Major Philosophical Movements: From Ancient Greece to Modernity
Sophism
Sophism, a cultural, political, and philosophical movement of the fifth century BC, was characterized politically and culturally by:
- Being linked to Athenian democracy. Sophists met the demand for information required by the democratic system.
- Revolutionizing traditional Greek paideia. The Greek philosophers were the first professional teachers.
Philosophically, Sophism occupied a middle position between pre-Socratic philosophy and classical philosophy. Faced with the aforementioned philosophy’s cosmological character, it proposed an anthropological turn. It distinguished between what is given by physis, or the set of rules outside human agreement, and what is given by nomos, or the set of rules established by convention. It adopted a relativist and skeptical attitude in both the field of nature and the human physis nomos.
Its main representatives were Protagoras, Gorgias, and Hippias, all of whom provided various theories about morality, religion, language, and society. The most notable influences of Sophism would be:
- Negatively, the philosophy of Plato, which can be seen as a counterpart to its political and ethical approaches.
- Positively, the empiricist philosophy and contractarian theories of the 18th century (Hume, Hobbes) and the 19th century (Nietzsche).
Epicureanism
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based on the teachings of the Greek philosopher Epicurus during Hellenism. He developed his philosophical activity in the Garden, a school he founded in Athens. The best-known doctrine is that pleasure is the highest good and the most important goal of life. Intellectual pleasures were preferred over sex, as they did not disturb peace of mind. True happiness is the serenity achieved through mastery of fear, i.e., the gods, death, and the afterlife. The ultimate goal of Epicurean speculation about nature is to eliminate those fears. Thus, his physics (materialistic atomism) and his theory of knowledge are contingent on his ethics (hedonistic).
The Epicurean philosophy had many disciples, including the poet Lucretius, whose poem De Rerum Natura is the main source of knowledge of Epicureanism. We also see a resurgence of the hedonistic theory of the Epicureans in the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill. Since then, Epicureanism has attracted many followers and is considered one of the most influential schools of philosophy and ethics of all time.
Stoicism
Stoicism was created in Athens around 300 BC by Zeno of Citium during Hellenism. He opened his school in a colonnade known as the Stoa Poikile (painted portico), hence the word “stoicism.” Stoic philosophy is eminently practical and aims to achieve human happiness. Its physics teaches us to know nature, and logic teaches us to live according to it; this is good and happiness. Nature is orderly and reasonable; then, to live by it is to do so with reason. Nature is harmonious and unified, governed by the need for a universal law (determinism), and to live by it means accepting the necessity (destiny) governing the cosmos.
The historical development of Stoicism was most important during the Roman Empire, where the scientist was not only sober and self-sufficient but also someone who did not scorn political intervention, as did Marcus Aurelius. Later, we find influences on Spinoza in the 17th century and Kant in the 18th century.
Platonism
Platonism continued in various forms, interpreting the teachings of Plato, but we distinguish between:
- The teachings and doctrine of academics (philosophers who continued working in the school founded by Plato):
- The first stage with Speusippus, with a recent Pythagorean trend and Platonic dialogues, showed a concern for individual morality.
- A second time with Arcesilaus, with a tendency toward skepticism.
- Neoplatonism: a renewal of Plato’s philosophy by Plotinus that also includes religious and mystical ideas. For Plotinus, the top of the system is the One, from which the manifold is generated: the intelligible world, the soul, and matter.
Platonism remained in force in the Christian world through St. Augustine, who synthesized Platonism and Christianity. It also appeared in writers like Scotus Erigena in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance. In philosophy, it appeared through the Arab philosopher Avicenna, who synthesized Islam and Platonism. Hegel would also be influenced in his idealism.
Scholasticism
Scholasticism was a philosophical and theological movement carried out in schools and universities of medieval Europe from the mid-11th to the mid-15th century. Its ideal was to integrate into an orderly system the philosophical knowledge of Greece and Rome and the religious knowledge of Christianity. Its main features were:
- Fundamental harmony between reason and revelation. Any opposition between revelation and reason could be due to incorrect use of reason or a misinterpretation of the words of revelation.
- In conflicts between religious faith and philosophical reasoning, faith was always the ultimate arbiter.
- During Scholasticism, philosophy was in the service of theology.
For the problems of interpreting such things as universals or words, we encountered realistic or nominalistic theses. The problem of the existence of God can be deduced from two proofs: one based on St. Anselm’s ontological argument and another whose support would be the five ways of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Outstanding Scholastic philosophers include St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. Pope Leo XIII resurfaced Scholasticism in order to reconsider the great systems of the 13th century, especially Thomism, and incorporate these doctrines into the true contributions of modern thought.
Rationalism
Rationalism is a philosophical movement that developed in Europe during the 17th century. It states that reason is the most significant source of human knowledge.
Some representatives: René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and Blaise Pascal.
Highlighted proposals:
- Reason is the only power that can lead man to know the truth.
- It has the power to make itself the first and fundamental truths (innate ideas), from which all others are obtained by deduction.
Nativism argues that the origin of ideas is not in experience but in understanding. Therefore, it follows the deductive method, which provides valid conclusions regardless of experience. You could say that the most important historical development of rationalism will take place in the 19th century within German idealism with Hegel.