The Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics
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page 34
STATE OF CULTURE IN GREECE.
14
Chap,
important back-current of Oriental
run,
tlionglit,
'
T
;
traces
of which
centuries later.
appear in
its
philosophy a few
By the side of the old famed centres
of learning in the mother country of Hellas, new
centres arose, suited by position, inhabitants, and
peculiar circumstances to unite the culture of East
and West, and to fuse into one homogeneous mass the
intellectual forces of different races.
by the number of emigrants
Whilst Hellas,
who left her shores to
Asia and Egypt, was losing her populaand the Greeks in their ancestral homes were
settle in
tion
being ousted by foreigners, they were gaining the
most extensive intellectual conquests at the time
over the very nations by and through whom they had
been oppressed.
page 35
POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY.
15
CHAPTER II.
CHARACTER AND CHIEF FEATURES OF THE POSTARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY.
! The circumstances which have been briefly sketched
Chap.
II.
in the preceding chapter are of the greatest import-
ance
m their bearing on the character of the post- ^- Covscs
L Aristotelian philosophy.
i
(jreek
philosophy,
like
t/iepost-
Greek art, is the offspring of Greek political indeIn the whirl of public life every one is
penJence.
so^;/iy.
thrown on himself and his own resources.
(l) Politic
Thereby,
^^^^^^/v .
and by the emulation begotten of unlimited competition for all the
/•
good things of life, the Greek had
learned to make full use of his intellect.
ness of his dignity
Conscious-
- which a Greek associated
far
closely than we do with the privilege of
citizenship - and independence of the necessity of
more
struggliug for daily food, had taught him independence of mind, and enabled him to devote himself to
V the pursuit of knowledge without any ulterior aim.^ -
With
the
mental
remedy.
decline
powers
of
of
the
political
independence thej
broken pastij
nation were
No longer borne up by a powerful esp-ii
'
Conf Arigt. Metaph. I. 2, 282 b, 19.
.
page 36
STATE OF CULTURE IN GREECE.
16
Chap.
de
"
corps,
the
weaned from the habit
of
working fcr
common
weal, the majority gave themselvf s
to the petty interests of private life and per-
sonal
affairs.
Even the
better
disposed were too
fup
much occupied in contending against the low tone
and corruption of their times, to be able to devote
themselves in moments of relaxation to independent
What could be expected in such an
which
age
preceded the rise of the Stoic
and Epicurean systems, but that philosophy would
become practical itself, if indeed it were studied
^j speculation.
as that
"^
.^
at all ?
An age like that did not require theoretical
I
/
1
knowledge, but
streno'thening.
O
CD
it did require moral
bracing and
If these were not to be had from
popular religion in its then state, was it matter for
wonder that philosophy should be looked to to supply
the deficiency, seeing that in all cultivated circles
had already taken the place of religion ?
^ philosophy
If
we ask
in
what form, and
in
what form only,
philosophy could supply the deficiency under the
then circumstances, the answer is not far to seek.
There was little room for creative effort, plenty
sustained endurance
\
;
for
little for activity without, plenty
for activity within ; little room for public
of room for private life.
life,
plenty
So utterly hopeless had the
public state of Greece become, that even the few who
to provide a remedy could
made it their business
only gain for themselves the honour of martyrdom.
As matters stood, the only course open for the bestiutentioned was to withdraw entirely within them-
page 37
CAUSES OF POST-ARISTOTELIAN THILOSOPHY.
sifjves, to
17
Chap.
entrencli themselves within the safe barriers
o\< their inner life against
'
outward misfortunes, and
to make happiness dependent entirely
on their own
inward state.
Epicurean self-contenfnu-nt, and
Sceptic imperturbability, were the doctrines which
suited the political helplessness of the age, and they
Stoi c
apatlry
,
were therefore the doctrines which met with the most
There was yet another which
general acceptance.
suited
it
-
viz.,
I
the sinking of national distinctions
common humanity, the severance
in the feeling of a
of morals from politics which characterises the philo-
sophy of the Alexandrian and Roman period.. The
which kept nations apart had been swept
barriers
away, together with their national independence
East and West, Greeks and barbarians, were united
:
in large empires, brought into CDmmunication ; nd
forced into comparison with one another in matters
\
the most important.
Philosophy declared that all
men are of one blood and are equally privileged
citizens of one empii'e, that morality re.^ts on the
man to man, and is independent of
and
position in the state but in so doing
nationality
it
only explicitly stated a truth which was partly
relation
of
;
realised and partly implied in actual life.
The veiy course which philosophy itself had
taken during the previous century and a half had
prepared the way for the turn which now set in.
Socrates and the Sophists, in different ways no doubt,
had each devoted themselves to the practical side of
life ;
and thus the Cynic School was the precursor
c
(2) I.itelcavsej.
page 38
STATE OF CULTURE IN GREECE.
78
Ckap.
These
two Schools are, however, only of minor importance
of Stoicism, the Cyrenaic of EiDicureanisra.
./
II
"
in the general progress of philosophy in the fourth
century, and sophistry by the close of the same cenSocrates, it is
tuiy was already a thing of the past,
true,
would have nothing to do with plwsical en-
quiries ; yet he felt the desire for knowledge far too
keenly to bear comparison with the post-Aristotelian
philosophers.
Proposing to concern himself only with
subjects which were of practical use in life, he yet
put forth a theory of knowledge which involved a
reform quite as
much of speculative as of practical
philosophy, and that reform was accomplished on a
grand scale by Plato and Aristotle.
However little Greek philosophy as a whole deve-
loped during the fourth century along the lines of
its subsequent expansion, still the speculations of
Plato and Ai'istotle necessarily helped to prepare for
the
'yL.
coming charg.?.
The antagonism between the
ideal and phenomeral worlds which Plato set up, and
Aristotle vainly attempted to bridge over, leads ulti-
mately to a contrast between the outer and the inner
life, between thought and the object of thought.
The generic conceptions or forms, which Plato and
Aristotle regard as most truly real, are, after all,
fabrications of the human mind.
The conception of
reason, even in its expanded form as the divine
Reason, or reason of the world, is an idea formed by
And what is really
meant by identifying form in itself with what is, an&
matter with what is jMSsible, or even (as Plato does)
abstraction from the inner life.
page 39
rOST-AlilSTOrELIAN PHILOSOPHY.
19
Chap.
with what is not, or by placing God outside of and in
contrast to the world, but the admission that man
finds
in
his
own mind
a
higher and more
\
real
existence than any which he finds outside of it, and
what is truly divine and unlimited must be in
the mind as an idea, apart from and independent of
that
all
in
Plato and Aristotle
impressions from without ?
declared that reason constitutes the real
fact
- ason com ing from above an d
with the body, but in
superior
in time - and that man's
the world of sense and
essence of
man
re
to
itself
iTniting itself
life
away from
highest activity
external things, and meditating only on the inner
world of ideas. It was only one step further in the
thought, turned
is
all
same direction for the post-Aristotelian philosophy
;
/
man
complete severance from
the outer world, and to refer him to himself for \,
that satisfaction wliich he can find nowhere else in
to
contemplate
in
.
-life.
This step was taken by the Schools of the Stoics,
B.
Epicureans, and Sceptics which appeared in the first
half of the third century before Christ,
Cow-
^acteris'^^'^« '!/"
superseded
^^^
the influence of the older Schools, and asserted their toidian
suiDremacv without arreat variation in their teachings -?^^"f'''
....
until the beginning of the first century.
so^hy.
In whatever
else these three Schools may differ, at least they agree
in two fundamental points, (1) ^n subordinating theory
to practice, and (2) in the peculiar character of their
'
practical philosophy.
The subordination of theory to practice
apparent in the School of Epicurus.
is
most
It is nearly as
c 2
(l)
Theory
^^"^/^^ ^^
practice.
page 40
STATE OF CULTURE IN GREECE.
20
Chap.
II.
clear in the case of the Sceptics, who, denying all
possibility of knowledge, left as the only ground of
action conviction based on probabilities.
Both Schools
also agree in considering philosophy as only a means
By the Stoics, on the otner
for securing happiness.
hand, the need of philosophic speculation was felt
more strongly but even in their case it may be seen
;
that speculation was not pursued simply for
its
own
sake, but for practical purposes, by which it was also
Thus the Stoics, like the Epicureans,
in the speculative part of their system confined themdetermined.
selves to current views
- thereby showing that the
source of their philosophical peculiarities lay elsewhere than in speculation, and that other studies had
greater
value
in
eyes, in which also they
more proficient. They even
their
considei'ed themselves
expressly stated that the study of nature is only
It is
necessary as a help to the study of virtue.
beyond question, that their chief peculiarities, and
those which give them an importance in history, are
ethical.
The other parts of their system, more par-
ticularly those in which their distinctive tenets
appear, are likewise regulated by practical considerations.
This statement will hereafter be shown in
detail.
It
may suffice to observe now, that the most
-
important point in the logic of the Stoics the queswas decided by a
tion as to the standard of truth
-
practical postulate ; that the fundamental principles
of the Stoic metaphysics are only intelligible from
the ground of their ethics
the Stoics did very
;
little ;
that for natural science
that in their theory
of!
>
page 41
rOST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY.
final causes on which they lay so
is
21
much stress nature
explained by moral considerations
;
Chap.
^^'
and that their
natural as well as their positive theology bears ample
testimony to the practical tone of their system.
Standing in advance of the Epicureans by their
higher intellectual training and their learned energy,
and in opposition to the Sceptics by their dogmatism, the Stoics nevertheless agree with both these
Schools in the essentially practical character of their
teaching.
This relationship
is
more strikingly seen in the
way in which they deal with the practical problem.
The Epicurean imperturbability is akin to that of the
both resemble the Stoic apathy.
(2)
Pem-
^gfY^^itl
n-ith the
All three
Sceptics
]^,l.oblem.
Schools are agreed that the only way to happiness
|
consists in peace of mind, and in
avoiding all those
disturbances Avhich sometimes arise from external
;
I
influences,
at other times
from internal emotions
I
;
they are only divided as to the means by which peace
of mind may be secured.
in
They are also
agreed
making moral acti vity in dependent of external circumstances, and in separating morals from politics,
although only the Stoics set up the doctrine of the
original unity of the whole human family, and
insist on
being citizens of the world.
the Schools runs the common trait of
Through all
referring every-
thing to the subject, and constantly falling back on
man and his own inner life, one consequence of which
the prominence given to action in preference to
speculation, and another that action is determined by
is
personal certainty, and a mental equilibrium which
page 42
STATE OF CULTURE IN GREECE.
23
Chap,
II '
must be attained bv
the exercise of will and the cul"
•
.
•
tivation of the intellect.
(3) Their
The Same character belongs to philosophy in the
^r^^''lT'^-
centuries succeeding the rise of these three Schools ;
trated by
"^
during wliich the circumstances
which
produced
In addi-
philo-
that character were not materially altered.
soj)hy.
tion to the followers of the old Schools, Eclectics are
now met wi^h, who gather from every system what
seems true and probable.
their guiding principle
In this process of selection
is
regard for the practical
wants of man. Hence the ultimate standard of truth
consciousness.
is
placed in
is
referred to the subject as its centre.
personal
Everything
In ethics
and natural theology the Eclectics were mainly in«
debted to the Stoics.
A new School of Sceptics also
arose, not differing in its tendencies
from the older
Neopythagoreans and Platonists appeared, not
one.
satisfied
higher
with
human knowledge, but
revelations.
Professing to
aspiring to
to
appeal
the
metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle, these ])hilosophers betray their connection with the later postAristotelian Schools, not only by borrowing largely
from the Stoics for the material for their theology
and
but also by their general tone knowthem less even than for the Stoics an end
ethics,
;
ledge is for
in itself, and they are further
from natural science.
With them philosophy is subservient to the interests
of religion
;
its
aim is to bring men into proper re-
lation with God ; and the religious needs of mankind
are the highest authority for science.
The same observations apply also to Plotinus and
page 43
POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY.
23
These philosophers are not lacking
his successors.
an elaborate science of metaphysics. The care.
which they devoted to this science leaves no doubt
in
as to their lively interest in scientific completeness
and systematic arrangement.
For all that their
same relation to the
aim of philosophy as those of the Stoics,
speculative efforts
practical
bear the
who in point of learning and logical elaboration of a
system are quite their equals, A real interest in
knowledge was no doubt one of the elements which
brought Neoplatonism into being but it was not
strong enough to counterbalance another, the prac;
tical
and religious sentiment.
The mind was not
sufficiently independent to be able to get o'o. without
appealing to intellectual and theological authorities
;
the scientific procedure was too
mixed to lead to a
As in the case
simple study of things as they are.
of the Neopythagoreans, the ultimate ground of the
The divine world is only
a portion of human thought projected out of the
mind, and incapable of being fully grasped by the
system is a religious want.
understanding.
is to
The highest business of philosophy
reunite man with the divine world external to
himself
To
attain this end, all the
means which
science supplies are employed.
Philosophy endeavours to explain the steps by which the finite
gradually came to be separated from the original
infinite being
it seeks to
bring about a return by a
;
and in this attempt
regular and systematic course
the philosophic spirit of Cxreece, by no means extinct,
;
proved its powers by a result of its kind unrivalled.
Chap.
^^'
page 44
STATE OF CULTURE IN GREECE.
2i
Chap.
'
In the first instance, no doubt,
tlie
problem was so
raised as to press philosophy into the service of reli-
gion but, in the long run, it became apparent that,
with the premises assumed, a scientific solution of
;
The idea of
the religious question was impossible.
an original being with which the system started was
sentiment, and not the
result of scientific research, and the doctrine of a
a
reflex
of the religious
mystical union with a transcendental being was a
religious postulate, the gratuitous assumption of
which betrays an origin in the mind of the thinker.
The platform of Neoplatonism is the same, therefore,
as hat of the other post- Aristotelian systems; and
1
hardly necessary in proof of this position to
point to the agreement of Neoplatonism in other
it
is
respects with Stoicism, and especially in ethics. Far
a? the two systems lie asunder, the one standing at
t'le
beginning the other at the end of the postphilosophy, nevertheless both display
Aristotelian
one and the same attitude of thought and we pass
from one to the other by a continuous series of inter;
mediate links.
In passing from School to School the post- Arismight be expected,
totelian philosophy assumed, as
various modifications of chai-acter in course of time;
aud
Such was the neglect of
intellectual originality, which drove some thinkers to
a sceptical denial of all knowledge, and induced
others to take their knowledge at second hand from
Such was the prominence given
older authorities.
nevertheless, it retained a certain mental habit
certain comiiion elements.
page 45
rOST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY.
25
Such was
questions.
the disregard for natural science, and, in cotnparisou
'
to practical over speculativ^e
Chap.
'
with former times, the greater importance attached
to theology, apparent not only in the controversy
between the Epicureans and Stoics, but
also
in
the apologetic writings of the Stoics and Platonists.
Such, too, was the negative morality which aimed at
independence of the outer world, at mental comthe separation
posure, and philosophic contentment
of morals from politics ; the moral universalism and
;
citizenship of the world ; the going within self into
the depths of the soul, the will, and the thinking
powers
;
the deepening of the consciousness accom-
panied at the same time
tion of it,
by a narrowing and isolaand the loss of a livelv interest in the
outer world, and in the simple scientific study thereof.
This mental
habit,
of
first
all,
found simple
dogmatic expression in philosophical systems. Not
only moral science, but also logic and natural science,
were treated in a way consonant with it, although
In dealthey were partially built upon older views.
mo^ with the moral r
problem, two Schools come to
_°
different
and decided in their pecuview, markedly
5
liarities.
C.
pj,"ff'l.y]'l.
toteUan
gopliy.
(i) Bon''"^''"\
t
envois.
(-^-)
stoics
The Stoics regard almost exclusively the ^^'^^ ^^'*"
cxtreans.
element m man who seeks contentment
/
.
universal
Dere-
within, the Epicureans catch at the individual side
of his being.
The Stoics regard man exclusively as
a thinking being, the Epicureans as a creature of
The Stoics make happiness to consist in
feeling.
subordination to the law of the whole, in the suppression of personal feelings and inclinations, in
)/