Pre-Socratic Philosophers

1. Pre-Socratic Philosophers

2. Pre-SocraticPhilosophers Reality is One 􀂄 Thales 􀂄 Anaximander 􀂄 Anaximenes 􀂄 Pythagoras 􀂄 Heraclitus 􀂄 Parmenides 􀂄 Zeno Reality is Many 􀂄 Empedocles 􀂄 Anaxagoras 􀂄 Democritus

3. Introduction 􀂄 Thinkers from the Greek world (sixth and fifth centuries BC) 􀂄 Attempted to create general theories of the cosmos (world) 􀂄 Mythos  Logos There must be a good explanation to the appearances of the world beyond the tales of how the god’s had created everything. Ex: Before philosophy, myths explained natural phenomena (the sun was carried around the heavens by Apollo’s chariot; Zeus hurled thunder and lightning from the top of Mount Olympus).

4. Thales of Miletus(624-545 B.C.E) • Sought a common source, a single substance underlying all things. • Believed that substance was water: all things are water. • Used rational evidence and careful observation rather than mythological accounts to explain the nature of the universe.

5. Anaximander of Miletus(611-546 B.C.E) • Earth (a cylinder) rests where it does because of its equidistance from everything else. • The “stuffs” of the world come in opposites (hot-cold, dry-wet, hard-soft) from a vast “Indefinite-Infinite” called apeiron (mass of forces with no specific qualities).

6. Anaximenes of Miletus(died 500 B.C.E) • Believed the first, universal, underlying element is air (pneuma). • Proposed two opposing processes of change: condensation and rarefaction. • Through condensation, pure air becomes denser: air - fire - wind - cloud - water - earth - stone; Matter becomes lighter during rarefaction: stone - earth - water - cloud - wind - fire - air.

7. Pythagoras (572-500 BC) • The ultimate stuff is not some material element like water or fire • All things are numbers and a correct description of reality must be express in terms of mathematical formulas • Totality of reality can be explained by mathematical laws

8. Pythagoras was a numerologist interested in the mystical significance of numbers • Eg. Is there something to the fact that music is mathematical and harmonies are easy fractions?

9. Empedocles(5th c. B.C.E) • One of the first Pluralists (those who believed that there exist many realities or substances). • Reality must be “completely full,” a plenum, without any gaps; all motion and changes take place within existing reality. • Reality consists of six basic components: four basic “roots” (earth, air, fire, water) and two basic “motions” (Love, which unites different things and Strife, which breaks things up into basic elements).

10. Anaxagoras(500 - 428 B.C.E) • Nous is the all-pervading “mind” which imposes an intelligible pattern in an otherwise unintelligible universe; nous affects things without being in them. • Things are composed of tiny bits or seeds that we cannot see individually only combined in sufficient quantity.

11. The Atomists:Leucippus of Miletus (5th c. B.C.E)Democritus of Abdera (460-370 B.C.E) • Leucippus is credited as originator of atomism: the universe consists of empty space and simple entities that combine to form objects. • Democritus argued that atoms must be so small that they are invisible to the naked eye, that atoms are eternal, and and constantly moving. • The void is Democritus’s term for no-thing, no-bodies, or empty space. • Democritus believed there is no intentional order or purpose to the universe, no Nous or intelligence guiding or combining atoms.

12. Heraclitus of Ephesus(510-480 B.C.E) • Logos is the rule according to which all things are accomplished and the law which is found in all things. • Everything is always changing. • Distinguished between appearance and reality in a way that contrasted apparent permanence with hidden reality.

13. Parmenides of Elea(5th c. B.C.E) • Transformed philosophers interest in cosmology (the study of the universe as a rationally ordered system) into ontology (the study of “being”). • “What is, is” (being can be conceived of and expressed) and “What is not, is not” (not-being is incomprehensible and inexpressible). • Change and variety are only appearances, they are not real. Reality or “being” cannot be apprehended by the senses.

14. Zeno (490 BC-?) • A disciple of Parmenides • wrote a series of famous paradoxes • “proving” that motion is impossible • Is motion really impossible? • Are all things One and thus are motion and change simply illusions?

15. One could never move from point A to B • In order to get to point B you must go half • way, but before you can go halfway you must go halfway of the remaining halfway, but first you must go halfway of halfway. • Thus, motion is impossible even if it were possible

16. Conclusion derived from the mathematical notion of the infinite divisibility of all numbers, and indeed, of all matter • Do we choose Mathematics or Sensory information? • Information based on senses (empiricism) vs. Information based on pure reason (rationalism)

17. The Pluralists • Sense experience tells us that we can get from A to B. • The Greeks who immediately followed Parmenides and Zeno decided to reject corporeal monism (reality is one). • Why?

18. Because differences exist and they must be accounted for • Thus, ultimate reality is composed of a plurality of things rather than of only One kind of thing

19. Conclusion • Pre-Socratic philosophers: • Made obvious the dichotomy between reason and senses • Attempted to explain reality without religion (mythos) • Attempted to understand how mathematical numbers were related to the flux of reality • Attempted to explain the problems of the One and the Many

20. Did the Pre-Socratic Philosophers leave a legacy of confusion? Or clarity?