Alexinos

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Alexinos von Elis ( Greek  Ἀλεξῖνος Alexínos ; * probably in the 4th century BC in Elis ; † probably in the 3rd century BC) was a Greek ancient philosopher . He belongs to the direction of the megarics .

Alexinos' writings are lost; only a few accounts of his life and teaching are preserved.

Lore

The main source on Alexinos is Diogenes Laertios . Others are Philodemos of Gadara , Athenaios , Eusebios of Caesarea , Sextus Empiricus and Marcus Tullius Cicero as well as insignificant reports from other authors.

Life

Alexinos' life data are unknown. From various ancient reports it has been concluded that it was in the decades before and after 300 BC. Will have worked. After Diogenes Laertios, Alexinos taught in his hometown Elis and later moved to Olympia to establish a school there. However, the attempt failed because the students stayed away. Diogenes Laertios also reports that Alexinos is said to have been quarrelsome, which is why he was nicknamed "the rebuttal", and that he died due to an injury sustained while swimming. Another source reports that Alexinos' lessons were said to have been particularly expensive.

Teaching

Alexinos' writings have been lost, but some of the titles and contents of his writings are known. He is said to have composed a Paian and written the following writings:

  • In the memoirs (Apomnēmoneúmata) , Alexinos Alexander the Great lets his father Philip II express disparagingly about Aristotle .
  • A script in which he attacked the historian Ephoros of Kyme .
  • In About Education (Perì agōgḗs) Alexinos took a position on a dispute between philosophers and rhetoricians about who was better suited to educating young people. Although he credited the rhetors with the fact that they could teach their students to argue correctly - even if only at a subordinate level - he criticized their technical, stylistic and literary teaching content. The rhetors lack the rigor and the correct scientific approach to reasoning at a higher level, the level of the philosophers. Rhetors, on the other hand, would rely on experience, probability and guesswork.
  • The counter writings (Antigraphaí) were one or more writings directed against the philosopher Zeno of Kition . Cicero and Sextus Empiricus report on Alexinos' objections to Zeno's proof of the rationality of the cosmos. Zeno had maintained: “That which is rational is better than that which is not gifted with reason. But nothing is better than the cosmos. So the cosmos is endowed with reason. ”Alexinos is said to have taken this proof ad absurdum as follows:“ That which dominates poetry is better than that which does not dominate poetry. But nothing is better than the cosmos. So the cosmos rules poetry. ”According to Alexinos, one could prove for every art ( techne ) that the cosmos rules it. Some researchers assume that four similar parodic transformations of other syllogisms by Zeno also come from Alexinos.

Alexis, the author of a work on self-sufficiency , should not be Alexinos, as was sometimes assumed in the past.

Source collections

  • Klaus Döring : The mega-riders. Annotated collection of testimony (= studies on ancient philosophy 2). Grüner, Amsterdam 1971, ISBN 90-6032-003-4
  • Gabriele Giannantoni (Ed.): Socratis et Socraticorum Reliquiae , Volume 2, Bibliopolis, Naples 1990, Section II-C ( online )
  • Robert Muller (Ed.): Les mégariques. Fragments et témoignages , Vrin, Paris 1985, p. 33 ff.

literature

Footnotes

  1. ^ Klaus Döring: Alexinos from Elis . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 218–221, here: p. 218.
  2. ^ A b c d e Klaus Döring: Alexinos from Elis . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 218–221, here: p. 219.
  3. ↑ Diogenes Laertios, On the Lives and Teachings of Famous Philosophers 2, 109.
  4. ↑ Papyrus Herculanensis 418 frg. 4, 14-4, 15.
  5. ^ Klaus Döring: Alexinos from Elis . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 218–221, here: pp. 219–220.
  6. ^ Klaus Döring: Alexinos from Elis . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 218–221, here: pp. 220–221.
  7. ↑ Cicero, De natura deorum 3.23.
  8. ↑ Sextus Empiricus, Adversus mathematicos 9,108.
  9. ↑ Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta 1,111.
  10. ↑ About Malcolm Schofield: The syllogisms of Zeno of Citium . In: Phronesis 28, 1983, pp. 31-58, here: pp. 34-44.
personal data
SURNAME Alexinos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek ancient philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: 4th century BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Elis
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: 3rd century BC Chr.