics, he followed the atomistics of Democritus, he managed to improve the doctrine of Democritus about atoms, developing it in two directions. First of all, Epicurus discovered the following problem: according to Democritus, atoms, moving in the void and not experiencing any of its resistance, must move at the same speed. But Epicurus, in turn, notices that if the atoms were of equal speed, then they would fly down in a straight line and, therefore, could not collide with each other. Therefore, no bodies could be formed. According to Epicurus, it is necessary that the atoms in their fall could, at least a little and from time to time, deviate from a straight line. Only then will atoms be able to interact with each other and, as a result, various bodies will be formed. In addition, according to Epicurus, this deviation must be arbitrary, unpredictable. If Democritus was a supporter of fatalism and connected the inevitability and necessity of everything that happens in the world with the immutable laws of the movement of atoms, then Epicurus, based on the partly arbitrary movement of atoms, denied such predestination. The absence of absolute predestination is important for the justification of ethics, which was the goal of Epicurus. After all, if the whole world is strictly determined, then a person is actually deprived of free will and any choice whatsoever. All human life appears as the actions of some automaton, and human freedom, choice, moral responsibility can be nothing more than illusions. With his doctrine of the arbitrary deviation of atoms, Epicurus not only anticipated the probabilistic picture of the world of modern science, but also outlined the possibilities of combining natural determinism with human freedom.

Recognizing the atomistic theory of the plurality of worlds, Epicurus actually abandoned the idea of the gods as the founders of the universe. In his opinion, the gods live in the inter-world space, without influencing the fate of people. The main place in the teachings of Epicurus was occupied by ethical teaching. Approving the material principle in the essence of the human personality, Epicurus created a kind of the doctrine of pleasure as the goal of life. Pleasure consists in maintaining peace of mind, satisfying natural and necessary needs, and leads first to the achievement of peace of mind ("ataraxia"), and then to happiness ("eudaimonia"). True pleasure, according to Epicurus, is "the absence of bodily suffering." Epicurus insisted on the satisfaction of natural and precisely necessary needs, that is, those associated with the preservation of life.

A person who has comprehended the truth learns to separate the necessary needs from the superfluous and voluntarily refuse them. The attainment of complete happiness is hindered by the fears that dominate him, which must be overcome. Epicurus identified three types of fear:

— Fear of celestial phenomena. This fear is overcome by the knowledge of atomistic physics, cosmology and astronomy, which provide a completely logical explanation for all natural phenomena.

- Fear of the gods. Overcoming this fear consisted in recognizing the fact that the gods themselves are in constant bliss and are not going to interfere in the lives of people in any way.

- Fear of death. Being a supporter of materialistic philosophy, Epicurus argued the meaninglessness of this fear, because there is no afterlife, the human soul itself, being material, is mortal like the body, which means there is no need to torment yourself with thoughts about what will happen after death.

The sage should be friendly to the state and religion, but with restraint. Epicurus highly valued the joys of private life and friendship, he called for a conscious rejection of public life. The motto of the Epicureans was the words: "Live unnoticed!".

After the closure of the "Garden of Epicurus" in the 1st century BC. in Athens, Epicurean circles continued to exist in Italy.

Quite early, Epicureanism penetrated Roman soil. In the II century BC. Gaius Anafinius expounds the teachings of Epicurus in Latin. And in the 1st century BC. in the vicinity of Naples, the Epicurean school of Siron and Philodemus arose, which became the main center of culture and education in Italy during the decline of the republican institutions of Rome. Philodema's estate gathers the flower of educated Roman society, including the famous Roman poets Virgil and Horace.

Epicureanism is gaining a lot of supporters and followers among the Romans. Among them, the most prominent and famous is Titus Lucretius Car, whose poem "On the Nature of Things" played a huge role in the spread of Epicureanism. In the conditions of civil wars and social upheavals, Lucretius Carus is looking in the philosophy of Epicurus for a way to achieve serenity and equanimity of spirit. According to Lucretius, the main enemies of human happiness are the fear of the underworld, the fear of afterlife retribution and the fear of the intervention of the gods in people's lives, generated by ignorance about the true nature of man and his place in the world. In overcoming them, Lucretius sees the main task of his poem, which has become a kind of encyclopedia of Epicureanism.

At the end of the 2nd century AD. By order of the Epicurean Diogenes, giant inscriptions were carved in the city of Enoanda in Asia Minor in order to acquaint fellow citizens with the teachings of Epicurus.

At the same time, in Imperial Rome, Epicureanism quickly degenerated into primitive hedonism, justifying and praising the pursuit of any sensual pleasures.

Hedonandgp(from the Greek hedone - pleasure), an ethical position that affirms pleasure as the highest good and criterion of human behavior and reduces to it the whole variety of moral requirements. The desire for pleasure in hedonism is considered as the main driving principle of a person, embedded in him by nature and predetermining all his actions. In ancient Greece, one of the first representatives of hedonism in ethics was the founder of the Cyrenian school, Aristippus, who saw the highest good in achieving sensual pleasure. Aristippus (435-355 BC) was from the city of Cyrene, a Greek polis on the African coast in Libya. He knew how to adapt to any person, playing his role in accordance with the situation. Aristippus considered sensual pleasure the goal of life and sought all the pleasures available to him. Although at the same time a reservation was made that pleasures should be reasonable and that one should not be a slave to pleasure, nevertheless the Cyrenaics were both slaves of pleasures and slaves of those on whom these pleasures depended.

Philosophy of Epicurus

The main question for them is what is human bliss? The hedonism they preach deciphers the concept of goodness, the content of which is pleasure, regardless of the occasion. Virtue in Aristippus is identified with the ability to enjoy. The value of science lies in the fact that it prepares a person for true pleasure.

Ultimate happiness is attained only by judicious self-control. The Cyrenaics sought to isolate the individual from the general world dynamics and sought this isolation in domination over pleasure.

Everything that gives pleasure is good, but everything that deprives it is bad, and even more so brings suffering. Hedonism is vulnerable in that it easily turns from preaching the joy of life to preaching death.

Thus, the philosophy of Epicurus can be recognized as ascetic, because he insisted on the maximum limitation of the list of necessary needs, the satisfaction of which makes it possible to achieve bliss, while in hedonism the desire for pleasure is considered as the main driving principle of a person, inherent in him by nature and predetermining all of his actions.

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Outstanding representatives of Epicureanism are Epicurus (341-270 BC) and Lucretius Carus (c. 99-55 BC). This philosophical direction belongs to the turn of the old and new eras. The Epicureans were interested in issues of dispensation, comfort of the individual in the complex historical context of that time.

Epicurus developed ideas of atomism. According to Epicurus, only bodies in space exist in the universe. They are directly perceived by the senses, and the presence of empty space between bodies follows from the fact that otherwise movement would be impossible. Epicurus put forward an idea that differs sharply from the interpretation of atoms by Democritus. This is the idea of the "deflection" of atoms, when the atoms move in a "coherent stream". According to Democritus, the world is formed as a result of the mutual "impact" and "bouncing" of atoms. But the mere gravity of the atoms contradicts the concept of Epicurus and does not allow explaining the independence of each atom: in this case, according to Lucretius, the atoms would fall like raindrops into an empty abyss. If we follow Democritus, the undivided dominance of necessity in the world of atoms, being consistently extended to the atoms of the soul, will make it impossible to admit the freedom of the will of man. Epicurus solves the problem this way: he endows atoms with the ability of spontaneous deflection, which he considers by analogy with the internal volitional act of a person. It turns out that “free will” is inherent in atoms, which determines the “indispensable deviation”. Therefore, atoms are able to describe different curves, begin to touch and touch each other, intertwine and unwind, resulting in the emergence of the world. This idea made it possible for Epicurus to avoid the idea of fatalism. Cicero is right in saying that Epicurus could not have avoided Doom otherwise than with the help of the theory of atomic spontaneity. Plutarch notes that the spontaneity of atomic deviation is what is a case. From this, Epicurus draws the following conclusion: “There is no need for necessity!” Thus, Epicurus for the first time in the history of philosophical thought put forward the idea of the objectivity of chance.

According to Epicurus, life and death are equally not terrible for the sage: “As long as we exist, there is no death; when death is, we are no more.” Life is the greatest pleasure. Just the way it is, with a beginning and an end.

Describing the spiritual world of man, Epicurus recognized that he had a soul. He characterized it as follows: there is nothing finer or more reliable than this essence (soul), and it consists of the smallest and smoothest elements. The soul was conceived by Epicurus as the principle of the integrity of individual elements of the spiritual world of the individual: feelings, sensations, thoughts and will, as the principle of eternal and flawless existence.

Knowledge, according to Epicurus, it begins with sensory experience, but the science of knowledge has as its beginning, first of all, the analysis of words and the establishment of precise terminology, i.e. sensory experience acquired by a person must be comprehended and processed in the form of certain terminologically fixed semantic structures. In itself, sensory sensation, not raised to the level of thought, is not yet true knowledge. Without this, only sensory impressions will flash before us in a continuous stream, and this is just continuous fluidity.

Main ethical principle Epicureans is pleasure - the principle of hedonism. At the same time, the pleasures preached by the Epicurean are distinguished by an extremely noble, calm, balanced and often contemplative character. The desire for pleasure is the original principle of choice or avoidance. According to Epicurus, if a person's feelings are taken away, then nothing will remain.

The philosophy of Epicurus - briefly.

Unlike those who preached the principle of “delight of the minute”, and “there, what will be, that will be!” Epicurus wants constant, even and never-ending bliss. The pleasure of the sage “splashes in his soul like a calm sea on firm shores” of reliability. The limit of pleasure and bliss is to get rid of suffering! According to Epicurus, one cannot live pleasantly without living reasonably, morally and justly, and, conversely, one cannot live reasonably, morally and justly without living pleasantly!

Epicurus preached piety, worship of God: "the wise man must kneel before the gods." He wrote: “God is an immortal and blissful being, as the general idea of God was inscribed (in the mind of man), and does not ascribe to him anything alien to his immortality or inconsistent with his bliss; but imagines everything about God that can preserve his bliss, combined with immortality. Yes, gods exist: knowing them is an obvious fact. But they are not what the crowd imagines them to be, because the crowd does not permanently retain their idea of them.

Lucretius Kar, the Roman poet, philosopher and educator, one of the outstanding Epicureans, like Epicurus, does not deny the existence of gods, consisting of the finest atoms and residing in interworld spaces in blissful peace. In his poem “On the Nature of Things”, Lucretius gracefully, in a poetic form, depicts a light and subtle, always moving picture of the impact that atoms have on our consciousness through the expiration of special “eidols”, as a result of which sensations and all states of consciousness arise. It is very curious that the atoms in Lucretius are not quite the same as in Epicurus: they are not the limit of divisibility, but a kind of creative principles from which a specific thing is created with its entire structure, i.e. atoms are the material for nature, which presupposes some creative principle outside of them. There are no allusions to the self-activity of matter in the poem. Lucretius sees this creative principle either in the progenitor-Venus, or in the mistress-Earth, or in the creative nature - nature. A.F. Losev writes: “If we are talking about the natural philosophical mythology of Lucretius and call it a kind of religion, then let the reader not get confused here in three pines: the natural philosophical mythology of Lucretius ... has absolutely nothing in common with the traditional mythology that Lucretius refutes.”

According to Losev, the independence of Lucretius as a philosopher is deeply revealed in an episode in the history of human culture, which is the main content of the 5th book of the poem. Having taken from the Epicurean tradition a negative assessment of those improvements in the material environment of life, which, without ultimately increasing the amount of pleasure people receive, serve as a new object of acquisitiveness, Lucretius concludes Book 5 not with the Epicurean morality of self-restraint, but with praise to the human mind, which masters the heights of knowledge and art. .

In conclusion, it should be said that we are accustomed to interpret Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius and others only as materialists and atheists. Following the brilliant connoisseur of ancient philosophy and my close friend A.F. Losev, I adhere to the point of view according to which ancient philosophy did not know materialism in the European sense of the word at all. It suffices to point out already that both Epicurus and Lucretius most unequivocally recognize the existence of the gods.

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Ethics is included as the main section, logic and physics. Logic and physics are means of solving ethical problems.

Epicurus considered the main task of philosophy to be the rationale for the path that can lead a person to happiness in life. In order for a person to achieve happiness, it is necessary:

1) Relieve a person of fear that interferes with a happy life

a. Fear of the elemental forces of nature (Epicurus was a follower of the materialistic atomistic teachings of Democritus, just like Democritus, Epicurus recognized the existence of objective laws and the universal causal relationship of nature. In nature, everything is determined by objective causal relationships, in nature there is nothing supernatural, mysterious. A person experiences fear only because he had not yet known any natural phenomena.Epicurus believed that, in principle, any natural phenomena are accessible to human knowledge and knowledge of these phenomena is carried out on the basis of their sensual perception. Phenomena affect the human senses - there are stable sensations that are fixed in the memory and on the basis of this, concepts arise. That. Unlike Plato, Aristotle, who were rationalists, Epicurus adhered to a different concept of knowledge, which is called SENSUALISM. The bottom line: all knowledge comes from the senses, there is nothing in the mind that was previously absent from the senses. Having the ability and opportunity to know any natural phenomena, a person is able to free himself from fear of the forces of nature.)

b. Fear of the gods (The universe is based on many atoms, the combinations of which give rise to diverse worlds. There are gods on the borders between worlds. Gods do not exist in our world, so a person has no reason to be afraid of them.)

c. Fear of death (Life and death never coincide. When a person is alive, there is no death, when death occurs, there is no human soul. Based on the atomistic teaching, Epicurus assumed that both the soul and body decay into atoms. Therefore, it makes no sense for a person to experience fear of with which his soul will not meet.)

2) Man, as a free rational being, must be guided by certain life principles, which will allow him to achieve happiness.

Happiness, according to Epicurus, is a state of a person in which he experiences pleasure, and not short-term, but long-term, stable.

Epicurus believed that various kinds of short-term pleasures, sensual pleasures, are short-term pleasures. For pleasure to be sustainable, a person must have a healthy body and a serenely calm soul. In order to have them, a person must follow the principle of moderation. Also, like Aristotle, everything should be moderate, proportionate, you should act in accordance with the rule of the "golden mean".

Truly free is the person who does not follow his passions, his inclinations, sensual pleasures, who is not their slave, who subjugates these passions and controls them, and thus gains freedom and peace of mind. Such a person is a sage (a person who has achieved control of his soul and will). Such a state was designated by the concept of ATARAXIA.

A follower of Epicurus was Lucretius Carus.

In the Hellenistic period, the doctrine of the Stoics became widespread.

STOIC DOCTRINE (STOICISM)

Stoicism arose in the 3rd century BC. and existed until the 3rd century. Founder - Zeno of Crete.

They also became widespread in ancient Roman philosophy (Seneca).

Key Ideas:

Includes ethics, logic and physics. Unlike Epicurus, the Stoics believed that there was one and only world. Unlike the teachings of atomism, the Stoics denied the existence of emptiness, insisted that the world is permeated by some continuous material substance (PNEUMA). It is pneuma that permeates the whole world, determines its integrity, unity and is an active driving principle that determines the causality and regularity of the world. Being a material substance, it is the bearer of the world mind, which determines the expediency of the world, the purpose of all the diverse phenomena and events taking place in the world. That. from the point of view of the Stoics in the world there is a universal rigid causality of all events, their predestination and expediency. Their predestination and expediency manifests itself as fate, as fate, as inevitability.

The central issue of Stoic ethics was the problem of human freedom. The essence of the problem is that, on the one hand, everything in the world is predetermined, an inexorable fate, fate, on the other hand, a person has consciousness, goals, will and strives to realize these goals. How to combine the will of the goal with the inevitability, fate?

The Stoics proposed their own concept of freedom: a person has a mind, which is a particle of the world mind and therefore is able to know the reason, pattern, necessity that prevails in the world around. In the understanding of knowledge, the Stoics, like the Epicureans, were sensualists.

If a person realizes, realizes that there is an inevitability, necessity, fate, and in accordance with this seeks to know this objective regularity and necessity and voluntarily be guided in their actions, goals, aspirations by this need, then in this case it will free. In other words, from the point of view of the Stoics, freedom is recognized necessity and voluntary adherence to it in one's actions. Seneca wrote: fate leads the wise man, the fool is pulled by the lasso.

From the point of view of the Stoics, a sage is one who has accepted fate, inevitability and voluntarily organized his life in accordance with it, who does not follow vain passions, impulses, and the fulfillment of desires. Such a sage gains peace of mind. This state is APATHY.

THEME #3. Western European Philosophy of the Middle Ages (3rd century - 14th)

Cultural and historical conditions for the development of the philosophy of the Middle Ages. Her characteristic features.

Since the end of the 2nd century, Christianity, the Christian Church, has become an increasingly significant factor in the social life of Western Europe. At the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd centuries, major Christian theologians appeared who, in their teachings, sought to justify, substantiate, and defend the Christian worldview. Therefore, this period (2-3 centuries) in the history of Christian philosophy is called APOLOGETICS (defence). During this period, before Christianity, before the backgammon church with its former tasks (the fight against paganism, Judaism, against the oppression of the Roman authorities), a new task arises - propaganda, the spread of Christian doctrine. In order to successfully solve this problem, it was important to give the Christian worldview the appearance of a systematized, logically coherent, well-reasoned doctrine, i.e. it was necessary to rationalize the Christian worldview, and for this the following methods and means of realization are needed. In this regard, the leaders of Christianity drew attention to ancient philosophy as a means for rationalization. In the works of theologians of this period (end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd centuries), the question of the relationship between the Christian faith and philosophy, faith and reason, faith and knowledge is raised.

During this period, there are also 2 opposite approaches to solving this issue. One point of view, represented by Clement of Alexandria and Origen. In their teachings, the point of view was substantiated, according to which philosophy should be harmoniously combined with Christian doctrine. The role of philosophy is to logically explain, reasonably interpret, with the help of reason to clarify religious truths. Clement wrote that Christianity is the unity of ancient philosophy and Christianity.

Second point of view.

Tertullian argued that the Christian faith is suprarational. It contains such divine truths that, in principle, are not accessible to the human mind. Therefore, there is no use for philosophy. "I believe, because it's absurd." However, over time, 1 point of view prevails and there is an increasing convergence of philosophy and the Christian faith. More and more philosophy becomes dependent on faith. Philosophy becomes the "servant" of faith.

PATRISTICS (late 3rd - 12th centuries)

(from Latin "patre" - "father")

The central figure in this period of development was St. Aurelius Augustine. He created the first religious and philosophical doctrine, which was canonized by the Catholic Church and until the 13th century. Augustine's ideas were considered criterion the truth of any philosophical doctrine. In the philosophy of Augustine, the central problems were formulated, which were developed up to the 14th century.

1. The problem of being, God and the world he created

2. The problem of the correlation of faith and knowledge (religion and philosophy)

3. The problem of man.

It is in the teachings of Augustine that medieval religious philosophy also acquires those typical features that are characteristic of it at all subsequent stages of its development. We can name them as:

1) A new type of philosophical world outlook was formed, which was called THEOCENTRISM (“theo” - “god”). It was based on the basic principles of Christian ideology:

a. The principle of monotheism (monotheism)

b. The principle of creationism (the world was created by God from nothing)

c. The principle of divine revelation (according to it, absolutely true knowledge is achievable only through divine revelation. This has already predetermined the approach to the interpretation of faith and knowledge)

The principle of theocentrism was a philosophical worldview. It was about the relationship of man to himself and the world around him. First of all, it was expressed in the interpretation of human freedom.

2) Retrospectiveness and traditionalism. The bottom line is that the most true positions in religious philosophy were those that came from the earliest teachings of the holy fathers and that wore the traditional, i.e. immutable, dogmatic character.

3) Medieval philosophy was edifying. All philosophers were either teachers in religious schools or preachers.

THE PROBLEM OF BEING, GOD AND THE WORLD CREATED BY HIM

This problem has received a certain reduction (transformation) into a philosophical interpretation, and in philosophy this problem has been called the “problem of universals”. Essence: the problem of universals is the problem of the correlation of general ideas in the mind of God and individual sensually perceived things of the world created by man. The problem of the relationship between the general and the individual received opposite solutions in medieval philosophy:

Realism: primary general and secondary individual

· Nominalism: single sensually perceived things of the existing world are primary and general ideas in the human mind that have arisen in the process of cognition are secondary.

THE MAIN PROBLEMS OF CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY were posed and analyzed in a certain way in the teachings of Aurelius Augustine. Those ideas that he expressed were recognized as the official ideas of the church.

Of paramount importance in the teachings of Augustine was given to the problem of the correlation of faith and logical knowledge, and in essence religion and philosophy. Faith is a kind of knowledge, and therefore there is no contradiction between faith and logical knowledge. There is a certain difference between them: faith is achieved through divine revelation and it expresses true knowledge about the essence of the world created by God. Logical knowledge is achieved on the basis of human cognitive abilities, which are limited, imperfect, and therefore errors in such knowledge are possible. Moreover, logical knowledge is directed to the world of sensually perceived things, and these things are imperfect and this imperfection is connected with the material that is in these things.

Hence, from the point of view of Augustine, the correlation of faith and logical knowledge follows: faith is higher, more perfect than logical knowledge, therefore logical knowledge must be commensurate with the statements of faith, must be controlled by faith, must correspond to the dogmas of faith. Moreover, statements of faith are possible which are in principle supramental, they cannot be comprehended by the human mind, but they must be accepted.

"I believe in order to understand." It is faith that gives understanding, interpretation of what is achieved by reason. That. in the teachings of Augustine, in essence, the principle was substantiated submission of logical knowledge to faith. Such a view of the relationship between faith and knowledge in the teachings of Augustine was closely connected with the corresponding interpretation of universals. The problem of universals is an expression in philosophical terms of the problem of the existence of God and the world he created, i.e. how God creates the world, how the world, as a creation of God, is connected with it. Augustine proceeded from the fact that there are ideas in the mind of God - those general, unchanging, perfect forms, in accordance with which God creates single sensible things.

General Ideas in the Mind of God è Singular Things

It is clear that the ideological prerequisite for such an understanding of the creation of the world by God is the doctrine of the ideas of Plato.

In the teachings of Augustine, just as in the Christian religion, God creates things out of nothing; matter is the result of God's creation.

The solution to the problem of universals is realism (in the philosophy of Augustine).

(OBJECTIVE IDEALISM)

Until the 11th-12th centuries, the teachings of Augustine were dominant in understanding the relationship between faith and knowledge, in solving the problem of universals. The most significant teaching in religious philosophy was that of ANSELM OF CANTERBURY.

For the sequence of the conduct, he received the name of the second Augustine.

A significant place in the 12th century was occupied by the teachings of Pierre Abelard. Wrote a number of works. The most significant: "Yes and no", "Know thyself". The ideas were largely based on the ideas of Socrates and contemporaries called Abelard the Socrates of the Middle Ages. A characteristic idea in the teaching was that he paid special attention to the need for logic and dialectics in the presentation of the Christian worldview. Based on an analysis of the teachings of the holy fathers, he sought to show that there is a certain discrepancy in the interpretation of various theological issues in them. That is why a logical analysis of the ideas of Christianity is needed, which would allow a more consistent, consistent exposition of the Christian teaching. Speaking about the relationship between faith and knowledge, Abelard emphasized that the human mind is divine in its origin, and therefore the logical truths achieved by the mind are as true as faith. And therefore there is no reason to talk about the subordination of reason, logical knowledge to faith, it is necessary to use the dialectical, logical abilities of the mind.

Abelard's position in solving the problem of universals was also different. Abelard proceeded from the fact that the essence of things lies in the very individual sensually perceived things and their knowledge through reason leads to the formation of concepts that are the common that exists in the human mind.

Single sensible things è cognition è The general in the mind of man

Nominalism

Since the general exists in the form of concepts, concepts in the human mind, Abelard's point of view was called CONCEPTUALISM.

In the 12th-13th centuries, significant socio-economic and cultural changes took place in the life of Western Europe. There is a development of medieval cities, their certain enlargement, associated with the development of handicrafts, trade, population growth in cities, at the same time there is an increase in secular power. The development of various activities related to the life of cities led to an objective need for the development of logical knowledge, the acquisition of various subject knowledge, on the basis of which it would be possible to develop handicraft activities, activities related to the management of urban life, the solution of legal issues, etc. .

The increase in the importance, necessity, significance of subject knowledge objectively led to a change in the status of logical knowledge, and therefore sharpened and posed in a new way the question of the relationship between faith and knowledge. Knowledge acquired an independent value.

Another important point was connected with this: the development of various types of activities made the dissemination of knowledge, teaching people this knowledge, more relevant. The system of secular education is being formed and developed in Western Europe.

Schools of Western Europe appear earlier (7th-8th centuries). However, these schools were attached to monasteries, episcopal schools, and their purpose was to train clergy. The first university arises in the 9th century in Italy.

The emergence of the University of Paris in 1200.

The development of cultural ties between Western European cities contributed to the penetration into Western Europe and European universities of the ideas of the thinkers of medieval Arab philosophy. In the Middle Ages, the ideas of Aristotle until the 13th century were little known in Western Europe. However, the ideas of Aristotle gained significant distribution in the Arab-Muslim philosophy.

IBN-SINA (AVICENNA)

IBN-RUSHD (AVERROES). Born and lived in Spain. Ideas are intensively penetrating universities and schools, and in connection with this, a number of heresies arise that actively oppose church teachings.

Aristotle's ideas were developed, connected with the recognition of the eternity of matter, with an understanding of God and his role as a philosophical God. With this understanding, God exists as a world mind, which determines the laws of nature, the world order, but does not directly participate in managing the events of the world.

In the teachings of Averroes, based on such an understanding of God, it followed that a person as an individual cannot communicate with God at all, is indifferent to God, and there can be no prayerful communication.

The idea of repentance and other fundamental provisions of Christianity were undermined.

The Dominican Order and the Papal Inquisition emerge.

The main teachings of THOMAS AQINA (1225 - 1274)

Dominican monk, received the appropriate religious education in Italy. Aquinas considered the main goal of his teaching to be the generalization, systematization of the basic ideas of religious philosophy and, on this basis, the adaptation of Aristotle's ideas to the needs, dogmas of the Christian worldview.

Works: "The sum of philosophy", "The sum of theology" In these works, he uses a special method, which was subsequently widely used in philosophy. Essence: sequentially analyze various ideas on this issue, then a new idea is put forward, then it is substantiated, it is concluded that old ideas are either included in the new one or are denied.

After his death, Aquinas was canonized and after canonization he was given the name "Subtle Doctor".

The central issues are the same. The ratio of faith and knowledge (religion and philosophy).

Aquinas proceeded from the fact that both faith and reason in their knowledge are directed to the world created by God. In other words, the subject of faith (religion) and reason (philosophy, scientific knowledge) is one, common - the world created by God. The difference is only in the methods by which faith and logical knowledge are achieved: faith is achieved through divine revelation, and philosophical, scientific knowledge through sensory perception and logical thinking. Like Aristotle, he believed that there is a world of individual things, in which the essence already contains through the sensory perception of things, and then the logical processing of sensory knowledge, knowledge of the essence arises, expressed in the form of concepts. Since the subject of faith and logical knowledge is the same, there is a certain correspondence or harmony between them: faith does not dominate reason and knowledge, but knowledge does not contradict faith either.

That. in the teachings of Aquinas, a new principle of the correlation of faith and knowledge is substantiated: the principle of harmony of faith and knowledge. That. the sharpness of the contradiction between faith and knowledge is removed. The problem of universals, which is based on the ideas of Aristotle, is also solved in the teaching of Aquinas accordingly. The common exists in various forms:

the general as ideas in the mind of God—single things of the sensuously perceived world (the general as the essence of these things—knowledge—the general in concepts

In the 13th-14th centuries, various interpretations of religious doctrine were intensified in the teachings of religious philosophers, in connection with which, already in the bosom of religious philosophy itself, a new approach appeared in the interpretation of the relationship between faith and knowledge. This new approach is associated with the teachings of 2 Franciscan friars: DUNSA SCOTS (1266-1308) and WILLIAM OCCAMS (1300-1350). The essence of their ideas was that religious faith and logical knowledge differ not only in method, but also by subject: religious faith has the being of God as its object, and faith is acquired through divine revelation. Logical knowledge has as its subject the world of single sensuously perceived things and they cognize through sensory perception and methods of logical thinking. Since faith and logical knowledge are different both in subject and in method, they lead to two different truths, which are not correlated in any way, are not correlated. As a result, a new principle of correlation of faith and knowledge was formulated: the principle of " dual truth».

In accordance with this understanding of faith and knowledge, the problem of universals was also solved:

In the mind of God there are no absolute immutable standard ideas. God has thoughts, just like man, which are mobile, fluid, changeable. Therefore, God creates the world not in accordance with ideas, standards, but in accordance with good will. Therefore, for cognition, there really exists a world of individual things.

The world of individual things è knowledge è concepts in which the general is expressed - the essence of things

Nominalism.

In the understanding of the general, Scotus and Ockham had a difference: in the teachings of Scotus, the general exists in single things and is known in them, in the teachings of Akkam, the general is the name of some groups of things that a person introduces for his own convenience (TERMINISM).

The problem of man in medieval philosophy.

The main idea is the idea of the creation of man by God. Man is the crown of nature, he is the image and likeness of God. Man is the unity of soul and body, although the body and soul are different substances: the body is material, mortal passions are characteristic of it. The soul is spiritual and immortal, but not eternal. As the soul so the body is divine in its creation. A person should take care of both the soul and the body.

Between the body, possessing passions, and the soul, there are contradictions that can lead to evil, the fall.

Special attention to 2 aspects:

1. The problem of evil. The essence of the problem of evil was that, on the one hand, the world was created by God, and God is absolute goodness, a source of grace. But in the world created by God, there is evil. In an effort to explain, it was said: evil is natural. The reason is the imperfection of nature, which is burdened materially, it is the material that makes nature imperfect. TK God cannot create the ideal, as he himself, therefore, there is no perfect good in nature.

natural evil relatively. If good is absolute, since it has its own basis (God), then evil is a lack of perfection, goodness.

Moral Evil- the source is the distorted will of a person. God is the source of goodness, man is godlike in his actions and, therefore, was created to do good. However, the power of original sin perverted the god-like will of man, and man began to do evil.