Philosophy as a Way of Life from ancient Greek philosophy to Renaissance philosophy Yannis Fikas

Philosophy as a Way of Life

from ancient Greek philosophy to Renaissance  philosophy

Yannis Fikas

Man in ancient Greek Philosophy

Eastern and Western philosophers believe that humans are composed of the mind, the soul and the body and that there are two kinds of knowledge – the sensory and the intellectual. Sight and hearing along with touch, which have developed through the centuries more than taste and smell, are the first step which leads humans from the Beauty of the sensory world to the second step, that of  Love, which characterizes the psychological world and finally to the third step, to Eudaimonia, which characterizes the spiritual world.

They also thought that once imagination receives beautiful images through sight and harmonious sounds through hearing, it formulates in the mind anew the images of these material things and sounds, while the constant attention and conscience refine the senses and impart quality to life. Moreover, they believed that it is possible for the soul to transcend its inferior nature; however, it needs laborious and constant effort and the help of ritual, creative imagination, cultivation of the virtue of recognizing the conceivable world, to do so and unite through the intellect with the One.

Democritus believed that there are two kinds of knowledge, the one acquired through the senses (sensory knowledge) and the other through the intellect (intellectual knowledge). Of these two, he calls the one deriving from the intellect ‘genuine’ ascribing reliability to it, so as to form reasonable judgment, while he calls the other deriving from the senses ‘dark’ denying that it is unerring with regard to the discernment of what is true (Sextus Empiricus, Against Mathematicians VII, 138).

Democritus taught that humans who wish to have serenity of the spirit should not engage in many activities, either private or public, nor choose activities beyond their power and natural capacities.  (Stobaeus, Anthology IV, 39, 25).

Humans achieve this serenity by moderation in pleasure and by proportion in their life. On the contrary, deprivation and excess are apt to fluctuate and cause great perturbations in the soul; and souls which change over great intervals are neither stable nor tranquil… Holding fast to this saying you will pass your life in greater tranquility and will avert not a few of the plagues of life—envy, jealousy and bitterness of mind (Stobaeus, Anthology ΙΙΙ, 1, 210).

Socrates (470/469 – 399 BC) believed that the dialectical method is not wisdom itself but the method which seeks for the essence of things, the truth, and which leads to wisdom and inner happiness. The dialectical method is the one which sets the soul free from the senses, leads it to the world of ideas and allows it to roam freely in the various stages of existence. According to Socrates, we are not perfect but we can walk the path of perfection, get purified from our ignorance that veils our Wisdom, and be liberated from preconceptions and false beliefs. Through his constant questioning Socrates led the souls of his interlocutors to the light and wisdom. Actually wisdom has been part of the soul since the very beginning of the world, but has been forgotten due to the embodiment of the soul into the material world.

For Socrates the goal of humans is not knowledge but inner happiness, eudaimonia. The motive of whatever we do is happiness – the ultimate goal. Happiness does not only refer to one´s best interest or pleasure but does not exclude these two either. It is happiness interrelated with virtue, meaning  a state of the conscience that allows us to join the world of gods which is stable and solidary, but at the same time, to experience principles and values of everyday life, in the natural world which is changeable and chaotic. 

Socrates knows that he can awaken in his interlocutor the knowledge which is hidden within. Like a good actor, he pretends not to know anything. Feigning ignorance and naivety, he starts a dialogue adopting his interlocutor´s viewpoint and constantly challenges him to agree with him, thus leading him to reach logical conclusions. In this way, he helps his interlocutor to come in contact with his conscience.

According to Socrates, Eros (Love) is the force that reconciliates the opposites and unites the different levels of conscience in a world fragmented by tensions, interests, anxiety and excessive egocentricity. In the Symposium by Plato Diotima reveals Eros to Socrates. “It sets traps for the noble souls because it is courageous, a highly skilled hunter who has a genuine thirst for knowledge and philosophizes in his whole life”.  Eros leads humans from the physical world to the psychological one and finally to the spiritual, the celestial world-the world of the golden and celestial Aphrodite (Aphrodite Urania).

Plato (428-348 BC) believes that humans are composed of the mind, the soul and the body and that the human soul is composed of three parts, the rational, the spirited and the appetitive. According to Plato, the spirited part of the soul, which is characterized by bravery and passion, was set nearer the head, between the midriff and the neck, so that it might listen to reason and bridle desire (Timaeus 70 a-c). On the other hand, the appetitive part of the soul, which desires food, drinks and whatever is imposed on it by the nature of the body, was set between the midriff and the navel farther from the core of decisions so that it may cause the minimal noise and the minimal distraction to the rational part of the soul (Timaeus 70 d-e).

Just as a body which has a leg too long, or which is unsymmetrical in some other respect, is an unpleasant sight, and also, when doing its share of work, is much distressed and makes convulsive efforts, and often stumbles through awkwardness, and is the cause of infinite evil to its own self—in like manner we should conceive of the double nature which we call the living being. If the impassioned soul of the living being is more powerful than the body, that soul, convulses and fills with illnesses the whole body of man; and when eager in the pursuit of some sort of learning or study, causes wasting; or again, when teaching or disputing in private or in public, and strifes and controversies arise, inflames and dissolves the composite frame of man and introduces rheums; as a result, most professors of medicine are misled by this phenomenon and ascribe it to completely false causes… There is one solution to both kinds of danger:—that we should not exercise the soul without the body or the body without the soul, and thus they will be on their guard against each other, and be healthy and well balanced. (Timaeus 44 b-c).

Epicurus (341 – 270 BC) believed that the criteria of truth are the senses, the emotions, the preconceptions and the mental images. The senses constitute a real source of knowledge as they provide evidence for the substance of their objects and evoke emotions that are stamped on memory. The emotions and mainly the ones of pleasure and pain help us to get to know better the things that we should pursue or avoid.

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600 AD) claimed that the human soul needs moulding and cultivation so that it can be in harmony with the mind and the body.  The philosophical theory of Bruno on the harmonization of the soul with the mind and the body is mainly based on the formation of the psychological world through the development of imagination, memory, concentration and attention. Once the imagination captures beautiful images through sight and harmonious sounds through hearing, it formulates in the mind anew the images of these material things and sounds, while the constant attention and conscience refine the senses and impart quality to life. Moreover, Bruno believed that sight and hearing, which have developed more than taste and smell, are the first step which leads humans form the physical world of the senses to the second step, that of love, which characterizes the psychological world and finally to the third step, to eudaimonia, which characterizes the spiritual world. It is possible for the soul to transcend its inferior nature; however, it needs laborious and constant effort and the help of ritual, creative imagination, cultivation of the virtue of recognizing the conceivable world, to do so and unite through the intellect with the One.

In his work The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast Bruno associates the different parts of the body with the virtues that humans should develop.