Philo the Dialectician
Encyclopedia
Philo the Dialectician (fl.
300 BCE) was a dialectic
philosopher of the Megarian school. He is often called Philo of Megara although the city of his birth is unknown. He is most famous for the disputes he had with his teacher Diodorus Cronus
concerning the idea of the possible
and the criteria of the truth of conditional statements
.
, and a friend of Zeno
, though older than the latter. In his Menexenus he mentioned the five daughters of his teacher.
Jerome
incorrectly refers to Philo as the teacher of Carneades
. Diogenes Laërtius
mentions a (presumably different) Philo who was a disciple of Pyrrho
.
and the criteria of the truth of conditional statements
.
In regards to things possible, Philo was similar to Aristotle
, as he recognized that not only what is, or will be, is possible (as Diodorus maintained), but also what is in itself conformable to the particular purpose of the object in question, as of straw to burn.
Both Philo and Diodorus sought for criteria for the correct form of conditional propositions, and each of them did so in a manner corresponding to what he maintained respecting the idea of the possible. Philo regarded all conditionals as true except those which with a correct antecedent
had an incorrect consequent
, whereas Diodorus allowed the validity of conditionals only when the antecedent clause could never lead to an untrue conclusion. A century later, the Stoic
philosopher Chrysippus
attacked the assumption of each of them.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
300 BCE) was a dialectic
Dialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
philosopher of the Megarian school. He is often called Philo of Megara although the city of his birth is unknown. He is most famous for the disputes he had with his teacher Diodorus Cronus
Diodorus Cronus
Diodorus Cronus was a Greek philosopher and dialectician connected to the Megarian school. He was most notable for logic innovations, including his master argument fomulated in response to Aristotle's discussion of future contingents.-Life:...
concerning the idea of the possible
Subjunctive possibility
Subjunctive possibility is the form of modality most frequently studied in modal logic...
and the criteria of the truth of conditional statements
Material conditional
The material conditional, also known as material implication, is a binary truth function, such that the compound sentence p→q is logically equivalent to the negative compound: not . A material conditional compound itself is often simply called a conditional...
.
Life
Philo was a disciple of Diodorus CronusDiodorus Cronus
Diodorus Cronus was a Greek philosopher and dialectician connected to the Megarian school. He was most notable for logic innovations, including his master argument fomulated in response to Aristotle's discussion of future contingents.-Life:...
, and a friend of Zeno
Zeno of Citium
Zeno of Citium was a Greek philosopher from Citium . Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC. Based on the moral ideas of the Cynics, Stoicism laid great emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained from living a life of virtue in...
, though older than the latter. In his Menexenus he mentioned the five daughters of his teacher.
Jerome
Jerome
Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
incorrectly refers to Philo as the teacher of Carneades
Carneades
Carneades was an Academic skeptic born in Cyrene. By the year 159 BC, he had started to refute all previous dogmatic doctrines, especially Stoicism, and even the Epicureans whom previous skeptics had spared. As head of the Academy, he was one of three philosophers sent to Rome in 155 BC where his...
. Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.-Life:Nothing is definitively known about his life...
mentions a (presumably different) Philo who was a disciple of Pyrrho
Pyrrho
Pyrrho , a Greek philosopher of classical antiquity, is credited as being the first Skeptic philosopher and the inspiration for the school known as Pyrrhonism, founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC.- Life :Pyrrho was from Elis, on the Ionian Sea...
.
Philosophy
Philo disputed with Diodorus respecting the idea of the possibleSubjunctive possibility
Subjunctive possibility is the form of modality most frequently studied in modal logic...
and the criteria of the truth of conditional statements
Material conditional
The material conditional, also known as material implication, is a binary truth function, such that the compound sentence p→q is logically equivalent to the negative compound: not . A material conditional compound itself is often simply called a conditional...
.
In regards to things possible, Philo was similar to Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, as he recognized that not only what is, or will be, is possible (as Diodorus maintained), but also what is in itself conformable to the particular purpose of the object in question, as of straw to burn.
Both Philo and Diodorus sought for criteria for the correct form of conditional propositions, and each of them did so in a manner corresponding to what he maintained respecting the idea of the possible. Philo regarded all conditionals as true except those which with a correct antecedent
Antecedent (logic)
An antecedent is the first half of a hypothetical proposition.Examples:* If P, then Q.This is a nonlogical formulation of a hypothetical proposition...
had an incorrect consequent
Consequent
A consequent is the second half of a hypothetical proposition. In the standard form of such a proposition, it is the part that follows "then".Examples:* If P, then Q.Q is the consequent of this hypothetical proposition....
, whereas Diodorus allowed the validity of conditionals only when the antecedent clause could never lead to an untrue conclusion. A century later, the Stoic
STOIC
STOIC was a variant of Forth.It started out at the MIT and Harvard Biomedical Engineering Centre in Boston, and was written in the mid 1970s by Jonathan Sachs...
philosopher Chrysippus
Chrysippus
Chrysippus of Soli was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was a native of Soli, Cilicia, but moved to Athens as a young man, where he became a pupil of Cleanthes in the Stoic school. When Cleanthes died, around 230 BC, Chrysippus became the third head of the school...
attacked the assumption of each of them.
External links
- Selected Bibliography on the "Master Argument" in Diodorus Cronus and Philo the Dialectician with a bibliography on Diodorus and the problem of future contingents