Pre-Socratic Philosophers
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- Date Submitted: 04/17/2016 01:31 PM
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Pre-Socratic Philosophers.
Ashley Diaz
PHI/105
April 3rd, 2016
Richard Powell
Pre-Socratic Philosophers.
The pre-Socratic philosopher to which was most interesting in my perspective was Anaxagoras. He postulated many ideas that seemed beyond his time such as an understanding of what the sun was really like, which deviated from the traditional notion then, that it was a God. Anaxagoras became the first philosopher to introduce a division of mind and matter which surrounded his theory of matter (Academy of Ideas, 2013). He also incorporated both a teleological and mechanistic view in his assertions about the formation of the cosmos. Anaxagoras believed that “everything is in everything." He postulated that for something to arise out of something else, the originally thing, to some extent, must have the thing that which arises.
He states, “For how can hair come out of not hair and flesh come out of not flesh?”- Anaxagoras (Academy of Ideas, 2013). Opposed to Empedocles theory that everything produced is based on four basic elements; fire, water, earth and wind, Anaxagoras explained with his theory that something cannot arise out of which it is not. Thus, hair cannot arise out of a mixture of fire, wind, earth, or water; for it can only arise from a thing that contains hair. In his principal of predominance, everything contained a bit of everything else and based on the level of one particular particle within an object; that is what such object essentially is. For example, in his view, silver contains everything, but it provides a higher level of silver; therefore, the object is silver.
Anaxagoras ideas on the formation of the cosmos were especially interesting. To begin, he asserted from a teleological perspective that nous or “Mind” of the universe governed the motion of the matter- that which already existed- to form the world and all those around it. “Mind is an intelligent force which governs the movement of the material universe” (Academy of Ideas,...
Ashley Diaz
PHI/105
April 3rd, 2016
Richard Powell
Pre-Socratic Philosophers.
The pre-Socratic philosopher to which was most interesting in my perspective was Anaxagoras. He postulated many ideas that seemed beyond his time such as an understanding of what the sun was really like, which deviated from the traditional notion then, that it was a God. Anaxagoras became the first philosopher to introduce a division of mind and matter which surrounded his theory of matter (Academy of Ideas, 2013). He also incorporated both a teleological and mechanistic view in his assertions about the formation of the cosmos. Anaxagoras believed that “everything is in everything." He postulated that for something to arise out of something else, the originally thing, to some extent, must have the thing that which arises.
He states, “For how can hair come out of not hair and flesh come out of not flesh?”- Anaxagoras (Academy of Ideas, 2013). Opposed to Empedocles theory that everything produced is based on four basic elements; fire, water, earth and wind, Anaxagoras explained with his theory that something cannot arise out of which it is not. Thus, hair cannot arise out of a mixture of fire, wind, earth, or water; for it can only arise from a thing that contains hair. In his principal of predominance, everything contained a bit of everything else and based on the level of one particular particle within an object; that is what such object essentially is. For example, in his view, silver contains everything, but it provides a higher level of silver; therefore, the object is silver.
Anaxagoras ideas on the formation of the cosmos were especially interesting. To begin, he asserted from a teleological perspective that nous or “Mind” of the universe governed the motion of the matter- that which already existed- to form the world and all those around it. “Mind is an intelligent force which governs the movement of the material universe” (Academy of Ideas,...