The
history of thought has always been a fascinating subject to me. While
the life of a human being is mortal, the ideas can be passed through
different eras and inspire further generations. That is why great
thinkers are immortalized – because people will remember their
insightful ideas that shape the understanding of knowledge and human
history in general. We need to develop such a historical outlook
because not only that addresses the question of our origin, but also
guides our way to further develop these ideas for later generations.
I have often mentioned different philosophers and thinkers when I
discussed about great filmmakers in 'Film Analysis', and I feel that
the ideas of thinkers deserve formal treatment rather than merely
some occasional 'party-crashing' entries in my film blog. So, I
decide to put together a new section about the intellectual history
of humanity.
I
do not intend to call this a 'philosophy' series, because while
philosophers have provided starting points and guided us through the
road to wisdom, the approach is rather limited in scope and also they
cannot discredit contributions from other practitioners. Be it
scientists, poets, politicians, dramatists, artists, or even
entertainers, they can also put forward ideas that inspire people.
Who would doubt the influence of Charles Chaplin to humanity, even if
he was not seen as academic in any way? Do the members of the Monty
Python have to become philosophers to express insightful ideas?
Moreover, I certainly have no ambition to become a walking
encyclopedia in philosophy as it does not appear to be the most
interesting alter-ego one can be easily conceived of. Why not
understand the context of these great ideas and how they may
influence us? Thus, 'history of ideas' seems to be a more appropriate
title.
It
is generally agreed that the emergence of Socrates served as the key
turning point for Western intellectual history, due to his attempts
to build up a rational and systematic approach to philosophy. His
efforts have led him to be called 'the Father of Philosophy'. Yet it
is important to appreciate that there were already intellectual
activities before Socrates – and many of these thinkers are not as
well-known as the Three Musketeers of Classical Greek Philosophy –
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. These thinkers are known as
'Presocratic philosophers', literally meaning 'before Socrates'.
Presocratic philosophers also include the ones who appeared in the
same era as Socrates (such as Democritus), and the Sophists, who,
according to Plato, often debated with Socrates because the latter
felt that they often used bad argumentation and rhetoric to achieve
their own ends rather than using reason to look for truths.
Thus,
the birth of Western philosophy appeared in ancient Greece in the
6th century BC. By that time Greece
was already a thriving center for cultural and intellectual
activities. Because of an efficient means of transportation and the
geographical advantages, Greek cities such as Athens and Miletus
became hubs for the exchange for commercial products as well as
ideas. Thinkers originated from many parts of Greece, and some also
came from neighboring regions like the islands of Italy. One should
be impressed by the fact that, given a rather limited condition,
these ancient thinkers have used their imaginations to benefit their
civilization and framed the way further ideas were conceptualized.
Even
before the first philosophers emerged, people have been involved in
all sort of cultural and intellectual activities. The prosperity of
many of the Greek cities was instrumental to the development of early
thoughts. Everyone has already thought about the questions the first
philosophers would soon address: poems like those from Homer and
Hesiod were already enriching the intellectual experience of
humanity. The emergence of the Presocratic philosophers represented a
turning point to Western thought because that signified a paradigm
shift of thinking, coining the term from Thomas Kuhn. The change was
summarized in a phrase - 'from mythos to logos'.
The
world 'mythos' meant mythology and the 'logos' meant account in
Greek. Before the emergence of the first philosophers, people
explained and understood the things around them by attributing to
mythological and idiosyncratic explanations. Observing the change in
weather, they would attribute explanations like 'Zeus was angry' or
'God A was quarreling with Goddess B'. Too often the plot elements
involved some form of incest, moral transgressions or outrageous
family dysfunctions – you get the idea of these ancient soap
operas.
The
first philosophers sought for answers there were not mythological or
superstitious, as these answers could not yield any concrete concepts
that would be beneficial for mankind. Many of the philosophers, all
the way to until the last 200 years before the rise of
anti-metaphysical positivism, could be called 'natural philosophers'
because they were considered as proto-scientists, who attempted to
use naturalistic, and empirical methods whenever possible, to
approach the problems they encountered. The directions for the
philosophers to tackle the problems differed. For the Milesian school
and the Atomists, they attempted to use as much observations as they
could to draw conclusions and explained natural phenomena. For
philosophers like Heraclitus, the Pythagoreans and the Eleatic
School, they appealed to reason or intuition to discover the
metaphysical reality. For the Sophists, they shifted the focus of
philosophical inquiry from the theological foundation of metaphysics
to a humanistic one, and they focused the studies on the human
institutions like conventions and language. In the 5th century,
the Sophists in particular have been involved in the Nomos-Physis
debate – the convention (nomos) versus nature (physis) distinction
important for humanity, and the issue had important consequences for
naturalistic, social, legal and political areas alike.
The
spirit of mythology has not been completely exorcised -
even in Greek culture the need for myths persisted. In Aeschylus's
famous play 'Oresteia', cosmic justice from the gods mingled with
human justice provided by positive law, and the line between
spiritual and secular became blurred as a result. In Plato's
'Protagoras', when the Sophist Protagoras debated with Socrates, he
expressed a thesis of the origin of human civilization based on
mythology, because he believed his audience would be more
interested in hearing mythical tales. Nevertheless, his account
evidently demonstrated a mythos-to-logos transition of Greek
culture. A further example is provided by the
historian Hecataeus of Miletus. While he was probably one of the
first historians to apply a rational critique on historical
information, and attempted to eliminate myths from historical facts,
he did occasionally attributed explanations to some mythological
sources such as Homer's poems. These scenarios are not very different
from the modern life. While one can take a completely secular and
rational outlook towards life, without any burden on spiritual values
and faith, having a religious outlook is still being respected in any
societies with a tolerance of diversity.
The
significance for the insights of these thinkers was not limited to
antiquity. Their theories were developed, challenged and systematized
by the later philosophers, leading to the development of the whole
history of Western philosophy. The
ideas of Presocratic philosophers have survived the era of
out-of-this-world metaphysical speculations and Medieval dogmatism,
and experienced a resurgence in the era of Renaissance Humanism.
Thereafter, the Scientific Revolution of Europe has renewed interests
in Presocratic atomism, which led to the revolutionary theory of
corpuscularianism in the 17th century. These ideas eventually
served as the foundation of modern physical science. The age of
Enlightenment embraced an appreciation of classical art and ideas,
and thinkers and artists alike continued to return to the Classical
era for inspirations on their own work and ideas they wish to
develop. The ideas of the Presocratic philosophers have
influenced thinkers as diverse as Spinoza, Hegel, Wagner, Marx,
Nietzsche, Heidegger, Gadamer, Popper and many more.
The
Presocratic philosopher Democritus was known to have said
I
would rather discover one cause than gain the kingdom of Persia.
While
I cannot deny the temptation offered by the latter option, I
presume the motivation to ask 'Why?' is the way to a valuable asset
known as wisdom, and indeed the power of knowledge itself.
by
Ed Law
Conatus
Classics
