Nausiphanes ( el, Ναυσιφάνης; lived c. 325 BC), a native of
Teos, was attached to the philosophy of
Democritus
Democritus (; el, Δημόκριτος, ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. N ...
. He was a pupil of
Pyrrho
Pyrrho of Elis (; grc, Πύρρων ὁ Ἠλεῖος, Pyrrhо̄n ho Ēleios; ), born in Elis, Greece, was a Greek philosopher of Classical antiquity, credited as being the first Greek skeptic philosopher and founder of Pyrrhonism.
Life ...
and a teacher to
Epicurus
Epicurus (; grc-gre, Ἐπίκουρος ; 341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influence ...
, who was dissatisfied with him.
[Diogenes Laertius, x.][Cicero, ''de Natura Deorum'', i. 26, 33.]
Biography
Nausiphanes had a large number of pupils, and was particularly famous as a
rhetorician
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate part ...
.
Epicurus
Epicurus (; grc-gre, Ἐπίκουρος ; 341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influence ...
was at one time one of his hearers, but was unsatisfied with him, and apparently abused him in his writings.
[Diogenes Laertius, x.]
The
Pyrrhonist philosopher,
Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus ( grc-gre, Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός, ; ) was a Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman Pyrrhonism, and b ...
said this about Nausiphanes:
Epicurus took the ground that the subjects taught are of no help in perfecting wisdom; and he did this, as some conjecture, because he saw in it a way of covering up his own lack of culture (for in many matters Epicurus stands convicted of ignorance, and even in ordinary converse his speech was not correct). Another reason may have been his hostility towards Plato and Aristotle and their like who were men of wide learning. It is not unlikely, too, that he was moved by his enmity against Nausiphanes, the disciple of Pyrrho, who kept his hold on many of the young men and devoted himself earnestly to the Arts and Sciences, especially Rhetoric. Epicurus, then, though he had been one of this man’s disciples, did his best to deny the fact in order that he might, be thought to be a self-taught and original philosopher, and tried hard to blot out the reputation of Nausiphanes, and became a violent opponent of the Arts and Sciences wherein Nausiphanes prided himself. Thus, in his "Letter to the Philosophers in Mytilene", Epicurus says, “I quite suppose that ‘the bellowers’ will fancy that I am even a disciple of ‘the Stockfish,’ having sat under him in the company of some crapulous striplings”; where he calls Nausiphanes a “Stockfish,” as being without sense. And again, after proceeding further and abusing the man at length, he hints at his proficiency in Arts and Sciences when he says—“ In fact he was a sorry fellow and exercised himself on matters which cannot possibly lead to wisdom,” alluding thereby to Arts and Sciences. Such, in fact,—as we may conjecture—were the sort of motives which decided Epicurus to make war on the Arts and Sciences.
Philosophy
Nausiphanes substituted the term akataplêxia (“undauntability”) for Democritus’ athambiê, “fearlessness,” as crucial for
eudaimonia
Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία ; sometimes anglicized as eudaemonia or eudemonia, ) is a Greek word literally translating to the state or condition of 'good spirit', and which is commonly translated as 'happiness' or 'welfare'.
In wor ...
. He also argued that the study of natural philosophy (
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which re ...
) was the best foundation for studying rhetoric or politics. There is a polemic in
Philodemus
Philodemus of Gadara ( grc-gre, Φιλόδημος ὁ Γαδαρεύς, ''Philodēmos'', "love of the people"; c. 110 – prob. c. 40 or 35 BC) was an Arabic Epicurean philosopher and poet. He studied under Zeno of Sidon in Athens, before moving ...
' ''On Rhetoric'' against Nausiphanes' view that the natural philosopher is the best orator. Furthermore, Nausipanes was an adherent of Democritus's sceptical side and deemed human judgment as being no more than a realignment of atoms in the mind. Which, in turn, fueled Epicurus's dissatisfaction with his teacher.
Epicurus may also have derived his three criteria of truth in his ''Canon'' from the ''Tripod'' of Nausiphanes.
Only the following summary
of the ''Tripod'' survives, written by Philodemus.
# The man of science has the capacity for rhetoric, even if he does not practise it.
# The wise man will pursue rhetoric, because honour depends on winning a reputation for cleverness in politics, rather than on the over-lauded virtues. The wise man is he who can persuade his hearers; this power belongs to the man of science, its source being his knowledge of the facts, so that he could pass on his own convictions not only to his pupils but to any race of people. Having a knowledge of the facts, he is able to lead his audience where he wishes, because he can tell them what is to their advantage, which is what they wish to hear. The scientist has command of the best diction also: not that created by vain imagination and usage, but that based on the nature of things. He also has command of logic, without which knowledge is impossible, and is best qualified in that art indispensable to a statesman in a democracy or monarchy or any other constitution, of calculation of the future from the known facts. The man who employs continuous discourse will be best able to employ the dialectic method and vice versa, because both depend on an accurate judgement of how to lead pupils from the known to the unknown; that is, they depend upon a knowledge of the 'right time' and 'right measure' in speaking.
# Nausiphanes gave 'immovability' as the goal of life, this being the name he gave to Democritus’ 'imperturbability'.
# Of those things which appear to exist, nothing exists more than it does not exist.
Notes
{{Authority control
4th-century BC Greek people
4th-century BC philosophers
Ancient Anatolian Greeks
Ancient Greek atomist philosophers
Hellenistic-era philosophers
Ancient Greek rhetoricians
Philosophers of ancient Ionia
Pyrrhonism
Ancient Greek epistemologists