TheMegarian school of philosophy, which flourished in the 4th century BC, was founded byEuclides of Megara, one of the pupils ofSocrates. Its ethical teachings were derived from Socrates, recognizing a singlegood, which was apparently combined with theEleatic doctrine ofUnity. Some of Euclides' successors developedlogic to such an extent that they became a separate school, known as theDialectical school. Their work onmodal logic,logical conditionals, andpropositional logic played an important role in the development of logic in antiquity.
The Megarian school of philosophy was founded byEuclides of Megara, who had been one of the pupils ofSocrates in the late 5th century BC.[1] His successors, as head of the school inMegara, were said to have beenIchthyas (mid 4th century BC), andStilpo (late 4th century BC).[2] It is unlikely, however, that the Megarian school was a genuine institution, but more of a casual description of its geographic origin, like theAustrian school in economics. Nor did it have a unified philosophical position.[3] It was said that the philosophers of the school were first calledMegarians and that later they were calledEristics, and thenDialecticians,[4] but it is probable that these names designated splinter groups distinct from the Megarian school.[5] Besides Ichthyas, Euclides' most important pupils wereEubulides of Miletus[6] andClinomachus of Thurii.[7] It seems to have been under Clinomachus that a separate Dialectical school was founded,[8] which placed great emphasis onlogic anddialectic, and Clinomachus was said to have been "the first to write aboutpropositions andpredicates."[7] However, Euclides himself taught logic,[9] and his pupil, Eubulides, who was famous for employing celebratedparadoxes,[6] was the teacher of several later dialecticians.
Via Stilpo, the Megarian school is said to have influenced theEretrian school underMenedemus andAsclepiades;Pyrrho, the founder ofPyrrhonism; andZeno of Citium, the founder ofStoicism. Zeno was said to have studied under Stilpo andDiodorus Cronus,[10] and to have disputed withPhilo the Dialectician. It was perhaps the Dialecticians, Diodorus and Philo, who were the biggest influence on the development of Stoic logic, and that Zeno studied under Stilpo to learn his moral teachings, although Stilpo, too, is said to have excelled "in the invention of arguments and in sophistry."[2]
Euclides had been a pupil of Socrates, but ancient historians regarded him as a successor to theEleatics, hence his philosophy was seen as a fusion of Eleatic and Socratic thought. Thus, the Eleatic idea of "The One" was identified with the Socratic "Form of the Good,"[11] and the opposite of Good was regarded by Euclides as non-existent.[4] But the emphasis of his thought is not onbeing but on thegood, and idea that what is opposite to the good does not exist arises from the understanding of the good's unity.[12] This theme is typically Socratic; what matters is the moral good and the will of the good person to strive towards it. Stilpo is said to have continued the Eleatic tendency, by asserting a strictmonism and denying all change and motion,[13] and he also rejectedPlato'sTheory of Forms.[14] Inethics, Stilpo taught freedom, self-control, and self-sufficiency, approaching the teachings of theCynics, another Socratic school.[15]
Besides studying logical puzzles and paradoxes, the Dialecticians made two important logical innovations, by re-examiningmodal logic, and by starting an important debate on the nature ofconditional statements.[16] This was the work ofDiodorus Cronus andPhilo the Dialectician, the only two members of the Dialectical school we have detailed information about. Through their development ofpropositional logic, the Dialectical school played an important role in the development of logic, which was an important precursor ofStoic logic.
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