Decline of Greek Philosophy Causes

The closing of the school of philosophy in Athens in 529 AD marked the end of the era of Greek philosophy. For a long time before that, Greek philosophy had been in decline.

Philosophers were inconsistent, impractical, argumentative, and bizarre. At that time, the social status of the philosophers was not low, and they were often active in the court and in the houses of the rich and powerful, and most of them were born into aristocratic or wealthy families. The image of philosophers depicted by Liushan reflected the poverty of philosophical theory, the crisis of thought and hypocrisy in action. In fact, the fact that Greek philosophy was in decline in the late Roman period is not only characterized by the table, but also has a cause to follow.

Late Rome saw such two ends of the schools of Greek philosophy. The discursive and polemical arguments of the Scholastics and the Skeptics, which denied all universal and just norms and standards and destroyed all theoretical foundations without any positive construction, prevented the development of Greek philosophy from within, and the free search for knowledge for its own sake metamorphosed into the theoretical suicide of negativity and controversy. The ethicalized philosophy also gradually lost its function of guiding moral practice. Epicurus' pleasureism was distorted into indulgence, and materialism was vulgarized into the supremacy of material interests, which became the justification and consolation for the indulgence of the aristocrats and the rich in their hedonistic life. The Stoics degenerated into an "official philosophy", and their preaching of moderation, forbearance, obedience to destiny, contentment, loyalty, and love of others contrasted sharply with the brutality, extravagance, and power-grabbing behavior of the Roman rulers. The doctrines of the Stoics lost the practicality and persuasive power necessary for moral philosophy and became the talk and fantasy of the aristocrats. As for the later neo-Platonism and mysticism, their practices became superstitions and sorceries, mixed with all kinds of absurd idolatries, and could not provide impetus for the development of philosophical theories. The facts show that Greek philosophy has lost its own vitality and cannot exist as a positive ideology, but must be absorbed into another ideology and cultural form in order to preserve its value. History has shown that this new ideology was the emerging Christianity.

The rise of Christianity was one of the external causes of the decline of Greek philosophy. Christianity replaced the tedious discourse and argumentation with its simple faith, and satisfied people's moral pursuits with the ideal of a new ethical religion, thus replacing Greek philosophy in the struggle for superiority over others.

In the 6th century BC, people were no longer satisfied with the mythological worldview as an explanation of the world. The search began for new ideas about nature and man himself. Between 800 BC and 200 BC Greek philosophy flourished as never before, giving rise to numerous philosophers and schools of thought. The uniqueness of Greek philosophy lies in its simplicity: the search for knowledge for the sake of curiosity alone. Both gave rise to the characteristics of meditation, contemplation and rationality. Its set of characteristics and essence not only brought together all the wisdom of mankind in previous history, but all this in turn laid an unbreakable foundation for the subsequent development of Western culture and made possible for all time the extensive cultural exchanges of mankind that followed. No other people have been so fond of wisdom. It is for this reason that Greek philosophical thought has been discussed as a major issue.