The Sociology of Philosophies

(Wang) #1

  1. Archimedes studied at Alexandria; though he resided in Syracuse, he “published”
    his results in letters to his Alexandrian mathematical friends ca. 240 b.c.e.

  2. Eudoxus had moved at least part of his mathematical school from Cyzicus to
    Cnidus a generation or two previously (DSB, 1981: 4:465–467); it is possible that
    the mathematics at Alexandria was fostered by a further migration of the remnants
    of that school, at the same time as the medical scholars.

  3. “The logic of propositions, which [the Stoics] studied, is more fundamental than
    the logic of general terms, which Aristotle studied... Aristotle’s syllogistic takes
    its place as a fragment of general logic in which theorems of primary logic are
    assumed without explicit formulation, while the dialectic of Chrysippus appears
    as the first version of primary logic” (Kneale and Kneale, 1984: 175–176). “When
    Clement of Alexandria [late 100s c.e.] wishes to mention one who is master among
    logicians, as Homer is master among poets, it is Chrysippus, not Aristotle, whom
    he names” (ibid., 116).

  4. The Epicurean Philodemus had a school at Naples around 50 b.c.e., but the
    enterprise lapsed with his death (Rawson, 1985). Epictetus taught Stoicism in exile
    at Epirus (the backwoods of northwestern Greece) after 100 c.e., but his successful
    school was not perpetuated.

  5. Later, the most famous developers of Empiricist medical doctrine, Menedotus and
    Theodas (100s c.e.), were also the main representatives of skepticism, leading up
    to Sextus Empiricus. The connection is further supported by the fact that medical
    Empiricism and philosophical skepticism both disappear together after 200 c.e.

  6. This was not strictly accurate. There were a few Epicurean renegades, such as
    Timocrates in the founding generation (who wrote a scathing exposé of the
    community’s practices), and Metrodorus of Stratonicea, who joined the Academy
    in Carneades’ generation (Frischer, 1982: 50–51; Tarrant, 1985: 94). But this is
    nothing like the shifting of personnel among the other schools: Zeno himself,
    Arcesilaus, and Chrysippus all built up their cultural capital through such moves.

  7. Both circles were concerned with poetry, a high-prestige art in Rome at this time.
    Epicurean doctrine survived mainly because it was embodied in Lucretius’ Latin
    masterpiece. In the other school, as Figure 3.5 indicates, one of Philodemus’ pupils
    was Virgil.

  8. When Platonists reappeared at Athens from 50 c.e. onwards, they were not
    described as scholarch or diadochos (successor), although some of them (such as
    Calvenus Taurus, ca. 100–165 c.e.) had their own private schools (Dillon, 1977:
    232–233, 237–239).

  9. A handsome sum, since a day’s wage for a skilled workman was about one
    drachma, and a year’s salary for a Roman legionary about 1,000 sesterces, roughly
    equivalent to 250 drachmas (OCCL, 1937: 277–278; Finley, 1973: 79–80, 104).

  10. On the social role of the rhetorician (who often doubled as legal advocate) and of
    the grammarians who prepared students for the rhetoric schools, see Kaster (1988).

  11. The organizational weakness of pagan cults was that they had few if any full-time
    priests (Jones, [1964] 1986: 933). Their upkeep was usually tied to the local gentry;
    for instance, Plutarch of Chaeronea was among other things a priest of nearby


Notes to Pages 107–122^ •^957
Free download pdf