Pre-Socratic_Philosophers

PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHERS Pre-Socratic philosophers were, as the name implies, Greek philosophers that came before the time of Socrates. There were several of these and each had their own set of beliefs and hypotheses. The primary thing that concerned them was substance, which involved defining what the world and things in it were made of, where these things came from and what ultimately became of them. In figuring this out they looked for practical, natural solutions, instead of trusting mythology as people had done previously. The first of these philosophers was Thales, who has been referred to as the father of Greek philosophy. He has also been called the “Father of Science” since he was the first to develop hypotheses. It was his theory that everything that was in the world began with and consisted of water, which was necessary for life. He observed in nature that water could assume any shape. Other major accomplishments of his were in the field of mathematics, especially geometry. Because of this he is considered to be the first true mathematician. Anaximander was a disciple of Thales and followed much of his teachings but had some theories of his own. He developed the first theory of evolution in that humans had evolved from fish. He departed from Thales’ teaching in that he did not believe that water alone could not be the sole element responsible for life. He introduced that the source of all things was an indefinite being, called an apeiron. This came about as the four elements (air, earth, water and fire) are formed and the way that they interact forms something like a primal chaos. He stated that the origin of the universe came from the separation of opposites in this and this “element” is the apeiron, from which everything comes from and also returns to when it dies. In this way apeirons are similar to atoms, the smallest building block of matter. Anaximenes was a student of Anaximander and had his own theory in what things were made of. He believed that everything came from air and it took different forms based on its state. He employed two principles for this, in that things were either shrinking or expanding, also known as condensation and rarefaction. Everything was made up of some form or degree of either condensated or rarefacted air. Pythagoras was one of the most influential philosophers out of this group, so much so that a religious movement and a very secretive devoted sect werefounded in his name. Even though this group did not last, it had influence on other groups later in history, such as the Freemasons, who were also devoted to the study of mathematics. Pythagoras was also extremely influential on other philosophers of his time, especially Plato. Regarding his religious teachings, he was a strong believer in metempsychosis, also known as transmigration or reincarnation. He was convinced that when someone died, their soul transferred to something living. The quality of the living thing it went to, whether good or bad, depended on how one lived their life. Because of this credo, he refused to eat meat and prohibited his followers from doing so. He was actually the first person to refer to himself as an actual philosopher, which meant lover of wisdom. He and his followers believed numbers were most important in understanding life—instead of naming things, he numbered them. They naturally devoted a majority of their time to the study of mathematics and applied some of that field to music as well by successfully translating musical notes into mathematical equations. The greatest mathematical achievement Pythagoras has been credited with was the discovery of the famous theorem that bears his name. Born several years after the death of Pythagoras, Heraclitus was a philosopher who taught a doctrine that everything is in motion and change is central in the universe. He believed that war was the father of everything and constantly brings about change in societies. Because he led a very lonely life and seemed to suffer from depression or a misanthropic demeanor, he has been referred to as “The Obscure” and the “Weeping Philosopher.” Even though he believed that everything changes, he insisted that there were still rules to follow, and if the rules were broken, bad things would happen. Heraclitus’ teachings were a major influence on the creation of the Stoicism school of philosophy, which started with the Greeks and was adapted as the major philosophy of the Roman Empire. Another very significant pre-Socratic Greek philosopher was Parmenides, who opposed Heraclitus in that he believed that there was no change in the world and that all reality was just one being and that being was constant and unchanging. What people see or experience in the world through their senses is false and deceitful and to really understand truth in the world one had to use reason. In his opinion, thoughts were equal to things and nothingness did not exist. Appearance and reality were not the same. The philosopher Zeno agreed with Parmenides, and postulated that there was indeed no motion in the world. He wrote a book of paradoxes to show that motion did not exist. He is also probably the first philosopher to use a method of argument called epicheirema in which someone destroys the proposition of another by following the implications of their argument to a logical but absurd consequence. Empedocles, a philosopher who was involved with several professions, is best known for creating a table of four elements. This table included Water, Air, Fire and Earth and he professed that the varying combinations of these elements were responsiblefor the makeup of different things. The energy that combined or separated these elements was comprised of two entities: Love and Strife (Hate). Empedocles was also a proponent of transmigration, and because of this refused to eat meat, since he believed that souls lived in animals. Anaxagoras introduced to philosophy the concept of nous, or the mind, as an ordering force, bringing arrangement to the infinite masses of fragments of things. He described the mechanical process of how the original chaos was developed and shaped into organized arrangements and this set the stage for atomic theory. He also brought philosophy to Athens, whereas previous philosophers had been located in colonies of Greece. Leucippus was responsible for being the first to develop the theory of atomism, which professes that everything is made up completely of a variety of imperishable, indivisible elements called atoms. Although he is credited with inventing the theory, it was one of his students, Democritus, who systemized and elaborated on the theory. Democritus carried on the theory of atomismand developed the first mechanistic explanation of the world. He went further in stating that while the world consisted of atoms, these atoms moved within a void (nothingness). This opposed the earlier theory of Parmenides, among others, who stated that there was no such thing as nothingness. Democritus also carried on from his teacher in proposing what the various shapes and physical characteristics of these atoms may be. In his support for the void theory, he and other atomists argued that for there to be movement of atoms, which was observable, there must be a void. All of these pre-Socratic philosophers made contributions of their own, some more significant and influential than others. While each had their own beliefs and specific theories, they universally looked for principles or other natural explanations for things, rather than trusting to mythology as had previously been done. Pre-Socratic philosophers also put more emphasis on science and rational thought that required supportive arguments. This would set a firm foundation for later philosophers to build upon and lent more credibility to their thought processes.