Topics Profession

Question I wonder why there are so few philosophers 0 - 1000 AD?

Accepted:
March 28, 2009

Comments

There were actually quite a lot. For instance, there were the Neoplatonists, around the third century, such as Plotinus, Proclus and Porphyry. Then there were the Fathers of the Christian Church, from the third to the fifth centuries. Some of the latter, it is true, do qualify more as theologians than philosophers: but there were also several genuine philosophers among them, such as Origen, Tertullian or Saint Augustine. After that, though, the state of philosophy in this region (and we're talking about the Mediterranean here, from Greece and Rome, through Asia Minor, down to Egypt) did begin to decline. Boethius (d. 524 or 525) is sometimes cited as the last significant philosopher of the classical period, before the Dark Ages properly set in. And I do know what you mean, because then there was quite a striking gap in philosophical activity. The gap might not have been a thousand years, but it probably was two or three hundred. Still, though, things did eventually start to get back on track; and the location of the important work shifted too. The ninth century, for instance, brought us John Scotus Eriugena, who originated in Ireland and worked in France. And the ninth and tenth centuries also brought us the early developments in Arabic philosophy, with people like Al-Kindi and Al-Farabi in Baghdad.

Now, as to why philosophy should have ebbed and flowed in this way, declining in one place and arising in another, that's an interesting enough question: but it's not a philosophical question. Why did the Roman Empire decline and fall in the fifth century? Why were the marauding Goths and Vandals so successful in their destructive rampage? Why did grand new civilisations subsequently begin to emerge in the Middle East and in North-Western Europe? Much ink has been spilt, attempting to answer these questions from the perspective of political history. And I would suggest that, whatever answer that research might yield, regarding the rise and fall of empires in general, exactly the same answer is also going to explain the rise and fall of philosophy. Although there have always been clever people around, it's only been when such people have been sustained by a stable and prosperous society that they've had the leisure to indulge themselves in cloistered abstractions. If you want to find philosophers, look for flourishing civilisations. If there are none of those around, there won't be any philosophers either.

Question I wonder why there are so few philosophers 0 - 1000 AD? Accepted:March 28, 2009

Question I wonder why there are so few philosophers 0 - 1000 AD?

Accepted:
March 28, 2009