Philosopher (380 BC – 300 BC)
Stilpo was the major representative of the Megarean School of Philosophy, alongside its founder Euclid of Megara. He was a student of Diogenes the Cynic and teacher of Menedemus of the School of Eretria and of Zenon of Citium. Although all of his treatises have been lost, we know from contemporary authors that Stilpo developed a sophisticated work on ethics and logic.
Stilpo was particularly known for his austerity to his ethical moral codes, which he never defied. He believed that spiritual virtues are important for one’s living and spiritual cultivation the highest of which is the apathy of the soul, meaning a soul free of the temptations of worldly desires and possessions. True knowledge comes only from logical reasoning and not from the five senses.
Concerning the logic of Stilpo, he argued that an object or being cannot be both ideal and perceptible to the five senses simultaneously, rather that the ideal is the only real. Stilpo’s example with the cabbage is noteworthy in that the cabbage which we see in the grocery shop is not a real cabbage. The real cabbage is the ideal one, which has existed and will exist in the eternity of time. Therefore the cabbage presented before us is not a real cabbage. Stilpo rejected Plato’s Theory of Ideas as well as Leucippus‘ and Democritus‘ atomic theory, stating that the being is indivisible, unborn and immortal. Diogenes Laertius attributes 9 books to Stilpo on the subjects of philosophy, logic and ethics, which, like Plato‘s books were written in the form of dialogues.
Having achieved great fame in Athens, Stilpo was able to establish the Megarean School of Thought as a powerful voice of alternative reason in Greece, attracting numerous people as well as eminent thinkers of his time, who attended his lectures. Such was his prestige that Demetrius the Conquerer (Poliorketes), King of Macedonia ordered to spare his house when his army invaded Megara. He went as far as to visit him in his house after the raid to be assured whether he had not been robbed of anything, to which Stilpo replied: “I didn’t notice anyone taking away science”. Furthermore, Stilpo had earned Ptolemy I Soter‘s admiration, who presented him with a large sum of money, offering him a position in Egypt alongside him. Truthful, however, to his teachings Stilpo returned the money and declined, preferring to live a life of moderation in Aegina in accordance to his conscience.
Bibliography:
- Pleures, Konstantinos. (1968). Greek Philosophers. Hilektron Publications. Athens: 2014.
- Στίλπων ο Μεγαρεύς (360 – 280 π.κ.χ.). Η Τέχνη στην Ελλάδα. 8 Φεβρουαρίου 2012. Διαθέσιμον εἰς: http://art-hellas.blogspot.com/2012/06/360-280.html
- Stilpo. Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Available at: https://iep.utm.edu/stilpo/
