Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Volume 2 (of 3) — Georg Hegel — John Shaqi
Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Volume 2 (of 3)
Georg Hegel · en
Of the later Stoics there were many more who could be named as having
been famous. More distinguished in science than Cleanthes was his
disciple, Chrysippus of Cilicia, born Ol. 125, 1 (474 A.U.C.; 280
B.C.), who likewise lived in Athens, and who was specially active
in promoting the wide cultivation and extension of the philosophy
of the Stoics. His logic and dialectic were what contributed most
largely to his fame, and hence it was said that if the gods made use
of dialectic, they would use none other than that of Chrysippus. His
literary activity is likewise admired, for the number of his works, as
Diogenes Laërtius tells us, amounted to seven hundred and five. It is
said of him in this regard that he wrote five hundred lines every day.
But the manner in which his writings were composed detracts very much
from our wonder at this facility in writing, and shows that most of his
works consisted of compilations and repetitions. He often wrote over
again respecting the very same thing; whatever occurred to him he put
down on paper, dragging in a great variety of evidence. Thus he quoted
almost entire books by other writers; and someone gave expression to
the belief that if all that belonged to others were taken away from his
books, only white paper would be left. But of course it is not so bad
as all this, as we may see by all the quotations from the Stoics, where
the name of Chrysippus is placed at the head, as it always is, and his
conclusions and explanations are used by preference. His writings,
of which Diogenes Laërtius mentions a long list, have, however, all
been lost to us; so much is nevertheless correct, that he was the main
constructor of the Stoic logic. While it is to be regretted that some
of his best works have not come down to us, it is, perhaps, a good
thing that all are not preserved; if we had to choose between having
all or none, the decision would be a hard one. He died in the 143rd
Olympiad (212 B.C.).[123]
In the period immediately following, Diogenes of Seleucia in Babylonia
is a distinguished figure; Carneades, the celebrated Academic, is said
to have learned dialectic from him, and he is also noteworthy because
with this Carneades and Critolaus, a Peripatetic thinker, in Olympiad
156, 2 (598 A.U.C., or 156 B.C.) and in the time of the elder Cato, he
was sent as Athenian ambassador to Rome—an embassy which first caused
the Romans to make acquaintance with Greek philosophy, dialectic and
rhetoric, in Rome itself. For those philosophers there gave lectures
and discourses.[124]
Besides these, Panaetius is well known as having been Cicero’s
instructor; the latter wrote his treatise, _De Officiis_, after
Panaetius. Finally, we have Posidonius, another equally famous teacher,
who lived for long in Rome in the time of Cicero.[125]