Thales amazonaws com
Thales -
Reportedly studied astronomy, geometry, and engineering Basic stuff was water – this could mean that everything comes from or really is water in one form or another Soul produces motion and that magnetic lodestone has soul because it causes iron to move
Anaximander -
Pupil of Thales. First person to construct map of the world and to have predicted an earthquake Originating stuff of the cosmos something indefinite or boundless (apeiron in Greek: “infinite”) – this indefinite stuff is moving, directive of other things, and eternal; thus it qualifies as divine Changes in the world are ordered – lawlike forces guaranteeing the orderly processes of change between opposites If the emergence of the world consists in the division of matter, then the decline of it consists in dissolution of these elements Matter is eternal and indestructible
-
Anaximenes -
Pupil of Anaximander. Gave explanations of all sorts of meteorological and other natural phenomena There is a single originative stuff aer (dense air) that is indefinite enough to give rise to things in the cosmos Condensation and rarefaction as processes that transform aer and other stuffs of the cosmos
Heraclitus of Ephesus -
Held cosmological views, interested in exploring questions about knowledge, the soul, and the human condition Single divine law controls and steers the cosmos (he calls this the logos – account/thing/word) Treating the logos as the divine law of the cosmos, attempts to bridge gap between divine and human knowledge Understanding how all things form a unity is a fundamental part of the necessary insight Despite unceasing change in the cosmos, there is an unchanging principle – logos – that governs and explains these changes “Everything is in flux” – everything is changing, nothing remains as it is World as a whole is eternal – infinite in time, space, and endless
Parmenides of Elea -
Pupil of Xenophanes. Interested in the metaphysical and epistemological questions, first to see the importance of metatheoretical questions about philosophical theories themselves, and to provide arguments for his claims Genuine thought and knowledge can only be about what-is, for what-is-not is literally unsayable and unthinkable
Sun, Line and Cave -
-
Point of the sun is to contrast the visible and intelligible realms, which also provides light required by the eye to gain access to the physical world Corresponding to the sun in the intelligible realm is the Good – which is responsible for the very being of knowable objects The intelligible realm and the visible realm are divided into two unequal parts (by the Line) – bottom portion contains images, shadows and such, while the upper portion contain the ordinary physical objects of which images are images Set over the images is the faculty of eikasia (imagination), set over the physical world is the faculty of pistis (faith/belief) The „objects‟ of Dianoia are roughly the objects of the sciences (some kind of „abstract‟ image of ordinary material things, different from shadows and reflections), and these are either material objects treated in a special way or they are Forms
-
Cave analogy reinforces the message of line. Seated prisoners, chained so that they cannot move their heads, stare at a cave wall on which are projected images. These images are cast from carved figures illuminated by a fire and carried by people on a parapet above and behind the prisoners. A prisoner is loosed from his chains. First he sees the carved images and the fire. Then he is led out of the cave into „real‟ world. Blinded by light of the sun, he cannot look at the objects around him but instead looks at the shadows and reflection cast by those objects.
Protagoras – man is the measure of all things Theogony – origins of gods and world Cosmogony – cosmos (universe as given). Rational unity of cosmos – causal relation Presocratic problems: 1. the one and the many (all things in the world comes from one singular stuff) 2. change and constancy (things are constantly changing but seem the remain) 3. relativism – perspective (Truth [absolute] vs. truth [relative]) Psuché 1. living things are self motivated 2. magnets are self motivated 3. magnets are alive The infinite is prior to the finite Logos (invisible, but embodiment of structure) – story, explanation, reason, argument Perfection cannot be plurality (anything perfect will be the same as another perfect) Objects in the same category are not identical to one another (otherwise it would not be a category) We can grant the possibility of a priori knowledge, but that does not commit us to the immortality of the soul Empiricism is knowledge on the basis of empirical (first hand) experience 1. K (Knowledge) is of what is [absolutes] Existential 2. I (Ignorance) is of what is not [falsehoods] Predicative 3. B (Belief) is of what is and what is not [perishables] Veridical
Reportedly studied astronomy, geometry, and engineering Basic stuff was water – this could mean that everything comes from or really is water in one form or another Soul produces motion and that magnetic lodestone has soul because it causes iron to move
Anaximander -
Pupil of Thales. First person to construct map of the world and to have predicted an earthquake Originating stuff of the cosmos something indefinite or boundless (apeiron in Greek: “infinite”) – this indefinite stuff is moving, directive of other things, and eternal; thus it qualifies as divine Changes in the world are ordered – lawlike forces guaranteeing the orderly processes of change between opposites If the emergence of the world consists in the division of matter, then the decline of it consists in dissolution of these elements Matter is eternal and indestructible
-
Anaximenes -
Pupil of Anaximander. Gave explanations of all sorts of meteorological and other natural phenomena There is a single originative stuff aer (dense air) that is indefinite enough to give rise to things in the cosmos Condensation and rarefaction as processes that transform aer and other stuffs of the cosmos
Heraclitus of Ephesus -
Held cosmological views, interested in exploring questions about knowledge, the soul, and the human condition Single divine law controls and steers the cosmos (he calls this the logos – account/thing/word) Treating the logos as the divine law of the cosmos, attempts to bridge gap between divine and human knowledge Understanding how all things form a unity is a fundamental part of the necessary insight Despite unceasing change in the cosmos, there is an unchanging principle – logos – that governs and explains these changes “Everything is in flux” – everything is changing, nothing remains as it is World as a whole is eternal – infinite in time, space, and endless
Parmenides of Elea -
Pupil of Xenophanes. Interested in the metaphysical and epistemological questions, first to see the importance of metatheoretical questions about philosophical theories themselves, and to provide arguments for his claims Genuine thought and knowledge can only be about what-is, for what-is-not is literally unsayable and unthinkable
Sun, Line and Cave -
-
Point of the sun is to contrast the visible and intelligible realms, which also provides light required by the eye to gain access to the physical world Corresponding to the sun in the intelligible realm is the Good – which is responsible for the very being of knowable objects The intelligible realm and the visible realm are divided into two unequal parts (by the Line) – bottom portion contains images, shadows and such, while the upper portion contain the ordinary physical objects of which images are images Set over the images is the faculty of eikasia (imagination), set over the physical world is the faculty of pistis (faith/belief) The „objects‟ of Dianoia are roughly the objects of the sciences (some kind of „abstract‟ image of ordinary material things, different from shadows and reflections), and these are either material objects treated in a special way or they are Forms
-
Cave analogy reinforces the message of line. Seated prisoners, chained so that they cannot move their heads, stare at a cave wall on which are projected images. These images are cast from carved figures illuminated by a fire and carried by people on a parapet above and behind the prisoners. A prisoner is loosed from his chains. First he sees the carved images and the fire. Then he is led out of the cave into „real‟ world. Blinded by light of the sun, he cannot look at the objects around him but instead looks at the shadows and reflection cast by those objects.
Protagoras – man is the measure of all things Theogony – origins of gods and world Cosmogony – cosmos (universe as given). Rational unity of cosmos – causal relation Presocratic problems: 1. the one and the many (all things in the world comes from one singular stuff) 2. change and constancy (things are constantly changing but seem the remain) 3. relativism – perspective (Truth [absolute] vs. truth [relative]) Psuché 1. living things are self motivated 2. magnets are self motivated 3. magnets are alive The infinite is prior to the finite Logos (invisible, but embodiment of structure) – story, explanation, reason, argument Perfection cannot be plurality (anything perfect will be the same as another perfect) Objects in the same category are not identical to one another (otherwise it would not be a category) We can grant the possibility of a priori knowledge, but that does not commit us to the immortality of the soul Empiricism is knowledge on the basis of empirical (first hand) experience 1. K (Knowledge) is of what is [absolutes] Existential 2. I (Ignorance) is of what is not [falsehoods] Predicative 3. B (Belief) is of what is and what is not [perishables] Veridical
