Hellenistic Age: A Mixing

• Greek/Mac. Alexander the Great - 300s bce• Roman Might Emerges - 200s bce• Alexandria, Egypt a locus of mixing cultures

EpicureansStoics

and CynicsEarly Christianity

The Mixing of CulturesHellenism

Socrates to his pupils: “Seek the good life…”

• One pupil, Aristippus, inspires Epicurus (341-270BC)– Epicureanism

• Pupil two, Zeno, at the Stoa inspires Cicero and Epictetus – Stoicism

• Pupil three, Antisthenes, inspires Diogenes– Cynicism

Epicureans Adopt Socrates’ Devotion to Knowing Thyself

“The highest good is pleasure, the greatest evil is pain.”

Aristippus

Pleasure = an absence or avoidance of pain.

Physical pleasure: CAUTION!!

• Two kinds of pleasure– Long term mental

pleasures = Katastematic– Short term physical and

mental urges - Kinetic

Guide to Happiness: Epicurus on Happiness

• Epicureanism = • Pleasure ethic of

Aristippus + atomic theory of Democritus

• “Nothing comes from nothing”

Two main problems and solutions

1. Fear of the gods

2. Fear of death

• Universe is unchanging: gods, if they exist, do not watch over or punish people (agnostic at best)

• We do not feel pain in death, as there is no longer a body or a soul to feel it – soul atoms disperse

Seneca & Stoic Force“One who accepts what happens without a lot of complaining or emotional display.”

• We live in a rational universe.• Purpose and intelligence

permeates the universe.• Logos binds all things.• Man can understand it, if he

wills, so he is rational too.

Stoics Adopt Socrates’ Calm Sense of Civic Responsibility

• Cosmopolitan: socially active beings.– Family important– Believed in a government of

laws, not men.– We have reason and give

language to it: such makes man unique.

• Eliminated dualism by assuming a unity of body and spirit– One nature

• Zeno• Cicero• Epictetus• Seneca• Marcus Aurelius

Q: What makes man depart his true self?

Stoic Answer:

Irrational passions!*#@&)Anger, fear, hate, desire for ecstasy

• Insanity is a departure from our nature…it is unnatural…

• A deviation from reason….so, reject superstition.

• Hence, cultivate Apatheia in your life

Never say you’re Lost: there’s a reason for everything…

Apatheia: An active systematic discipline to deny the power of undisciplined passions and resign oneself to a natural order that is determinative.

Logos

The intrinsic ordering principle of the world.

With your group

• After reading the two case studies, decide how a philosopher from your viewpoint would respond or advise Richard and someone who has listened to the Sermon on the Mount…

Marcus Aurelius

“The reason, in respect of which we are rational beings, is common; if this is so, common also is the reason which commands us what to do, and what not to do; if this is so, there is a common law also; if this is so, we are fellow citizens…if this is so the world is in a manner a state. My nature is rational and social; and my city and country so far as I am [Marcus Aurelius] is Rome, but so far as I am a man it is the world”

Tips for Developing Self-discipline?

• Self-reflection• Know yourself• Note under what

conditions you face the most temptation

• Tell yourself: you are in control of your actions

• Make the mundane a treat

Cynics Adopt Socrates’ Frugality

• Reject all absolutes• True happiness lies not

in external advantages• Withdrawal from

society brings most happiness

• Little concern for self or others

• Suffering and death are of little concern

• Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates

• Diogenes to Great Alex:“You’re blocking my sun,

dude…”

Diogenes

The Cynic Barks

• Antisthenes

• Embrace the burden of our pain and suffering that accompanies our search for inner wealth

The Humanist Contemplative• DT Strain• Humanist Minister, certified by the

American Humanist Association (AHA) and a Spiritual Naturalist. A writer for the Houston Chronicle, and other sites, Rev. Strain speaks and writes on a wide variety of philosophic concepts and participates in several organizations.

• Enthusiast of Stoicism, Buddhism, and other ancient philosophies

• Read article…http://humanistcontemplative.blogspot.com/