Pre-Socratic Philosophy600 – 450 B.C.

“The history of philosophy began on May 28, 585 B.C. At 6:13 p.m. Greek Standard Time.” (Gordon Clark)

Asia Minor (Ionia)• Thales, Anaximander, & Anaximenes

(Miletus)• Heraclitus (Ephesus)• Anaxagoras• The Atomists

Southern Italy• The Pythagoreans• Parmenides, Zeno, and Empedocles

Thales Anaximander Anaximenes

Fundamental to their cosmogony was the belief that the world came into being, that is, the first reality was a single living stuff.

Naturalists Tries to explain the world without any reference to a

supernatural being Materialists

• Referred to the as divine, but probably meant nothing more than that it was eternal.

Hylozoists Living matter (ex: magnet)

Monists The ultimate explanation for reality is one basic

thing

one of four basic elements Mixed by the weather

625-546 B.C. First to predict the eclipse of the sun Scientist, philosopher, and

businessman• Fell in an open well while contemplating the

heavens• Bought up the olive presses

Cosmogony = is water (“the moist”)

585-525 B.C. The is aer (breath)

• Method: condensation – increase in density (turns into

earth) rarefaction – decrease in density (clouds & fire)

610-546 B.C. Given credit for Inventing the sundial,

making the first map, and making astronomical discoveries.

the boundless is the fence, boundary Formless, shapeless, propertyless

535-475 B.C. The “dark one” First to use logos as a technical term Pantheistic Philo, Stoics, John the Bishop of Ephesus

• Valuable for expressing Christian truth• Christians use of the same language to explain

something is not necessarily a sign of influence Died in deep doo-doo

Nous - mind

Leucippus Democritus (460-370 B.C) Matter is made up of propertyless,

imperishable, indivisible elements called

Nothing beyond the natural order. Only two things, atoms and empty

space.

The first rationalist (vs. empiricism)• Starting point for Platonic dialectic and

Aristotelian logic [Armstrong, p. 12] God is one; an immanent all-

pervading world soul Philosopher most respected by Plato Bill Clinton’s favorite philosopher

• What is, is. What is not, is not.

Zeno’s paradoxes Infinite division of space so

movement is not possible Tortoise and hare

Ascetic life Purification rituals to release the god

inside us all Fantastic cosmologies (like

Scientology) Reincarnation until our inner god is

released by Orphic practices Killing an animal is murder

• Vegetarians

Pythagoras ??? (580-500 B.C??) Monastic brotherhood Pebbles / Calculus

• By contemplating form, order, proportion & harmony, the soul is purified, thus mathematics and music

• “things are numbers” Good vs. Bad

• Form, the male principle, is good• Matter, the female principle, is evil

Emphasized purification of the soul to escape the reincarnation cycle• Don’t poke a fire with a knife• Get out on the right side of bed• Put on the right shoe first• Don’t let the swallows land on your roof• Don’t eat beans!

Influenced Plato (Phaedo and Meno)

Mind-body dualism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Immortality of the Soul Body is a Prison of the Soul Transmigration of the Soul

“Philosophy in the sense in which the word was generally used in the ancient world may be defined as the search after the truth about the nature of the universe and man, a search that philosophers (with certain exceptions) believed could result in the attainment and sure knowledge of the truth sought.” (A. H. Armstrong, An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy, page 1)

An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy, by A. H. Armstrong

Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, by Diogenes Laertius

A History of Philosophy, Vol. 1, by Frederick Copleston