The responsibility of philosophy for the actual separation of mankind in two wresling camps and epicurus dialectic versus pythagoras dialectic

} . . | Cy . 7 3, goras dialectic, in Entretiens philosophiques d'Athènes [cfr n. 1406], 107-14, Sakellariou (George), The responsibility of philosophy for the actual separa- ; tion of mankind in two wresling camps and Epicurus dialectic versus Pytha- GEORGE SAKELI.ARIOU Professor of Philosophy Athens University. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PHILOSOPHY FOR THE ACTUAL SEPARATION OF MANKIND IN TWO, WRESLING CAMPS AND EPICURUS DIALECTIC VERSUS … N Be CU PYTHAGORAS DIALECTIC | Mankind is today separated into two wrestling camps ready A vore exterminate each other. reg Is Philosophy responsible for this soparation? Are particularly philosophical systems of the Samian Philosophers: Pytba-: ponsible both ?A goras and Epicurus, for the appearance of this terrible phenomenon 1 ering according to Plato that Dialectic is the lifting u) af}: parallelism of their dialectic can give the answer. | Consid the Unj-:: soul to the capacity of seeing the essence and destinies of both: having‘: verse and Man, of the Microcosmos and Macrocosmos, let us see, as criterion that definition, the conception of life and of the world af stood that: both the above mentioned Samian Philosophers, it being under to Plato and Aristotle the essence of philosophy and dialegfic. 4 “a according ven rt4 is the search and finding of the first principles and causes. 4. In accordance with Epicurus and his disciples, adherents and : words followers, philosophy is considered as «serving life» an activity in ophy. and reasoningjaiming at and realizing true full happiness»; i.e. philos therefore‘ aims as utility and serviceability. Epicurus is not in the least y-‘of the concerned with the lifting up of the soul to the seeing or theor syaopz First Principles and Causes; he is not a thinker, engaged with the a tical and comprehensive general view of the ‘evolution of the work ing and finding out the first principles and causes of‘things isscammed: species and man. Tho true full happiness bestowed to man by hisijeam oO BEE by Epicurus and his only pursuit is to find out the art which proe res to practical life the right direction. Ep} delf Contrarily it is the Pythagorean Philosophy whi and more than any other one puts forward: as basis an i ‚which it builds, the supreme Commandement to Mankind all throug! Ong the ages of the God of Light Apollo» KNOW THYSELF». ° And ong! knowing oneself does not of course know one’s flesh, feet and bands, but, one’s soul, personality, individuality, one’s mind by which one can dis:É cern intellectual things, perceive by one’s spiritual eyes in spiritual beings and things. Therefore one, by knowing one's:

arte knows the | incorp real, spiri oreal, spiritual and intellectual Go ‘or a an himself (which is achieved as expla ined below by eat ‚15 ın a position to perceive and conceive God and bv hi rea: can soninprove g capaci the erby A ties, the#inheren en t in every man «Logo s» or the gos» theawo «word », rds, | He who ( knows God and ceonceiv i es. the order of thin ies has full confidence on Him and on His Divin e Providence he over ad periences agony for whatever happens to him, but tranquillity. i ’ that the Bene in brief the philosophy af both Philoen, passe sophers we see 3 à arrestrial, onesided, partial terialistic; the contrary that of Pythagoras iss gazin gazi g ona’ the th resple »lond nd ent Light i ol really the Intell andectual traly Son eine and is aim:ing at the knowledge ofPhe the One One God, centhe Ne iveness and calmness. EN:2. Pythagoras | meth od is the «syn sible and rec prehending all qhings terrestrial | optical and: heavenly, on n ‚ COrporeal and incorporeal) one,ie. the clea of a d mixture DIALECTIC. On the contrary, Epicu liev $ only in the and an trying Looan he ; at inferential and inductive rus be. method ee and Principles relying on the senses and rds in contempt all other reasoning or metho or prinn ses By by which Ariatotle ciscovered thd famous four case : eria eefficient, th ifi the final ones which are the ¢causes, foundation jon’and and data data forfor the tl care i tence N and creati; on of any thin g. On the other hand th canon s or crite. ri rions3 of the |Epicureans, ) which are indissolubly connected sted with with thethein. i ducti at theveand and the | infereuard saveg ntial ton researel ch, are ar 80 vague and Y ungafe guard, fe, that thatthey th y can can rain measure the induction used in day's life from commiting tough errors and conclu sions; but they cannot affor Nature d any (Beh guar eer) antee an d security i concernij ng the true scien ientific stud y of 3. Pythagoras, ; who lived three centuries i before Epic has proved himself and was gonsidered as a divine ma a hore Bel cur u s on the contrary autoproclaimes himse viding x ns Gods in the void and consecrati lf as ‘being an ng them as not proore eithe r for man or the Universe and b ideri as thesubje veld,ctwhen to expul sionand hen and disturb ances even ren from I heiactua their r actual l place Slack te in orlds are in process of creation i i spaces full Ne of atoms, from which the r1ew worlds are “crea creatted ed and oh i atoms en from other neighboring worlds in dissolution , «The first |Principle ofof all all things and the last ast is s God, G d, in [t whieh ledge of Whom and of His divine Laws man deriv es abundant life fo tha: nowledge, or who setteth his course c : is like a mariner | without chart a nd log-book emba rked cod upo upon n a ven perilous e sea: Por af verlainty no man can shake off the yoke of diving ran nd elsewhere Pythagoras ‘ taught:: «God is one indi visi unchangeable, absolute pefection, the first and forming Mi And as perfection is God ion j te the goal of men». ‚ perfection is the standard of things and should 4. Epicurus thought theSoul as mortal, whereas Pythagoras. mi Ox : be ‘ it as immortal and potentially as a spirit proclaimed into which it can betransformed by the exercise of virtues. Thus Pythagoras taught: «Man is put on earth for the” purpose of education, the cultivation of the divine element»’. (Pythagoron49). Further: «Man in this terrestrial existence is accorded the orpportunity to attain eternal life as a superconscious Ego». Soul is raised’ to Spirit by the manifestation and practice of virtue and by raising of’ Soul to Spirit, man becomes a Son of God (Cnf. Romans 8: 14-19. Ephes.. . 2: 18-19, Philip; 2: 5-6, etc). 5. Further Pythagoras thought of Soul «as confessor and judge», Thus, he said: «Subject thyself to rigid self-examination, probe thy: | heart». «Twice cach day examine thyself with sincerity and truth and'in , intellectual honesty give true judgement «by addressing to thyself in the morning and in the evening the three well known questions of the} Pythagorean Golden Verses. And in conclusion, at the ill that you have: done be troubled and rejoice for the good». This Pythagoras’ method, by which through self-knowledge the acquisition of knowledge of truth is attempted, contributes to the dis->covery of the true self-consciousness and self-knowledge; for Pytha-goras was teaching that no man has mind or intellect until the moment he is awakened to the perception that he is endowed with it, which mind — according to Pythagoras’s dictum, «God's mirror and intellect is, and the satellite of Divinity.» 6. Epicurus was not worrying himself about the care and growth : and of the lifting up of man. On the contrary Pythagoras by the. | soul of * self-examination practice by day and by night, led man to the improvement, progress and growth of man’s soul and was aiming at rendering | him virtuous, saying: «If man will know himself, he will know the Universe and God (enf. John 14: 7-11, 8: 19, 11519 etc) °. By the term «a n 8 ~ tasis» he was defining the raising of the Soul from one level to another, teaching that the progress in question is possible during our terres- | for the higher steps in anatasis, such : trial life and saying: «lt is possible . to be begun and completed,. beatitude ration, as illumination, transfigu in the terrestrial life». (Cnf. Ephes, 2:6). obs On the other hand man is set free by self-knowledge from egoism,. : governs himself, he submits himself to self-discipline, which in accordance with Pythagoras is an indispensable supposition of Philosophy, as - all this has been clearly shown and proved in the 900 schools of actual. Greece, in which a new system of moral rearmament is applied, base on the Pythagorean principle in question. For this reason Pythagoras rightly was teaching that the man who | lives simply unconcerned of his improvement is like, every insensible and dull creature, remaining. in the so-called double .. ignorance of the Neo-Platonists ’ 4. Huson H.— Pythagoron, 1947. 2. Pythagoras’ concept of Education was to enable man\ to Know Go a in order to better fo Now God (Jamblichos V.P. XVIII Taylor 63).

on the double sin of Saint-Dionysios who knows himself is in himself divina Areopagite, whereas the man 7. With regard to the theory of know] above mentioned philosophical systems, it is to be noted hat Epiourue ie imiting it in the Canons of knowledge, having as criterion from theoretical point of view the sensorial conception, i.e. knowledge based on what the senses teach us, and from thepractical point of view the feclings emokion and passions culminating in enjoyment (pleasure or delight) on the one side, and in pain of body or mind on the other side. «Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuerit in sensu» (Locke) is a dictum first roclaimed and preached by Epicurus, Intelligence namely and understandin -is considered by Epicurus as more misleading and treacherous than 5 sation, for he asserts that intelligence depends on the senses nen The spiritual mind by which the i vos, percei ves and k no ws itself is fully ignorau by EP ic u 8. He attributes every error and going astray not to sens on and senses but to the incapacity of intelligence, to false reaning. The senses, he proclaimed, are the sole criterion of truth. Epi curus even History was putting under purification. On the contrary both Pythagoras and pr i are proclaiming, together with the interminable army of the Grock Dia, ecticians, that the senses are misleading. The things which the se consider as real are not at all'indeed real, for all that which the senses conceive is eternally under goin 8 an ma a ter A p Md d PS PAan 8 8 and alteration, all is in a C ous, | . e incorporeal and i igible things are stable,eam be à and unchangeabie Peeters only ut ey can be apprehended and perceived by the mi through a mathematical discipline. And re dn existing thing cannot subsist in reality except b inn, Mite The ering 2 to} consciousness of the external things by By our our senses senses.are reillusio ion and misleading, for hardly we can perceive accurately by means of our and suoa y by means of our spiritual eye or mind we see and hear all things a other perceptions are dull, blind and deaf. The senses are dull and o not perceive all things that surround us, but a few. therefore are si mply imag ini . The Epicurians ] ) things, which they think that they perceive re rie percapt n BehenTherefore they are. in error both what regards senso. : errohenusr peroentio wi at regards their further reasoning based on such . God, God, Divinity,À Spirit, Mind, , Soul of the World are the onl Being. All other things though corporeal and visible are unreal thine, painene rally not for a single moment stable and durable but under‚an evolution and change. These i - Condemned to dissolution and decay, whereas the relly Being and the i the spheres ‚will never be destroyed, An et not death is the essence of the Universe, the Pythenorcens and Teer the vangelists and Saint-Paul (Luke 20:38, Corinth. 45) proclaim. or «telos» which man’; 8. According to Epiourus the final aim rsu it of pleasure | pu and ice should pursue in life is the cho ing, for suffering is ¢ and avoidance of p ain and suffer e. Even the beautiful desir we. caused when we cannot obtain th at which t: I spit upon the beautiful — taugh He Epicv urus related to the pleasure. produce pleausure, ‘ and those who v ainly admire it, when it does not en ue. Virt of ty (Fr. Epic. 79) without respecting the beau worlds is that to . 9. The crucial point which separates the two ons, «Lo Gru- : passi our come avoid suffering or pain we have to over goul to the intelligible world, cify our flesh» our lifting up our as first teaches and afterward «resurrection from the dead», as Pythagor , Christ above all. Whereas — Plato, and many others in the sequence . s the terminus, Epicurus imagines that deathi -of limit a as se the endiag point of human life and action, and this becau n huma L een betw ed limit is h human action he thinks the period whic it is what he thinks is human ! -lim time iate rmed inte h. This deat and birth Philosophy puts as” life. The teachin gof the Pythagorean man (comparing with and viewing : final aim the deifica tion of bea titude by his final victory . narrowly what he sees) and consequently his ht by Plato, and Christ, as ! taug is over his passions. The same teaching who declares that repentangg ; well as by Buddha and Democritus also, teaches that calmness, tran- A” | from sin leads to salvation. Whereas Epicurus eved without purification. :. ‘ quillity of soul and quietness can be achi : eraclitus, are the extreme ” Pain besides and pleasure, according to H the «mental pictures» or' [ as long ends of one and the same thing. And as by the senses, man is forming. ed form are s presentations to consciousnes t pleasure congenital with . a mental picture (according to Epicurus) aboul pleasure. But if a student ° every kind of pleasure, conseque ntiy of sexua such an end or «telos» : of Epicurean Philosophy orients himself towards the calmness, tranquillity and : how is it possible to rea lize in his soul this question Epiquietness, which such a philosophy promises? But onsophe r, for marriage ; philo the for bacy celi eurus responds by proclaiming ctual man (vide Lu- * as he concedes, is very troublesome for an in telle : is celibacy recommendable | cretius, Description of Love). But in sooth and useful for famiy and social progress ? (Diogenes Laertius — 10. In his letter addressed to Menoeo eus th is not to. dea t tha Book X, 126) E picurus explains its coming, it put 9.“ for by be apprehended or dreaded, sopher as said above, im- , Philo that to ng an end to | ife, (accordi characteristically: «And | mortality of soul does not exist) and he adds larger share and nothing the ly just as with food he does not seek simp seeks to enjoy not the longest else, but rather the most pleasant, so he l:e.: Epicurus comparing period of time, but the most pleasant».at which is transth to both goods: the material one and appreciation he con- | cendental and worthy of every honor ; siders them equal in honor. the views: the first, The above passage includes both about life k Philosophers (uGree nt ancie all of that as well as Pythagorean one, life in flesh ts admi sing the word p hilosopher in its proper sense

as beirg identical to captivity of soul in the bondage of body much liketo imprisonment; the second one, that of Epicurus, conceives that body can contribute to the realization of | theuietmese final good: ie. th e calmness, tranquillity illi | 11. In the same letter (f.c. 128) Epicurus says that « is the principle (-beginning) and end of living in Mee Pie d e "For this cause we call pleasure the beginning and end of the blessed life. For we recognize pleasure as the first good innate in us, and from pleasure we begin every act of choice and avoidance, and to pleasure we return again, using the feeling as the standard by which we judge every thin «This passage contains all the end, «to telos» which Epicurean thou ht is aiming at, and according to our judgement, it is worthy of our most careful attention for the appreciation of the whole Epicurean system of conception of the world and philosophy of life. On the contrary Phythagoras declares: «Happiness lies in virtue and ‘educa. . tion and not in adventious advantages». Also: «Life in the spiritual ore happy, useful and interesting. (Pythagoron 30-31). P 2. The preaching of Epicurus was: «live witho ing observed.» «l congratulate you, Apelles, in that you havo pro ched philosophy free from all contamination», «l will not fail to mention the most eager after knowledge Epicurus, who, being profane and uninitiated in general education deeped and pronounced happy those, who like him, proceeded to philosophy, using such sentences as these : I congratulate you, Apelles...... ete.» (Athenaios, XIII p. 588a). E vi curus was teaching that the course of study leading to general educa. tion (curriculum) and mathematics were not contributing to any uti Hy;bark he therefore recommanded to Pythocles: »Biest youth, set sail in , 1 Sext. à an Epiyour Us Ni anc “ee every form of culture». (vide Empir. … On the contrary Pythagoras h i i : «The real things ma y % es ce n wi th the N oon th ret math ematica I principles (enf. II Corinth. 4:18 and ito. mans 1:20). Also Pythagoras elsewhere gaid: «Virtue is induced througt mathematical disciplines (mathesis) cognisable only by philosophy 5 | The Philosophers in the Garden ignored the s var: t in g point to real wisdom, not recognising the existance 9 an ything else except matter, nor that of a supreme ower providing for its children and far remote was from them the thou ht of recognizing moments of repentence und of turning their mind from sensible an vl things to spiritual and intellectual, in their life „1%. Ihe Épicureans abolishing Gods caring for Mankind depriving them from their privileges to punish those who viste Divs . A er and Law, are at the saıne time by so doing abolishing the most a lequate means of the youth education, it being understood that «fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom» and that «in man resides the power of deification through (11 Wallace De Ort. Maxey - Pearls of Pythagorean Philosoply, 1955. cation». On the con- :: cleansing from guilt or defilment or through purifi tion of true, full ie condi first the as s, trary Pythagoras in the Golden Verse commands: … virtue first as and Creed of e articl first happiness and as the repen-':. out with «Honor Gods», it being understood that l plea- +” carna and s thing le sensib from tance. i.e. turning of the mind dments .. sures to the respect of Divine Law and Comman ty or. rali n,mo or purification no true educatio =“ dialectic can exist. r, as : 45. As long as the Üpicureans consider atoms and matte Nous of Soul, of ce essen the e only principles by necessity they ignor tute the and of the Good, which together with matter consti ation found basis, the ns, gorea tytha the of ys» rakt famous »tet ance and darkand «root» of the Universe and of Man. In such an ignor art of life», for «the have not ness being plunged the Epicureans could matter cannot from itself up lift not does a life passed in pleasure, if it ng forward mat- : bestow true full happiness. The Epicureans by putti of truth, they re-'. ter body and senses as critetions ation and ims | deific of ility possib fuse to soul spiritual substance and the He _ mortality. -': prin the being a8 soul the d deeme On the contrary Pythagoras , | body nota is n «Ma : saying by man, of t cipal componen . ns Roma (enf. which is only a possession of the Soul he knows y, 8:9 ff). When man knows himself as a soul and not as a bod er: he is impervious to death or hurt, and nothing transitory can matt is It end. no have can and ning begin a had never much. The soul * immortal and cternal. (Pythagoron 28-29). e, but. 46. ‘The material pleasure Epicurus not only did not despis that: … ing teach ion, being, as mentioned, bachelor and living with Leont ch’. «the beginning and the root of all good is the pleasure of the stoma the sense of (Fr. Epic. 59), was far away to be deemed a philosopher in in the note- ‘ for Plato, philosophy as understood either by Pythagoras or preparation as sophy philo s define worthy following passage the latter eluding the are sophy philo zing exerci truly are for death : «Those who other thing . any altention of the common herd that they are not doing crucif y flesh». “> to and ons passi ial in life than to overcome their mater s one- ; ualize spirit one ol contr selfand int restra , Indeed by purification the : more so , self. And as long as he advances on the way of purification er, thinn es becom ble invisi the fence, separating the visible world from : / much douband at last the much wished for moment arrives, when the the true” and s sense inner his to e Visibl es becom World ted Invisible ~ First and Philosopher is united with the Soul of the World and with the Father ' «the Plato, of Good the rse. Supreme Cause of Man and Unive is . ience exper an such n know well is it as And . Christ in Heaven», of Plotinus, already described by Heraclitus, Plato (in bis Republic), Dante : forget to not , Denys Saint and Porphyrius, Proclus, Saint Paul . dise) (Para edia in his Divine Comm © But the first who unveils the same truth is Pythagoras and in the afteras s, virtue of scale the meet first we s Verse n Pythagorean Golde goras wards explained in detail by Plato and the Neo-Platonists. Pytha

is the first who divided and separated the natural, moral and political virtues from the supreme and divine ones: the purifying, theoretical (which render the Philosopher «epoptis» and by that word those were meant, who were admitted to the highest grade of the Eleusinian Mysteries), the paradigmatical, and last of all the theurgical Virtues. If one does not master this scale of Virtues one is far away from understanding Greek and Universal Philosophy. And Epicurus had not the least idea of the existence and significance of the scale in question. This is the reason for which the greatest. spiritual conqueror of Occident, Aristotle, composed his famous poem to Virgin Virtue. From what preceeds Pythagoras is shown to be the most synoptical and dialectical Man of Ancient Greece : his whole Philosophy deals exhaustively with Virtue, which consists in living consonant with Natural Justice and automatically rewarded by operation of compensation. That Virgin Virtue, which with Ancient Greece had the same meaning and was identified with the essence of Soul, Pythagoras put forward as the final aim, possession, prey and spoil of life, being fully convineed and by his own experience knowing ita tremendous uplifting power and its overwhelming importance for Ancient Greece and Mankind: this scale of Virtues is the only sure road which, by exercising us to do what is needful towards our fellow men with the natural, moral phers in Ancient Greece, from Mousaios, Linus, Orpheus, Hesiod, Homer and political Virtues, predisposes and prepares us to do what is needful towards our Soul and towards God or the Supreme and First Cause. This is the Line of Direction followed by all true and genuine Philosoand Pythagoras till Plotinus and the last Neo-Platonists Porphyrius, Syrianos, Proclus, Olympiodoros and Damascius. ' The only one who deviated from that line is Epicurus: he is the Fatal Man, who has sown in Modern Europe, by means of Lucretius, and that at the beginning of Renaissance, the baleful seed of separation of Mankind into the two antagonistical Camps, ready to fight and exu terminate one another. 1. The ideals of Pythagorean Philosophy so closely approach those of Christianity, that the earliest fathers of the christian Church of them notably Justin, were ‚ Clemens Alex. Strom. I, V Justin, Apol 2d, X etc. Gov « moved to declare that Pythagoras Socrates, Plato and one or two of the others, were «Christian before Christ (Augustine, Civ. Dei, VIII, 6; On hearing Gospels 1, 12 Athonagoras, }Heathen