beginning of the birth of the Roman philosophy is traditionally considered to be the II-I centuries.BC.e.If we talk about the ancient period as a whole, in relation to Greek philosophy, Roman philosopher many consider secondary.Greek philosophies began to spread among the Romans in the I century.BC.e.The most popular at the time the teachings of Epicurus, the Stoics and philosophical views of skeptics, the theory of Plato.Hellenistic philosophy - a period that was the final development of philosophy in ancient Greece and is characterized by an ethical orientation and adaptation of Eastern religious movements.
One of the most well-known schools of this era was the school founded by the followers of Cynicism.This doctrine proclaimed disregard and denial of all external - starting with the physical needs and ending with science.Cynics were convinced all the benefits only come from within the person and have no relation to the outside, which not only contributes to the manifestation of human life these blessings, but even is an obstacle to happiness.
Epicurus (341 - 270 BC.) And his followers have advanced somewhat different life and philosophical principles, although their teaching happiness is also one of the main philosophical categories.In the teachings of Epicurus has its own epistemology, ontology, physics, but the most significant in the history of philosophy was his ethics.At the heart of the ethics of Epicurus is the principle according to which pleasure and enjoyment is good, but Epicurus does not mean debauchery, he understands the pleasures, especially "lack of physical suffering."The concept of pleasure in the teachings of Epicurus probrel certain intellectual sophistication, and one of the components of such pleasures Epicurus believed the study of philosophy.
At the end of VI.BC, later the school of Epicurus, the ancient philosophy of the Hellenistic period was marked by the formation of another well-known school of philosophy - Stoic school.The founder of this school was Zeno.The fundamental principle of the Stoics was as follows: happiness is to follow nature around.It is worth noting that the idea of Stoicism have become quite popular in ancient Rome.Hellenistic-Roman philosophy marked the activities of the largest Roman Stoics: Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus.The ideas of the thinkers of the period almost completely lost interest in the philosophical problems that lie beyond ethics.And as the most ethical, the Roman Stoics proclaimed the idea of universal human brotherhood, mercy and love for his fellow man, and even enemies.
Another famous passage, which is famous Hellenistic philosophy, is skeptical.The founder is skepticism Pyrrho (360 - 280 BC.).The idea of his teaching was that it was considered a philosopher, according to Pyrrho, a person seeking to achieve happiness.Happiness lies, first of all, there is no suffering and complete tranquility.According to skeptics, no way of knowing can not be defined as false or true, philosophical attitude to things is refraining from judgments about these things.Are valid only our sensory impressions and opinions only lead to confusion.
Hellenistic philosophy has made some changes in the ideological direction of the teachings of the time, these changes were caused primarily by political and socio-economic changes in developing societies.The thinkers of the Hellenistic period, the emphasis is on solving the problems of human morality, behavior problems of the individual in society.Hellenistic philosophy was marked by revolutionary ideas for that time of recognition of the slaves of their human dignity, even some philosophers have expressed the idea that slaves may have the highest moral character.As a result, the development of new philosophical outlook on the world and society as a whole, two old schools established by Plato and Aristotle, gradually lost its credibility, and put on the backburner.
