ANCIENT

I. Aristotelianism

Aristotelianism is a school or tradition of philosophy from the Socratic (or Classical) period of ancient Greece, that
takes its defining inspiration from the work of the 4th Century B.C. philosopher Aristotle.

His immediate followers were also known as the Peripatetic School (meaning itinerant or walking about, after the
covered walkways at the Lyceum in Athens where they often met), and among the more prominent members (other
than Aristotle himself) were Theophrastus (322 - 288 B.C.), Eudemus of Rhodes (c. 370 -
300 B.C.), Dicaearchus (c. 350 - 285 B.C.), Strato of Lampsacus (288 - 269 B.C.), Lyco of Troas (c. 269 -
225 B.C.), Aristo of Ceos (c. 225 - 190 B.C.), Critolaus (c. 190 - 155 B.C.), Diodorus of Tyre (c.
140 B.C.), Erymneus (c. 110 B.C.) and Alexander of Aphrodisias (c. 200 A.D.).

Aristotle developed the earlier philosophical work of Socrates and Plato in a

more practical and down-to-earth manner, and was the first to create a comprehensive system of philosophy,
encompassing Ethics, Metaphysics, Aesthetics, Logic, Epistemology, Politics and Science. He rejected
the Rationalism and Idealism espoused by Platonism, and advocated the characteristic Aristotelian virtue
of "phronesis" (practical wisdom or prudence). Another cornerstone of Aristotelianism is the idea of teleology(the
idea that all things are designed for, or directed toward, a final result or purpose).

Aristotelian Logic was the dominant form of Logic until 19th Century advances in mathematical logic, and as late as
the 18th Century Kant stated that Aristotle's theory of logic completely accounted for the core of deductive inference.
His six books on Logic, organized into a collection known as the "Organon" in the 1st Century B.C., remain standard
texts even today.

Aristotle's works on Ethics (particularly the "Nicomachean Ethics" and the "Eudemian Ethics") revolve around the
idea that morality is a practical, not a theoretical, field, and, if a person is to become virtuous, he must
perform virtuous activities, not simply study what virtue is. The doctrines of Virtue Ethics and Eudaimonism reached
their apotheosis in Aristotle's ethical writings. He stressed that man is a rational animal, and that Virtue comes with the
proper exercise of reason. He also promoted the idea of the "golden mean", the desirable middle ground, between
two undesirable extremes (e.g. the virtue of courage is a mean between the two vices of cowardice and
foolhardiness).

Aristotelian Metaphysics and Epistemology largely follow those of his teacher, Plato, although he began to diverge on
some matters. Aristotle assumed that for knowledge to be true it must be unchangeable, as must the object of that
knowledge. The universe therefore divides into two phenomena, Form (the abstract and unobservable, such as souls
or knowledge) and Matter(the observable, things that can be sensed and quantified), and these two phenomena
are different from, but indispensable to, each other. Aristotle's conception of hylomorphism (the idea
that substances are forms inhering in matter) differed from that of Plato in that he held that Form and Matter
are inseparable, and that matter and form do not exist apart from each other, but only together.

Aristotle's theory of Politics emphasizes the belief that humans are naturally political, and that the political life of
a free citizen in a self-governing state or "polis" (with a constitution which is a mixture
of leadership, aristocracy and citizen participation) is the highest form of life. Aristotelian ideals have underlain
much modern liberal thinking about politics, the vote and citizenship.

Although much of Aristotle's work was lost to Western Philosophy after the fall of the Roman Empire, the texts
were reintroduced into the West by medieval Islamic scholars like Averroes and Maimonides. Just as these Muslim
philosophers reconciled Aristotelianism with Islamic beliefs, St. Thomas Aquinas was largely responsible for
reconciling Aristotelianism with Christianity, arguing that it complements and completes the truth revealed in the
Christian tradition. It became the dominant philosophic influence on Scholasticism and Thomism in the early Middle
Ages in Europe.

The distinctively Aristotelian idea of teleology was transmitted through the German philosophers Christian
Wolff (1679 - 1754) and Immaneul Kant to Georg Hegel, who applied it to history as a totality, resulting in turn in an
important Aristotelian influenceupon Karl Marx.

The lasting legacy of Aristotelianism can be seen in the works of contemporary philosophers such as John
McDowell (1942 - ), Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900 - 2002) and Alasdair MacIntyre (1929 - ).
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II. ATOMISM

Atomism is a Pre-Socratic school of thought fom ancient Greece, established in the late 5th
Century B.C. by Leucippus of Miletus (5th Century B.C.) and his more famous student, Democritus. It teaches that
the hidden substance in all physical objectsconsists of different arrangements of atoms and void (see the section on
the doctrine of Atomism for more details).

No writings by the movement's founder, Leucippus, have survived, and we have just a few fragments of the writings
of Democritus in secondhand reports, sometimes unreliable or conflicting. Much of the best evidence is that reported
by Aristotle in his criticisms of Atomism, which he regarded as an important rival current in natural philosophy.

Epicurus studied Atomism with Nausiphanes (c. 325 B.C.) who had been a student of Democritus.
Although Epicurus was certain of the existence of atoms and the void, he was less sure he could adequately
explain specific natural phenomena such as earthquakes, lightning, comets, or the phases of the Moon. He went on
to found his own school of Epicureanism.

Of Democritus' and Epicurus' followers, perhaps the most notable was the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (c.
99 - 55 B.C.) whose "On the Nature of Things" was one of the definitive works of Epicureanism, but also of Atomism.
It argues that the universe and all substance is eternal, composed of atoms moving in an infinite void and nothing else,
and that the human soulalso consists of minute atoms that dissipate into smoke when a person dies. It
depicts Epicurus as the hero who crushes the monster Religion through educating people about what is possible and
what is not possible in a world composed of atoms.

Aristotelianism eclipsed the importance of the Atomists, and there was little interest expressed in the idea throughout
the whole of the medieval period until its resurrection in the 16th and 17th Century, although the Islamic
Ash'arite school of philosophy, notably al-Ghazali (1058 - 1111), propounded a type of hybrid Atomism where atoms
are the only perpetual, material things in existence, and all else in the world is accidental (lasting for only an
instant), and contingent events are the direct result of Gods constant intervention.

Much of the renewed interest in Atomism in the 16th and 17th Century was precipitated by scientific advances,
particularly those of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) and Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642), who himself converted to
Atomism when he found that his corpuscular theory of matter and his experiments with falling bodies and inclined
planes contradicted the mainstream Aristotelian theories. The English philosophers Sir Francis Bacon and Thomas
Hobbes were both confirmed Atomists for a time, as was Giordano Bruno (1548 - 1600) in Italy.

However, the main figures in the rebirth of Atomism were the French philosophers Ren Descartes and Pierre
Gassendi (1592 - 1655), and the Irish philosopher and scientist Robert Boyle (1627 - 1691).

Descartes mechanical philosophy of corpuscularism (that everything physical in the universe is made of
tiny corpuscles of matter, and that sensations, such as taste or temperature, are caused by the shape and size of
tiny pieces of matter) had much in common with Atomism, and may be considered in some sense another version of it,
although for Descartes there could be no void, and all matter was constantly swirling to prevent a void as corpuscles
moved through other matter. Descartes was also firm on the concept of mind/body duality, which allowed for
an independent realm of existence for thought, soul and, most importantly, God.

Pierre Gassendi was a French priest and natural philosopher, who set out to purify Atomism from
its heretical and atheisticphilosophical conclusions. He formulated his atomistic conception of mechanical
philosophy partly in response to Descartes, particularly opposing Descartes reductionist view that only purely
mechanical explanations of physics are valid.

Robert Boyle's form of Atomism, which came to be accepted by most English scientists, was essentially an
amalgamation of the two French systems. He arrived at it after encountering problems reconciling Aristotelian physics
with his chemistryexperimentation.

Roger Boscovich (1711 - 1787) provided the first general mathematical theory of Atomism, utilizing principles
of Newtonian mechanics. Then, in the early 19th Century, John Dalton (1766 - 1844) developed his atomic
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theory in which he first proposed that each chemical element is composed of atoms of a single, unique type, which
can combine to form more complex structures (chemical compounds).

Although philosophical Atomism led to the development of early scientific atomic theory, modern science has shown
that atoms in the chemical sense are actually composed of smaller particles (electrons, neutrons and protons), and
that these in turn are composed of even more fundamental particles called quarks. Although the principle can still
theoretically apply, there are few, if any, modern-day atomists.

The Atomist idea that anything might ultimately consist of an aggregation of small, indivisible units later lent itself to
other fields, such as Social Atomism (the sociological view that society is composed of individuals rather than social
institutions) and Bertrand Russell's Logical Atomism (an attempt to identify the atoms of thought, the pieces of
thought that cannot be divided into smaller pieces of thought).

III. CYNICISM

Cynicism is a school of philosophy from the Socratic period of ancient Greece, which holds that the purpose of life is
to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature (which calls for only the bare necessities required for existence). This
means rejecting all conventional desires for health, wealth, power and fame, and living a life free from
all possessions and property.

Cynics lived in the full glare of the public's gaze and aimed to be quite indifferent in the face of any insults which
might result from their unconventional behaviour. They saw part of their job as acting as the watchdog of humanity,
and to evangelize and hound people about the error of their ways, particularly criticizing any show of greed, which
they viewed as a major cause of suffering. Many of their ideas (see the section on the doctrine of Cynicism for more
details) were later absorbed into Stoicism.

The founder of Cynicism as a philosophical movement is usually considered to be Antisthenes (c. 445 - 365 B.C.),
who had been one of the most important pupils of Socrates in the early 5th Century B.C. He preached a life of poverty,
but his teachings also covered language, dialogue and literature in addition to the pure Ethics which the later Cynics
focused on.

Antisthenes was followed by Diogenes of Sinope, who lived in a tub on the streets of Athens, and ate raw meat, taking
Cynicism to its logical extremes. Diogenes dominates the story of Cynicism like no other figure, and he came to be
seen as the archetypalCynic philosopher. He dedicated his life to self-sufficiency ("autarkeia"), austerity ("askesis")
and shamelessness ("anaideia"), and was famed for his biting satire and wit.

Crates of Thebes (c. 365 - 285 B.C.), who gave away a large fortune so he could live a life of poverty in Athens, was
another influential and respected Cynic of the period. Other notable Greek Cynics include Onesicritus (c. 360 -
290 B.C.), Hipparchia (c. 325 B.C.), Metrocles (c. 325 B.C.), Bion of Borysthenes (c. 325 - 255 B.C.), Menippus (c.
275 B.C.), Cercidas (c. 250 B.C.) and Teles (c. 235 B.C.).

With the rise of Stoicism in the 3rd Century B.C., Cynicism as a serious philosophical activity underwent a decline,
and it was not until the Roman era that there was a Cynic revival. Cynicism spread with the rise of Imperial Rome in
the 1st Century A.D., and Cynics could be found begging and preaching throughout the cities of the Roman Empire,
where they were treated with a mixture of scorn and respect. Cynicism seems to have thrived into the 4th
Century A.D., unlike Stoicism, which had long declined by that time. Notable Roman Cynics include Demetrius (c.
10 - 80 A.D.), Demonax (c. 70 - 170 A.D.), Oenomaus (c. 120 A.D.), Peregrinus Proteus (c. 95 - 167 A.D.)
and Sallustius (c. 430 - 500 A.D.).

Cynicism finally disappeared in the late 5th Century A.D., although many of its ascetic ideas and rhetorical
methods were adopted by early Christians.

IV. ELEATIC SCHOOL

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The Eleatic School is an early Pre-Socratic school of philosophy founded by Parmenides in the 5th
Century B.C. at Elea, a Greek colony in southern Italy. Other important members of the school include Zeno of
Elea, Melissus of Samos (born c. 470 B.C.) and (arguably) the earlier Xenophanes of Colophon (570 480 B.C.)

Xenophanes in particular criticized the belief in a pantheon of anthropomorphic gods which was then current,
and Parmenidesdeveloped his ideas further, concluding that the reality of the world is "One Being",
an unchanging, timeless, indestructiblewhole, in opposition to the theories of the early physicalist philosophers.
Later, he became an early exponent of the duality of appearance and reality, and his work was highly influential on
later Platonic metaphysics.

Zeno of Elea is best known for his paradoxes (see the Paradoxes section of the page on Logic). But Aristotle has also
called him the inventor of the dialectic (the exchange of propositions and counter-propositions to arrive at a
conclusion), and Bertrand Russell credited him with having laid the foundations of modern Logic.

The Eleatics rejected the epistemological validity of sense experience, preferring reason and logical standards of
clarity and necessity to be the criteria of truth. Parmenides and Melissus generally built their arguments up
from indubitably sound premises, while Zeno primarily attempted to destroy the arguments of others by showing
their premises led to contradictions("reductio ad absurdum").

Although the conclusions of the Eleatics were largely rejected by the later Pre-Socratic and Socratic philosophers,
their arguments were taken seriously, and they are generally credited with improving the standards of discourse
and argument in their time.

V. EPHESIAN SCHOOL

The Ephesian School is a Greek Pre-Socratic school of philosophy of the 5th Century B.C., although essentially it
refers to the ideas of just one man, Heraclitus (who did not have any direct disciples or successors that we are aware
of), a native of Ephesusin the Greek colony of Ionia.

Along with his fellow Ionians of the Milesian School, he looked for a solution to the problem of change, but his view
was that the world witnesses constant change, rather than no change at all. The aphorism "everything is in a state
of flux", often attributed to Heraclitus, was probably not actually his, but it does give a reasonable summary of his
views. The transformation of material from one state into another does not happen by accident, he held, but rather
within certain limits and within certain time and according to law or "logos", according to which all things are one. He
considered that the basis of all the universe is an ever-living fire (although this is used more as a symbol of change
and process, rather than actual fire), so that the world itself consists of a law-like interchange of elements, symbolized
by fire.

He also made the apparently logically incoherent claim that opposite things are identical, so that everything is, and is
not, at the same time. This he exemplified by the idea that, although the waters in it are always changing, a
river stays the same.

VI. EPICUREANISM

Epicureanism is a Hellenistic school or system of philosophy based on the teachings of the ancient Greek
philospher Epicurus. It was founded around 307 B.C., and was based in Epicurus' home and garden (the school was
often called "The Garden"). Epicurus was a materialist, following in the steps of Democritus and the school
of Atomism.

In Ethics, Epicureanism teaches that happiness (or the greatest good) is to seek modest pleasures in order to attain
a state of tranquillity, freedom from fear and the absence of bodily pain. This state of tranquillity can be obtained
through knowledge of the workings of the world, the leading of a simple, moderate life and the limiting of
desires (see the section on the doctrine of Epicureanism for more details).
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In Metaphysics, Epicureanism emphasizes the neutrality of the gods and their non-interference with human lives.
Despite some tendencies towards Atheism, it does not actually deny the existence of gods, which it conceives of as
blissful and immortal, yet material, beings, made up of atoms and inhabiting the empty spaces between worlds in the
vastness of infinite space.

Epicureanism was originally conceived by Epicurus as a challenge to Platonism, although, arguably, Democritus had
propounded a very similar philosophy almost a century earlier. It built on the Hedonism of Aristippus (c. 435 -
360 B.C.) and Cyrenaics, differing from that movement mainly in its belief that one should defer immediate
gratification for the sake of long-term gain, and that bodily gratification is not necessarily preferable to mental
pleasures. Later, it became (along with Stoicism and Skepticism) one of the three dominant schools
of Hellenistic philosophy, lasting strongly through the later Roman Empire.

During Epicurus' lifetime, its members included Hermarchus (who succeeded Epicurus as the head of his school in
about 270 B.C.), Idomeneus (310 - 270 B.C.), Colotes (3rd Century B.C.), Polyaenus (c. 340 - 278 B.C.)
and Metrodorus (331 - 277 B.C.), most of these from the Greek city of Lampsacus, where Epicurus taught his school
before relocating to Athens.

Lucretius (99 - 55 B.C.) was the school's greatest Roman proponent, composing an epic poem, "De Rerum
Natura" ("On the Nature of Things") on the Epicurean philosophy of nature. The poet Horace (65 - 8 B.C.)
and Julius Caesar (100 - 44 B.C.) both leaned considerably toward Epicureanism.

After the official approval of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine (272 - 337) in 313 A.D., Epicureanism
was repressed as essentially irreconcilable with Christian teachings, and the school endured a long period of
obscurity and decline.

In more modern times, the French philosopher and priest Pierre Gassendi (1592 - 1655) referred to himself as an
Epicurean (and attempted to revived the doctrine), as did Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826) and the Utilitarian Jeremy
Bentham (1748 - 1832).

VII. HEDONISM

Hedonism is a school of philosophy from the Socratic and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece, which holds
that pleasure is the most important pursuit of mankind, and that we should always act so as to maximize our own
pleasure.

The earliest manifestation of Hedonism was Cyrenaicism (which was popular in the 4th and 3rd Centuries B.C.),
although arguably, Democritus had propounded a very similar philosophy even earlier. As a movement, it was
founded by Aristippus of Cyrene (c. 435 - 360 B.C.), a pupil of Socrates, who emphasized one side only of Socratic
teaching (that happiness is one of the ends of moral action) to the exclusion of all else. The Cyrenaics
emphasized bodily gratification as more intense and preferable to mental pleasures, and denied that we should
defer immediate gratification for the sake of long-term gain, two major points of departure from the similar, but
more modest, school of Epicureanism.

During the Middle Ages, Christian philosophers largely denounced Hedonism, which they believed
was inconsistent with the Christian emphasis on avoiding sin, doing God's will, and developing the Christian
virtues of faith, hope and charity. However, Renaissance philosophers such as Erasmus and Sir Thomas
More revived Hedonism to some extent, defending it on the religious grounds that pleasure was in
fact compatible with God's wish for humans to be happy.

Libertinism is a philosophy related to Hedonism, which found adherents in the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries,
particularly in France and Britain, including the 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647 - 1680), the Marquis de Sade (1740
-1814) and the occultist Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947). Libertinism ignores, or even deliberately spurns, religious
norms, accepted morals, and forms of behaviour sanctioned by the larger society, and encourages gratification of
any sort, especially sexual.
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The 19th Century ethical theory of Utilitarianism, propounded by the British philosophers John Stuart Mill and Jeremy
Bentham, developed and refined Hedonism, concluding that we should perform whichever action is best for
everyone ("the greatest good for the greatest number"). Bentham believed that the value of a pleasure could
be quantitatively understood, while Mill perferred a qualitative approach dependent on the mix of higher quality
pleasures and lower quality, simple pleasures.

Contemporary Hedonists, as represented by an organization known as Hedonist International, strive first and
foremost for pleasure, as did their predecessors, but with an additional emphasis on personal freedom and equality.

VIII. MILESIAN SCHOOL

The Milesian School is an early Pre-Socratic school of philosophy founded in the 6th Century B.C. in the Ionian town
of Miletus(a Greek colony on the Aegean coast of Anatolia in modern Turkey). The major philosophers included
under this label are Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes, who held quite distinct views on most subjects, so that
the grouping is more one of geographical convenience than one of shared opinions (although it is thought likely
that Thales taught Anaximander, who in turn taught Anaximenes).

Arguably, it forms part of the Ionian School, which additionally includes Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, Diogenes
Apolloniates (c. 460 B.C.), Archelaus (5th Century B.C.) and Hippo (5th Century B.C.), although this larger group
has even fewer points of affinity. The Milesians were also more focused on nature than on reason and thought like
the later Ionians.

The Milesians introduced new opinions (contrary to the then prevailing views) on how the world was organized, in
which natural phenomena were explained solely by the will of anthropomorphized gods (with human
characteristics). They are sometimes described as philosophers of nature, and they presented a view of nature in
terms of methodologically observable entities, and therefore represented one of the first attempts to make
philosophy truly scientific.

In Metaphysics, they defined all things by their quintessential substance ("arch"), of which the Universe was formed
and which was the source of all life (Materialistic Monism). However, they differed widely in how they conceived of this
substance: Thalesthought it was water; Anaximander called it "apeiron" (something infinite and
indeterminate); Anaximenes settled on air. In general, they believed in hylozoism, the idea that all life is inseparable
from matter, and that there is no distinction between the animate and the inaminate, between spirit and matter.

In cosmology, they also differed in the way they conceived of the universe: Thales believed that the Earth was
floating in water; Anaximander placed the Earth at the center of a universe composed of hollow, concentric
wheels filled with fire, and pierced by holes at various intervals (which appear as the sun, the moon and the
stars); Anaximenes saw the sun and the moon as flat disks travelling around a heavenly canopy, on which the stars
were fixed.

IX.NEO-PLATONISM

Neo-Platonismis a Hellenistic school of philosophy founded by Plotinus in the 3rd

Century A.D. The term "neo-platonism" itself was not used in ancient times (it was in fact not coined until the
early 19th Century), and Neo-Platonists would have considered themselves simply Platonists, although their beliefs
demonstrate significant differences from those of Plato.

The Egyptian philosopher Plotinus (along with his lesser-known teacher, Ammonius Saccas), is widely considered
the founderof Neo-Platonism, developing his theories initially in Alexandria in his native Egypt, and then later
in Rome. He was influenced by the teachings of classical Greek philosophy, but also by Persian and Indian
philosophy (from his extensive travels) and Egyptian theology. Although his original intention was merely
to preserve the teachings of Plato and Socrates, he effectively fused Platonism (more specifically, Middle Platonism)
with oriental mysticism.

Neo-Platonism is generally a religious philosophy, combining a form of idealistic Monism with elements
of Polytheism. It teaches the existence of an ineffable and transcendent One, from which emanates the rest of the
universe as a sequence of lesser beings (although later Neo-Platonic philosophers added hundreds of intermediate
beings such as gods, angels and demons).
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Plotinus's student, Porphyry (c. 233 - 309 A.D.), assembled Plotinus's teachings into the six "Enneads". Porphyry
was a Syrian Neo-Platonist philosopher, who also wrote widely on astrology, religion, mathematics and musical theory,
and was a strong opponent of Christianity and defender of Paganism.

Iamblichus Chalcidensis (c. 245 - 325 A.D.) was another Syrian (and student of Porphyry), who was instrumental in
determining the direction taken by later Neo-Platonic philosophy. One of the last major Greek philosophers, Proclus
Lycaeus (412 - 485 A.D.), set forth possibly the most elaborate, complex and fully-developed Neo-Platonic systems,
even incoporating the ancient Greek gods into the Neo-Platonic hierarchical system. Other important Neo-Platonists
include Hypatia of Alexandria (370 - 415 A.D.), the Roman Emperor Julian (c. 331 - 363 A.D.), Hierocles of
Alexandria (active around 430 A.D.), Simplicius of Cilicia (c. 490 - 560 A.D.) and Damascius (c. 458 - 538 A.D.), the
last teacher of Neo-Platonism at Athens.

Some central tenets of Neo-Platonism (e.g. that evil is merely the absence of good, which comes from human sin)
were very influential in St. Augustine of Hippo's development of Christian dogma, although eventually he
effectively abandoned Neo-Platonism altogether in favour of a doctrine based more on his own reading of Scripture.
The influence of Neo-Platonism on Origen (c. 185 - 254A.D.), as well as on Boethius, John Scotus Eriugena (c. 815
877) and St. Bonaventura (1221 - 1274), also proved significant for both the Eastern
Orthodox and Western branches of Christianity.

In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonist ideas influenced Jewish thinkers, including Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021 - 1058) and
the Kabbalist Isaac the Blind (1160 - 1235), as well as Islamic and Sufi thinkers such as al-Farabi (872 -
951), Avicenna and Maimonides.

There was something of a Neo-Platonist revival during the Italian Renaissance, with such luminaries as Nicholas
Cusanus(1401 - 1464), Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463 - 1494), Marsilio Ficino (1433 -
1499), Michelangelo (1475 - 1564), Sandro Botticelli (1445 - 1510), the Medici family and, later, Giordano
Bruno (1548 - 1600), as well as with the Cambridge Platonists in 17th Century England.

X. PLATONISM

Platonism is an ancient Greek school of philosophy from the Socratic period, founded around 387 B.C. by Socrates'
student and disciple, Plato, and continued by his students and followers. It was based in the Academy, a precinct
containing a sacred grove outside the walls of Athens, where Plato delivered his lectures (the protoype for later
universities). Platonism was originally expressed in the dialogues of Plato, in which the figure of his teacher, Socrates,
is used to expound various doctrines.

Plato's philosophy is best known for its Platonic Realism (also, confusingly, known as Platonic Idealism),
its hylomorphism (the idea that substances are forms inhering in matter) and its Theory of Forms ("Forms" are
the eternal, unchangeable, perfect universals, of which the particular objects we sense around us are imperfect
copies). It poses an eternal universe, and describes idea as prior to matter, so that the substantive reality around us
is only a reflection of a higher truth. (see the section on Platonic Realism for more details).

Platonic Epistemology holds that knowledge is innate, and the immortal soul "remembers" its prior familiary with the
Forms ("anamnesis"). Learning is therefore the development of ideas buried deep in the soul. Of these, the Form
of "the Good" (the ideal or perfect nature of goodness) is the ultimate basis for the rest, and the first cause of being
and knowledge. Plato held that the impressions of the senses can never give us the knowledge of true being (i.e. of
the Forms), which can only be obtained by the exercise of reason through the process of dialectic (the exchange of
arguments and counter-arguments, propositions and counter-propositions).

Platonic Ethics is based on the concept that virtue is a sort of knowledge (the knowledge of good and evil) that is
required to reach the ultimate good ("eudaimonia" or happiness), which is what all human desires and actions aim to
achieve (see the section on Eudaimonism). It holds that there are three parts to the soul, Reason, Spirit and Appetite,
which must be ruled by the three virtues, Wisdom, Courage and Moderation. These are, in turn, all ruled by a
fourth, Justice, by which each part of the soul is confined to the performance of its proper function.

The Academy, in which the school was based, is usually split into three periods: the Old, Middle, and New Academy.
The chief figures in the Old Academy were: Plato's most famous student, Aristotle, who rapidly developed his own set
of philosophies and a whole separate Aristotelian tradition; Speusippus (407 - 339 B.C.), Plato's nephew, who
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succeeded as head of the school after Plato's death in 347 B.C.; Xenocrates (396 - 314 B.C.) who was head from
339 B.C. to 314 B.C.; Polemo, from 314 B.C. to 269 B.C.; and Crates, from 269 B.C. to 266 B.C. After this time,
the Middle Academy and New Academy were more vehicles for Skepticismthan Platonism proper, before
being re-founded, after a lapse during the early Roman occupation, as a Neo-Platonist institution in 410 A.D.

Around 90 B.C., a period known as Middle Platonism began, when Antiochus of Ascalon (c. 130 - 68 B.C.)
rejected Skepticism, and propounded a fusion of Platonism with some Aristotelian and Stoic dogmas. Philo of
Alexandria can also be considered a Middle Platonist, as he attempted to synthesize Platonism
with monotheistic religion, anticipating the Neo-Platonism of later philosophers such as Plotinus.

Platonism influenced Christianity first through Clement of Alexandria (c.150 - 216 A.D.) and Origen (c. 185 -
254 A.D.), and especially later through St. Augustine of Hippo, who was one of the most important figures in the
development of Western Christianity. Platonism was considered authoritative in the Middle Ages, and many Platonic
notions are now permanent elements of Latin Christianity, as well as both Eastern and Western mysticism.

XI.PLURALISM

Pluralism is a Greek Pre-Socratic school of philosophy of the 5th Century B.C., consisting of three major
philosophers: Anaxagoras, Archelaus (5th Century B.C.) and Empedocles.

In general terms, they attempted to reconcile the complete rejection of change by Parmenides and the Eleatic School,
which generally speaking they accepted, with the apparently changing world of sense experience (things like birth
and death and creation and destruction), and thereby find the basis for all change.

The Ionian philosopher Anaxagoras believed that all things have existed from the beginning as an endless
number of infinitesimally small fragments of themselves, but in a confused and indistinguishable form.
The segregation of like from unlike was carried out by a pure and independent thing called "Nous" (mind), which
also causes all motion. Some of his ideas presaged the later development of Atomism.

Archelaus, a student of Anaxagoras, asserted that air and infinity are the principles of all things, that primitive
Matter is air mingled with Mind, and that the principle of motion was the separation of hot from cold, from which he
endeavoured to explain the formation of the Earth and the creation of animals and humans.

Empedocles was a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek colony in Sicily, and is best known for being the origin of
the cosmogenic theory of the four classical elements (fire, air, water and earth) which he held to be simple, eternal
and unalterable, and which are eternally mixed and separated by two divine powers, Love and Strife. Like
the Eleatics, he held that it is not possible for something to come into existence from a non-existence, or vice versa,
only that original materials are combined and recombined. Empedocles was also influenced by Pythagoreanism in his
support for the doctrine of reincarnation.

Pluralism as a philosophical doctrine is a concept used many different ways, but, in general terms, it is the theory that
there is more than one basic substance or principle, whether it be the constitution of the universe, of the mind and
body, the sources of truth, etc (see the section on the doctrine of Pluralism).

XII. PYTHAGOREANISM

Pythagoreanism is an early Pre-Socratic Greek school of philosophy based around the metaphysical beliefs
of Pythagoras and his followers. Their views and methods were influential on many later
movements including Platonism, Neo-Platonism and Cynicism.

The early Pythagoreans (the first society was established in about 530 B.C.) met in the Greek Achaean colony at
Croton in Southern Italy, but after becoming caught up in some fierce local fighting, the movement dispersed and
those that survived fled back to the Greek mainland and settled around Thebes and Phlius.
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Pythagoras himself wrote nothing down, and we must rely on the second-hand accounts of his followers and
commentators, Parmenides, Empedocles, Philolaus (c. 480 - 385 B.C.) and Plato, but accounts are
often sketchy and sometimes contradictory.

Pythagorean thought was dominated by mathematics, but it was also profoundly mystical. Pythagoras (along with his
teacher Pherecydes of Syros), was one of the first Weestern philosophers to believe
in metempsychosis (the transmigration of the soul and its reincarnation after death). He also subscribed to the
views of another of his teachers, Anaximander, that the ultimate substance of things is what he described
as "apeiron" (variously described as "the boundless" or "the undefined infinite"). Pythagoras believed that the apeiron
had inhaled the void from outside, filling the cosmos with vacuous bubbles that split the universe into
many inter-connected parts separated by "void", and that this play of apeiron and peiron takes place according to a
natural harmony. Always somehow underlying all these theories is the asumption that numbers and mathematics
constitute the true nature of things.

The Pythagoreans were well-known in antiquity for their vegetarianism, which they practised
for religious, ethical and asceticreasons. Women, who were held to be different from men, but not necessarily
inferior, were given equal opportunity to study as Pythagoreans, although they had to also learn practical domestic
skills.

Pythagoreanism developed at some point into two separate schools of thought:

the "akousmatikoi" (or "listeners"), who focused on the more religious and ritualistic aspects of Pythagoras'
teachings;
the "mathematikoi" (or "learners"), who extended and developed the more mathematical and scientific work
he began.

The akousmatikoi claimed that the mathematikoi were not genuinely Pythagorean, but followers of the "renegade"
Pythagorean Hippasus (c. 500 B.C.) The mathematikoi, on the other hand, allowed that the akousmatikoi were indeed
Pythagorean, but felt that they were more representative of Pythagoras' real views. The mathematikoi group eventually
became closely associated with Plato and Platonism, and much of Pythagoreanism seems to overlap Platonism. The
akousmatikoi became wandering ascetics, finally joining the Cynicism movement of the 4th Century B.C.

Neo-Pythagoreanism was a revival, in the 2nd Century B.C. - 2nd Century A.D. period, of various ideas traditionally
associatedwith the followers of Pythagoras. Notable Neo-Pythagoreans include 1st Century Apollonius of Tyana (c.
40 - 120 A.D.), and their meetings were mainly held in Rome.

Ultimately, Pythagoreanism has been a dynamic force on Western culture. It has creatively influenced philosophers,
theologians, mathematicians and astronomers, as well as musicians, composers, poets and architects of the Middle
Ages.

XIII.SKEPTICISM (OR SCEPTICISM IN THE UK SPELLING)

Skepticism (or Scepticism in the UK spelling)is a Hellenistic school of philosophy. At its simplest, Skepticism holds
that one should refrain from making truth claims, and avoid the postulation of final truths. This is not necessarily
quite the same as claiming that truth is impossible (which would itself be a truth claim), but is often also used to cover
the position that there is no such thing as certainty in human knowledge (sometimes referred to as Academic
Skepticism). See the section on the doctrine of Skepticism for more details.

Possibly the earliest Skeptic, Gorgias claimed that nothing exists; or, if something does exist, then it cannot be
known; or if something does exist and can be known, it cannot be communicated. Gorgias, however, is known
primarily as a Sophist rather than as a philosophical skeptic.

Socrates claimed that he knew one and only one thing: that he knew nothing. Thus, rather than
making assertions or opinions, he set about questioning people who claimed to have knowledge, ostensibly for the
purpose of learning from them. Although he never claimed that knowledge is impossible, he never claimed to
have discovered any piece of knowledge whatsoever, even at his death.
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The first Skeptic proper, however, was Pyrrho of Elis (although he was perhaps not actually a "skeptic" in the later
sense of the word), and the Skeptic movement which subsequently grew up was largely based around his early
ideas. Pyrrho travelled and studied as far as India, but he became overwhelmed by his inability to determine
rationally which of the various competing schools of though of the time was correct. Upon admitting this to himself, he
finally achieved the inner peace (or "ataraxia") that he had been seeking (and which became the ultimate goal of the
early Skeptikoi), and he propounded the adoption of what he called "practical skepticism". Pyrrho himself wrote
nothing, and even the satiric writings of his pupil Timon of Phlius are mostly lost. Today, his ideas are known mainly
through the book "Outlines of Pyrrhonism" by the Greek physician Sextus Empiricus in the early 3rd Century A.D.

Later thinkers took up and extended Pyrrho's approach, accusing the Stoics of dogmatism, and arguing that
the logical mode of argument was untenable, as it relied on propositions which could not be said to be either true or
false without relying on further propositions. They did not believe that truth was necessarily unobtainable, but
rather an idea which did not yet exist in a pure form, or had not yet been discovered. Thus, they
viewed dogmatism as a disease of the mind and vowed to continued their inquiry.

Around 266 B.C., Arcesilaus (c. 316 - 241 B.C.) became head of Plato's Academy in Athens, and he strongly
changed the Academy's emphasis from Platonism to Skepticism, and it remained the centre of "Academic
Skepticism" for the next two centuries. Carneades (c. 214 - 129 B.C.), who became the fourth Academy scholarch in
succession after Arcesilaus in 155 B.C., was one of the best known of the Academic Skeptics, and he famously
claimed that "Nothing can be known, not even this". He was followed as head of the Academy by Clitomachus (187 -
109 B.C.) in 129 B.C., and by Philo of Larissa (c. 159 - 84 B.C.) who became the last undisputed head of the
Academy in 110 B.C. until the Roman occupation in 84 B.C.

During the 1st Century B.C., Aenesidemus rejected many of the theories of the Academy and founded a
separate Pyrrhonian Skepticism school, which revived the principle of epoche" (or "suspended judgment") originally
proposed by Pyrrho and Timon, as a solution to what he considered to be the insoluble problems of Epistemology.

Later followers of Pyrrho and Carneades developed more theoretical perspectives, and Sextus Empiricus (c.
200 A.D.) in particular incorporated aspects of Empiricism (the idea that the origin of all knowledge is sense
experience) into the basis for asserting knowledge. Sextus and his followers considered both the claims to
know and not to know to be equally dogmatic, and claimed neither. Instead, despite the apparent conflict with
the goal of ataraxia, they claimed to continue searching for something that might be knowable.

After centuries of religious dogmatism throughout the Middle Ages, Skepticism again resurfaced during the Age of
Reason and the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th Century. Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592) in France and
and Francis Bacon in England both took as their starting point the skeptical viewpoint that they knew nothing for
certain, as did Blaise Pascal and Ren Descartes, although these early pioneers were careful not to jettison
their Christian beliefs.

Descartes established a methodological skepticism (also known as Cartesian Skepticism) in which

he rejected any idea that can be doubted, and then attempted to re-establish it in order to acquire a firm foundation
for genuine knowledge. His famous formulation "Cogito, ergo sum" is sometimes stated as "Dubito, ergo cogito,
ergo sum" ("I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am").

XIV. SOPHISM

Sophism is an early Pre-Socratic school of philosophy in ancient Greece. It is the name often given to the
so-called Seven Sages of 7th and 6th Century B.C. Greece (see below), but also to many other early Greek
philosophers who were more concerned with Man himself and how he should behave than with big questions about
the Universe. Rather than a well-defined school or movement, however, it is more of a loose grouping of like-minded
individuals.

The term "sophism" comes from the Greek "sophos" or "sophia" (meaning "wise" or "wisdom"), and originally referred
to any expertise in a specific domain of knowledge or craft. After a period where it mainly referred to poets, the word
came to describe general wisdom and, especially, wisdom about human affairs. Over time, it came to denote a class
of itinerant intellectualswho taught courses in "excellence" or "virtue", (often charging high fees for it), who
speculated about the nature of languageand culture, and who employed rhetoric to achieve their purposes (which
was generally to persuade or convince others).
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Sophists held relativistic views on cognition and knowledge (that there is no absolute truth, or that two points of
view can be acceptable at the same time), skeptical views on truth and morality, and their philosophy often
contained criticisms of religion, law and ethics. Many Sophists were just as religious as most of their contemporaries,
but some held atheistic or agnostic views. Typical Sophist quotations include "Man is the measure of all things"
(Protagoras) and "Justice is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger" (Thrasymachus, c. 459 - 400 B.C.).

Sophists had considerable influence in their time, and were largely well-regarded. They were generally itinerant
teachers who accepted fees in return for instruction in oratory and rhetoric, and they emphasized the practical
application of rhetoric toward civic and political life. Their cultural and psychological contributions played an important
role in the growth of democracy in Athens, not least through their rhetorical teaching, their adoption
of Relativism and their liberal and pluralistic acceptance of other viewpoints. Sophists were also some of the world's
first lawyers, making full use of their highly-developed argumentationskill.

The early Sophists claimed that they could find the answers to all questions, which, along with their practice
of taking fees and their questioning of the existence and roles of traditional deities, led to popular
resentment against Sophist practitioners, ideas and writings. Some writers have included Socrates as a Sophist,
although he was scrupulous in accepting no fees and making no claims of superior wisdom, and his most illustrious
student, Plato, depicts Socrates as refuting the Sophists in several of his "Dialogues".

It is Plato who is largely responsible for the modern view of the Sophist as a greedy and power-seeking instructor
who uses rhetorical sleight-of-hand and ambiguities of language in order to deceive, or to support fallacious
reasoning. Plato was especially dismissive of Gorgias, one of the most famous and successful of the early Sophists.
Sophism was thought capable of perverting the truth because it emphasized practical rhetoric rather than virtue,
and taught students to argue any side of an issue. In most cases, our knowledge of Sophist thought comes down to us
from fragmentary quotations that lack context, many of these from Aristotle, who, like his teacher Plato, held the
Sophists in slight regard.

Owing largely to the influence of Plato and Aristotle, philosophy came to be regarded as distinct from Sophism,
which was gradually became synonymous with the practical discipline of rhetoric, so that, by the time of the Roman
Empire, a Sophist was simply a teacher of rhetoric or a popular public speaker. Indeed, for a time, Sophists started
to suffer persecution, threats and even assassination. In its largely derogatory modern usage, "sophism" (or
"sophistry") has come to mean a confusing or illogical argument used to deceive someone, or merely philosophy or
argument for its own sake, empty of real content or value.

The Seven Sages of ancient Greece were seven wise men (philosophers, statesmen and law-givers):

Thales of Miletus, famous for his maxim "To bring surety brings ruin".
Solon of Athens (c. 638 - 558 B.C.), famous for his maxim "Know thyself".
Chilon of Sparta (6th Century B.C.), famous for his maxim "Do not let one's tongue outrun one's sense".
Pittacus of Mytilene (c. 640 - 568 B.C.), famous for his maxim "Know thine opportunity".
Bias of Priene (6th Century B.C.), famous for his maxim "All men are wicked".
Cleobulus of Lindos (died c. 560 B.C.), famous for his maxim "Moderation is impeccable".
Periander of Corinth (7th Century B.C.), famous for his maxim "Forethought in all things".

Other well-known Sophists include Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus (c. 465 415 B.C.), Hippias (c. 460 -
399 B.C.), Thrasymachus(c. 459 - 400 B.C.), Lycophron (3rd Century B.C.), Callicles (5th
Century B.C.), Antiphon (c. 480 - 411 B.C.) and Cratylus (5th Century B.C.).

XV. STOICISM

Stoicism is a Hellenistic school of philosophy, developed by the Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium around 300 B.C.,
which teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions in
order to develop clear judgment and inner calm and the ultimate goal of freedom from suffering (see the section on
the doctrine of Stoicism for more details).

Stoicism is not just a set of beliefs or ethical claims, however, but rather a way of life, involving constant practice and
training, and incorporating the practice of logic, Socratic dialogue and self-dialogue, contemplation of death, and a
kind of meditationaimed at training one's attention to remain in the present moment.
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Stoicism was originally based on the moral ideas of the Cynic school (Zeno of Citium was a student of the important
Cynic Crates of Thebes), and toned down some of the harsher principles of Cynicism with some moderation and
real-world practicality. During its initial phase, Stoicism was generally seen as a back-to-nature movement, critical
of superstitions and taboos(based on the Stoic idea that the law of morality is the same as Nature).

Zeno's successor was Cleanthes of Assos (c. 330 - 230 B.C.), but his most influential follower was Cleanthes'
student Chrysippus of Soli (c. 280 - 207 B.C.), who was largely responsible for the molding of what we now call
Stoicism. He built up a unified account of the world, consisting of formal logic, materialistic
physics and naturalistic ethics. The main focus of Stoicism was always Ethics, although their logical theories were
to be of more interest for many later philosophers.

Stoicism became the foremost and most influential school of the Greco-Roman world, especially among the educated
elite, and it produced a number of remarkable writers and personalities, such as Panaetius of Rhodes (185 -
109 B.C.), Posidonius(c.135 - 50 B.C.), Cato the Younger (94 - 46 B.C.), Seneca the
Younger (4 B.C. - A.D. 65), Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.