Phaleas

Phaleas ( Greek Φαλέας Phaléas ) was a pre-Socratic philosopher . He lived in the 5th or 4th century BC. BC and probably dealt primarily with state theory , because in this context he is mentioned by Aristotle . Further evidence of his person or his work is not available.

Teaching

Aristotle describes Phaleas as the first constitutional theorist who saw the cause of social unrest and civil war in the unjust distribution of property and property. According to Aristotle, he called for all citizens to be financially equal when new states or colonies were founded. For already existing states, he recommended the continuous marriage of poor and rich people, with only the rich having to provide a dowry. For egalitarianism of Phaleas noticed Aristotle: "If the mere opinion is anyway the only one, as Gorgias says and Protagoras , when the absolute lack of knowledge, all opinions are equal, so are the people who have any opinions, even under the same . "

Johannes Agnoli describes Phaleas as a "representative of the so-called left sophists" who wanted to implement Isonomia not only formally and legally, but also materially. Agnoli to Faleas and Hippodamos: “They were radical, egalitarian thinkers who not only wanted to abolish inequality among the same free people through the redistribution of property - to that extent, egalitarian and not really communist - but who also wanted to abolish the difference between free and unfree wanted. ”Two things play a role: first, that the human being, as the center of all being, is equal to himself, that is, human beings are all equal; Second, the relativization of all values: “They even understand the relativization in such a way that if everything is relative and no one is able to claim that he possesses the truth, then as a consequence of the relativization principle, people are all equal. The old normative excessive system of political division no longer applies, and in this respect the split between man and woman, metoecs and slaves is no longer applicable. Both, Faleas in particular, are of the opinion that there is no difference between man and woman - for the first time in human history. Faleas goes even further when he proclaims something unheard of for the people of the time: that there is no difference whatsoever between the Hellenes and the barbarians ... "

John Agnoli says it is significant that Aristotle did not leave us a single fragment of Phaleas. He also emphasizes that Aristotle made fun of the sophists, since there were also female traveling teachers among them. Agnoli starts from history as the history of the victors and that the thinkers, later referred to as "great philosophers", were able to take their position because they spoke the word of inequality, the aristocracy and the elites. The anthropocentric egalitarianism, relativism and agnosticism of the sophists, especially the left sophists, were therefore too subversive.

literature

Overview display

• Michel Narcy: Phaléas de Chalcédoine. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Vol. 5, part 1, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2012, ISBN 978-2-271-07335-8 , pp. 273-274

Investigations

• Johannes Agnoli : Collected writings. Volume 3: Subversive Theory. “The thing itself” and its story. A Berlin lecture. Ça-Ira-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1996, ISBN 3-924627-41-X , chapter 4, pp. 57-58, in the audio book in part 3.
• Ryan Balot: Aristotle's Critique of Phaleas: Justice, Equality, and Pleonexia. In: Hermes . Vol. 129, 2001, pp. 32-44 ( online , only for subscribers to DigiZeitschriften ).
• Italo Lana: Le teorie egualitarie di Falea di Calcedone. In: Rivista Critica di Storia della Filosofia. Vol. 5, 1950, ISSN  0035-581X , pp. 265-276.

Remarks

1. ↑ Aristotle, Politics II 7, 1266a39-1267b21.