The Meaning of Philosophy in the Hellenxstic-Roman World

THE MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE HELLENISTIC-ROMAN WORLD DURING the "classical" period of Greek thought 1 the term "philosophy," as developed in the great speculative systems of Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle, stood primarily for a fixed conceptual frame which constituted the theoretical setting for the scientific treatment of detaiJ.2 With this first predominantly theoretical meaning of the term, however , there had been early associated a second meaning which dealt with the fundamental problem as well as scientific exploration of man's practical interests, tasks, and needso3 With the disciples of Plato and Aristotle, the purely theoretical interest in philosophy, as far as it was able to survive an essentially antiquarian trend, was directed to various special " philosophies " or sciences which now, in part, assumed the names of their particular subjects. This newly arising theoretical or scholarly interest in the scientific treatment of detail, which in itself changed fundamentally the theoretical aspect of philosophy, was stimulated to no small degree by Aristotle's Organon.4 Philosophy, as it nearly always does in the hands 1 The " classical period " of Greek speculative thought was definitely the product of a " national " and exclusively Heilenic .civilization. The military conquests of Alexander the Great and the subsequent foundings of the empires of the so-called Diadochi threw open the East to the influences of Greek science, art, literature, and philosophy. As a result of this intermingling of East and West, Asia and Hellenic Europe, a novel and distinct civilization developed which is commonly referred to as Hellenistic culture. The term " Hellenistic " is derived from the Greek word €"1\"!l:rJvlfeopa>) distinguishing each thing from every other single thing without knowing every other single thing. And one cannot, they say, know each single thing without knowing its differentiae, since everything is identical with that from which it does not differ, and other than that from which it differs. 11 This passage should make it quite obvious that the followers of Plato in the Early Academy, although they still adhered in a greater or lesser degree to Plato's metaphysical system, meant by philosophical inquiry the treatment and elaboration of detail rather than the further development and improvement of the solutions to the basic metaphysical problems which they had inherited from their master and teacher.12 1 °Cf., in general, F. Ravaisson, Speusippi Placita (Paris, 1838); M. Fischer, De Speus-ippi Vita (Rastadt, 1845); P. Lang, De Speusippi Academici Scriptis (Bonn, 1911); C. Ritter, Neue Untersuchungen iiber Platon, 3~7 ff.; E. Frank, Platon und die sogenannte;n Pythagoreer, ~39 ff. 11 Aristotle, Post. Analyt., 97 a 6 ff.-The various commentators dealing with this particular passage (Philoponus or Themistius) insist that the term rives (some) refers to Speusippus, although it is quite possible that Aristotle had in mind several other members of the Academy. Cf. M. Wallis, Joanni Philoponi in Aristotelis- Analytica Priora Commentarii, preface 5, note 4; and the able discussion of this passage in H. Cherniss, Aristotle's Criticism of Plato and the Academy, 59 ff.-As to Aristotle's own attitude towards detail in general, see Metaph., 1003 a ~3; 1064 b ~3; 1005 a 30; 1005 b 8; 98~ a 17; 1005 a ~5 ff.; 1061 b 11; 1061 a 4; 1061 a ~8; 10~6 a ~0; 1059 b 11; 1061 b ~5; 98~ b ~4 ff.; 98~ a 9: "The wise man knows all things as far as possible, although he has no knowledge of each of them in detail." Cf. De part anim. 644 b ~~ ff.; H. Cherniss, op. cit. 12 Speusippus, according to the testimony of Epicrates (in: Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae , ~- 59D ff.), busied himself with the classification of animals and plants. Cf. ibid., ~- 86C; 3. 105B; 4. 133B; 7.303D; 9.369A; Diog. Laert., 4. 5, where Speusippus is mentioned as the author of the 5f1ma, containing no less than ten books on the classification of animals and plants.- Xenocrates of Chalcedon likewise wrote many works on the detailed sciences. For titles see Diog. Laert., 4. H ff.; Cicero, Acad., II. 46. 143.- Heracleides of Pontus, whom Cicero calls the doctor 202 ANTON-HERMANN CJEIROUST The same scientific treatment of, and emphasis on, detail is also...