Ancient Philosophy

Ancient Philosophical History

• Philosophy has been initiated as an approach towards a process of

reasoning and evidences.
• The Ancient philosophical history has its roots enacted through
out the evolutionary process of human.
• It has been developed through different primeval civilizations
including Chinese, Indian, Iranian civilizations and Greek
ancients.
• The ancient philosophies were more attached to the religious
traditions followed by certain civilizations and have been followed
till the day.
• Whereas, the contemporary and modern philosophies deals the
philosophy as an autonomous domain independent of religious
traditions.
• The ancient philosophy from the initial phases, contains
different ideas that might not be the itself a philosophy, but its
elements were the subsequent results of philosophical paradigms
• Ancient philosophy inclines towards a commonality of the
elements like myths, religious beliefs, ethics, views about nature
and literature.
• Whereas the medieval and modern philosophy also have an
incline view to the ancient but with some narrower viewpoints to
the above said domains with more grave analysis.
• Western ancient philosophy include the era of sixth century b.c.e
(before the common era of today) and was rooted before the
glorious philosophical era followed by Socrates, Plato and
Aristotle, the era is also known as pre-Socratic era.
 Chinese Philosophy
• Among the ancients, Chinese philosophy is known as the oldest
philosophy of the humanly world that built upon the metaphysical
principles and focuses over the natural and humanly
phenomenon's.
• It practiced the medical, nutritional, art & martial art disciplines to
create a conformity to nature.
• It is further based on three traditions; Confucianism (551) i.e.
believes in the importance of moral philosophy and (personal)
ethics.
• Daoism (550 bce) that believes in the natural and hormonal
philosophy to create a way of life that emphasize over the
simplicity, naturalness, and three treasures of compassion, thrift
(carefulness) and humility.
• Buddhism (250bce ) known as the worlds largest religion with
great followership. It believes in the god’s supremeness that can
be experienced after inner peace and wisdom attainment and
achieving the certain experience is called Nirwana.
 Indian Philosophy

• The Indian philosophy begins with the views of Vedas related to

the laws of nature, origin of universe and man’s origin in the
said universe.
• Gautama Buddha (563-483bce) is known as the founder of
Buddhist School of thought.
• According to the indian philosophy;
• the universal/cosmic order is known as rta (truth, reality)
• the causal law as Karma.
• the nature as Prakriti that is further divided into three qualities
of sattva(goodness, harmonious), rajas(activities, movement)
and tamas (laziness, ignorance & inertia).
 Old Iranian Philosophy

• Iranian philosophy is distinguished from the Indian Vedas

teachings on the basis of the placement of human being's
position in nature.
• It followed from the traditions of Zoroastrianism known as the
wisdom worshippers.
• It is also known as the Good Religion and the people are
known as Parsis.
 Greek Ancient Philosophy
• Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were the most influential of the
ancient Greek philosophers, and they focused their attention
more on the role of the human being than on the explanation of
the material world.
• Later, the work of these key philosophers was succeeded by the
Stoics and Epicureans who were also concerned with practical
aspects of philosophy and the attainment of happiness.
• The history of an ancient Greek philosophy contains the works
of
• Pre-Socratic's,
• Socrates and his Followers,
• Plato,
• Aristotle,
• Stoicism,
• Epicureanism,
• Skepticism,
• Neo-Platonism
 Pre-Socratic's
• The Western philosophical tradition began in ancient Greece in
the 6th century bce. The first philosophers are called "Pre-
Socratic's. (before Socrates).
• The first group of Pre-Socratic philosophers were from Ionia.
The Ionian philosophers sought the material principle of things,
and the mode of their origin and disappearance.
• Thales of Miletus (about 640 bce) is reputed the father of Greek
philosophy. He declared water to be the basis of all things.
• Heraclitus of Ephesus (about 535-475 bce) assumed as the
principle of substance ethereal fire. From fire all things
originate, and return to it again by a never-resting process of
development.
• Next came Anaximander (about 611-547 bce), the first writer on
philosophy. He assumed the first principle for the items to be
the primary opposite to each other, such as hot and cold, moist
and dry.
• Anaximenes took for his principle air, conceiving it as
modified, by thickening and thinning, into fire, wind, clouds,
water, and earth.
• Philosophy was first brought into connection with practical life
by Pythagorean of Samos (about 582-504 bce), he brought the
concept of mathematical measurements for ontological
information as he measured the things from their shadow.
• Empedocles (born 492 bce) appears to have been partly in
agreement with the Eleatic School. He provided the idea that
every substance is of an unchangeable nature and provided the
idea that every substance is formed by the combination of four
elements, earth, water, air, and fire.
• The first materialistic system was formed by Leucippus (5th
century bce) and his pupil Democritus of Abdera (born about 460
BCE).
• This was the doctrine of atoms i.e. 'un-cuttables' small primary
bodies infinite in number, indivisible and imperishable,
qualitatively similar, but distinguished by their shapes, they are
also known as atomists
 Socrates and his Followers
• A new period of philosophy opens with the Athenian Socrates
(469-399 BCE).
• Socrates questioned people about their beliefs. He tried to find
the definitions of the virtues, by cross-examining people who
professed to have knowledge of them also known as the
Dialectics of Socrates.
• Dialectic, as the instrument in this process, leading us to
knowledge of the ideas, and finally of the highest idea of the
Good, is the first of sciences.
• He has been well known for his saying “virtue is knowledge”
 Plato
• Plato of Athens (428-348 bce) provided the scheme of threefold
division of philosophy into dialectic, ethics, and physics.
• He was well known for his analogy and particularly by his cave
allegory for the real understandings or subjective nature of
reality.
• He also discussed the political governance and nature of state
laws.
 Aristotle
• Aristotle (384-322 BCE) one of the best disciples of the Plato,
who shares with his master the title of the greatest philosopher
of antiquity.
• Aristotle sees the objects as the combination of the two, matter
and the form.
• In matter and form, Aristotle sees the fundamental principles
of matter. Matter is the basis of all that exists; it comprises the
potentiality of everything. A determinate thing only comes into
being when the potentiality in matter is converted into
actuality.
• Living beings are those which have in them a moving
principle, or soul. In plants the function of soul is nutrition, in
animals they are nutrition and sensation and in humans they
are nutrition, sensation, and intellectual activity.
• He also provided the four cause division; material cause, efficient
cause, formal cause and the final cause
• For Epicureanism, the ethics are based on pleasure and avoidance of
any form of pain in both the body and mind.
• Stoicism has the name of Zeno of Citium, and pursued the idea of
Apathia that means the indifference of personal circumstances
attached to everyone rather.
• Stoics also had given the pursuit of happiness a place but with an
accordance to the nature.
• Skepticism is derived from Greek word skeptics means the inquirer
or the one who is not satisfied with truth.
• It refers to the attitude of doubting the knowledge claims or the
reliability of the principles on which these claims has been made.
• It is also said that everyone in one’s life is skeptical.
• Noe-platonism refers to the theory that mind exists before the matter
and universe has a single cause that must be the single mind.