...ANAXIMANDER Anaximander (610 BCE - 546 BCE) was a Milesian School Pre-Socratic Greek Philosopher. Like most of the Pre-Socratics, very little is known of Anaximander’s life. He was born, presumably in 610 BCE, in Ionia, the present day Turkish west coast, and lived in Miletus where he died in 546 BCE. He was of the Milesian school of thought and, while it is still debated among Pre-Socratic scholars, most assert that he was a student of Thales and agree that, at the very least, he was influenced by his theories. He is infamously known for writing a philosophical prose poem known as On Nature, of which only a fragment has been passed down. In that fragment Anaximander innovatively attributes the formation of a regulating system that governs our world, the cosmos. Furthermore, he put forth the radical idea that it is the indefinite (apeiron), in both the principle (archē) and element (stoicheion), from which are the things that are. In addition to such ingenuity, Anaximander also developed innovative ideas and theories in astronomy, biology, geography, and geometry. For Anaximander, the origination of the world could not be reduced to a single element or a collection of elements alone. Rather, one needed to understand that the origin was in both principle and element not definable in a definite sense or attribution. While this was a radical perspective in relation to the more determinate theories of others from the Milesian school, it does seem to have some derivation from older...
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...philosophies in the pre-Socratic ages. He was usually credited for being the first systematic philosopher of the Western World. He believed that there was an explanation for everything instead of believing/ promoting supernatural causes. "Aristotle, the major source for Thales's philosophy and science, identified Thales as the first person to investigate the basic principles, the question of the originating substances of matter and, therefore, as the founder of the school of natural philosophy. Thales was interested in almost everything, investigating almost all areas of knowledge, philosophy, history, science, mathematics, engineering, geography, and politics." (Thales of Miletus, http://www.iep.utm.edu/thales/) He often developed logical, geometrical theories, such as devising some that allowed hi to measure the height of the pyramids from the ground, and used his intelligence and understanding of the world to predict crop outcomes, and be very profitable at it. It is also pretty interesting to find out that he was technically the first person to study electricity. "LORDZB" states, "It had been noticed that amber, when rubbed, attracted threads of fiber to it. It was this static electricity which Thales’ studied. When the negative particle of the atom was named it was called the electron, after the Greek for amber – elektron." (LORDZB, Top Ten Pre-Socratic Philosophers, http://listverse.com/2012/06/26/top-10-pre-socratic-philosophers/) I find that...
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...Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor, and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition. According to Bertrand Russell, "Western philosophy begins with Thales." Thales attempted to explain natural phenomena without reference to mythology and was tremendously influential in this respect. Almost all of the other Pre-Socratic philosophers follow him in attempting to provide an explanation of ultimate substance, change, and the existence of the world without reference to mythology. Those philosophers were also influential and eventually Thales' rejection of mythological explanations became an essential idea for the scientific revolution. He was also the first to define general principles and set forth hypotheses, and as a result has been dubbed the "Father of Science". In mathematics, Thales used geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore. He is credited with the first use of deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by deriving four corollaries to Thales' Theorem. As a result, he has been hailed as the first true mathematician and is the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed. In the long sojourn of philosophy there has existed hardly a philosopher or historian of philosophy who did not mention Thales and try to characterize him in some way. He is generally...
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...Pre-Socratic Philosophers Democritus, in my opinion, had the most compelling ideas as a Pre-Socratic Philosopher. Not only did he shun fame and fortune, he set out to search for wisdom. His belief is that everything is made up of Atoms, and that these atoms are in continuous motion. ”The Atomists held that all things are composed of physical atoms—tiny, imperceptible, indestructible, indivisible, eternal, and uncreated particles composed of exactly the same matter but different in size, shape, and (though there is controversy about this) weight.” (pg. 31) This belief is compelling to me because without today’s scientific and technological advances, a statement of this magnitude thousands of years ago is unbelievable. They did not have the means to know whether or not this was true, only a belief that it was correct. This set the stage for science over two thousand years before it was conferred. One particular point of his belief on how Atoms are related I found fascinating. “That things move is apparent to sense perception and is just indisputable, they maintained, and because things move, empty space must be real—otherwise, motion would be impossible.” (pg.32) Relating substance to supposed empty substance, directly involves the two. Even though solid objects are composed of atoms, non-existent space around the object is composed of the same substance. The fact that the early Atomists believed that substance and non-substance have the same structure is years beyond their...
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...Sayre (2011) tells us that one of the questions that the Pre-Socratic philosophers asked was “What lies behind the world of appearance?” This question While Sayre (2011) tells us that the Pre-Socratics “were scientists who investigated the nature of things”. This question goes beyond the physical world and what might be in the next. Being that I was raised in a home where it was all about religion I always believed that there was a “heaven” with streets made of gold, beautiful oceans of crystal blue, and angels flying around singing. As I got older I was one of those people that didn’t just believe something because I was told to. I don’t think that a question like this can be “fixed” in place for most people and I know that it wasn’t in me. So at this point in my life even though I do believe that there is an “after-life” I don’t believe that there is the “heaven” and “hell” that I was raised to believe in. I have concluded that not everyone is going to have the same answers to questions such as these but that doesn’t make one person right and one person wrong. Maybe in the end since I believe that there is something that comes after this life that I will go somewhere that is my “heaven” or “hell” and that someone that doesn’t believe will just “stop” being. I have no “proof” to answer this question but I don’t think anyone does which is why most people that ask this question go off of something called belief or faith. As stated above I am answering this question off of how I...
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...------------------------------------------------- Thales of miletus By: Harry Magnus Adinata March 31, 2015 Oxbridge Guangdong Shunde Desheng School, Internation Education Division March 31, 2015 Oxbridge Guangdong Shunde Desheng School, Internation Education Division Thales of Miletus Thales of Miletus has always been one of my favourite philosopher. Although at first, I knew him through mathematic books I have read when I was at the primary school, but once I see his profile on philosophy, his thoughts became more and more interesting, which is why I chose him for this philosophy project. Thales of Miletus, was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor (Anatolia) and one of the Seven Sages of Greece (or Seven Wise Men). He was born estimated 624 BC and died estimated at 546 BC. A lot of people, especially Aristotle, claimed him to be the first philosopher in Greek tradition. He is well-known for his hypothesis that all matters in this world is originated from one substance: water. He was also the first to define general principles and set forth hypotheses, and as a result has been called the "Father of Science”. Besides being the first Greek philosopher and called as the “Father of Science”, Thales also considered as “the first Greek mathematicians”. He once used geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore. He is credited with the first use of deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by deriving four analogies...
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...politics and public events, while women were often encouraged to stay in the home. | For the Chinese then, Philosophy is the translation of words into action or the application of theory into praxis. Thus for the Chinese, philosophy singles out a person to live on what he says/teaches thus, a man/woman of integrity who has word/s of honor. | In Hindu tradition, Manu is the name accorded to a progenitor of humanity being the first human to appear in the world in an epoch after universal destruction. | He has been created to live on it only for a probationary period, and, in due course, he will return to his Lord, to be judged according to the way he has spent that period. | World | | | | Babor (2007) further expounded that Islamic philosophers in their falsafa (philosophia), through the concept of...
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...A618C90F-C2C6-4FD6-BDDB-9D35FE504CB3 First American paperback edition published in 2006 by Enchanted Lion Books, 45 Main Street, Suite 519, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Copyright © 2002 Philip Stokes/Arcturus Publishing Limted 26/27 Bickels Yard, 151-153 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3HA Glossary © 2003 Enchanted Lion Books All Rights Reserved. The Library of Congress has cataloged an earlier hardcover edtion of this title for which a CIP record is on file. ISBN-13: 978-1-59270-046-2 ISBN-10: 1-59270-046-2 Printed in China Edited by Paul Whittle Cover and book design by Alex Ingr A618C90F-C2C6-4FD6-BDDB-9D35FE504CB3 Philip Stokes A618C90F-C2C6-4FD6-BDDB-9D35FE504CB3 ENCHANTED LION BOOKS New York Contents The Presocratics Thales of Miletus . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Pythagoras of Samos . . . . . 10 Xenophanes of Colophon 12 Heraclitus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The Scholastics St Anselm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 St Thomas Aquinas . . . . . . . 50 John Duns Scotus . . . . . . . . . 52 William of Occam . . . . . . . . . 54 The Liberals Adam Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Mary Wollstonecraft . . . . 108 Thomas Paine . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Jeremy Bentham . . . . . . . . . 112 John Stuart Mill . . . . . . . . . . 114 Auguste Comte . . . . . . . . . . . 116 The Eleatics Parmenides of Elea . . . . . . . 16 Zeno of Elea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The Age of Science Nicolaus Copernicus . . . . . . 56 Niccolò Machiavelli...
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...TRUE & FALSE 1. Zeno, Miletus, and Elea are presocratic philosophers. 2. The presocratics were introduced to, but rejected, early Christianity. 3. Believing something because you want it to be true is the same as believing something on the basis of evidence. 4. The presocratics broke decisively from their predecessors. 5. According to Thales, all is air. 6. Anaximander sees changes in the world like they are a type of justice being served. 7. Zeno’s paradoxes were regarded as trivial by those who came after him. 8. The aim of the “two rows” or “blocks” paradox is to show that motion is impossible. 9. Parmenides argues that there is one fundamental kind of change. 10. The Milesians adopt a common strategy, differing only in how they carry it out. * 1. On Plato’s view, a shadow of a feather is more real than the feather. 2. Plato’s metaphysical ideas can be summed up in the phrase “seeing is believing.” 3. Plato says that there are some things that last forever. 4. The parable of the cave illustrates the way Plato understands the learning process. 5. Plato’s line in the simile of the line is divided into four equal parts. 6. The shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave represent the forms. 7. A realist believes that there are mind-independent entities, while an idealist does not. 8. Plato is a realist. 9. Forms are the entities that Plato believes to exist...
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...Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever.Nothing is forever...
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...Running head: GREEK PHILOSOPHY Greek Philosophy Cherese Howard HUM 100 November 03, 2009 Felix Figueroa Greek Philosophy Greek Philosophy is a great civilization that is very much still a part of our culture and everyday living of today. These great men discovered things that were too advance for their life time. Without them, society of today will not have geometry, logic or natural sciences. The term philosophy is Greek in origin meaning “love of wisdom.” (Owens, 2003) Pythagoras suggested that “wisdom is something divine and man cannot be truly wise but a lover of wisdom.” (Owen, 2003) Greek philosophy began around 1200 B.C.E. Historians believe that it was born on the south-west coast of Turkey, in a city-state called Milatos. This was near the end of the Minoan period which did not make it past the Bronze Age civilizations. The city was then refounded by Ionian Greeks in the eleventh century B.C.E. Historians also believed that a young man from Miletus was one of the founding fathers of Natural Greek Philosophy, which questions “nature and the natural causes of what occurs in the cosmos.” (Beginnings of Greek Philosophy, pg 240) Thales believed “that everything is the world is made up of matter which might take various forms like solid, liquid, or a gas.” (Beginnings of Greek Philosophy, pg 240) He knew that water could take on all three forms. Thales knew that he could take a piece of ice and apply heat to it and it will turn into water...
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...from the writings of another very important person in Greek history, Plato. Socrates’ philosophy was based on pursuit of truth through the questioning of beliefs, virtue being defined as knowledge and talking about the elements that make up a good life. Greek philosophy before Socrates is called Pre-Socratic philosophy and the origin of western philosophy can be found early Greek thinkers of the 6th and 7th century BC. The Pre-Socratic philosophers were called physiologoi; physical or natural philosophers and they lived and taught in Asia Minor, Thrace, Sicily and south Italy. The Pre-Socratic philosophy is a philosophy of nature. The Pre-Socratic combined Greek mythology with rational thinking and sought all the forces which compose nature. Socrates grew up in the atmosphere of the Pre-Socratic thought and explored their knowledge and wisdom. Socrates gave philosophy for the first time an anthropocentric character. The absence of this element in previous thought is the main reason the adjective 'Pre-Socratic' is attributed to the philosophers before Socrates. The central question of the Pre-Socratic philosophy was: what is the nature of cosmos? Based on this question, the Pre-Socratic explored the primary substance...
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...period and their ideas, starting with the “Pre-Socratic” philosophers and ending in the era of post modernism. The time period in ancient Greece between the end of the seventh century B.C. and the middle of the fourth century B.C. is what is known as the “Pre-Socratic Era”. The thinkers known as the “Pre-Socratic Philosophers” used the four basic elements (water, earth, fire, and air) as their foundations for their ideas. Thales and most of the other Pre-Socratic philosophers limited themselves mostly to inquiring the nature of existence, being, and the world. They were mostly Materialists, believing that all things are composed of material and nothing else, and were mainly concerned with trying to establish the single underlying substance of which the world is made up. They used this idea of “Monism” without resorting to supernatural or mythological explanations. To these men even the commonest of phenomena like lightning, water freezing to ice, and natural disasters would have appeared miraculous. Empedocles, first of the pluralists, who proposed that reality, is composed of an irreducible plurality of elements. He also documented the first theory of evolution. Democritus developed the extremely influential idea of Atomism (that all of reality is actually composed of tiny, indivisible and indestructible building blocks known as atoms, which form different combinations and shapes within the surrounding void). Another issue the Pre-Socratics wrestled with was change and how things...
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...Growing up in Arkansas there were many things we were certain we knew and understood such as automotive body and engine work, fast cars, and small town politics to name a few. Just as the earliest philosophers found their intellectual foundations in the works of the pre-Socratics collective, we too, found our ways of thinking influenced by the work of older men in our families, other folk in the neighborhood, and those no longer with us. Their labor-intensive road map provided us the basic knowledge from which to begin developing our own methods and skill sets to answer new types of questions related to daily life in Arkansas. However different the scope of questions we began to ask ourselves are from the questions early philosophers asked, we share in learning from and building on the methods and teachings of men before us. Some of the earliest philosophers, such as Plato incorporated similar questions about reality and truth as the pre-Socratics collective, however, based their inquiries within the natural world and used reason as the methodological vehicle. Because this type of thinking was contextualized outside of supernatural forces and myth and magic, the pre-Socratics collective are often times considered the first scientists of Western culture who laid the earliest foundations shaping the study of metaphysics and epistemology (Chaffee 230). This way of thinking sought to answer similar questions as those based in religion and myth, but sought answers through observations...
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...Chapter I Section 1 Philosophy in the West began, for the most part, in Ancient Greece. In the period of the Fifth Century BCE, particularly in Athens, an incredible number of remarkable thinkers, artists, politicians, etc., participated in the life of the city-state. Their accomplishments have guided and inspired the entire development of Western culture. It’s pretty obvious then, that we ought to know something of their philosopher’s ideas. The most famous are, of course, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Prior to these are the so-called Pre-Socratics. The Pre-Socratic philosophers include: the Ionians who attempted to formulate materialist explanations of reality, the Eleatics, who proposed various intellectual conundrums about the nature of being and thought and the Sophists, who taught rhetoric and were an important social force (as their contemporary intellectual descendants are today). Socrates, Plato and Aristotle represent almost a school of thought. Socrates taught Plato, though he did not write down his teachings. After he was executed, Plato did write down what Socrates had taught, in the forms of dialogues, as well as much more which Plato probably thought he might have taught had he lived. Aristotle studied in Plato’s school, the Academy, until after many years he left to form his own. One might characterize all of their philosophizing as the attempt to solve a number of problems left to them by their predecessors in a systematic way. Western philosophy...
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