Philosophical Foundations: Hellenistic Thought and Cartesian Principles
Hellenism: 323 BC – 31 BC
Cynicism
- School founded in Athens
- Accept life according to nature (“like a dog”)
- Despise conventionalisms
- Advocate autarky (self-sufficiency, rejection of material possessions)
Diogenes of Sinope
- Lived in a barrel (cask)
- Performed indecent acts
- Appeared unkempt
- Was exiled
- Lived in poverty
Epicureanism
Epicureanism was a practical philosophy, aiming to heal human suffering. Its primary guidance was to get rid of worries. Epicurus sought to eliminate religious myths and superstitions, enabling humans to live happily.
The system of Epicurean philosophy is developed in a strict order, basing ethics as the way to a happy life on a canonical (theory of knowledge), a physics, and a treatise on the gods:
- The canonical, or theory of knowledge, offers a criterion of truth or canon to guide humanity to happiness, avoiding error.
- In physics, Epicurus explains the changes and variety of things within the atomistic tradition (all is atoms and void), without the intervention of a demiurge or nous, leaving open the possibility of freedom.
- Regarding theology, Epicurean denial of the supernatural removes our fear of the afterlife and fear of the gods. As happy beings, the gods cannot be troubled with occupations or responsibilities concerning mortals. The gods are made in the image of happiness.
Stoicism
- School founded in Athens (306 BC) by Zeno of Citium
Physics
- Nature – Knowledge
- The world is a unitary whole
- God = Intelligence. It is the Fire (Logos) that is in all things (“Divine Seeds”)
- Belief in God (perfect order), eternal return, and a unitary, corporeal soul
Logic
- Science of discourse: Rhetoric, dialectic. Study of propositions.
Ethics
- Live according to nature, serve reason, accept destiny. Virtue is achieved through:
- Apathy (impassibility)
- Ataraxia (imperturbability)
- Autarky (self-sufficiency)
- Virtue is aligned with the Good and the common just order
- Happiness: achieved when one accepts the universal order
- Advocacy for the abolition of slavery
- Freedom: liberation from passions
- Law is not merely conventional, but a natural, divine law that unites all people
Descartes
The Method
- Reason leads to knowledge of reality (not faith)
- Method: A set of sure and easy rules to distinguish truth from falsehood
- Deduction: Linking clear ideas to achieve knowledge
Rules of the Method
- Evidence: Accept only what is clear and distinct
- Analysis: Divide problems into simpler parts to reach fundamental truths
- Synthesis: Reconstruct knowledge by moving from the simple to the complex
- Enumeration: Thorough review to ensure nothing is omitted
Starting Point: Methodical Doubt
- Doubt of the senses – they can deceive us
- Inability to distinguish between sleep and wakefulness
- Possibility of an evil genius (even in mathematics)
Result of Doubt: “Cogito, ergo sum”
- I doubt everything, but I cannot doubt that I am doubting (thinking). Therefore: “Cogito, ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am).
- Proves existence as a thinking being, not as a body
- The cogito is clear and distinct evidence that cannot be doubted
Substances
- Infinite Substance: God (divine substance) – characterized by infinity
- Finite Substances:
- Res Cogitans (thinking substance) – characterized by thought
- Res Extensa (extended substance) – characterized by extension
Types of Ideas
- Adventitious: Derived from sensory experience (e.g., pilots, blackboard)
- Innate: Ideas we are born with (e.g., circle, happiness, justice)
- Fictitious: Created by imagination (e.g., mermaid, Cyclops)
Ethics
Provisional Morality
- Obey the laws and customs of the country
- Be as firm and decisive as possible in action
- Seek to conquer oneself rather than fortune, not desiring unattainable things
- Review different possible occupations to choose the best, such as being a philosopher
Definitive Morality
Regulate desires that incite the passions of the soul, because there are two kinds of desires:
- Those whose satisfaction depends only on ourselves.
- Those whose satisfaction does not depend on us.