Philosophy schools of antiquity
The four institutionally organized schools of philosophy of antiquity were communities of thinkers, existing over several generations, who dealt with philosophical questions. They originated in the 4th century BC. In Athens . All schools had a founder, but their relationship to his teaching was very different. The oldest school was the Platonic Academy . The other three are the Aristotelian Peripatos , the Stoa founded by Zeno of Kition and the Kepos ("garden") Epicurus . All schools are named after the places or buildings where teaching took place in the first time after their establishment.
In contrast to the sophists , no apprenticeship was raised, but the philosophy schools received considerable donations from rich sympathizers.
All schools except the Kepos have in the 1st century BC Ceased to exist, although in all three cases there were later continuations outside the closer school context. In later times, basic knowledge of the four systems was part of general Greek education. When Emperor Mark Aurel founded chairs for the four philosophical systems in 176 , there had long been no institutional schools and hardly any philosophically productive Aristotelian, Stoic or Epicurean. However, the Greek term diadochos , which had denoted the successor in the management of a school, was also used for the holders of these chairs, which in older research led to false assumptions about continuity, which allowed the schools to exist for half a millennium longer than they really existed to have.
There are other philosophical directions (haireseis) in ancient philosophy that did not take the institutional form of a school with a local center in Athens and succession of school heads ( scholarchen ), especially skepticism .
Founded by Plutarch in the 5th century , the Neoplatonic school in Athens is often viewed as a direct continuation of the academy. However, this corresponds neither to the facts nor to the view of the Athens Neoplatonists. The ban on philosophical teaching in Athens by Emperor Justinian I is traditionally often (but incorrectly) considered to be the point in time when ancient philosophy came to an end.
Other schools of philosophy were the Megarics and the Stilpons School , the Neoplatonism founded by Plotinus , the Alexandrian School and the Eleatics in Campania.
See also
literature
- Thomas Bénatouïl : Philosophic Schools in Hellenistic and Roman Times. In: Mary Louise Gill , Pierre Pellegrin (Eds.), A Companion to Ancient Philosophy (= Blackwell Companions to Philosophy ). Blackwell Publishing / John Wiley & Sons 2006, paperback 2009, pp. 415-429.
- Tiziano Dorandi : Organization and structure of the philosophical schools . In: Keimpe Algra u. a. (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 0-521-25028-5 , pp. 55-62.
- John Glucker : Antiochus and the Late Academy . Göttingen 1978 (very detailed on many questions concerning the other philosophical schools).
- John Patrick Lynch: Aristotle's School. A Study of a Greek Educational Institution. University of California Press, Berkeley et al. 1972.
- Heinrich Niehues-Pröbsting : The ancient philosophy. Scripture, school, way of life. Fischer TB 60106, Frankfurt a. M. 2004, ISBN 3-596-60106-1 .