Initially a wealthy merchant, he became interested in philosophy during a trip to Athens and grew to be a highly regarded teacher. The founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, Zeno was heavily influenced by the Cynics. His teachings would ultimately inspire the Stoic school of philosophy long after the Cynics had vanished. When Alexander asked what the cynic might want from the King of Greece, Diogenes asked him to get out of his sunlight. When he was presented with Zeno’s paradox demonstrating that movement was impossible, he is said to have stood up and walked away.Ī famous story relates that Alexander the Great visited him in his pot before setting out to conquer the world. He would walk down the street backward in an attempt to make people question why they walked forwards and begged from statues to show that he was not concerned with rejection. He is said to have written a few (lost) essays but is better known for using actions to educate.
He begged for food and avoided luxuries like the plague. Diogenes founded the Cynical school of philosophy, a school dedicated to simple living and virtue.Īdvocating a simple, disciplined, self-sufficient life, Diogenes lived in a large jar and owned nothing but a cloak and staff. Diogenes was the epitome of the classical philosopher as a man who practiced what they taught.
One of the strangest philosophers ever to live. The potential answers to his paradoxes have influenced discussions about time, space, and how we perceive reality.ĭiogenes Searching for an Honest Man by Johann Tischbein Several potential solutions have been put forth to his paradoxes and debate continues to this day. A video introduction to the problem can be viewed here. However, as you can’t finish an infinite number of steps in a finite time, he argues that the runner cannot reach the end of the track and movement is impossible. He notes that before the runner can run the whole length, they must first run the first half, then a quarter, then an eighth, and so on. He asks us to imagine a runner on a track. His best-known paradox suggests that movement is impossible. Although only nine of the dozens he wrote survive, they are as famous as they are troublesome. Not to be confused with Zeno of Citium, this Zeno was a pioneer of the reductio ad absurdum argument, and Aristotle credited him with co-inventing the dialectic method of philosophy. Plato would also steal his idea that reason alone had access to truth. Plato would later use him as a significant inspiration in building his cosmology. Parmenides’ work greatly influenced the philosophers after him, who tried to reconcile his arguments with the world as it seemed to be. As he felt that wisdom should be earned, he wrote obscurely, so much so that his book was challenging to read, and ancient authors dubbed him The Riddler.
He also had a rather odd way of going about philosophy. He thought little of his fellow philosophers, saying they knew a great many things of little value.
However, Heraclitus did support the idea that attaining wisdom was possible, if difficult. Plato alleged that Heraclitus denied the possibility of knowledge, as the world would change too fast to allow for lasting accurate information about it. Going off of this, he argued that change was good and it was best to recognize that conflict and strife needn’t be avoided like most people think. After all, if a river did not flow it would hardly be a river. This constant change was the way of everything and was needed to keep the world stable. It is always in flux but keeps the elements in proportion. This fire can transform to become water, earth, and air. His cosmos has no beginning or end and is fundamentally made of fire. Like many other pre-Socratics, he developed a cosmology.
0 kommentar(er)
