Ancient philosophy (VII century BC
Biography
The life story of Pythagoras is difficult to separate from the legends that represent him as a perfect sage and a great initiate in all the mysteries of the Greeks and barbarians. Yet Herodotus called him "the greatest Hellenic sage." The main sources on the life and teachings of Pythagoras are the works of the Neoplatonist philosopher Iamblichus(242-306) " About Pythagorean life"; Porphyria (234-305) " Life of Pythagoras»; Diogenes Laertius ( 200-250) book. eight, " Pythagoras". These authors relied on the writings of earlier authors, of which the student Aristotle Aristoxenus(370-300 BC) originally from Tarentum, where the positions of the Pythagoreans were strong. Thus, the earliest known sources about the teachings of Pythagoras appeared only 200 years after his death. Pythagoras himself did not leave writings, and all information about him and his teaching is based on the works of his followers, who are not always impartial.
The parents of Pythagoras were Mnesarchus and Partenida from the island of Samos. Mnesarch was a stone cutter (D. L.); according to Porfiry, he was a wealthy merchant from Tire, who received Samos citizenship for distributing bread in a lean year. The first version is preferable, since Pausanias gives the genealogy of Pythagoras in the male line from Hippasus from the Peloponnesian Fliunt, who fled to Samos and became the great-grandfather of Pythagoras. Partenida, later renamed by her husband Pythaida, came from the noble family of Ankei, the founder of the Greek colony on Samos.
The birth of a child was supposedly predicted by Pythia in Delphi, therefore Pythagoras got his name, which means “ the one announced by the Pythia". In particular, Pythia told Mnesarch that Pythagoras would bring so much benefit and goodness to people, how much no one else did and will not bring in the future. Therefore, to celebrate, Mnesarchus gave his wife a new name Pythaida, and the child - Pythagoras. Pythaida accompanied her husband on his travels, and Pythagoras was born in Sidon Phoenician (after Iamblichus) in about 570 BC. NS.
According to ancient authors, Pythagoras met almost all the famous sages of that era, Greeks, Persians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, absorbed all the knowledge accumulated by mankind. In popular literature, Pythagoras is sometimes credited with the Olympic victory in boxing, confusing Pythagoras the philosopher with his namesake (Pythagoras, the son of Cratetes from Samos), who won his victory at the 48th Games 18 years before the birth of the famous philosopher.
At a young age, Pythagoras went to Egypt to gain wisdom and secret knowledge from the Egyptian priests ... Diogenes and Porphyry write that the Samos tyrant Polycrates supplied Pythagoras with a letter of recommendation to the pharaoh Amasisu, thanks to which he was admitted to study and initiated not only in the Egyptian achievements of medicine and mathematics, but also in the sacraments forbidden to other foreigners.
Iamblichus writes that Pythagoras left his native island at the age of 18 and, having traveled around the wise men in different parts of the world, reached Egypt, where he stayed for 22 years, until the Persian king was taken to Babylon among his captives Cambyses who conquered Egypt in 525 BC. NS. Pythagoras stayed in Babylon for another 12 years, communicating with magicians, until he was finally able to return to Samos at the age of 56, where his compatriots recognized him as a wise man.
By Porphyria Pythagoras left Samos due to disagreement with tyrannical rule Polycrates at the age of 40. Since this information is based on words Aristoxena, source of the IV century BC e., then are considered relatively reliable ... Polycrates came to power in 535 BC BC, hence the date of birth of Pythagoras is estimated at 570 BC. e., if we assume that he left for Italy in 530 BC. NS. Iamblichus reports that Pythagoras moved to Italy in the 62nd Olympiad, that is, in 532-529. BC NS. This information is in good agreement with Porfiry, but completely contradict the legend of the Iamblichus(or rather, one of his sources) about the Babylonian captivity of Pythagoras. It is not known exactly whether Pythagoras visited Egypt, Babylon or Phenicia, where, according to legends, he gathered Eastern wisdom. Diogenes Laertius quotes Aristoxena, who said that his teaching, at least with regard to instructions for the way of life, Pythagoras took from the priestess Themistoclea of Delphic, that is, in places not so remote for the Greeks.
Disagreements with the tyrant Polycrates could hardly have caused Pythagoras to leave; rather, he needed the opportunity to preach his ideas and, moreover, to put his teachings into practice, which is difficult to implement in Ionia and mainland Hellas, where many people experienced in philosophy and politics lived. Iamblichus reports:
« His philosophy spread, all Hellas began to admire him, and the best and wisest men came to him in Samos, wanting to listen to his teachings. His fellow citizens, however, forced him
participate in all embassies and public affairs. Pythagoras felt how hard it was, obeying the laws of the fatherland, while simultaneously engaging in philosophy, and saw that all the former philosophers had lived their lives in a foreign land. Having considered all this, moving away from public affairs and, as some say, considering the lack of a low assessment of his teachings by the Samians, he left for Italy, considering his fatherland a country where there are more people capable of learning.»
Pythagoras settled in the Greek colony of Crotone in southern Italy, where he found many followers. They were attracted not only by the mystical philosophy, which he convincingly expounded, but also by the lifestyle he prescribed with
elements of healthy asceticism and strict morality. Pythagoras preached the moral ennobling of the ignorant people, which can be achieved where the power belongs to the caste of wise and knowledgeable people, and to whom the people obey something unconditionally, like children to their parents, and otherwise consciously, submitting to moral authority. Tradition attributes to Pythagoras the introduction of the words philosophy and philosopher.
The disciples of Pythagoras formed a kind of religious order, or a brotherhood of initiates, consisting of a caste of selected like-minded people who literally deify their teacher - the founder of the order. This order actually came to power in Crotone, however, due to anti-Pythagorean sentiments at the end of the 6th century. BC NS. Pythagoras had to retire to another Greek colony, Metapont, where he died. Almost 450 years later, during the time of Cicero (1st century BC), Pythagoras' crypt was shown in Metapont as one of the attractions.
Pythagoras had a wife named Theano, a son of Telavg and a daughter of Mnya (according to another version, the son of Arimnest and the daughter of Arignot).
According to Iamblichus, Pythagoras headed his secret society for thirty-nine years, then the approximate date of Pythagoras's death can be attributed to 491 BC. e., by the beginning of the era of the Greco-Persian wars. Diogenes, referring to Heraclides (IV century BC), says that Pythagoras died peacefully at the age of 80, or at 90 (according to unnamed other sources). From this follows the date of death 490 BC. NS. (or 480 BC, which is unlikely). Eusebius of Caesarea in his chronography designated 497 BC. NS. as the year of death of Pythagoras.
The essence of the teachings of Pythagoras about number as the beginning of the world
Pythagoras did not write down his teachings. Scientists are still unable to find out with certainty which works belong to him. Pythagoras had students who later made notes. Of course, they were followers of the teacher, but there is no certainty that they could not write in the texts of their thoughts, which were based on the teachings of Pythagoras. In addition, it is not known whether he drew a drawing of the Pythagorean theorem with a twig in the sand, which is known to every schoolchild today. Most historians of science argue that the essence of the "Pythagorean theorem" was known long before him to the mathematicians of Babylon, China and Egypt, and the Pythagoreans gave this theorem only the most beautiful proof.
Pythagoras did not write down his teachings. It is known only in the retellings of Aristotle and Plato. Heraclitus argued that Pythagoras was more learned than all his contemporaries, although he believed that in his genius there was "bad art - magic", contrary to the gods. "They recognized mathematically the beginning as the beginning of everything that exists," explained Aristotle.
What is the essence of the teachings of Pythagoras about number as the origin of the world? Let's try to figure it out.
As you know, Pythagoras argued that people are surrounded by different objects. But all their diversity cannot but have a single world basis. Of course, all things can be counted. You can always say: two birds, ten fish, twenty trees, in other words, these words are combined with cardinal numbers. Thus, with the help of numbers, you can express the diversity that surrounds us. The number is invariable and is present in completely different things, being a single basis. Therefore, the number can be considered the beginning of the world.
The main number is one. This is due to the fact that any other number is in essence a combination of them. How does number give rise to all the variety of objects in our world? Pythagoras said that a point corresponds to one, two - two points, but through two points it is already possible to draw a straight line, it turns out that a straight line corresponds to two; three - three points, but if you connect them, then you get a plane; through four points, a space is built, which corresponds to a four. It is divided into four elements: water, earth, air and fire, and then each of them is divided into different objects, interacting with each other. It is this interaction that leads to an infinite variety of things.
From here, the reverse chain is clearly visible, along which everything returns to one: as is clear from the above, the diversity is reduced to four elements, the four elements are reduced to space, which is reduced to a plane, it is not difficult to guess that the plane is reduced to a straight line, and it is to a point , which, and is the unit. Hence, it turns out that the entire natural world is built of numbers. There is a correspondence between the spatial world and numbers: line - "2", plane - "3", body - "4". The world of the spirit is also reduced to the number: love and friendship are identified with the eight, justice - with multiples.
Thus, the whole world is a sequential unfolding of an ideal essence - a number.
Pythagoras believed that to know the world means to know the numbers that govern it. In addition, according to the philosopher, everything in nature obeys certain numerical combinations. The main thing in the teachings of Pythagoras is the doctrine of number, as already indicated above, as the essence of the whole world. The variety of physical phenomena will obey the law, which is unity, the cosmos (the use of this name is attributed to Pythagoras), i.e. order, and the basis of this order is number. Not an arithmetic number, but a number as a metaphysical reality, a connection, a law of the world, in relation to which an arithmetic number is only a form of cognition.
Let's go back to 1. In Pythagoras, she is the embodiment of the unity and harmony of the Universe. God, as an indivisible entity, has a unit in its number. From the moment of manifestation, God is dual (matter and spirit, male and female). The entire manifested world is symbolized by the number three: as a person consists of body, soul and spirit, so the universe is divided into three spheres: the divine world, the human world and the natural world.
In each number, Pythagoras determined one or another principle, law, one or another active force. The opposition between odd (higher) and even (lower, generated from the higher by doubling) numbers manifests itself in nature in the form of a number of other opposites: light and darkness, unlimited and limited, good and evil, moving and resting, male and female, etc. ...
Pythagoras attached particular importance to the numbers "7" and "10". Consisting of three and four, seven means the union of a person with a deity, i.e. 4 represents a person as a body, and 3 denotes a deity, as one of the three worlds. The number ten, formed from the first four numbers - 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 - is a perfect number, a unit of the highest order, for it expresses all the principles of the Divine, which first developed and then merged in a new unity.
Pythagoras taught that the beginning and end of all that exists is in a certain abstract quantity called the Monad, which is equal to one. It is an absolute unknowable emptiness, chaos, the ancestral home of all gods and at the same time contains all the fullness of being in the form
divine light. Like the ether, the Monad permeates all things, but is not specifically in any of them. It is the sum of all numbers, but is always considered an indivisible whole.
This was the main idea of Pythagoras. At least that's what the most reliable sources say.
Modern interpretation of the doctrine of Pythagoras about the reality of number
For each of us, numbers have certain properties. Using numbers, we use their properties every day to quantify the phenomena and processes around us.
Ancient Greek science, which contemporaries call natural philosophy, was born as the Great Limit of Unified Knowledge. She synthesized many teachings that existed independently, in isolation from each other. The merit of the ancient Greek thinkers lies precisely in the fact that they realized the need for the synthesis of knowledge into the Unified Knowledge.
"Everything is number." This universal formula operates at all levels of the hierarchy of the universe. The numbers themselves, their ordered sequences, must certainly reflect the properties of the so-called One Universal Law. The discovery of the Universal Law of Numbers may be one of the most important discoveries of this millennium.
The real number, in theory, includes both the real and the imaginary part in a complex, since each substance has a visible outer and invisible inner side. The positive nucleus of an atom has a negative nucleus inside, like a nucleus in a nucleus, in the form of a complement to the whole, to one, where the full complement will also take into account external compensation. The value 2 has not 2, 4 has not 4, and so on, infinity has zero.
The numerical axis in terms of the sum and the product of all members is equal to one, since it was born as a world from one.
In any formed substance (the nucleus of any atom, organ, organism, organization, etc.) there is a facet - a unit as a numerical reference base, a center of balance and polarization of three types: a negation sign, an opposite sign and a degree sign, which together give constancy due to the compensation of opposite energies that go to both sides of the hierarchy, polarly inward to zero and outward - to infinity.
If you draw the axis through the center of the sphere of the ball (whole), then it is divided by one into two parts: negative internal and positive external. In addition, each unit has its opposite on the back of the sphere.
“Empirical results confirm the absoluteness of orthogonality and unity, on the basis of which the laws of selection, variability and heredity are built. Information is not ascribed above a property here, but in a given structure of space it exists everywhere, everything that happens outside any object is instantly reflected inside everyone, it's another matter whether we feel it or not. " (Belyaev M. - "Milogia", section Magic of numbers. Monad of Pythagoras, M., 2007)
Thus, from the Pythagorean numbers, a complete understanding of the living complex number follows, which is defined as an extension of the set of real numbers. If you do not take into account the relationship of number with space, time, matter, human life, in which number is ubiquitous, then there will remain a narrow-minded idea of numbers that exists in modern times.
Interestingly, the Pythagoreans did not use zero. This can be explained by the fact that in their life there was no need to directly operate with infinitely small and infinitely large numbers. The Pythagoreans called the unit the border between "wholes" and "parts." Do not forget that the unit is the border between quantity and quality, internal and external.
The main thing is that the Pythagoreans saw in the unit an eternal root, a seed, a single whole, undivided, functionally complete. Isn't that how physicists, mathematicians, geneticists and other scientists use the method of reduction to unity in the analysis of complex and confusing situations. On this basis, a general systemic approach is built, the transition from non-being to being. Currently, a number is not considered as a set made up of ones. This means that one of the main categorical elements that determine the completeness of the worldview, the hierarchy of number, reflecting quality and quantity, internal and external, imaginary and real, has been discarded.
As you can see and understand, all numbers are united by an integral numerical axis, where the center is one, and where the positive and negative parts complement each other to one, the illusion of the outer side (from infinity to one) is comparable to the inner (from zero to one) through another sign imaginary. The illusory perception and understanding of external space and internal time is based on this. Here, the interrelation of number with living matter, space, time, with an unlimited speed of transmission of information and matter at a distance, in general with the life of a person as a whole, with his entire environment is more clearly visible.
In modern teaching practice lies a wrong position that goes into the roots of an erroneous worldview: zero as a starting point. The reason for this erroneous worldview lies in a misunderstanding of the structure of the world. What is zero? Zero is emptiness, but the world that surrounds us cannot be called emptiness. Everything can really be counted in it.
Aristotle wrote: "A point is a unit that has a position, a unit is a point without a position." This expression lacks the concept of a hierarchical scale to characterize a unit, which strictly determines its position in the hierarchy. And nevertheless, from this statement it is clear that the starting point by right should be one, and not zero.
Looking at the structure of the representation of the number by the Pythagoreans, it is incorrect to assume that they
used in the modern view only natural numbers - "pebbles". The qualitative part of the number reflected a fraction (atom, pebble), complementing the quantitative part to one, to the One; if we take it higher, up to a new atom, a new quality at a new level, then there would be no need to deal with both parts at the same time, since the other flowed from one. The number gave them the ability to distinguish between things and thereby master them in consciousness. In the usual account of any objects, they saw only that the number simply takes shape, a certain image. Among them they saw the evolution of the individual form, the evolution of its history. The figured representation of the number among the Pythagoreans opened them up to a visual interpretation of the fundamental laws of nature (translocative, distributive, hierarchical, evolutionary).
The Pythagorean doctrine of even and odd numbers was the main one for reflecting the most important philosophical categories: female and male; yin and yang; polar forms of the whole; good and evil; positive and negative, giving in the aggregate one, the One. This special qualitative external manifestation of the elements of the environment in the form of the conditional division of the unit into polar forms reflected the stable form of positive and negative.
Thus, it all comes down to one. The whole world is an expanded system of units, their totality, in which there are opposites, as well as in which each takes its place, its own cell.
Conclusion
Thus, we can say that numbers connect all levels of the hierarchy of living structures. Number or numerical relationships underlie human biology, interaction, psychological relationships, interpersonal relationships, etc. Human society can also be viewed as a world, which also has its own poles: positive and negative. If we consider, for example, the field of PR as a microcosm, as a part of human society as a whole, then the so-called “black” PR will be the negative pole, which cannot be called PR by the nature of its activity. The positive pole will be the activity of a public relations specialist, which does not contradict the basic principles of PR: speed and work ahead of the curve, informational openness, honesty, initiative.
The Pythagorean doctrine of number as the origin of the world is gradually gaining momentum and is being updated every day. Of course, some researchers doubt the belonging of this teaching to Pythagoras, but nevertheless most of them recognize the enormous contribution that he made.
So, summing up the results of this work, we can say that the Pythagoreans understood that almost all relations that exist in the world, all sensually perceived things, basically have a number, namely a unit. The worldview of the Pythagoreans, when transformed into a modern language, defines a completely new view of the world, of their belonging to this world, of the influence of technical perfection, and above all of themselves. The Pythagoreans were on the right track. For them, a unit of any level of the hierarchy numerically reflected an extremely simple substance, from which all subsequent levels with their form and content were subsequently built.
The Pythagoreans attached great importance to the doctrine of number. It should be said that the philosophy of Pythagoras is intertwined with mathematics. In fact, his whole philosophy is mathematics, since its main task was to explain the world with the help of numbers, and where there is number, there is mathematics. In the distant times of the thinker Pythagoras, of course, there were no computers and many other things that are now. But it was he who laid that fundamental principle, thanks to which the modern development of all mankind, which is an expanded hierarchy of units, is taking place.
The topic I have chosen is really very interesting. Realizing all the globality of Pythagoras' teaching about number, one involuntarily ponders who you are in all the variety of units that surround you.
Perhaps the Pythagoreans did not manage to fully solve the mystery of the number. But they hardly set themselves such a task. It was necessary to leave something for future generations for greater comprehension. And so it happened. I hope that this topic will not be ignored and modern science will complete the work started by the great philosopher Pythagoras.
Bibliography:
1. Belyaev M. Milogiya, section Magic of numbers. Monad of Pythagoras. - M., 2007 .-- 154 - 163 s.
2. Diogenes Laertius. About the life, teachings and sayings of famous philosophers. Book eighth. - M.: Mysl, 1986 .-- 386 - 391 p.
3. Emelyanov S.M. Theory and practice of public relations. - SPb .: Peter, 2007 .-- 54 p.
4. Chanyshev A. N. Philosophy of the Ancient World - M.: Higher School, 2001. - 192 - 193 p.
5. Iamblichus A. About the Pythagorean life. - M.: Aleteya, 2002 .-- 24 - 27, 167 - 168 p.
6.http: //www.erudition.ru
7.http: //www.Wikipedia.ru
We know from physics that
- Substance is made up of molecules.
- Molecules from atoms.
- Atoms from protons, neutrons and electrons.
- Those, in turn - from some very small particles, particles - from primary particles (?), Those - from something else. And, in the end, presumably, at some depth of nesting of the structures of the microcosm, we will reach a level at which there is nothing but energy and information. And this primary energy is called "unified field", absolute vacuum, primary nothing ... but rather - n e that the main element from which all reality is built is the Primary Principle of Matter. This is what they say, more precisely, it is assumed by physicists.
Sorry for too loose and not very scientific terminology, but I wanted to offer a diagram as briefly as possible, and not a description of scientific views and hypotheses. I just wanted to emphasize that in the structural depth, matter ends somewhere, and there begins something called a field, energy, etc., and what we used to perceive as a solid substance completely disappears. In addition, the very concepts adopted in physical science are abstractions that no one has seen with their eyes in life. They also have a character, rather - hypotheses, mathematically described ARTIFICIAL concepts, and not real objects. So, we can say that physical concepts, for the most part, are a product of the mind, and not reality. And in this respect, science is similar to the same esotericism or church beliefs - scientists BELIEVEJthat the atom exists... You can believe in God, or you can believe in matter or scientific concepts.
In my opinion, the most reliable is the Faith in Man and his broadest, albeit little mastered and hardly proven opportunities. And reality ... for each of us, only that which fits into his personal understanding and does not contradict his worldview and life experience is real and obvious for each of us!
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Recently, unorthodox physicists have put forward many different hypotheses that the fundamental principle is not so much the field as the Universal Consciousness (God?). And these hypotheses are based on an extensive experimental, statistical and theoretical basis. It seems that science has "found God" and is trying to give a new theoretical basis for its discovery. And this is probably good. It turns out that believers in God, esotericists, yogis and other people with an unconventional worldview are not so wrong! They have their own opinion about the fundamental principle of the world, based on inner experience ... more precisely, several different opinions, views, even teachings. And this is not theoretical research, but quite practical knowledge, or rather, experimental.
The First Foundation of the World is a kind of space (?) That possesses ... just possesses a certain set of qualities. It is difficult for us to judge them from the point of view of the three-dimensional physical world, since all our judgments will be nothing more than a three-dimensional representation (a projection onto our three-dimensional concepts), assumptions about the original truth. But still, we are quite capable of having some understanding of our own, even about such an incredibly complex phenomenon as the First Principle of the World.
It is interesting here not even how correct the point of view offered on the pages of this site is, how close it is to the true state of affairs. Another thing is interesting and important, namely -consequencesarising from this description, this circuit, if you like - a model. Consequences and conclusions can be used in practice ... at least for the purposes of positive self-adjustment.
So, the First Principle is a space that has a number of specific qualities. We can work with these qualities directly, because we ourselves consist of the "matter" of the First Principle of the World, which means that we, to some extent, possess these qualities from the very beginning. And since we have them, it means that we can interact with their help with any structures of a higher order than man - " like interacts with like!"- with the Planet, our galaxy, the Creator ... and himself O the First Principle of the World, as the total consciousness and the total, generalized qualities of our entire Reality.
Based on this interaction, we can create our personal (direct) channel with the Creator (God, the Absolute, the First Principle of the World, ... - choose the term according to your taste), or the Planet, or with what we want to start interacting with. By the way, the First Foundation of the World is the space (?) Of superluminal speeds and instantaneous interactions!
The difficulties and limitations of any of our communication (interaction) are determined by the settings of the contact channel, and those, in turn, depend on the level of development of our consciousness and our current self-adjustments.
Note:The qualities listed below are "true", since they initially do not bear the imprint of any personality, and therefore do not have distortions introduced by personal perception. They, these qualities, in their original primary form are present in all elements of reality, from an atom and a grain of sand, to galaxies, to any elements of reality, physical, subtle and ultra-thin planes. This means that they are available for perception by any person.
The fact that this information is formulated in a given specific (Russian) language and contains appropriate language restrictions does not really matter. It does not matter that this description bears the imprint of the author's perception of these lines. All this is unimportant and is not a distortion, because any person can establish interaction with the Primary Foundation of the World ONLY through our own Primary Structures, of which we all consist! The reader must himself create his own channel of interaction with the fundamental principle of any element of the World directly - through his Primary principle.
This channel (see. Echo-response. Feedback) is able to supply any person with true knowledge, projected onto his personal understanding. Those. the truth will be presented in a form adapted for each person individually; it can only be perceived by his consciousness, since no one has any other instrument of perception! The degree of completeness and accuracy of the perception of contact is limited and determined only by the capabilities of our OWN CONSCIOUSNESS. In addition, each of us is free to perceive contact information - in our own way, in accordance with our personal characteristics and preferences.The information contained in this section is a "beacon" indicating the initial truth, and at the same time by preliminary self-tuning to create the desired communication channel. How a person wants to use it, and whether he wants to at all, depends on his personal decision and perception capabilities. The principles and difficulties of information perception will be discussed in more detail in the section "Resonance as Perception".
TRUE INFORMATION IS PERCEPTED AND UNDERSTANDED INDIVIDUALLY, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT EVERY SPECIFIC PERSON HAS BEEN POSSIBLE.
So, let's list some of the qualities of the FIRST FOUNDATIONS OF THE WORLD:
1. Consciousness (developing information).
2. Initial information - a project, a hologram of the evolving Reality.
3. Energy (cause and means of implementing processes).
4. Intention, striving (Striving for the Eternal Evolutionary INDIVIDUAL development of each element of Reality).
5. Statics.
6. Dynamics.
7. Perception.
...
It should be noted that "all True", all true structures and qualities, have one common feature - "full functionality of qualities" ... globality, or something. This means that if We consider, for example, energy, then True Energy is equal , powerful, full, “solid” in all frequency relation - it evenly fills the “whole rainbow” of frequencies, without weakening and breaking.
For example, True Information is information that contains information about everything, information that is accurate and undistorted.
True Static and Dynamic are basically the same thing. It's just that the dynamics have superluminal speed characteristics, which from the standpoint of our understanding (perception) seem to be just a monolith, a frozen block, a static state. Although statics can be viewed as an instant "snapshot" of the state of any object of reality ...
But, probably, a snapshot is impossible in principle, because, starting from certain frequency levels, the concept of time, as such, is absent, and the concept of instantaneousness turns into an infinitely small segment on the "time axis" ... although the concept space, and therefore a segment, is also absent there. So, our three-dimensional approach, clothed in the terms of the human language, is not very applicable to the phenomena, states and concepts of the subtle multidimensional planes of reality.
But if we want to discuss something, the First Principle of the World. then we will not be able to do without linguistic constructions, which means that we will have to attach ourselves to dictionary terms that initially contain, to put it mildly, inaccuracies. And each participant in the discussion will interpret what was said based on their own experience and knowledge.
As a consequence of this situation, one conclusion can be drawn:"more or less correct knowledge" about the subtle planes of reality can be obtained not from books or communication, but solely on the basis of one's own practice.
But there are also True Qualities of a Personality, say - a Human. Here, too, there is truth, but it is already relative and detailed by the current level of his personal evolutionary development. For example, the True Consciousness of a Man is the consciousness of his united structures, starting from the level of "mineral-material", and ending with the eternal structures of the Soul. And not only the current incarnation, but all incarnations, past, present and future, as if coexisting at the same time. Those. the current evolutionary development is, as it were, a "perceiving" site of the True Human Personality, a site of his Eternal path to the State of God.
This area of the True Consciousness of Man has the character of Relative Truth. And the Absolute Truth of Human Consciousness is ALL consciousness, from the moment of inception, to the state of Godlikeness ... and, probably, further.
Those. the search for contact with any true quality, with any true state is a search for the perception of GLOBAL structures and concepts. We, of course, cannot realize them, but the feeling, the state of fullness that occurs during such contacts is very useful at least because we can, in the process of working in this state, harmonize ourselves and the surrounding space with its simultaneous filling with all that it lacks what we or others need. Everything is in the global, True State! Working with him, we just need to learn to absorb whatever we are ready for.
Western Philosophy
The beginning
Anaximenes of Miletsky(Old Greek. Ἀναξιμένης , / - / 502 BC NS. , Miletus) - an ancient Greek philosopher, a representative of the Milesian school of natural philosophy, a student of Anaximander.
The genesis of the world at Anaximenes
Anaximenes is the last representative of the Milesian school. Anaximenes strengthened and completed the tendency of spontaneous materialism - the search for the natural causes of phenomena and things. Like Thales and Anaximander earlier, he considers a certain type of matter to be the fundamental principle of the world. He considers such matter to be unlimited, infinite, having an indefinite form. air, from which everything else arises. "Anaximenes ... proclaims air the beginning of existence, for from it everything arises and everything returns to it."
As a meteorologist, Anaximenes believed that hail forms when water falls out of clouds freeze; if air is mixed with this freezing water, then snow is formed. Wind is condensed air. Anaximenes associated the state of the weather with the activity of the Sun.
Like Thales and Anaximander, Anaximenes studied astronomical phenomena, which, like other natural phenomena, sought to explain in a natural way. Anaximenes believed that the Sun is a [flat celestial] body, analogous to the Earth and the Moon, which was reddened by rapid motion. The earth and heavenly bodies float in the air; The earth is motionless, other luminaries and planets (which Anaximenes distinguished from the stars and which, as he believed, arise from terrestrial vapors) move by cosmic winds.
Essays
The works of Anaximenes are fragmentary preserved. Unlike his teacher Anaximander, who wrote, as the ancients themselves noted, "pretentious prose", Anaximenes writes simply and artlessly. In presenting his teaching, Anaximenes often resorts to figurative comparisons. He likens the thickening of air, "generating" a flat earth, to "felting wool"; The sun, the moon - fiery leaves floating in the middle of the air, etc.
Literature
- Fragments of early Greek philosophers, vol. 1. - M .: Nauka, 1989. - S. 129-135.
- Thomson J. Research on the history of ancient Greek society, vol. 2. First philosophers. Per. from English - M .: 1959 .-- S. 153-154.
- Losev A. F. History of antique aesthetics. Early classics. - M .: Ladomir, 1994 .-- S. 312-317.
- Trubetskoy S.N. A course in the history of ancient philosophy. - M .: Russian yard, 1997.
- Asmus V.F. Antique Philosophy. - M .: Higher school, 1998 .-- S. 11-12.
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The emergence and evolution of the idea of the beginning (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes)
"Origin", arche is a very typical and at the same time unusual construction for ancient thought (and since the time of Aristotle - and a concept). This is a kind of centaur concept. On the one hand, the Greeks seek and find the beginning in something quite definite, more or less specific. And this certain at first is merged with some natural element. Aristotle, expounding the “opinions of philosophers,” writes about Thales: “Thales of Miletus argued that the beginning of things [things] are water ... Everything is from water, he says, and everything decomposes into water. He concludes [about this], first, from the fact that the beginning (arche) of all animals is sperm, and it is wet; so all [things] probably originate from moisture. Secondly, from the fact that all plants feed on moisture and [from moisture] bear fruit, and those deprived [of it] dry up. Thirdly, from the fact that the fire of the Sun and stars itself is fed by water vapor, as well as the cosmos itself. For the same reason, Homer also makes the following judgment about water: "The ocean, which is the progenitor of all" (12a; 109) ". The essence of Thales' reasoning is that water is really interpreted as the first principle (the first principle).
Consideration of the beginning as a material, natural element is the natural course of human thought at the stage when it begins to soar into the heights of abstraction, but has not yet become truly abstract. That is why, in the history of philosophy, there have been and are disputes over the "water" of Thales. Some say: the choice of water as the beginning is inspired by the most concrete and real observations. Such is, for example, the judgment of Simplicius: “They believed (we are talking about Thales and his followers. - N.M.) that the beginning is water, and that they were led to this by sensory perception” (13; 110). Others (for example, Hegel ) assert: "water", as Thales understands it, is indirectly related to everything concrete. The word "water" itself is used allegorically. But still, the question remains, why does Thales choose exactly water? Many historians of philosophy tried to give an answer to it, starting from ancient times. Their opinions, if summed up, are as follows.
1. Thales chooses water as the beginning primarily under the influence of mythology. The ocean is a very popular mythological origin. An additional argument: and Eastern, say, ancient Indian, philosophy passed a stage similar to Thales. There, too, the forms of initial philosophizing took place, which led everything to water as to the World Ocean. This explanation seems to be quite weighty and important. Mythological cosmogony, like mythology in general, evoked similar associations, pushed the thought towards the idea of "water" as the beginning.
There are also a number of arguments explaining the emergence of the idea of the beginning in the "Thales" form.
2. Greece is a maritime country. Therefore, the vital importance of water to the Greeks did not need to be particularly proven. Their life was closely connected with the sea. The element of the sea seemed to them to be something very extensive: they swam out of one sea - they got into another ... What's next, beyond the famous seas? The Greeks assumed that, most likely, the ocean is also a river.
3. The water element is vitally important and universally fruitful, life-giving. Aristotle, following other doxographers, cites Thales' opinion on the importance of water in the life of all organisms, including humans. This opinion simultaneously appeals to common sense and to the first scientific (physical) observations. Changes in body size are associated with moistening or drying out of the body, i.e. increase or decrease.
However, for the development of philosophy, it was important that even before the idea of the beginning as a special material element (or a combination of such elements) had traveled a long way, which turned out to be a kind of dead end, it began to become clear how unusual, special meaningful content was, and in fact from the very first steps philosophizing, was put by Thales and his followers into the concepts of "water", "air", when they were interpreted as the beginning. Here a kind of bifurcation of thought occurred, analogous to the one that was said in relation to physis, nature. After all, the concept of "nature" encompassed everything that exists: what is happening, what was, is and will be, everything that arises, is born, and perishes. But there must also be a fundamental principle of what exists. The philosophizing Greek cannot answer the question about the beginning in any other way, but only by highlighting some part of nature and, as it were, placing it above everything else.
The contradictory logic of such thinking will not hesitate to show itself: after all, this logic already contains the idea that none of the natural elements, or even all of them, can be placed "above" nature as an integral part of which they enter. This means that thought must get out of this dead end by moving along some other path. However, the path of thought, which turned out to be a dead-end, nevertheless, was not philosophically sterile, allowing one to draw deep conclusions from reasoning about "water" or another element as the first principles, fundamental principles. After all, these reflections and statements were already philosophical. They could lead to what philosophy was born for. Namely: to direct human practice to work with the common, and then give birth to the universal and work with it.
In other words, to awaken and instill the skills of working not only with the subject, but also with thoughts about the subject - and, moreover, not with concrete thoughts concerning this or that subject, but with thoughts about objectivity in general, or with thoughts not only about specific people, but about man as such, about the human world. Without this, the existence of mankind as a relatively unified whole would be impossible. Thus, "the task of working with the universal, working with essences was put forward. Philosophy therefore took such an important place in culture that it - at first spontaneously, but gradually with an increasing measure of consciousness - isolated its subject, which does not coincide with either the subject of mythology or with subjects of specific sciences.
The pre-philosophical, and then the philosophical view is sent from the fact that the cosmos, nature and the origin, which in nature, in the cosmos should be laid, are homogeneous and unified And since nature consists of material (in a later terminology (Such terms, of course, were not in use among the first Greek philosophers, for for a long time they did not have the very word "matter".)) states, which means that the beginning must be a material-material element. However, the concepts of "materialism" and "idealism", which we habitually operate with in relation to early ancient philosophy, appear at a rather late stage in the development of philosophical thought. And clear ideas about the struggle between materialism and idealism take shape only in modern times. Then they are, as it were, overturned on the previous history of philosophy.
It has become a commonplace in Marxist literature that the early Greek philosophers were spontaneous materialists. Meanwhile, one of the immutable and very important facts is that the first philosophers did not know that they were thinking materialistically. They only spontaneously entered, led by the still hidden. the logic of the problem of the beginning, on the road that only in centuries will lead to the concept of matter, not to mention the concept of materialism that has arisen in even more distant New time from them. Further, it is a fact that materialism becomes a consciously developed concept when it has an antipode - idealism. And until the enemy was born, the view that affirmed the principle of idealism did not arise, the projection of the struggle between materialism and idealism on antiquity hardly makes sense. True, idealists also carried out such projection. For example, Hegel believed that the first philosophers were idealists, because "water" or "air" had already appeared for them as purely abstract principles, that is, ideas. And it was the idea that was put, Hegel reasoned, at the forefront. But Plato thought not so, by the way: that is why he fought with "physicists" because, in his opinion, they do not know the world of ideas.
So, there is a logic of the idea of the beginning, which has been reproduced more than once in the history of thought: moving after its inventors, the ancient Greeks, and also following its other, independent inventors, the ancient Chinese and Hindus, philosophers of other times and peoples will begin to enrich and renew the corpus ideas about matter.
However, when analyzing the history of ancient Greek philosophy from the point of view of the development of the idea of the beginning, it is important to carefully follow a slightly different mental logic. Not in isolation from the just considered intellectual movement, but in a certain logical independence, the idea of the first principle was led by the philosophers along the path on which the concepts of "idea" and "ideal" were born. Gradually, they too were given the meaning of the fundamental principle, the first principle of the world. Already the philosophy of the Eleats testifies to the fact that the spontaneous movement is being replaced by the first reflections on those ways of thinking that were characteristic of the earliest philosophizing. First of all, of course, it was a reflection on the problem of the beginning, an attempt to ponder this idea. But at the same time, ideas were comprehended, which were later called dialectical.
The first Greek sages essentially approached the world as a whole, one, but also as existing in diversity. The world appears before the thought of a person together with the processes of emergence and death, movement and rest. The confidence that the world is exactly the way they observe it - changing, mobile, moving - also exists spontaneously, grows on the roots of everyday human life. But it is enough in a general form, abstracting from the specifics and particulars, to turn with thought to the changes - and dialectics will arise in its most ancient varieties. It will be fixed, legalized, starting from the first attempts at philosophizing.
Literature:
Motroshilova N.V. The emergence and evolution of the idea of the beginning (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximen) ./ History of philosophy. West-Russia-East. Book one. Philosophy of antiquity and the Middle Ages. - M.: Greco-Latin Cabinet, 1995 - p. 42-45
Anthropocentrism and ethical rationalism of Socrates.
The humanistic orientation of the philosophy of the sophists.
Heraclitus as the founder of dialectics. Atomism of Democritus.
The origins of ancient Greek philosophy. Greek thinkers in search of the "beginning" of all things: the Milesian school, the Pythagorean union, the Eleian school.
Philosophy originated in Ancient Greece in the 6th-5th centuries. BC. Like in other countries, it arose on the basis of mythology and kept it for a long time; her connection (Table 17).
Table 17The origin of ancient philosophy
In the history of ancient philosophy, it is customary to distinguish between the following periods (Table 18).
Table 18The main periods of the development of ancient philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy, having originated on the basis of mythology, remained in touch with it for a long time. In particular, throughout the history of ancient philosophy, terminology that came from mythology has been largely preserved. So, the names of the gods were used to designate various natural and social forces: love was called Eros or Aphrodite (earthly or heavenly), wisdom - Athena, the maintenance of cosmic order was associated with the Erinyes - goddesses of vengeance, etc.
Naturally, a particularly close connection between mythology and philosophy took place in the early period of the development of philosophy. From mythology, the idea of four basic elements was inherited, of which everything that exists (Water, Air, Fire, Earth), the idea of organizing the Cosmos (Order) from Chaos (Mixing), the structure of the Cosmos, and a number of others were inherited.
Most philosophers of the early period considered one or more elements to be the origin of life, but at the same time the element-first element was often considered animate (for example, Water in Thales), and sometimes even rational (for example, in Heraclitus, this is considered Fire-Logos). But in addition to the elements, other, very different essences were proposed as the first principles (see Scheme 29).
Most of the Greek sages can be called "Spontaneous, or naive materialists " since the essence chosen by them as the origin (element, atoms, homeomerism, etc.) had a material nature. But at the same time, there were also philosophers to whom the term "Naive idealists": for them, some ideal essences or forces act as the beginning of being (numbers in Pythagoras, World Mind (Nus) in Anaxagoras, Love and Enmity in Empedocles, etc.).
The early period is generally characterized by natural philosophy(philosophy of nature) and cosmocentrism, those. the central problem of philosophy was the question of the Cosmos: its structure (cosmology) and origin (cosmogony). The question of the origin of the Cosmos was directly related to the idea of the initial principle (or principles) of being.
Of all the works of philosophers of the early period, not a single whole work has survived to us. Only isolated fragments have survived - in the form of quotations from later antique authors.
The origin and the first stages of development in ancient Greek philosophy took place in Ionia, a region in Asia Minor where there were many Greek colonies. Ionia was on the path of the intersection of trade “tei between the West and the East, which contributed to the acquaintance of the Ionian Greeks with various Eastern teachings. After the conquest of Ionia by the Persians, the development of philosophy here ceased, and many Greeks, including outstanding minds, were forced to move to the western regions of the Mediterranean.
The second geographical center for the development of philosophy was the so-called Greater Greece - the regions of southern Italy and about. Sicily, where many Greek city-states were also located.
Nowadays, all philosophers of the early period are often called pre-Socratics, i.e. predecessors of Socrates - the first major philosopher of the next, classical, period. But in a stricter sense, it was customary to call only the philosophers of the 6th-5th centuries pre-Socratics. BC, related to the Ionian and Italic philosophy, as well as their immediate successors IV century. BC, not affected by the influence of the "Socratic tradition" (Figure 15).
Miletus Philosophy
The first philosophical school of Ancient Greece was the Miletus school (Table 19). Mileet is a city in Ionia (western region of Asia Minor), located at the crossroads between the West and the East.
table19 Milesian school
Thales (Thales)Biographical information. Thales (c. 625-547 BC) is an ancient Greek sage, whom many authors call the first philosopher of Ancient Greece. Most likely, he was a merchant, in his youth he traveled a lot, was in Egypt, Babylon, Phenicia, where he acquired knowledge in many areas.
He was the first in Greece to predict a total solar eclipse (for Ionia), introduced a calendar of 365 days, divided into 12 thirty-day months, the remaining 5 days were placed at the end of the year (the same calendar was in Egypt). He was a mathematician (proved Thales' theorem), physicist, engineer; participated in the political life of Miletus. It is Thales who owns the famous saying: "Know thyself."
Aristotle told an interesting legend about how Thales became rich. Traveling, Thales squandered his fortune, and fellow citizens, reproaching him for poverty, said that philosophy classes did not bring profit. Then Thales decided to prove that a sage can always get rich. According to the astronomical data known to him, he determined that a large harvest of olives was expected in the current year and rented all the oil mills in the vicinity of Miletus in advance, giving the owners a small deposit. When the crop was harvested and taken to the oil mills, Thales, being a "monopolist", raised prices for work and immediately became rich.
Major works."On the beginnings", "On the solstice", "On the equinox", "Marine astrology" - none of the works have survived.
Philosophical views.The beginning. Thales was a spontaneous materialist, he considered the beginning of life water. Water is intelligent and “divine”. The world is full of gods, everything that exists is animate (hylozoism); it is the gods and souls that are the sources of motion and self-movement of bodies, for example, a magnet has a soul because it attracts iron.
Cosmology and cosmogony. Everything has arisen from water, everything begins from it and everything returns to it. The earth is flat and floats on water. The sun and other celestial bodies feed on water vapor.
The deity of the cosmos is the mind (logos) - the son of Zeus.
AnaximanderBiographical information. Anaximander (c. 610- (Anaximander) ( 46 BC BC) - Ancient Greek sage, disciple of Fa-forest. Some authors called Anaximander, not Thales, the first philosopher of Ancient Greece. Anaximander invented the sundial (gnomon), was the first in Greece to draw up a geographical map and build a model of the celestial sphere (globe), he studied mathematics and gave a general outline of geometry.
Major works."On Nature", "Map of the Earth", "Globe" - none of the works have survived.
Philosophical views.The beginning. Anaximander considered the fundamental principle of the world apeiron- eternal ("not knowing old age"), indefinite and limitless material principle.
Cosmogony and cosmology. Two pairs of opposites stand out from the apeiron: hot and cold, wet and dry; their combinations give rise to four basic elements that make up everything v world: Air, Water, Fire, Earth (scheme 17).
The heaviest element - the Earth - is concentrated in the center, forming a cylinder, the height of which is equal to a third of the base. On its surface there is a lighter element - Water, then - Air. The earth is in the center of the world and is floating in the air. The fire formed three spheres separated by air bridges. Continuous movement and action of centrifugal force tore apart the fiery spheres, its parts took the form of wheels or rings. This is how the Sun, Moon, stars were formed (Scheme 18). The stars are closest to the Earth, then the Moon, and then the Sun.
Thus, everything that exists in the world comes from one (apeiron). With what inevitability the emergence of the world took place, so will its destruction. Anaximander calls the isolation of opposites from the apeiron untruth, injustice; return to one thing - truth, justice. After returning to apeiron, a new process of cosmogenesis begins, and the number of emerging and dying worlds is infinite. The origin of life and man. Living was born under the influence of heavenly fire from silt - on the border of the sea and land. The first living creatures lived in water, then some of them came out onto land, throwing off their scales. Man was born and developed to an adult state inside huge fish, then the first man came out on land.
AnaximenBiographical information. Anaximenes (c. 588- (Anaximenes) 525 BC BC) - ancient Greek philosopher, student of Anaximander. He was engaged in physics, astronomy, meteorology.
Major works."On Nature" - the work has not survived.
Philosophical views.The beginning. Anaximenes, like Thales and Anaximander, was a spontaneous materialist. He could not accept such an abstract entity as the apeiron of Anaximander, and chose air- the most unqualified and indefinite of the four elements.
Cosmogony and cosmology. According to Anaximenes, everything arises from the air: “he is the source of the emergence (of everything) that exists, existed and will exist, (including) both gods and deities, while the rest (things) (arise according to his teaching) from the fact that came out of thin air. " In its normal state, being evenly distributed, the air is not noticeable. It becomes noticeable under the influence of heat, cold, humidity and movement. It is the movement of air that is the source of all the changes occurring, the main thing here is its thickening and rarefaction. When the air is rarefied, fire is formed, and then ether; at thickening - wind, clouds, water, earth, stones (Scheme 19).
AIR ^ FIRE ^ AIR^ WINDS £ CLOUDS ^ WATER ^
^ EARTH £ STONES
Thickening (cold) -> Vacuum (warm)<-
Scheme 19.Anaximenes: cosmogony
Anaximenes believed that the Sun, Moon and stars are luminaries formed from fire, and this fire is from moisture that rose from the Earth. According to other sources, he argued that the Sun, Moon and stars are stones that are heated by rapid movement.
The earth and all celestial bodies are flat and float in the air. The earth is motionless, and the luminaries move in air vortices. Anaximenes corrected Anaximander's erroneous ideas about the location of celestial bodies: the Moon is closest to the Earth, then the Sun, and the stars are farthest. The doctrine of the soul. Infinite air is the beginning not only of the body, but also of the soul. Thus, the soul is airy, and therefore material.
The doctrine of the gods. Anaximenes believed that it was not the gods who created the air, but the gods themselves arose from the air.
