Dikaiarchos

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Dikaiarchos ( Greek Δικαίαρχος Dikaíarchos , German also Dikäarch ; * approx. 375/350 BC in Messene ; † around 285 BC ) was a Greek peripatetic philosopher , cartographer , geographer, mathematician and writer. Because of its origins in Roman times, it was also called Dicaearchus Messenius, and in more recent times (erroneously) Messenius in the West .

Life

Dikaiarchos comes from the Sicilian Messene (today Messina). Later he went to Athens , where he became a student of Aristotle and Theophrastus at the Lyceum . Only a few fragments of his writings have survived from which it can be deduced that he emulated Aristotle in his choice of topics. He faced the teachings of the school with great independence. He dealt with the construction of hyperbolas and parabolas .

In physics, Dikaiarch was mainly interested in psychology, mantics and geography. He did away with the remnants of the Platonic dualism still retained by Aristotle. So he denied the existence of a soul that can be separated from the body: This is not an independent being, but nothing but the one and uniform body, formed in such a way that it lives and feels by virtue of its natural composition . He turned against manticism with the correct objection that it was better for man not to know the future and argued against the immortality of the soul. In ethics he asked himself questions about the conduct of life, giving preference to practical life over theoretical considerations, and in politics he limited himself to Sparta . In his work Trippolitikos he praised its form of government as a successful fusion of democratic and aristocratic elements. To edify the youth, Dikaiarch's writings were read publicly in Sparta.

In the field of physical geography he is considered the most important predecessor of Eratosthenes . In cartography he was among the first to use geographic coordinates . He took measurements of mountain heights and explained that even the highest peaks were far too low to affect the spherical shape of the earth.

Philosophy of language and rhetoric are absent in his works. Therefore Dikaiarch was received primarily as a geographer, cultural historian and political writer. Among other things, he wrote the first cultural history of Greece, "Bios Hellados" .

Works

The following works have been preserved in fragments and partially reconstructed from quotations in the works of other authors: Tripolitics , The Life of Greece and Description of Greece They can be found in Wehrli (1967)

Text output

literature

  • Jean-Pierre Schneider: Dicéarque de Messine. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 2, CNRS Éditions, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-271-05195-9 , pp. 760-764
  • Fritz Wehrli, Georg Wöhrle , Leonid Zhmud: The Peripatos until the beginning of the Roman Empire. In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity. Volume 3: Older Academy - Aristotle - Peripatos. 2nd edition, Schwabe, Basel 2004, ISBN 3-7965-1998-9 , pp. 493–666, here: 568–575

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Dikaiarchos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dikaiarch; Dicaearchus; Dicaarch (German); Δικαιαρχος (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek philosopher and scholar
DATE OF BIRTH around 375 BC BC or around 350 BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Messina
DATE OF DEATH around 285 BC Chr.