3. Third Stage.—In this, the closing period of Greek philosophy, a great change has come over the ancient world. It is the age of world-wide empire, crushing out the earlier civic life. It is therefore also the age of individualism.
In Plato and Aristotle we are aware of an aloof- ness from the problems that most interest us; but in the post-Aristotelian philosophies we find an affinity with our modes of thought and our general attitude toward life which make them interesting and valuable, though speculatively they are be- neath the level of the great encyclopedic systems which immediately preceded them. The Philosophy of this period is intensely and increasingly occupied with the needs of man. To begin with, it is essen- tially Ethic, and this Ethic is meant to suffice man for religion. As it advances, it becomes more and more religious, till in the end, in Neoplatonism it is avowedly Religion. The systems of this period all logically connect themselves with elements to be found in Aristotle. In Aristotle we have still the Greek dualism unreconciled. Form and Matter, Reason and Sense, are still in opposition. Accord- ingly we find: (a) one system which makes Reason its ruling principle; (6) another which chooses Sense for its keynote; (c) a third which chooses either element to contradict and destroy the other ; (d) finally, a system which strives to rise above the antagonism of elements, and makes a leap for unity.
(a) The first is Stoicism, which regards the soul of the universe as rational, and gives to it the significant title of the Logos. Of this rational whole of things, man is part. He finds salvation, accordingly, in living according to nature, taking his place at the standpoint of all governing Reason. Thus all things work together for his good. Stoi- cism, to its eternal honour, lays hold of human per- sonality, and attributes to it absolute independence and infinite worth. In this aspect it approximates to Christianity, and formed a ental and moraJ discipline which prepared the Roman world for the preaching of the gospel. At the same time, Stoicism failed as a pedcaatine power in the fast- growing cormnpiion of the Roman world. It is ‘Salvation by Wisdom,’ limited, therefore, to the few, and precarious even in them. Reason fails as a reconciling, unifying principle. See STOIcs.
(ὁ) The second is Epicureanism, which frankly makes matter the ground of all things, sense the ultimate principle of knowledge and action. The Epicurean, like the Stoic, said, ‘ Live according to nature’; but nature, as he conceived it, was material only, and the end of a life within its limits is no more than pleasure. Such a principle does not necessarily lead to vice; but it may lead to this as well as to virtue; and in any case it fails
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PHILOSOPHY 851
to o sustained energy. Epicureanism is the intellectual expression of the decay of moral life in the Roman world. See EPICUREANS.
(c) The third is Scepticism, which, by keeping rigidly to the individualism which was common alike to Stoicism and Epicureanism, showed that no absolute truth of knowledge, no authoritative rule of action, is possible. Thought and life are reduced to the mere play of opinion and impulse. The only possible attitude toward reality is mere suspense of judgment. Such a position is paralysis both. mental and spiritual. Scepticism makes articulate the despair which was brooding over the hearts of men. It is the last utterance of Philo- sophy, and it is the demand for Religion.
(d) The fourth is Neoplatonism. The life of man had become hopeless. The demand of the age, therefore, is not now Wisdom for the conduct of life, but Salvation, σωτηρία, escape from the dis- satisfaction of this life, emergence into a higher sphere. To this demand Neoplatonism makes response. It is at once the climax and the destruc- tion of Greek pinloecp hy: In it Thought, the mighty force which had led the human spirit in its quest for unity, breaks down, and gives up the Teins of government. After Neoplatonism bar- barism followed, and would have followed more disastrously than it did, had not Christianity suc- ceeded to the place vacated by Greek philosophy. The real advance of Neoplatonism on all preceding systems consists in its conception of the speculative and practical problem. The old Greek dualism of Form and Matter is deepened, and is transformed into that of God and the World, the Infinite and the Finite, Good and Evil. It is thus specifically a religious problem ; and Neoplatonism is avowedly a religious solution, a Philosophy which takes up all religions into itself, and claims to be the Renta eligion, The great precursor of Neo- pieionien is Philo Judeus. Its chief exponent is
lotinus (A.D. 204-270).
It is impossible here to give any adequate account of the systems of these men, or of the many systems elaborated through the opening centuries of the Christian era. They all occupy the same stand-
int, and exhibit many resemblances in their
reatment of the problem which they all alike are designed to solve.
It is important, however, to note the three great doctrines into which all Neoplatonic systems may be condensed.
(i.) The Doctrine of God.—God is transcendent, the Absolute, the Original (τὸ πρῶτον), the Un- limited (ἄπειρον). im no finite predicates are applicable. He is beyond all determination by human thought. If we attribute to Him power or goodness, it must be remembered that these designations cannot express His real nature.