Metrodorus of Stratonikeia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Metrodoros of Stratonikeia ( Greek  Μητρόδωρος Mētródōros ; * probably between 170 and 165 BC; † after approx. 110 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher in the age of Hellenism . He was a member of the Platonic Academy in Athens .

Life

From which of the cities called Stratonikeia he came is unknown. At first he belonged to the school of the Epicureans . His teachers there were the scholarch (headmaster) Apollodorus, nicknamed Kepotyrannos, and probably Diogenes of Tarsus . Because of a disagreement with Apollodorus, he left school. He joined the Platonic Academy, which was then in the phase of the "younger (skeptical) academy" and was headed by the famous skeptic Karneades . Apparently Metrodorus was a student of Carnead for a long time. He is the only known ancient Epicurean who ever transferred to a rival school. From a remark by Cicero it can be inferred that Metrodorus around 110 BC Still taught; then his track is lost. According to the current state of research, an only fragmentary information from the Chronicle of Apollodorus of Athens about Carneade students who taught “not in the city” (Athens) does not refer to Metrodorus.

According to the statements of Philodemos , Metrodorus was an important personality due to his way of life and his powers of persuasion, but was not characterized by amiability. Philodemos mentions two of his students who were also named Metrodorus; one came from Kyzikos , the other - if the text of the papyrus fragment is correctly completed - from Pitane .

Teaching

Since no writings by Metrodorus have survived, only the sparse information on his teaching is available, which can be found in the few sources that mention him.

Metrodorus expressed his conviction that he was the only one among the numerous disciples of Carneades who had correctly understood his teachings. Since Karneades had left no writings, his students relied on their memories and their notes from his lessons. An additional difficulty arose from the nature of skepticism that Karneades advocated.

The core thesis of academic skepticism is that no one has succeeded in gaining solid, proven knowledge of any question of philosophy. This arises from the fact that every “dogmatic” philosophical teaching connected with a claim to truth can be refuted or at least exposed as a mere unproven opinion. Therefore, as a philosopher, one should in principle refrain from “agreeing” ( synkatáthesis ) to impressions and conclusions that seem to arise. All factual assertions are to be omitted in philosophy. Only in practical life, where you have to constantly make decisions and need a criterion for this, is it essential to consider one assumption to be more plausible than another and to act accordingly. This pragmatic attitude should not, however, lead to the opinion that the correctness of the assumption can be proven philosophically sound and thus gained a verifiable access to an objective truth.

Karneades took into account the obvious objection that skepticism casts doubt on everything except itself. As a consistent skeptic, he also viewed his own thinking with skepticism. Therefore, he used to avoid setting his own point of view. In his critical discussions of foreign doctrines he only examined the views of other philosophers and left open the question of how he himself felt about the problems discussed. As a result, his pupil Kleitomachos , who later became a scholarch himself, complained that he had never been able to find out what his teacher thought was right.

In these circumstances it was inevitable that the disciples of Carnead would come to differing views on the correct understanding of his philosophy. A radical tendency, whose main exponent was Clitomachus, emphasized that one could pragmatically assume that one thing is more plausible than something else, but that all such opinions are equally insignificant from a philosophical point of view. A philosopher should not adopt an opinion. One should never philosophically claim that an assumption is correct and that one has thus objectively correctly grasped a fact. The "grasping" ( katálēpsis ) was a central term in the epistemology of the Stoa , a school rivaling the Platonic Academy, which claimed that the correct grasping of facts enables secure knowledge.

The point of view of Metrodorus was opposite to that of Kleitomachus. He said that Karneades had - rightly - taught that not everything is inexplicable, but that there are statements that one can “agree” to in the sense of asserting their objective correctness. However, what Metrodorus thought was detectable and how he justified it is unknown. What is certain is that his view meant a softening of skepticism and was incompatible with the position of Kleitomachus.

Philo of Larisa , a student of Kleitomachus and his successor as Scholarch, turned away from radical skepticism and took a moderate position. Like Metrodoros, he believed that there were facts that could be grasped. The classical scholar Charles Brittain concluded from this agreement between the two philosophers that there was a “philonic / metrodoric” direction within the academy. A decided opponent of the hypothesis of a Philonic / Metrodoric school direction is John Glucker. David Sedley assumes that, after the death of Clitomachus, Metrodorus became the main authority for the interpretation of the philosophy of Carnead and that he at times strongly influenced Philo.

reception

Metrodorus was still known in late antiquity . The church father Augustine wrote that Metrodorus had tried to lead the Academy back to a commitment to the authentic teaching of Plato . According to tradition, Metrodorus was the first to expressly admit that skepticism was only a weapon in the fight against the Stoics and not the real position of the Academy. Augustine was wrongly of the opinion that academic skepticism had from the beginning only served the purpose of antistoic polemics and was not meant honestly. Even in the epoch of skepticism, the actual teaching of the Academy always remained the Platonic ontology , which was only concealed temporarily in order to be able to fight the Stoa more effectively.

literature

  • Tiziano Dorandi : Metrodore de Stratonicée . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 4, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-271-06386-8 , p. 518
  • Woldemar Görler : The academy between Karneades and Philon . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity , vol. 4: The Hellenistic philosophy , 2nd half volume, Schwabe, Basel 1994, ISBN 3-7965-0930-4 , pp. 898-914, here: 905 f.
  • Carlos Lévy: Les Petits Académiciens: Lacyde, Charmadas, Métrodore de Stratonice . In: Mauro Bonazzi, Vincenza Celluprica (ed.): L'eredità platonica. Studi sul platonismo da Arcesilao a Proclo , Bibliopolis, Napoli 2005, pp. 51-77

Remarks

  1. Philodemos, Academica ( Academicorum index ) Col. 24. The name of Diogenes is only partially legible in the papyrus fragment; therefore the reading “des Basilides” instead of “des Diogenes” was considered as an alternative. Then Basilides of Tire ("the Syrian"), a Scholarch of the Epicureans, would be meant. But this is chronologically impossible. See Tiziano Dorandi: Basilide le Syrien . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 2, Paris 1994, p. 91 (for "des Diogenes" as the correct reading) and Michael Erler : Further Epicureans . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , vol. 4: The Hellenistic philosophy , 1st half volume, Basel 1994, p. 280 (on the chronology).
  2. Cicero, De oratore 1.45.
  3. Kilian Fleischer: The academician Charmadas in Apollodors Chronik (PHerc. 1021, col. 31-32) . In: Cronache Ercolanesi 44, 2014, pp. 65–75, here: 73–75.
  4. Tiziano Dorandi: Métrodore de Stratonicée . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 4, Paris 2005, p. 518; John Glucker: Antiochus and the Late Academy , Göttingen 1978, p. 113 and note 53 disagrees with the reading of the name Metrodoros von Pitane.
  5. Cicero, Lucullus 139.
  6. ^ Charles Brittain: Philo of Larissa. The Last of the Academic Skeptics , Oxford 2001, pp. 11-17, 73-128.
  7. John glug: The Philonian / Metro Dorian: Problems of Method in Ancient Philosophy . In: Elenchos 25, 2004, pp. 99-153, here: 118-133, 144-153. Cf. John Glucker: Antiochus and the Late Academy , Göttingen 1978, pp. 75-79 (presentation of his own hypothesis on the teaching of Metrodorus).
  8. ^ David Sedley: The end of the Academy . In: Phronesis 25, 1980, pp. 67-75, here: 71.
  9. ^ Augustine, Contra Academicos 3.41. See Carlos Lévy: Les Petits Académiciens: Lacyde, Charmadas, Métrodore de Stratonice . In: Mauro Bonazzi, Vincenza Celluprica (ed.): L'eredità platonica. Studi sul platonismo da Arcesilao a Proclo , Napoli 2005, p. 71 and note 50.