Language/Modern-greek-1453/Culture/Pre-Socratic-Philosophers
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers[edit | edit source]
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers are defined as the Greek thinkers who developed independent and original schools of thought from the time of Thales of Miletus (l. c. 585 BCE) to that of Socrates of Athens (470/469-399 BCE). They are known as Pre-Socratics because they pre-date Socrates.
Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes are grouped together as “the Milesians.” These thinkers sought the ultimate principle which governs all phenomena in the element or elements of nature. For this reason, they are often called natural philosophers.
Thales of Miletus produced the works now known as ancient Greek philosophy by inquiring into the First Cause of existence, the matter from which all else came.
Was also the causative factor in its becoming. He concluded that water was the First Cause because it could assume different forms (steam when heated, ice when frozen) and seemed to inform all living things.
This conclusion was rejected by later philosophers beginning with Anaximander (l. c. 610 - c. 546 BCE) who argued that the First Cause was beyond matter and was, in fact, a cosmic force of creative energy constantly making, destroying, and remaking the observable world. The philosophers who followed these two all established their own schools of thought with their own concepts of a First Cause, steadily building on the accomplishments of predecessors until philosophy found full expression and depth in the works of Plato (l. 428/427-348/347 BCE), who attributed his own ideas to the figure of Socrates.
The philosophy of the Pre-Socratic philosophers is by no means uniform. No two of the men supported exactly the same ideas (except for Parmenides and Zeno of Elea), most criticized the earlier works of others even as they used them to develop their own concepts. Plato, finally, is critical of almost all of them, but it is apparent from his work that their schools of thought informed and influenced his own, notably the philosophic-religious vision of Pythagoras.
Pythagoras claimed number – mathematics - as the underlying principle of Truth. In the same way that number has no beginning or ending, neither does creation. Pythagoras claimed number – mathematics - as the underlying principle of Truth. In the same way that number has no beginning or ending, neither does creation. The concept of transformation is central to the Pythagorean vision; the human soul, Pythagoras claimed, is immortal, passing through many different incarnations, life after life, as it acquires new knowledge of the world as experienced in different forms. Pythagoras' concepts – including his famous Pythagorean Theorem.
Heraclitus conceived of being as a process or an event, and represented its essence as “fire.” Fire exists not as a stable object but as a process of burning. The moment it stops the process of changing, it ceases to exist. His well-known phrase, “No one can enter the same river again” expresses his thought that every being exists in the process of change. The river is already changing at the moment one steps into it. The water is moving past and the river bed is changing, and the river can never be the same as it was a moment ago.
Anaxagoras took this idea of opposites and definition and developed his concept of like-and-not-like and “seeds”. Nothing can come from what it is not like and everything must come from something; this “something” is particles (“seeds”) which constitute the nature of that particular thing.
Xenophanes: The concept of an eternal soul suggested some governing force which created it and to which that soul would one day return after death. Xenophanes would later fill in this blank with his concept of a single God. He writes: There is one god, among gods and men the greatest, not at all like mortals in body or in mind. He sees as a whole, thinks as a whole, and hears as a whole. But without toil, he sets everything in motion by the thought of his mind. (DK 23-25, Freeman, 23)
The works of Plato and his student Aristotle (l. 384-322 BCE) would go on to influence the three great monotheistic religions of the present day – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – as well as Western civilization overall, something them was not be possible with the Pre-Socratic philosophers.
There are over 90 Pre-Socratic philosophers. All of whom contributed something to world knowledge, but has pared that number down to a more manageable 15 major thinkers whose contributions directly or indirectly influenced Greek culture and the later works of Plato and Aristotle:
| Philosopher | Period |
|---|---|
| Thales of Miletus | l. c. 585 BCE |
| Anaximander | l. c. 610 - c. 546 BCE |
| Anaximenes | l. c. 546 BCE |
| Pythagoras | l. c. 571 - c. 497 BCE |
| Xenophanes of Colophon | l. c. 570 - c. 478 BCE |
| Heraclitus of Ephesus | l. c. 500 BCE |
| Parmenides | l. c. 485 BCE |
| Zeno of Elea | l. c. 465 BCE |
| Empedocles | l. c. 484-424 BCE |
| Parmenides | l. c. 485 BCE |
| Anaxagoras | l. c. 500 - c. 428 BCE |
| Democritus | l. c. 460 - c. 370 BCE |
| Leucippus | l. c. 5th century BCE |
| Protagoras | l. c. 485-415 BCE |
| Pythagoras of Samos | 580 BC – Metapontium 496 BC |
Pre-Socratic philosophers by school of thought[edit | edit source]
| Milesians | Pythagoreans | Ephesus | Eleatics | Pluralists | Atomism | Sophists | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Author[edit source]
- Ευγενική χορηγία που στοχεύει να βοηθήσει μαθητές ή μη, απανταχού της Γης, που επιδίδονται στην εκμάθηση της ελληνικής γλώσσας!
- Contribution bénévole visant à aider les personnes, partout dans le monde, qui sont engagées dans l'apprentissage de la langue grecque !
- Voluntary contribution aimed at helping people, all over the world, who are committed to learning the Greek language!
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Ο Γαλαξίας
- Platonic love
- Alexithymia
- The History of the Latin Alphabet
- Battle of Thermopylae
- Dolmadakia
- Odysseus Elytis
- Hetaira
- Poetry