from alexander to the roman empire. cynics, sceptics, epicureans and stoics. neoplatonism

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Presented at

Central University of Finance and Economics中央财经大学

Beijingby

卜若柏Robert Blohm

Chinese Economics and Management Academy中国经济与管理研究院

http://www.blohm.cnc.net

April 27, 2008 2008年 4月 27日

From Alexander to the Roman Empire.Cynics, Sceptics, Epicureans and

Stoics. Neoplatonism.

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Hellenistic Empire of Alexander Time span

• Greek City States brought to an end by Macedonian domination and the empire of Philip (腓力普 ) and Alexander (亚历山大而 ).

• Last vestige of Alexander’s Macedonian (马其顿 ) Empire ended with Roman annexation of Egypt (埃及 ) after the death of Cleopatra (克里奥巴特 ).

Macedonian Empire produced:• best Greek mathematics• 4 predominant schools of philosophy: Cynics (犬儒学派 ), Sceptics

(怀疑派 ), Epicurians (伊壁鸠鲁派 ) and Stoics (斯多葛主义 )• little profoundly new in philosophy that hadn’t already originated

under the Greeks. Only Epicurianism. Nothing new appeared until the neo-Platonists emerged in the later Roman Empire.

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Silver coin of Alexander (336-323 BCE). British Museum.

Ptolemy coin with Alexander wearing an elephant scalp, symbol of his conquests in India.

Bust of Alexander (Roman copy of a 330 BCE statue by Lysippus, Louvre Museum). According to Diodorus, the Alexander sculptures by Lysippus were the most faithful

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great

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Empire of Alexander the Great: 323 B. C.Magna Graecia

www.public.iastate.edu/~cfford/342alexanderthegreatmap.gi

5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MacedonEmpire.jpg

Alexander conquered his empire in 9 years (334-325 BC), undefeated in battle

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Archimedes' legendary engines are said to have used stones three times as heavy. Plutarch tells us that it was Hiero, another king of Syracuse, who spurred Archimedes into military engineering. His splendid catapults kept the Roman troops at bay until the besieged city fell in 212 B.C. as a result of treachery.

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/war/CatapultTypes.htm

Archimedes has also been credited with improving the power and accuracy of the catapult. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes

The main catapult significance is that it: embodied the deliberate exploration of physical and mechanical principles to improve armaments.

It is interesting to note that the largest stone-thrower on record, a three-talent (78 kilogram) machine, was built by Archimedes.In honor of the Greek contributions, to this day the military art of siege warfare is called poliorcetics.

Catapults were first invented about 400 BC in the Greek town Syracus under Dionysios I (c. 432-367 BC).

The catapult development started in Sicily with the Greek tyrant Dionysios I providing the financial means required for the experiments that were necessary to find the optimal design. Except in Sicily , Rhodes and Alexandria were the main centers of the development of the catapult technology, in Alexandria advanced by the support of the Greek Ptolemaic kings of Egypt.

Greek mathematics contributed to Alexander’s military success

Weapons fired by torsion bars powered by horsehair and ox tendon (the Greeks called this material neuron ) springs could fire arrows, stones, and pots of burning pitch along a parabolic arc. Some of these machines were quite large and heavy and this were thus mounted on wheels to improve tactical mobility and deployment. When horse-hair and other materials failed, the women in several instances cut off their own hair and twisted it into ropes for the engines

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The use of catapults in the field is evidenced in one of Alexander's early battles in the Northern Marches of Macedon. At Pelion, Alexander, in a rare loss of the initiative had to extract his army from a siege position around the town and cross a river to a defensive position in the foothills. Surrounded, Alexander lulled the barbarian army into watching his phalanx and cavalry maneuver on the plain outside of the city, then in a typical lightening move, he forced a crossing of the river creating a defensive bridgehead. He then set up some of his siege artillery to fire back across the river, over the heads of his own troops to cover their rear with a curtain of missiles as they crossed the river after disengaging with the enemy. This is the first reported use of siege artillery in the field as an assault weapon (in spite of the fact that it was used defensively).In 334 BC Alexander the Great used at the siege of Halicarnassus heavy palintona. At Tyre he used arrow catapults and palintona against the wall fortifications. (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0009&layout=&loc=16.10.html)

Alexander the Great used catapults in a completely different way -- as covering artillery. Alexander's army carried prefabricated catapults that weighed only 85 pounds. Larger machines were dismantled and carried along in wagons. Alexander's engineers contributed a number of new ideas. Major Greek cities adopted the use of catapults and owned a park of torsion artillery.

It was Philip of Macedon who first organized a special group of artillery engineers within his army to design and build catapults. Philip's use of siegecraft allowed Greek science and engineering an opportunity to contribute to the art of war, and by the time of Demetrios I (305 B.C.), known more commonly by his nickname "Poliorcetes" (the Besieger), Greek inventiveness in military engineering was probably the best in the ancient world.

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Urumqi Greek Soldier

"A bronze figurine of a kneeling warrior, not Greek work, but wearing a version of the Greek Phrygian helmet”. Ürümqi Xinjiang Museum.

Probable depiction of Greek soldier, found in a burial north of the Tian Shan mountains. 4th-3rd century BCE. Bronze, 42cm high, 4 kilograms. Documented in "Cambridge Ancient History" IV. Also in Boardman "The diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity", p. 149, with photograph.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great

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The Hellenistic world, 300 B.C. Alexander the Great's empire contained everything within the red lines. A generation later, four of his generals ruled pieces of it: Ptolemy (dark green portion), Seleucus (yellow), Lysimachus (purple), and Cassander (pink).

http://xenohistorian.faithweb.com/worldhis/map11.gif

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Hellenistic Empire of Alexander(cont.d) Alexander• conquered Asia Minor (小亚细亚 ), Syria (叙利亚 ), Egypt (埃及 ), Babylonia

(巴比伦 ), Persia (波斯 ), Samarkand (萨马尔干 ), Bactria (大夏 ) and Punjab (旁遮普 )

• destroyed Persian Empire in 3 battles• imported Zoroastrian (祅教的 ) dualism (of forces of good and evil) and the

religions of India (印度 ), including Buddhism• conquered on the basis of

small armies and conciliation of the local populations.

• Orientals were accommodating provided their religion was respected• Eastern world accustomed to divine kings and Alexander’s prodigious success was easily

considered of divine origin• had captains (titled “Companions”) who

were allowed to criticize stopped him from crossing the Indus (印度 ) River and enga-ging overwhelmingly

larger Indian armies on the other side

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Alexander (cont.d)• broke down the Greek attitude of superiority of being

uniquely both spirited (Northern) and “intelligent” married two barbarian princesses made leading Macedonians marry Persian noble women

• brought forth the idea of mankind as a whole in a cosmopolitan viewpoint embodied in Stoic philosophy whence barbarians learned Greek science and Greeks learned barbarian superstition

Hellenistic Empire of Alexander(cont.d)

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Empire survived • in the Moslem religion. Aristotelian commentators.

Mathematicians. Contact with the West stimulated revival of classical learning in Scholasticism (经院哲学 ) and the Renaissance (文艺复兴 ) Al-jebr (“algebra”, although invented by Alexandrian Greeks). “Alcohol”, “alembic”, “alchemy”, “alkali” are Arabic words from

Greek attempts to turn base metals into gold. “Azimuth” and “zenith” are Arabic words from Greek astrology

• Himalayan (喜马拉雅山 ) chieftains claim descent from him (particularly in Afghanistan 阿富汗 ).


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After Alexander’s death the Empire was divided up among 3 generals’ families into• European• African• Asian

• Dialogues of the king with a Buddhist sage, in Chinese translation• Asoka (阿育王 ), the saintly Buddhist king in India, sent missionaries to all the

Macedonian kings. (Edicts of Asoka are the basis for Indian law and legal philosophy.)

• Babylonia (巴比伦 )• and Syria (叙利亚 ) were very influenced by Hellenism. They supported the heliocentric

theory of the universe.• most impressed the Greeks because of

• 1000s of years of priestly records• ability to predict eclipses

• corrupted Greeks with astrology and magic• gave the Greeks the inconsistent beliefs in fate (determinism), and fortune (randomness)

paradoxically named “necessity” to express the inconsistency.


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After Alexander’s death the Empire was divided up among 3 generals’ families into

• Greek became the language of literature and culture • until the Moslems• except among the Jews (Maccabees 马喀比一家 )

• Greek experts• were used by uneducated Macedonian soldiers• in Egyptian irrigation and drainage projects, for example


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Alexandria (named for Alexander) was• exposed to commerce, not wars• the center of mathematics

• until the end of the Roman Empire• where Archimedes (阿几米德 ) studied

• supported by the ruling Ptolemies (托勒密王朝 ), patrons of learning

• home of the Library of Alexandria (the world’s most complete library)


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• Moral decay of the Empire borne of prolonged local insecurity. Reflected in• worship of the goddess of fortune or luck• nothing rational in human affairs• little interest in public affairs• local disorder in Greece• temples becoming bankers• labor displacement

• competition from Eastern slave labor• free laborers became mercenary soldiers

• strong army due to• almost continuous war• fear to disband it


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Moral decay of the Empire borne of prolonged local insecurity. Reflected in (cont.d)• the Empire’s incorporation of the Mediterranean city-state model

originated by the Phoenecians(腓尼基人 ), with slave labor at home, and hired mercenaries abroad. Russell compared these to Singapore, Hong Kong and old Shanghai

• where a commercial aristocracy depended on local labor.

• He predicted (1941) that white hold on Asia will stop but industrialism would survive.

• New cities founded by Alexander were• not homogeneous, with citizen-adventurers from all parts of Greater Greece

• not strong political units.


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Moral decay of the Empire borne of prolonged local insecurity. Reflected in (cont.d)• local disorder in Greece• temples becoming bankers• labor displacement

• competition from Eastern slave labor

• free laborers became mercenary soldiers

• strong army due to• almost continuous war

• fear to disband it

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Moral decay of the Empire borne of prolonged local insecurity. Reflected in (cont.d)• uselessness of thrift (if you lose wealth tomorrow)

and honesty (if cheated)• tendency to become an adventurer (highly risk-

loving ) or a time server (highly risk-averse)• self-development to escape misfortune rather than

achieve positive good• replacement of metaphysics by ethics.

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Hellenistic Empire of Alexander(cont.d) Opposite intellectual attitudes, one before Alexander’s empire, the

other during and afterward. Both attitudes recur in Western history. • In harmony with surroundings, not disliking the world. Modern examples:

Elizabethan (伊丽莎白的 ) England 18th century England Goethe (欧德 ) Bentham (边沁 )

• Despairing of the world, calling for radical alternatives in the near future no hope, weary life on earth essentially bad (original sin),evil is too powerful good only in after-life Modern examples:

• Later 18th century France• 19th century German nationalism• Shelly (雪莱 )• Leopardi (李奥巴第 )

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Dualism of both attitudes occurs in the Catholic Church from the 5th to the 15th century• (Despairing) Theoretically the world was bad: philosophy is a

retreat from it, from the pursuit of worldly goods which are a gift of fortune, not our own efforts. the other worldliness was rooted in the eclipse of the Greek city-state.

• Before then, wanted to attain the good through public institutions Greek philosophers were not cosmically despairing Plato & Pythagoras (毕达哥拉斯 ) had plans for making the governing class into

sages Addressed how man can make a good state

• After then, sought to be virtuous/happy in a wicked/suffering world, to be content through resignation.

subjectivism and individualism, ultimately exercised in individual salvation, until the Christian gospel of individual salvation became embodied in an institution that --the philosopher could adhere to.and --could provide an outlet for his legitimate love of power

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Dualism of both attitudes in the Catholic Church from the 5th to the 15th century (cont.d)• (Optimism) Clerics were happy as the literary and

governing class through the most important institution in the everyday world

Hellenistic Empire intellectuals could not help but continue • to think but they had no hope of • affecting the world of practical affairs

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Cynics (犬儒学派 ) Originated by Antisthenes (安提斯泰尼 ), disciple of

Socrates. When older he despised his younger aristocratic life, and now• associated with working men• held all refined philosophy to be worthless• thought all that’s worth knowing could be known to the plain

man• favored return to nature (like Rousseau 卢梭 )• condemned slavery• despised luxury and pursuit of artificial pleasures of the senses

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Cynics (cont.d) Founded by Diogenes (狄奥根尼 ), disciple of Antisthenes

• Diogenes’ father was a disreputable money changer• Diogenes vowed to “deface the coinage” of convention

everywhere• lived like a dog and by begging: so he was called a “cynic”

meaning “canine” (dog)• proclaimed brotherhood with both animals and humans• visited by Alexander: rejected Alexander’s offer of any favor• had an ardent passion for virtue• held worldly goods of no account• freedom was liberation from desire, and consisted in indifference

to goods. Stoics took up this idea.• felt the arts brought complication and artificiality to modern life.

Like Taoists.

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Cynics (cont.d) Particularly fashionable in Alexandria. Cynics• published little sermons• preached a simple life of

indifference toward, not abstinence from, (for example) obligations to a lender without material possessions eating simple food

• followers were rich people who thought the sufferings of the poor imaginary, or the new poor resentful of the successful businessman

Stoicism (斯多葛主义 ) extracted the best part of cynicism (simplicity, indifference, brotherhood, and virtue) in a more complete philosophy

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Scepticism (怀疑派 ) First proclaimed by Pyrrho (皮浪 ), soldier in Alexander’s

army who traveled as far as India Greek philosophers already

• had been sceptical (doubtful of the cognitive reliability) of the senses

• Plato (柏拉图 ) and Parmenides (巴门尼德 ) outright denied the cognitive value of perception

• Sophists, like Protagoras (普罗塔哥拉 ) and Gorgias (高尔吉亚 ), were led by contradictions from sense perception to subjectivism (Protagoras’ “man is the measure of all things”), like Hume’s (休谟的 )

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Scepticism (cont.d) Pyrrho added moral and logical scepticism to scepticism about

the senses. Thus• there was no rational ground for preferring one course of action over

another• local customs should be followed, including pagan rituals, since

they cannot be proved wrong and common sense suggested it is more convenient to follow them than to abstain

from them

• the diversity of schools of philosophy suggested those schools were pretending to knowledge that is not attainable. Scepticism therefore provided a lazy man’s resolution: that the ignorant are automatically already wise. a basis for enjoying the present and not worrying about the future. Prefiguring

Epicurianism.

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Scepticism (cont.d) Paradox of scepticism: the dogma of doubt. “Nobody knows and nobody ever can know”.

Timon 蒂蒂 (Pyrrho’s disciple) • denied the possibility of self-evident first principles, as in the

deductive systems of Euclid (欧几里德 ) or Aristotle. Since everything is proved by means of something else, all argument is either: circular, or an endless chain.

• made two errors avoided by modern sceptics. He confused phenomena with statements about them by saying “The phenomenon is always valid”. Objection:

• Validity is a logical property of reasoning with (or of deriving) statements, not physical or sense phenomena.

• Physical or sense phenomena occur or not.• No statement is ever so closely linked to a phenomenon as to be incapable of falsehood• Only tautologies are “always valid”, but convey no factual content, such as the statement

“’(Definitely) A or (possibly) not A’ or ‘(Possibly) A or (definitely) not A’”.

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Scepticism (cont.d) Timon 蒂蒂 (Pyrrho’s disciple) cont.d

• made two errors avoided by modern sceptics. He confused phenomena with statements about them by saying (cont.d) “That honey is sweet I refuse to assert; that it appears sweet I fully

grant”. • Objection. This statement is the basis of 2000 years of confusion:

The statement should be rephrased: --The asserted statement “honey is sweet” is very likely to be true but not absolutely, or --The phenomenon that honey is sweet is highly probable but not absolutely, or --Our knowledge that honey is sweet is highly certain, but not absolutely.

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• made two errors avoided by modern sceptics. He confused phenomena with statements about them by saying (cont.d) “That honey is sweet I refuse to assert; that it appears sweet I fully grant”.

(cont.d) • Objection. This statement is the basis of 2000 years of confusion: (cont.d)

Scientific statements (or laws) are about objective phenomena, not about our observations of (or experiments with) those phenomena. My objection is the subject of vigorous 20th century debate between

--realists like Popper ( 蒂蒂 ) and Bunge ( 蒂蒂 ), and --two other groups ----logical positivists like the Vienna Circle (Carnap 蒂蒂蒂蒂 and Feigl 蒂蒂蒂 ). The logical positivists were so radical that --------They considered only statements about observables as scientifically meaningful --------There are useful scientific constructs that themselves are not directly observable, such as a population. ----phenomenologists like Husserl ( 蒂蒂蒂 ).

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(cont.d) • Timon seems to be the first philosopher to suggest a doctrine of “empirical proof” or

evidence similar to Hume’s: It is not enough to logically (theoretically) derive statements about physical reality; The reality must also be observed (“appear” to the senses), with the observation

serving as “empirical” evidence. In Hume’s case, --if the two phenomena are frequently enough observed together, one can be

“associated” with the other [not “inferred” as Russell mistakenly asserts by committing the very mistake he pointed out previously (confusing statement with phenomenon)].

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(cont.d) • Timon seems to be the first philosopher to suggests a doctrine of “empirical proof” or evidence

similar to Hume’s: (cont.d) In Hume’s case (cont.d), --Mere “association” (statistical correlation) does not assert a causal or theoretical relationship between the phenomena: that relationship is provided by deductive/mathematical theoretical reasoning alone which the observed correlation confirms or not. ----Empirical confirmability alone is the logical positivist criterion for meaningful scientific statements ----Empirical falsifiability, criticism, is the realist criterion for scientific statements

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Scepticism (cont.d) Arcesilaus ( 蒂蒂蒂蒂蒂 ) of Plato’s Academy succeeded Timon as

leading sceptic• Platonic/Socratic bases for scepticism

The Platonic Socrates professes to know nothing Many of the Socratic dialogues reach no positive conclusion The Parmenides dialogue shows that either side of the question can be

maintained with equal plausibility The Platonic dialectic (Socratic method) could be viewed as an end, an

inconclusive conclusion, rather than a means of discovering something further.

• Arcesilaus’ method. He maintained no thesis but instead refuted any thesis set up by his pupil. This

is first assertion of the realist “falsifiability” (critical) criterion of truth. advanced two contradictory hypotheses and argued convincingly for either.

This provided evidence against the “confirmation” approach to truth/discovery.

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Scepticism (cont.d) Arcesilaus ( 蒂蒂蒂蒂蒂 ) of Plato’s Academy succeeded Timon as

leading sceptic (cont.d)• Students emerged learning cleverness and indifference to the truth.• Scepticism remained the philosophy of the Academy for 200 more

years.

Carneades ( 蒂蒂蒂蒂蒂 ), a successor of Arcesilaus, demonstrated self-refutation argumentation to the Romans as part of a diplomatic mission of three philosophers sent to Rome ( 蒂蒂 )• In his first lecture he expounded on Plato & Aristotle, for example

Socrates’ argument that to inflict injustice is a greater evil to the perpetrator than to suffer it.

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Scepticism (cont.d) Carneades ( 蒂蒂蒂蒂蒂 ), a successor of Arcesilaus,

demonstrated self-refutation argumentation to the Romans as part of a diplomatic mission of three philosophers sent to Rome ( 蒂蒂 ) cont.d• In his second lecture he refuted the first lecture by stating

countries become great by unjust aggressions against others, and that during a crisis you should look after your own survival first, even at the

expense of others

• The intended result was to show that every conclusion is unwarranted.

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Scepticism (cont.d) Carneades ( 蒂蒂蒂蒂蒂 ), a successor of Arcesilaus, demonstrated self-

refutation argumentation to the Romans as part of a diplomatic mission of three philosophers sent to Rome ( 蒂蒂 ) cont.d• The Elder Cato (老卡图 ), a Roman, stood in stark contrast to

Carneades who represented a lax morality infected by the dissolution of the Hellenistic Empire. Cato represented

• the old Roman severity of manners

• the brutal moral code by which Rome defeated Carthage (迦太基 )

was scrupulously honest urged accusing and pursuing the wicked as the best thing an honest man can do

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Scepticism (cont.d) Carneades ( 蒂蒂蒂蒂蒂 ), a successor of Arcesilaus, demonstrated

self-refutation argumentation to the Romans as part of a diplomatic mission of three philosophers sent to Rome ( 蒂蒂 ) cont.d• Elder Cato, a Roman, stood in stark contrast to Carneades who

represented a lax morality infected by the dissolution of the Hellenistic Empire. Cato(cont.d)

when in power• put down luxury and feasting• made his wife nurse his slaves’ children so that they might love his children• sold off his slaves when they became old• encouraged his slaves to quarrel with each other• induced his other slaves to condemn a delinquent slave of his to death• carried out the sentence with his own hands in their presence

viewed the Athenians as a lesser, lawless breed aspired to keep Roman youth puritanical, imperialistic, ruthless and stupid.

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Scepticism (cont.d) Clitomachus (克来多马柯 ), a Carthiginian, last sceptic head

of the Academy. With Carneades• opposed the belief in divination, magic, and astrology• developed a constructive doctrine concerning degrees of probability:

degrees of truth and likelihood of occurrence. Probability should be the guide in practice. It is reasonable to act on the most probable of possible hypotheses. Precursor of Leibniz’ (莱布尼兹的 ) possible worlds

Plato’s Academy• Under leadership and development by the Academy, scepticism

served to undermine the non-scientific concept of absolute truth or absolute certainty.

• The Academy’s teachings thereafter shifted to become indistinguishable from the Stoics’.

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Scepticism (cont.d) Sextus Empiricus (塞克斯托 ·恩皮里库斯 ). Roman sceptic

• The only ancient sceptic whose works survive• Treatise entitled “Arguments Against a Belief in God”, said probably to

be taken from Carneades as reported by Clitomachus: Sceptics

• follow the way of the world.by speaking of the gods as existing and worshiping them, but• express no belief, thereby “avoiding the rashness of the dogmatizers”

We cannot know God’s attributes God’s existence is not self-evident and therefore needs proof. Any proof leads

to an impiety:• If God controls everything, then he is the author of evil things.• If God controls some things only, then he he is grudging.• If God controls nothing, then he is impotent.

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Scepticism (cont.d)

Dogmatic religion and salvation began to dominate the age. • Scepticism

made educated men dissatisfied with the State religions, but offered nothing in their place. From the Renaissance onwards

enthusiastic belief in science provided the alternative.

• So, oriental religions invaded to compete for the favor of the superstitious, until Christianity triumphed.

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Epicurianism (伊壁鸠鲁派 ) Founded and set once and for all by Epicurus (伊壁鸠鲁 ), as

reported by Diogenes Laertius (第欧根尼 ·拉尔修 )• Son of a poor Athenian colonist in Samos (撒摩 ). • When Athenian colonists were expelled from Samos at time of

Alexander’s death Epicurus was in Athens to establish citizenship his family was exiled to Asia Minor where he joined them

• Educated by a follower of Democritus 德谟克里特 (materialist)• Taught in the garden of his eventual home in Athens• Suffered from ill health all his life• Was natural and unaffected, without the dignity and reserve in

expression of emotion expected of philosophers

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Founded and set once and for all by Epicurus (伊壁鸠鲁 ), as reported by Diogenes Laertius (第欧根尼 ·拉尔修 )• Believed inconveniences accompanied luxurious pleasures• Expressed happiness in letters on his deathbed• Lacked generosity toward other philosophers, especially those

to whom he was intellectually indebted• Suffered from dictatorial dogmatism• Wrote 300 books, all lost

Designed to secure tranquility and individual happiness

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Pleasure is the good, “the beginning and the end of a

blessed life”• The beginning and the root of all pleasure is the stomach• Pleasure of the mind is

contemplation of pleasures of the body has the advantage over bodily experience that we can avoid

contemplation of pain

Justice consists of ability to act without fearing other men’s resentment. Origin of Social Contract theory (Hobbes 霍布斯 & Rousseau 卢梭 )

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Disagrees with hedonism

• Epicurus prefers static, passive or quiet pleasure: equilibrium state of affairs which would be

desired if absent. • Akin to nirvana in Yoga and Tantric Buddhism• Recommends training yourself to contemplate pleasures rather than pains

to active, dynamic or violent pleasure: attainment of a desired end following pain

• because • a state of having eaten moderately is better than a voracious appetite.

• The pain of a stomach ache outweighs the pleasures of gluttony. • Epicurus lived on bread and water

• static pleasure does not require pain as a stimulus,

therefore

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Absence of pain rather than presence of pleasure is the wise

man’s goal• Desires for wealth, honor and power are futile because they

make a man restless when he might be contented. • With power comes

greater envy by people wishing to do you harm greater worry about this, while

• the wise man lives unnoticed so as to have no enemies. Living prudently makes freedom from pain likely

• The goal of philosophy is a happy life which• requires common sense• not mathematics and logic

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Love, marriage and children are a distraction from

serious pursuits. But Epicurus was fond of other people’s children.

Men at all times pursue their own pleasure. Benthamite. Friendship

• is desirable in itself• cannot be divorced from pleasure• starts from the need for help

Mental discipline makes physical pain bearable

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Epicurian metaphysics intended as a basis for avoiding fear.

• 2 sources of fear are religion dread of death

• Gods exist because otherwise cannot account for the widespread existence of the idea

of gods do not interfere in human affairs:

• supernatural interference in the course of nature seemed like terror• non-interference removes all grounds for fear of incurring the anger of the gods

are rational (mental) hedonists: in their life of complete blessedness they feel no temptation (active pleasure)

• Soul perishes with the body. Immortality means no eventual release from pain

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Epicurian metaphysics intended as a basis for avoiding fear.

(cont.d) • Materialistic, not deterministic. Held that

the world consists of atoms and the void (like Democritus), • and the atoms

are falling but --in an absolute sense and --not towards the center of the earth as Democritus believed sometimes collide --on their downward path with an atom diverted by free will from its downward path --and produce vortices (like Democritus)

• but the atoms are not completely controlled by natural laws (unlike Democritus). Rejection of religion required rejection of the concept of necessity which was religious in

origin

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Epicurian metaphysics intended as a basis for

avoiding fear.(cont.d) • Materialistic, not deterministic. Held that (cont.d)

the soul is material and composed of particles like breath and heat• sensation is due to thin films

• thrown off by bodies and

• travelling on until they touch soul atoms

• at death

• the soul is dispersed and

• its atoms, disconnected from the body, are no longer capable of sensation

• therefore “death is nothing to us”

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Epicurian metaphysics intended as a basis for avoiding fear.(cont.d)

• Science • is valuable solely to provide naturalistic explanations for phenomena superstition

attributes to the agency of gods• no point to deciding between several possible naturalistic explanations, which are all

legitimate so long as they do not bring in the gods.

• Value of Epicurianism lay in its opposition to astrology, magic and divination

• Lucretius (盧克萊修 ). • Roman Epicurian poet who wrote On the Nature of Things during the free

thinking days of the end of the Roman Republic (of Julius Caesar 尤利烏斯·愷撒 ).

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Lucretius (盧克萊修 ) cont.d

• Emperor Augustus (奧古斯都 ) revived ancient religion and virtue, making the poem unpopular until it was revived during the Renaissance

• Passionate and committed suicide, disillusioned by the new order of empire produced by the Romans (that Alexander had been unable to produce) but that violated the traditional Roman aristocrat’s aversion to the quest for power and plunder. .

• Regarded Epicurus as the destroyer of religion.• Greek religion and ritual were cheerful, but.• Human sacrifice

• was demanded by the Olympian gods • was recognized throughout the barbaric world• was practiced in times of crisis, such as the Punic (布匿 ) Wars, until the Roman conquest

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Epicurianism (cont.d) Lucretius (盧克萊修 ) cont.d

• Regarded Epicurus as the destroyer of religion (cont.d)

• The general Greek population had other beliefs associated with barbarous rites, some incorporated into Orphism ( 奥尔弗斯派 ).

• Hell was not a Christian invention: fear of punishment after death was common in Athens among the general population.

• Calamities were attributed to divine displeasure or failure to respect the omens.

• Epicurus’ humble origins and exposure to popular religion explain his hostility to religion

• Materialism, denial of god, and rejection of immortality appear gloomy compared to Christianity but were a gospel of liberation from the fear generated by the popular religion of the time.

54

Epicurianism (cont.d)

Christianity reversed Epicurianism by placing all good after death, not before.

• Epicurianism was revived by the 18th century French philosophes (哲學家們 ) and the 19th century English Benthamites.

55

Stoicism (斯多葛主义 ) Zeno (芝諾 ). Founder. Phoenecian (腓尼基人 ) born in Cyprus.

Family business brought him to Athens • Materialist. But later Stoics, under the influence of Platonism, abandoned

materialism.• Combination of cynicism and Heraclitus (赫拉克利特 ).

Chief importance as ethical doctrine. Zeno• thought only virtue is important and had no patience for metaphysical

subtleties. Physics and metaphysics were important only insofar as they contributed to virtue.

Subordinated all theoretical studies to ethics, as did the later Roman sceptics. The individual life is good when in harmony with Nature Virtue consists of a will which is in agreement with Nature The wicked obey God’s law involuntarily

56

Stoicism (cont.d) Chief importance as ethical doctrine.Zeno (cont.d)

• thought only virtue is important and had no patience for metaphysical subtleties. (cont.d) Everything good or bad in a person’s life depends only on that person.

Individualism. Condemnation of altruism: basis for Nietzsche (尼采 ).• Only your own virtue counts

• You must not be actuated by the desire to benefit mankind

Every man has perfect freedom if he emancipates himself from mundane desires.

Preached universal love (as Seneca did), but not love as an emotion. Echoed in Kant’s (康德的 ) enjoinder to be kind not because of fondness, but because the moral law enjoins it.

• combated metaphysical tendencies by means of common sense, which meant materialism

57


• began by asserting the existence of the solid material world• believed there is no such thing as chance• considered God to be

the fiery mind of the world a bodily substance formed by the whole universe

• considered all things to be part of one system called Nature or Destiny whose course was ordained by a lawgiver of natural laws who is

• also a beneficent Providence (like 18th century “deist” theology)

• the soul of the world (as in Spinoza’s pan-theism) and not separate from the world a part of whose divine fire is in each of us

58


• considered all things to be part of one system called Nature or Destiny (cont.d) to secure certain ends by natural means, and whose General Law , which is Right Reason, pervades everything as a power that

moves matter• apparently believed in astrology and divination

Cicero claimed he attributed divine potency to the stars Diogenes Laertius claimed the Stoics held all kinds of divination to be valid.

• claimed fire was the original element after which the air, water and earth gradually emerged in that order

• believed there will be a cosmic conflagration during which all will again become fire, but that is not yet the end of the world, only the conclusion of a cycle in an endlessly repeated process: everything that happens

has happened before and will happen again, countless times.

59

Stoicism (cont.d) The least Greek of the schools.

• Early Stoics were mostly Syrians who contributed Chaldean (迦勒底的 ) influences

• Later Stoics were mostly Roman: Seneca (塞涅卡 ), Epictetus (愛比克泰德 ) and Marcus Aurelius (馬爾庫斯 ·奧勒留 )

• Emotionally narrow and fanatical. All passions are condemned You do not suffer deeply others’ misfortunes as long as they are

• no obstacle to your own virtue based, not on what you do for others, but how you yourself endure.

• friendship is not so strong to the point where a friend’s misfortunes destroy your holy calm.

60

Stoicism (cont.d) Socrates was the saint of the Stoics because of

• his refusal to escape at the time of his trial and

• his calmness before death.

• his contention that the perpetrator of injustice injures himself more than the victim

• his plainness in food and dress

Stoics never adopted Plato’s • doctrine of ideas

• arguments for immortality. The soul is composed of material fire (in agreement with Heraclitus) and

therefore perishes with the body But later Stoics followed Plato’s claim the soul is immaterial.

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Stoicism (cont.d) Objection: Problem of evil

• If a beneficent Providence is solely concerned to cause virtue, why have the laws of nature produced an abundance of sinners?

• If virtue is the sole good, cruelty and injustice are not bad because they afford the sufferer the best opportunity to exercise virtue.

• If the world is completely deterministic, natural laws will decide if I am virtuous or not. Like Calvinist (加尔文派的 ) pre-destination.

Freedom which virtue is supposed to give is impossible.

62

Stoicism (cont.d) Objection: Futility of virtue

• If there are no evils, then nothing is accomplished by virtue.• To the Stoic virtue is an end in itself.

Virtue is not defined in terms of doing good including doing good for others. You do good in order to be virtuous, for your personal benefit and

edification.

• The repeated return of the world to destruction by fire, rules out long-run progress.

Cleanthes of Assos (阿索斯的克雷安德 ), Zeno’s successor, criticized Aristarchus of Samos (撒摩的亚里士达克 ) for his heliocentric theory of the universe

63

Stoicism (cont.d) Chrysippus (克呂西普 ), successor to Cleanthes

• made Stoicism systematic and pedantic• said God has no share in the causation of evil, but he did not

reconcile that with determinism• justified evil

in Heraclitean terms of everything accompanied by its opposite, so that good without evil is impossible

• identified hypothetical and disjunctive syllogisms, and coined the term “disjunction”

• originated the study of grammar and invented “cases” (subject, object, possessive, etc.) in declensions of nouns

• developed an empirical theory of knowledge based on perception• allowed certain ideas and principles established by consensus

gentium

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Stoicism (cont.d) Cicero (西塞罗 )

• transmitted Stoicism to the Romans• was most influenced by

Posidonius (波昔東尼 ) who • was a Syrian Greek influenced by the Stoics• a voluminous writer on scientific subjects• studied tides on the Atlantic Ocean, not possible on the

Mediterranean Sea• made Antiquity’s best estimate of the distance to the sun .• first combined with Stoicism much of Plato’s teaching

65

Stoicism (cont.d) Posidonius (波昔東尼 ) who (cont.d)

• said the soul continues to live in the air after death where it remains unchanged until the next world conflagration gets muddy vapours if the person was bad and thus

• rises less than the soul of a good person, or• stays near the earth and gets reincarnated if the person was very wicked

rises to the stellar sphere to spend time watching the stars go round if the person was truly virtuous

can help other souls, and this can explain the truth of astrology.• helped pave the way for gnosticism (the belief that the cosmos is

evil)• was threatened not by Christianity but by the heliocentric theory of

the universe of Aristarchus of Samos (撒摩的亚里士达克 )

66

Stoicism (cont.d)

Seneca (塞涅卡 ), a Spaniard• tutored Roman Emperor Claudius’ (克勞地烏斯的 )

son, Nero (尼羅 )• officially despised riches but amassed a fortune by

lending money in Britain at excessive interest rates that helped cause a revolt against the exaggerated capitalism practiced by an apostle of austerity

• allowed to commit suicide after being accused of conspiring to murder Nero and become emperor

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Stoicism (cont.d) Epectetus (愛比克泰德 ), a Greek originally a Roman slave

• On earth we are prisoners, and in an earthly body• Zeus (宙斯 ) could not make a body free but could give us some

of his divinity• God is the father of men and we are all brothers• As the Christians said, he said we should love our enemies• He despised pleasure. Happiness is freedom from passion and

disturbance• Every man is an actor in a play where God has assigned the

parts• Brotherhood of man and equality of slaves: superior to Aristotle• His ideal world is as superior to Plato’s as his actual world is

inferior to the Athens of Pericles (白里克里斯 )

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Stoicism (cont.d) Marcus Aurelius (馬爾庫斯 ·奧勒留 ), Roman em-peror, the adopted

son of the previous emperor.• Philosopher king• Reign

was the last of the 100-year Golden Age of the Antonine (安東尼 ) emperors (80-180 AD) where the general happiness was the highest reached before the Renaissance more than a millenium later

coming at the end of an era• Was beset by calamities: needed fortitude. • A tired, not a hopeful, age• Persecuted Christians for rejecting the State religion• Men looked to the past for what was best• Evil of slavery

was sapping the vigor of the ancient world. Gladitorial shows and fights with wild beasts must have debased the population

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Stoicism (cont.d) Marcus Aurelius (馬爾庫斯 ·奧勒留 ) Roman emperor, the

adopted son of the previous emperor.(cont.d)• Reign (cont.d)

coming at the end of an era (cont.d)• Rome depended on free distribution of grain from the provinces

• Greco-Roman civilization had little influence in agricultural regions

• Cities contained a large poor class and slave class: very moderate income or extreme poverty

• Devoted to Stoic virtue, suited to a tired age calling for endurance, not hope when even material goods lose their savor strongest temptation he said he resisted was to retire to a quiet country life

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Stoicism (cont.d)

Marcus Aurelius ( 馬爾庫斯 ·奧勒留 ), Roman emperor, the adopted son of the previous emperor.(cont.d)• With Epectetus

of opposite extreme social origin they agree on all questions This suggests that social origins

• can have less influence on philosophy than sometimes thought

• are accidents of private lives that tend to be discounted by philosophers

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Stoicism (cont.d) Marcus Aurelius (馬爾庫斯 ·奧勒留 ), Roman emperor, the adopted son of the previous emperor. (cont.d)• Wrote Meditations.

Expresses the burden he felt for his duties In study of philosophy he avoided history, syllogism & astronomy Don’t correct people for bad grammar: just follow the mistake with the correct

expression. Doubtful about immortality: but we should regulate every act & thought as if it will

be our last Universe is one living being, with one substance and soul, called God or Reason,

where all component things are connected. (Embodies Aristotle’s teleological organicism and prefigures Hegel 黑格尔 .) So,

Human race is • one community where • all human beings are equal

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Stoicism (cont.d) Marcus Aurelius (馬爾庫斯 ·奧勒留 ), Roman emperor, the adopted son of the previous emperor.(cont.d)• Wrote Meditations. (cont.d)

Problem of free will (arises from confusion of human law or action with organic teleology, and both of these in turn with human law)

• Law rules all: the universe is a rigidly deterministic single whole in which all that happens is the result of previous causes (ignoring the distinction between internal and external causation--Bunge).

God chose such laws as would have the best results Human being is partly clay and partly fire. --when he is fire he is part of God --when this part exercises will virtuously it is part of God’s will which is free. Engels’ (恩格斯的 ) & Lenin’s (列宁的 ) concept of “'freedom is the appreciation of necessity”. ----When the results of God’s laws are not wholly desirable, the inconvenience is worth enduring for the sake of legislative fixity ----To desire happiness is to lack resignation to the will of God ----Harmony with the universe is same as obedience to God’s will. God gives every man a daemon as his guide. Like guardian angel in Christianity.

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Stoicism (cont.d) Marcus Aurelius (馬爾庫斯 ·奧勒留 ), Roman emperor, the adopted son of the previous emperor.(cont.d)• Wrote Meditations. (cont.d)

Problem of free will (arises from confusion of human law or action with organic teleology, and both of these in turn with human law) cont.d

• The individual will is completely autonomous, both --in not being caused, except when the will is sinful, and --in not causing harm or good to others. ----in not causing harm. Tolerant attitude toward sinners ------One man’s wickedness does no harm to another man ------This enables loving the sinner out of concern --------not that he has harmed you through bad intention --------but as a kinsman who has done wrong through ignorance ----in not causing good. Therefore benevolence is an illusion.

Objection: therefore Stoicism causes virtue through intellectual error (contradiction, intellectual decay) or has a paralyzing effect on moral effort, as evidenced in the moral decay of the Roman

Empire

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Stoicism (cont.d) Marcus Aurelius (馬爾庫斯 ·奧勒留 ), Roman emperor, the adopted son

of the previous emperor.(cont.d)• Wrote Meditations. (cont.d)

Paradox of duty: The administrator enforces ordinary mundane standards of good and bad. Virtue is the good will freely directed to indifferent ends. The administrator cannot make people virtuous, only happy (with mundane goods). Therefore the administrator is virtuous by securing false goods for others.

Uncritical attitude toward perception, unlike Plato. Deceptiveness of the senses is really false judgement (of probability when the senses don’t provide certainty).

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Stoicism (cont.d) Marcus Aurelius (馬爾庫斯 ·奧勒留 ), Roman emperor, the adopted son

of the previous emperor.(cont.d)• Originated the doctrine of innate ideas.

There are first principles that • are obvious, admitted by all men, that

• can serve as the basis for deduction of all others.

Accepted throughout the Middle Ages and by Descartes (笛卡尔 ).

• First to distinguish natural (divine, deduced from first principles) law from human law. Same law for all Improved status of women and slaves Adopted by Christianity

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Roman ( 蒂蒂蒂 ) Empire Long Roman peace Pax Romana (200 years)

• diffused Greek culture to the West of the Empire and to Christianity, both directly and through Semitic people and

• accustomed people to the idea of a single civilization associated with a single government

Western Mediterranean had been dominated by Syracuse (叙拉古 ) and Carthage (迦太基 ), both subdued by Rome in the Punic (布匿 ) Wars.

Under Roman rule areas of North Africa (北非 ) were cultivated with crops and supported large cities.

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http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cfford/342TradeRoutes.gif

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Trade with the Roman Empire followed soon, confirmed by the Roman craze for Chinese silk (supplied through the Parthians) from the 1st century BC. … Hence, Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, wrote:

The Seres (Chinese), are famous for the woolen substance obtained from their forests; after a soaking in water they comb off the white down of the leaves… So manifold is the labour employed, and so distant is the region of the globe drawn upon, to enable the Roman maiden to flaunt transparent clothing in public.

—Pliny the Elder, The Natural History VI, 54

The Roman historian Florus also describes the visit of numerous envoys, including Seres (perhaps the Chinese), to the first Roman Emperor Augustus, who reigned between 27 BC and 14 AD:

Now that all the races of the west and south were subjugated, and also the races of the north, (...) the Scythians and the Sarmatians sent ambassadors seeking friendship; the Seres too and the Indians, who live immediately beneath the sun, though they brought elephants amongst their gifts as well as precious stones and pearls, regarded their long journey, in the accomplishment of which they had spent four years, as the greatest tribute which they rendered, and indeed their complexion proved that they came from beneath another sky.

—Florus, Epitomae II, 34

A maritime route opened up with the Chinese-controlled Jiaozhi (centred in modern Vietnam) and the Khmer kingdom of Funan probably by the first century AD. At the formerly coastal site of Óc Eo in the Mekong Delta, Roman coins were among the vestiges of long-distance trade discovered by the French archaeologist Louis Malleret in the 1940s. Óc Eo may have been the port known to the geographer Ptolemy and the Romans as Kattigara. The trade connection extended, via ports on the coasts of India and Sri Lanka, all the way to Roman-controlled ports in Egypt and the Nabataean territories on the northeastern coast of the Red Sea. The Hou Hanshu records that a delegation of Roman envoys arrived in China by this maritime route in 166 AD; this may well have been an exaggeration, by the envoys or the scribe, of what was actually an unofficial party of Roman merchants.

Contact between Roman Empire & China

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About 18 years later the nomadic Xiongnu chief Zhizhi established a state in the nearby Talas valley, near modern day Taraz. The Chinese have an account by Ban Gu of about "a hundred men" under the command of Zhizhi who fought in a so-called "fish-scale formation" to defend Zhizhi's wooden-palisade fortress against Han forces, in the Battle of Zhizhi in 36 BCE The historian claimed that this might have been the Roman testudo formation and that these men, who were captured by the Chinese, were able to found the village of Liqian (Li-chien) in Yongchang County There is, however, no evidence that these men were Romans,[4] and recent DNA testing of the male inhabitants of Liqian does not support the hypothesis. [5]

A Roman inscription of the 2nd–3rd centuries CE has been found in eastern Uzbekistan in the Kara-Kamar cave complex, which has been analysed as belonging to some Roman soldiers from the Pannonian Legio XV Apollinaris:] PANN G. REX AP.LG

There are several known instances of Roman soldiers being captured by the Parthians and transferred to the East for border duty. According to Pliny, in 54 BCE, after losing at the battle of Carrhae, 10,000 Roman prisoners were displaced by the Parthians to Margiana to man the frontier (of the 40,000 troops under Crassus, half had lost their lives, one quarter escaped, and one quarter were taken prisoner): It was to this place (Margiana) that Orodes conducted such of the Romans as had survived the defeat of Crassus —Plin. Hist. Nat. 6. 18

The Chinese impression of the Daqin people, from the Ming Dynasty encyclopedia Sancai Tuhui

Expedition of Ban ChaoIn 97, Ban Chao crossed the Tian Shan and Pamir mountains with an army of 70,000 men in a campaign against the Xiongnu/Huns, who were harassing the trade routes now known as the Silk Road. The Han general made an alliance with the Parthian king Pacorus II and established his base on shores of the Caspian Sea and at Antiochia Margiana (Merv) at the eastern outpost of the Parthian Kingdom. It was from here that the Han general dispatched envoy an Ying to Daqin (Rome). Gan Ying left a detailed account of western countries, although he apparently only reached as far as Mesopotamia. While he intended to sail to Rome through the Black Sea, some Parthian merchants, interested in maintaining their profitable role as the middleman in the trade between China and Rome, falsely told him the dangerous trip would take two years at the least (when it was actually closer to two months). Deterred, he returned home. Gan Ying left an account on Rome (Daqin in Chinese) which may have relied on second-hand sources. He locates it to the west of the sea: Its territory covers several thousand li [a "li" is around half a kilometre], it has over 400 walled cities. Several tens of small states are subject to it. The outer walls of the cities are made of stones. They have established posting stations There are pines and cypresses. —Hou Hanshu, cited in Leslie and Gardiner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_(Chinese_unit)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Daqin_in_Sancai_Tuhui.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Daqin_in_Sancai_Tuhui.jpg

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He also describes the adoptive monarchy of the Emperor Nerva, and Roman physical appearance and products:As for the king, he is not a permanent figure but is chosen as the man most worthy ... The people in this country are tall and regularly featured. They resemble the Chinese, and that is why the country is called Da Qin (The "Great" Qin) ... The soil produced lots of gold, silver and rare jewels, including the jewel which shines at night ... they sew embroidered tissues with gold threads to form tapestries and damask of many colours, and make a gold-painted cloth, and a "cloth washed-in-the-fire" (asbestos). —Hou Hanshu, cited in Leslie and GardinerFinally Gan Ying determines Rome correctly as the main economic power at the western end of Eurasia:It is from this country that all the various marvellous and rare objects of foreign states come. —Hou Hanshu, cited in Leslie and Gardiner

Maes Titianus went as far as Tashkurgan, known as the "Stone Tower" in Antiquity, the doorstep to China (in blue).

Eastern travels of Maes TitianusMaës Titianus was the ancient traveller of Hellenistic culture who penetrated farthest east along the Silk Road from the Mediterranean world. In the early second century CE or at the end of the first century BCE, during a lull in the intermittent Roman struggles with Parthia, his party reached the famous Stone Tower, Tashkurgan, in the Pamirs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LocationOfTashkurgan.jpg

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First Roman embassyWith the expansion of the Roman Empire in the Middle East during the 2nd century, the Romans gained the capability to de-velop shipping & trade in the Indian Ocean. Several ports containing Roman ruins have been excavated on the coast of India. Groups of Romans probably travelled farther eastwards, either on Roman, Indian, or Chinese ships. The first group of people claiming to be an ambassadorial mission of Romans to China was recorded in 166, sixty years after the westbound expeditions of the Chinese general Ban Chao. The embassy came to Emperor Huan of Han China "from Antun (Emperor Antoninus Pius), king of Daqin (Rome)". (As Antoninus Pius died in 161, leaving the empire to his adoptive son Marcus Aurelius (Antoninus), and the convoy arrived in 166, confusion remains about who sent the mission given that both Emperors were named 'Antoninus'.) The Roman mission came from the south (therefore probably by sea), entering China bythe frontier of Jinan or Tonkin. It brought presents of rhinoceros horns, ivory, and tortoise shell, probably been acquired

Ptolemy's world map, reconstituted from Ptolemy's Geographia (circa 150), indicating "Sinae" (China) at the extreme right, beyond the island of "Taprobane" (Sri Lanka, oversized) and the "Aurea Chersonesus" (Southeast Asian peninsula).

in Southern Asia. About the same time, and possibly through this embassy, the Chinese acquired a treatise of astronomy from the Romans.The existence of China was clearly known to Roman cartographers of the time, since its name and position is depicted in Ptolemy's Geographia, which is dated to c. 150. On the map, China is located beyond the Aurea Chersonesus ("Golden Peninsula"), which refers to the Southeast Asian peninsula. It is shown as being on the Magnus Sinus ("Great Gulf"), which presumably corresponds to the known areas of the China Sea at the time; although Ptolemy represents it as tending to the southeast rather than to the northeast. Trade throughout the Indian Ocean was extensive from the 2nd century, and many trading ports with links to Roman communities have been identified in India and Sri Lanka along the route used by the Roman mission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PtolemyWorldMap.jpg

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Detail of Asia in Ptolemy's world map. Gulf of the Ganges left, Southeast Asian peninsula in the center, China Sea right, with "Sinae" (China).

Other Roman embassiesOther embassies may have been sent after this first encounter, but were not recorded, until an account appears about presents sent in the early 3rd century by the Roman Emperor to Cao Rui of the Kingdom of Wei (reigned 227–239) in Northern China. The presents consisted of articles of glass in a variety of colours. While several Roman Emperors ruled during this time, the embassy, if genuine, may have been sent by Alexander Severus; since his successors reigned briefly and were busy with civil wars.Another embassy from Daqin is recorded in the year 284, as bringing presents to the Chinese empire. This embassy presumably was sent by the Emperor Carus (282–283), whose short reign was occupied by war with Persia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Roman_relations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PtomelyAsiaDetail.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PtomelyAsiaDetail.jpg

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Roman Empire (cont.d) Originally a city state/kingdom not dependent on foreign

commerce. Small family grain farms. Succeeded by

• an aristocratic republic dominated by the Senate to which democratic elements were added.

• huge agricultural estates of vines and olives cultivated by slave labor. Tyranny emerged from civil wars between the Senate and a

democratic movement inaugurated by the Gracchi ( 格拉古 ) brothers.Emperor Augustus • disguised the military origin of the imperial government in the decrees of the Senate• restored ancient piety and became hostile to free inquiry

85

Roman Empire (cont.d) Military origin of decline. The army

• determined victory in civil war depending on the size of rewards to soldiers often paid with expropriated property of rich men out of favor

• eventually made and unmade emperors in return for cash and the promise of life without warfare; usually selected successful general as emperor;subsequently assassinated for renewed sale of empire

• ceased to be an effective fighting force against Northern (German) and Eastern (Persian) barbarian invaders

• was curbed by Emperor Diocletian (戴克里先 ) who made barbarians, mostly Germans, the most effective fighting forces and commanders in the army, and divided the Empire between East (Greek) and West (Latin)

86

Roman Empire (cont.d) Military origin of decline. The army (cont.d)• by the 4th century had become mostly Christian and the apparent

cause for Constantine (君士坦丁 ) to adopt Christianity as the State religion

• by the 5th century found it more profitable to fight for itself than for the emperor, and destroyed the Western Empire except for the Christian religion enabled North Africa and Spain to later fall to Arabs (拉伯人 ) who rejected

Christianity but adopted the civilization of the conquered• caused fiscal breakdown due to

increased expenditure for unsuccessful war and bribery of the army diminished resources:

• war & pestilence decreased population by 1/3rd • officials of the locally self-governed towns escaped because of inability of the town to

pay the town’s tax obligation to central authorities• Diocletian forced rich people to be town officials and forbid the rural population to

migrate

87

Roman Empire (cont.d)

Eastern Roman (Byzantine 拜占庭 ) Empire • continued until 15th century when the fall of

Constantinople (君士坦丁堡 ) to the Turks (土耳骗人 ) cut Europe from the Silk Road to China and prompted the search for a maritime trade route to China

• to the West and

• around Africa

and discovery of America

• preserved Greek culture which Arabs (拉伯人 ) extended to the West through Spain

88http://www.indiana.edu/~hisdcl/images/diocletian'srome.jpg

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Roman Empire (cont.d) Limited influence of educated Romans (many spoke Greek)

on Greeks (few spoke Latin) through Punic War hero Scipio Africanus (the Younger) 小塞庇欧 whose proteges were • Greek historian Polybius (玻里比乌 ) who admired the stability and

efficiency of the Roman constitution compared to the continually changing constitutions of most Greek cities.

• Stoic philosopher Panaetius (潘尼提乌 ) who because of the hopefulness connected with the opportunity for political

activity in Rome, made his doctrines more political and less like the Cynics’ was led by Roman admiration for Plato to abandon the dogmatic

narrowness of earlier Stoics

90

Roman Empire (cont.d)

Influence of Greece on Rome• Roman superiority only in military tactics and social

cohesion invented no art form, no original system of philosophy,

made no scientific discoveries good roads, legal codes, efficient armies

• Roman admiration for the Greeks after Roman victory over Carthage 迦太基 (Punic 布匿 Wars). Adopted Greek architecture and sculpture.

91

Roman Empire (cont.d) Influence of Greece on Rome (cont.d)

• Greek influence softened manners as original Roman farmer virtues of austerity, industriousness and stubbornness changed with sudden wealth after the Punic Wars Small family farms replaced by scientific agriculture on huge estates farmed by

slaves Emergence of a great class of traders and people enriched by plunder. Women became free and dissolute

• divorce became common

• rich ceased to have children

Eventual semi-barbarian soldiers had no use for culture Education

• unnecessary to soldier-State

• unsupportable by increasingly impoverished private persons

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• Greek influence channeled Eastern religions, including Christianity. Army-appointed emperors tried to use new religions favored by the army to

stabilize and control the army • Emperor Alexander, of Syrian (叙利亚的 ) origin, had a private chapel with statues of

Abraham (亚波罗 ), Orpheus (奥尔弗斯 ) and Christ (亚波罗 )

• Religion of Mithras (米斯拉教 ), a Persian Zoroastrian (拜火教 ) cult of war between good and evil, was a close competitor with Christianity

• Constantine (君士坦丁 ) successfully instated Christianity

Eastern religions became popular:• Traditional Greek and Roman religions were geared to hope in happiness on earth.

• Religions of Asia, with longer experience of dispair, developed other-worldly hopes to bring consolation.

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• Roman empire embodied the concept of universalism Greek and Roman conquerors admired, absorbed and preserved the civilizations

they governed Stoic universal human family made the Roman Empire consider itself worldwide in

idea because, if it was not so in fact, it could be if it decided to. Basis for the concept of one “catholic” religion.

Arabs learned Greek culture from the Eastern Empire and preserved and promoted Aristotle

• less favored than Plato in Greek and Roman antiquity• learned from contact with Mohammedans (伊斯兰教人 ) in Spain and Sicily which prompted

revival of Christian learning in the 11th century leading to Scholasticism (Christian Aristotelianism)

access to Greek writings of philosophers since the 13th century revival of science in the Renaissance (文艺复兴 ).

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Plotinus (普罗提诺 ) Last great philosopher of Antiquity

• born in Egypt (埃及 )• studied in Alexandria• lived during the worst of the Roman Empire’s decline (3rd century AD)• late bloomer: started writing at age 49• favored by Emperor Gallienus (加里努斯 )• wrote books called Enneads (九章集 )• beauty in his writing.

Inward looking• Enabled a melancholy optimism: strained happiness requiring power

to ignore or despise life of senses.

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Plotinus (cont.d) Inward looking (cont.d)

• Culminates a movement toward subjectivity suggested in Protagoras (普罗塔哥拉 ), Socrates, Plato, the Stoics and Epicureans of looking within rather than without to the imperfections of the sensible world abandoning the achievement of scientific understanding or improvement of

human institutions promoted by Plato, in favor of self-realization of the virtuous will. Heavenly bodies are just the bodies of god-like beings immeasurably superior to man.

• Never mentions ruin & misery of actual world: his attention

• exclusively on world of goodness & beauty, the real world of ideas (the Kingdom of Heaven to the Christian to be enjoyed after death)

• away from the “illusory” (misguided?) actual world of misery his philosophy

• provides a secure refuge for ideals and hopes, • involving both moral and intellectual effort

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Plotinus (cont.d) While not stimulating to a tired and disappointed ancient

world, constrained the superabundant energy of the crude barbarian world

Contributed a beginning philosophical foundation to Christianity. Primitive Christianity was • innocent of metaphysics • like contemporary evangelical (emotional) Christianity (very strong

in America) whose practitioners are concerned more with social progress in the everyday world through

winning God’s favor, than with transcendental hopes to escape terrestrial despair.

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Plotinus (cont.d) Metaphysics. Three “persons” in a Holy Trinity: One (supreme,

sometimes called God or the Good), Spirit (nous 心智 ) and Soul• the One

cannot have predicates attributed to it: we can say only “it is” (like Parmenides 巴门尼德 )

transcends the All, and is both nowhere and not nowhere has more truth about it said in silence than in words (like Ch’an/Zen Buddhism,

No Mind)

• Nous (心智 ) is “Mind”, “Intellectual Principle”: as they do for Plato & Pythagoras (普罗塔哥拉 ),

mathematics, and all thought about what is not sensible, has something divine is in the (Christian) Gospel of St. John (最突出 ) identified with Christ as the logos

(“reason”), translated as the “word”

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Plotinus (cont.d) Metaphysics. Three “persons” in a Holy Trinity: One (supreme, sometimes called God or the Good), Spirit (nous 心智 ) and Soul (cont.d)• Nous 心智 (cont.d)

is the One’s own vision of itself, the light by which the One sees itself. cannot be reasoned or expressed when in contact with the divine, only

afterward• experience of ecstasy (standing outside the body), like Buddhist Nirvana, followed by• moment of descent from intellection to reasoning

is intellect operating within the gods makes them august and beautiful and live at ease

• Soul when it forgets to look upwards to nous, generates all living things, generates

its image which is Nature and the world of sense.

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sometimes called God or the Good), Spirit (nous 心智 ) and Soul (cont.d)• Soul (cont.d)

demotes Nature from the high level it had for the Stoics creates the material world from memory of the divine.

• in opposition to Gnosticism 诺斯替主义 (the belief that the cosmos and its creator are bad),• making

the visible world not bad, only less good than the intellectual world beauty in the visible world --contain nothing morose --inspire with awe in the thought of the vast orderliness sprung from the divine greatness.

accompanies all matter which does not exist independently of it.

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Plotinus (cont.d) Metaphysics. Three “persons” in a Holy Trinity: One (supreme, sometimes called God or the Good), Spirit (nous) and Soul (cont.d)• Soul (cont.d)

is essence, which is eternal, and• is not the form of a body as Aristotelians hold. Why? The intellectual act would be

impossible if the soul were any form of body• is not matter as the Stoics hold. Why?

The unity of the soul would be impossible if it is material Since matter is passive, it could not have created itself

• is only implicitly stated in Plato’s argument that the soul is immortal because ideas are eternal.

• enters the body through appetite for elaborating order (by producing something that can be seen by looking without) based on what it has seen (by looking with)in the Intellectual-Principle (nous)

• becomes separated from other souls and chained to a body which obscures the truth

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sometimes called God or the Good), Spirit (nous) and Soul (cont.d)• Soul (cont.d)

in an individual• if sinful when it leaves the body, enters another body to be punished. It will be a victim, in the next body, of the same sin it committed in the previous

one• grows toward eternal life, forgetting things of this world and itself as it does in contemplative vision, becoming simultaneously separated from and one with nous

Objection. Gnosticism (诺斯替主义 ): so,creation was • a mistake (inaccurate image of the divine) and • prompted by something lacking in the creator?

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Plotinus (cont.d) Answer (better than the Christian answer of untrammeled

exercise of God’s free will): the nature of Mind made creation inevitable• The soul is not always at its best, at its best exclusively when it

is content with nous and in contemplation, and not in the act of creating.

• Act of creation should be excused on the basis that the created world is the best that is logically possible, reflecting in the best possible way the beauty of the eternal world.

• Sin is a consequence of free will (versus determinism and astrology)

from alexander to the roman empire. cynics, sceptics, epicureans and stoics. neoplatonism

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