Pre-Socratic Philosophy

Eternal

uncreated and imperishable

Moving

vortex motion

Worldview pre-socratic society

Agrarian society, religion, politics, ethics, all mythologically based. Plays shown at festivals taught moral lessons, Life is good-so they had time to think-started to think philosophically. Also beginning of hard sciences-not distinct from each other (History, science, and philosophy are all interrelated fields)

Pre-socratics

Ancient Greeks tended to think in opposite pairs, (hot and cold, wet and dry). Since water and dry both exist, how can the wet be the cause of the dry? Four basic elements-earth, air, fire, water each is both concrete and abstract-melting, evaporating, and igniting is the transformation of these elements into the upward and downward processes

Homer

epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.

Hesiod

source of greek myths, ancient greek astronomy and timekeeping

Pythagoras

the cosmos is ordered and rational, and humans can understand it. Every element is related to every other element mathematically, in a harmony of ratios. This idea, in conjunction with atomism, set up the scientific method that emerged later (in the renaissance) Ontology of the One

Homer-Odyssey

the story of Odysseus's journey home from fallen Troy

Indefinite

not some definite element that can be identified with some set of characteristics

The parmenidean one

If there were change, it would involve a transition from what is not to what is, or from what is to what is not. When water is brought to the boil, for instance, it leaves the state of not boiling and moves to the state where it is boiling. But what is not cannot be thought, and not being cannot be. So, despite the testimony of our senses in reality there cannot be any change. There is only the one, eternal, immutable, indivisible. Whatever is, is. If there were many things, what could separate one thing that is from another that is? ONly what is not. But what is not is not, and cannot be thought. So it is impossible that one thing be separated from another, so there cannot be nor be thought to be, many things

Heraclitus and fire

Fire-source of transformation- it takes in and it produces. Things change but they still continue to exist. There is a stability in the universe because of the orderly and balanced state of flux-this tension provides structure. There is some sort of reason that maintains the order of the universe

Heraclitus

For heraclitus, it was the unifying function of language itself which lends order and stability to an otherwise constantly changing and chaotic universe. Logos provides the world order. Everything is in a state of the infinite, it is combination of being and non being, it is never complete but continually transforms itself into other particulars, there is a metaphysics of flux

Hesiod-theogony

Genealogy (an account of the birth of gods) Cosmogony (an accound of the process by which the world came into existence)

Parmenides

(510-440 BCE) Change is not real: change requires being and not-being, but not-being is nothing and not real , so change and motion are impossible. Reality is being: what must be the characteristics of reality?

Anaximander

(612-546 BCE) Thales' theory was refuted by his successor and pupil, Anaximander. Anaximander noted that water could not be the arche because it could not give rise to its opposite, fire. Anaximander claimed that none of the elements (earth, fire, air, water) could be arche for the same reason. There is something ontologically prior to water. He proposed the existence of the apeiron, an indefinite substance from which all things are born and to which all things will return.

Homer-Iliad

(oldest work of western literature) story of the Trojan war, espically Achilles.

Parmenides

Appearnce only produces opinion, reality is the basis of truth, apperance does not equal reality

Infinite

without bounds and unlimited, and perhpas having all characteristics

Heraclitus

540-480 BCE Heraclitus said "wisdom is the goal of philosophy. There is only one truth and it is up to philosophers to discover it." Heraclitus, unlike Thales, did not look to nature to find the answer tot he question. "why is there something and not nothing" Like Thales, he thought this was answered with one thing, but it was not water. Rather, it was something that, as Heraclitus put it, "loves to hide"

Thales

624-545 BC Miletus, Turkey. The first philosopher in the Western tradition. Thales is the first or founder of the school of philosophy we call the Milesian school. Thales involved himself in many activities, taking the role of an innovator. Came from a wealthy and established family and the wealthy customarily educated their children. He did participate in some games, most likely Pan-Hellenic at which we won a bowl twice-probably for oratory. He studied in Egypt and was an advisor to Croesus

Pythagoras

All things contain ratios of number. Harmony: balance of opposites according to ratio of numbers. Musical harmony, Health-proper ratio of elements in body, Justice-punishments and rewards must fit what is deserved. The good generally is defined as moderation, which is coneived as a balance of opposites, a mean between extremes

Apeiron

Anaximander believed the beginning or ultimate reality (arche) is eternal and infinite, or boundless (apeiron) subject to neither old age nor decay, which perpetually yields fresh materials from which everything we can perceive is derived. Apeiron generated the opposites, hot-cold, wet-dry, etc. Which acted on the creation of the world. Everything is generated from aperion and then it is destroyed there according to necessity. He believed that infinite worlds are generated from apeiron and then they are destroyed there again.

Anaximenes (585-525 BCE)

Anaximenes held that air (greek aer, translates closer to mist) with its variety of contents, its universal presence, and its vague associations in popular fancy with the phenomena of life and growth, is the source of all that exists (the arche) Air is divine and intelligent. Guies the world order, Guides humans (air is the principle of life and soul)

Anaximander

Apeiron-boundless source of all things has eternal motion. Boundless potential, not actualities (p.13) The boundless is swirling in a great vortex motion. What happens in such a swirl is that things tend to cluster with things like themselves, and the heavier they are the closer to the center of the swirl they come. So the cold and heavy earth is deposited at the center a very hot and fiery sphere of fire is at the periphery, with water and air between. More specific changes occur because of the interactions among these basic elements.

Thales

Aristotle (De caelo) seems to think that Thales is thinking like this in "On the heavens": the nutriment of all things is water, which heat is generated out of water and is sustained by it. (Steam?) Thus, water must underlie all things. (Monism)

The problems of philosophy

Cause-how are things caused-how do they come to be? Change-what is the unity that holds things together?

Anaximenes

Compression and dilation explains how air creates other things; rock-high compression, Earth, water, clouds, winds, fire-high dilatation. Changes in quantity can bring about qualitative changes

Homer's worldview

Divine action is not moral. The god's interference in human affairs is not based on the common good for people. Gods punished people for things like insubordination or insulting behavior, not for being unjust or immoral. The gods do not represent moral ideals for all to emulate: the gods are impetuous, childishly egotistical, lustful, selfish, vain, unscrupulous, and dishonest (Plato) People do not worship the gods because they are good.

Parmenides

Eleatic-his only known work is a poem-The way of opinion-which is the world of appearances and is false and deceitful. The way of truth-reality is one. Change is an illusion, it is impossible, and existence is timeless, uniform and unchanging. He was very influential and strongly influenced Plato. There is no many for parmenides, just the ONE and all things are part of this one.

Heraclitus

Heraclitus was the first person in the Western world to create a robust philosophical system. Although many philosophers have acknowledged his influence, including Plato and Aristotle, his concept of becoming, in which ontological opposites are seen as fundamentally interrelated, is central to his philosophy. The dark is a part of the light. Etc.

Pre-socratic philosophers: Central concerns

How did the universe begin? What is the nature of ultimate reality, or the world? What is the nature of change? From where or what does everything come? Sepculatively-try to account for the whole in terms of the interaction or interrelation of the parts. Critically-attempt to analyze the particulars in isolation from a conception of the whole

Pythagoras (570-497 BCE)

Immigrated from Samos to Croton in southern Italy 530 BCE, Pythagoreanism was primarily a religious fraternity. (Cult) It presented a religious view, providing a way to achieve immortality. (The Homeric view was that life on earth is better than the afterlife.) But, Pythagoreans were deeply concerned about the well being of the soul. A moral dimension entered religious practice- not just rituals - but attain wisdom. Immortality- air is divine and immortal- the soul is impure (compressed) air that can return to divine air after death if purified. Escape reincarnation by purifying one's soul (through numbers). Turn your soul towards non-practical

Heraclitus

Key to Heraclitus is that: all things change yet their identities are preserved. (all things are one-but takes many shapes and forms) There is a pattern or rational structure or eplanation by which things come into being. What is this one thing? According to Heraclitus, it is logos.

The Pre-socratics

Looking for cause-how are things caused? Reject mythology and poetry of HOmer and Hesiod - New way of talking and thinking about things. (Not an absolutely sharp break) Reject the pseudo-science of divination, where one tries to know the minds of the gods. Use reason, logic, evidence, argument, and rational criticism (tests) Explain things in terms of impersonal natural things tha tmove themselves. Ask "what" and "how" now "who" (zeus) and Arche-first principles

Pythagoras -substance

Matter- "stuff out of which something is made" -the Milesians named this- Form-means limit [specifically a mathematical limit]- which provides balance- of elements to the unlimited

Pythagoras

Numbers are the ultimate reality-they give form to all things (arthimetic -to geometry- to structure of reality) Speical names for sequences of numbers: square, oblong, triangle Cosmology based on numbers: the original fiery "one" sets the cold air in motion and limits it producing number. From number arises pointsm, from points lines, from lines plane figures, from plane figures solid figures, and from these sensible bodies and the elements.

The parmenidean one

No parts, spherical in shape, eternal, indestructible, motionless, limited (because it is complete), no holes, completely full of being

Pythagoras

One of his order, Hippasos, also discovered irrational numbers, but the idea was unthinkable to pythagoras, and according to one version this member was exectued. Pythagoras (or the Pythagoreans) also discovered square numbers. Tey found that if one took, for eample, four small stones and arranged them into a square, each side of the square was not only equivalent to the other, but that when the two sides were multiplied together, they equaled the sum total of stones in the square arrangement, hence the name "square root"

Pre-socratics ontology (the study of being)

Ontology of the one-belief that all things in the universe are conected and ontology of the many- all things in the universe are individual

Parmenides

Reality is known through reason, not the senses: early idea of rationalism. The empirical investigation of nature now makes no sense. You must rely on reason, he is the first rationalist philosopher.

Virtue-Moral character

Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle-stress the care of a soul Soul is the harmonizer of the body, moral character a person of virtue (arete) Goal: be a person of excellent moral character

Transmigration of the soul

Soul alone-before life: soul is in Hades (underworld), Soul in a body-during life in the sensible world, Soul at Death-soul is judged as either moral (Land of the Blessed) or Immoral (returns to life in a new body) by the gods

Zeno's Paradoxes

Student of parmenides, agrees that apperance is not reality Achilles and the tortoise. If an arrow moves, it must move either in the space it occupies or in a space it does not occupy.

Thales

Thales' most famous belief was his cosmological doctrine. Thales says that there is some underlying thing that is both the origin and nature of things. This is different than believing that the Gods are the underlying thing. He chooses something from nature instead.

Anaximander

The apeiron is typically thought of a boundless chaos. Characteristics of the source and element of all things: Indefinite, Infinite, Eternal, Moving

Homer and Hesiod

The epic poetry resented a large and complex mythological worldview that influenced greek civilization. Explained origin of the world, the birth of Gods, the Kingship of Zeus, and the ways of people. Epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature. Created an "encyclopedia" of information

Xenophanes

The gods are not moral, not role models (Plato agrees) Man Fashions gods after themselves, instead of the other way around. We anthropomorphize them. WE do not know the truth. We only have opinions. We can never know the truths as god's do. Minimizes athletic achievements (the intellect is more important) This did not make him popular given the greek "ideal"

Homer's worldview

The homeric heaven reflected the Homeric state. No conception of law as a body of rules that everyone must follow. Zeus ruled as a king, but without written laws governing his behavior. No conception of nature as a system of regularly recurring sequences of events. Gods were responsible for the natural order of events. The customs that people follow were handed down from the gods.

Pythagoras

The pythagoreans believed that there is an order and unity to the cosmos that it mathematical in nature. According to Iamblichus, Pythagoras once said the "number is the ruler of forms and ideas and the cause of gods and emons" none of his writings remain. Odd numbers were masculine and even were feminine. He discovered the theory of mathematical proportions, constructed from three to five geometrical solids.

Heraclitus-unity is a duality

The sea water is very pure and impure-good for the fish but undrinkable and unhealthy for man-but it is the same water. ALl change moves in a cycle (stone, earth, water, clouds, air, and back) The way up and the way down are the same. Opposites are really identical: all is one. (river and the bank)

The milesian school

What is the principle by which the nature of the world can be explained. i.e. how did the initial substance transform istelf into all manners of things -Thales, Anaximander, Anaximines

Thales

What is the ultimate substance that underlies all substances? The ultimate cause (arche) principle, or stuff of the universe is water. Water moves itself and changes into other things. The earth floats on water. Nutriment of most things is water. Can take on many forms.

The Pre-socratics

While most of them produced significant texts, none of the texts have survived in complete form. All we have are quotations by later philosophers and historians, and the occasional textual fragment. The pre-socratic philosophers rejected traditional mythological explanations for the phenomena they saw around them in favor of more rational explanations. Many of them asked:

Heraclitus

believed that wisdom was found in the very nature of change (becoming), Parmendides thought it was found only in that which did not change (being). In this sense, their philosophies are mutually exclusive but one man, Plato will attempt to bring them together

Logos

can be translated in many different ways. Probably the most common is "word" but it has deeper meanings than that. It can also mean "reason" structural pattern, or a "rational" explanation

Anaximander fragment the law of compensation

into those things from which existing things have their coming into being, their passing away, too, takes place, according to what must be. For they make reparation to one another for their injustice according to the ordinance of time. Anaximander refers to the opposites. All change requires the wronging of one opposite by another. One opposite drives the other out. Compensation must be rendered and the balance restored

Anaximander: origin of life

life had its origin in the sea, the first animals were fish or fish-like, the very first humans emerged from fish-they grew inside of fish, and emerged from them after maturing