Ancient Rome philosophy: history, content and major schools

Ancient Rome philosophy is characterized by eclecticism, like the whole of this era. This culture was formed in conflict with Greek civilization and at the same time felt unity with it. Roman philosophy was not very interested in how nature is structured - it mainly talked about life, overcoming adversities and dangers, and also about how to unite religion, physics, logic and ethics.

The Doctrine of Virtues

One of the most striking representatives of the Stoic school was Seneca. He was the teacher of Nero - known for his bad reputation as the emperor of ancient Rome. The philosophy of Seneca is set forth in such writings as "Letters to Lucillia", "Questions of Nature". But the Roman Stoicism was different from the classical Greek direction. Thus, Zeno and Chrysippus considered logic a skeleton of philosophy, and the soul - physics. Ethics they believed her muscles. Seneca was a new stoic. The soul of thought and every virtue called ethics. And he lived in accordance with their principles. Because he did not approve of the repression of his pupil against Christians and the opposition, the emperor ordered Seneke to commit suicide, which he did with dignity.

School of Humility and Moderation

Stoicism philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome took a very positive and developed this direction until the very end of the era of antiquity. Another famous thinker of this school is Epictetus, the first philosopher of the ancient world, who was a slave by birth. This left a mark on his views. Epictet openly called for considering slaves to be the same people as all the others, which was inaccessible to Greek philosophy. For him, stoicism was a style of life, a science that allows one to maintain self-control, not to seek pleasure and not be afraid of death. He stated that one should desire not the best, but the one that already exists. Then you will not be disappointed in life. His philosophical credo Epictetus called apathy, the science of dying. This he called obedience to the Logos (God). Humility with destiny is a manifestation of the highest spiritual freedom. The follower of Epictetus was Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Skeptics

Historians who study the development of human thought consider the phenomenon as an ancient philosophy to be a single whole. Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome were similar among themselves on a number of concepts. This is especially characteristic of the period of late antiquity. For example, both Greek and Roman thought knew such a phenomenon as skepticism. This trend always arises at the time of the decline of large civilizations. In the philosophy of Ancient Rome, his representatives were Enessidem from Knossos (pupil of Pyrrho), Agrippa, Sextus Empiricus. All of them were similar to each other in opposing all kinds of dogmatism. Their main slogan was the assertion that all disciplines contradict each other and deny themselves, only skepticism accepts everything and at the same time questions it.

"On the nature of things"

Epicureanism was another popular school of Ancient Rome. This philosophy became known primarily thanks to Titus Lucretius Caru, who lived in a rather turbulent time. He was the interpreter of Epicurus and in the poem "On the Nature of Things" in verses laid out his philosophical system. First of all, he explained the doctrine of atoms. They are devoid of any properties, but their totality creates the qualities of things. The number of atoms in nature is always the same. Thanks to them, the transformation of matter takes place. Nothing comes from nothing. Worlds are multiple, they arise and perish according to the law of natural necessity, and the atoms are eternal. The universe is infinite, time exists only in objects and processes, and not in itself.

Epicureanism

Lucretius was one of the best thinkers and poets of ancient Rome. His philosophy evoked both enthusiasm and indignation among contemporaries. He constantly argued with representatives of other areas, especially with skeptics. Lucretius believed that they in vain believe science is non-existent, because otherwise we would constantly think that every day the new sun rises. Meanwhile, we know perfectly well that this is the same luminary. Lucretius also criticized the Platonic idea of the transmigration of souls. He said that as long as the individual dies anyway, what difference does it make to his spirit? And the material and the psychic in man are born, grow old and die. Lucretius thought about the origin of civilization. He wrote that people at first lived in a state of savagery until they recognized the fire. And society emerged as a result of a contract between individuals. Lucretius preached a kind of epicurean atheism and at the same time criticized the Roman mores as too perverted.

Rhetoric

The most vivid representative of the eclectic of ancient Rome, whose philosophy is the subject of this article, was Mark Tullius Cicero. The basis of all thinking he believed rhetoric. This politician and orator tried to combine the Roman striving for virtue and the Greek art of philosophizing. It was Cicero who introduced the concept of "humanitas", which we now widely use in political and social discourse. In the field of science this thinker can be called an encyclopaedist. As for morality and ethics, in this area he believed that every discipline goes to virtue in its own way. Therefore, every educated person should know any ways of knowing and accepting them. And all sorts of everyday hardships are overcome by willpower.

Philosophical and religious schools

During this period the traditional ancient philosophy continued to develop. Ancient Rome well took the teachings of Plato and his followers. Especially at this time, the philosophical and religious schools that combined the West and the East were fashionable. The main issues raised by these teachings are the relationship and the opposite of spirit and matter.

One of the most popular destinations was neopyfagoreanism. It propagated the idea of a single God and a complete contradiction world. The Neopythagoreans believed in the magic of numbers. A very famous figure in this school was Apollonius of Tyana, who was ridiculed by Apuleius in his Metamorphoses. Among the Roman intellectuals, the teaching of Philo of Alexandria dominated , which tried to combine Judaism with Platonism. He believed that Jehovah gave birth to the Logos, who created the world. It was not for nothing that Engels at one time called Philo "the uncle of Christianity."

The most fashionable destinations

The main schools of philosophy of Ancient Rome include Neoplatonism. The thinkers of this trend created the doctrine of a whole system of mediators - emanations - between God and the world. The most famous Neoplatonists were Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Proclus. They professed polytheism. In philosophical terms, the Neoplatonists explored the process of creation as the allocation of a new and eternal return. They considered God to be the cause, the beginning, the essence and the goal of all things. The Creator is poured out into the world, therefore a man in a kind of frenzy can rise to Him. This state they called ecstasy. Close to Iamblichus were the eternal opponents of the Neoplatonists - the Gnostics. They believed that evil has an independent beginning, and all emanations are a consequence of the fact that the creation began against the will of God.

The philosophy of Ancient Rome was briefly described above. We see that the thought of this era was strongly influenced by its predecessors. They were Greek natural philosophers, Stoics, Platonists, Pythagoreans. Of course, the Romans in something changed or developed the meaning of previous ideas. But it was their popularity that was ultimately useful for ancient philosophy in general. It is because of the Roman philosophers that medieval Europe met the Greeks and began to study them in the future.