Definition of Philosophy – Philos, Sophia

Philosophy is the critical examination of the grounds for fundamental beliefs and an analysis of the basic
concepts employed in the expression of such beliefs. Philosophical inquiry is a central element in the
intellectual history of many historical civilizations.

The English word ‘philosophy’ has its root in the Greek term – ‘philo–sophia’. The term ‘philo’ refers to
‘love’ and ‘sophia’ refers to wisdom (human reason). The Greek terms can be literally translated in
English as “love of wisdom” or “love of human judgment and discrimination.” The introduction of the
terms "philosopher" and "philosophy" has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras.

Socrates

Was a Greek philosopher and the main source of Western thought. Little is known of his life except
what was recorded by his students, including Plato.

Synopsis

Socrates was born circa 470 BC, in Athens, Greece. We know of his life through the writings of his
students, including Plato and Xenophon. His "Socratic method," laid the groundwork for Western
systems of logic and philosophy. When the political climate of Greece turned, Socrates was sentenced to
death by hemlock poisoning in 399 BC. He accepted this judgment rather than fleeing into exile.

Early Years

Born in circa 470 BC in Athens, Greece, Socrates's life is chronicled through only a few sources—the
dialogues of Plato and Xenophon and the plays of Aristophanes. Because these writings had other
purposes than reporting his life, it is likely none present a completely accurate picture. However,
collectively, they provide a unique and vivid portrayal of Socrates's philosophy and personality.

Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, an Athenian stone mason and sculptor, and Phaenarete, a
midwife. Because he wasn't from a noble family, he probably received a basic Greek education and
learned his father's craft at a young age. It is believed Socrates worked as mason for many years before
he devoted his life to philosophy. Contemporaries differ in their account of how Socrates supported
himself as a philosopher. Both Xenophon and Aristophanes state Socrates received payment for
teaching, while Plato writes Socrates explicitly denied accepting payment, citing his poverty as proof.

Socrates married Xanthippe, a younger woman, who bore him three sons—Lamprocles, Sophroniscus
and Menexenus. There is little known about her except for Xenophon's characterization of Xanthippe as
"undesirable." He writes she was not happy with Socrates's second profession and complained that he
Philosopher

Socrates believed that philosophy should achieve practical results for the greater well-being of society.
He attempted to establish an ethical system based on human reason rather than theological doctrine.
He pointed out that human choice was motivated by the desire for happiness. Ultimate wisdom comes
from knowing oneself. The more a person knows, the greater his or her ability to reason and make
choices that will bring true happiness. Socrates believed that this translated into politics with the best
form of government being neither a tyranny nor a democracy. Instead, government worked best when
ruled by individuals who had the greatest ability, knowledge, and virtue and possessed a complete
understanding of themselves.

For Socrates, Athens was a classroom and he went about asking questions of the elite and common man
alike, seeking to arrive at political and ethical truths. Socrates didn’t lecture about what he knew. In fact,
he claimed to be ignorant because he had no ideas, but wise because he recognized his own ignorance.
He asked questions of his fellow Athenians in a dialectic method (the Socratic Method) which compelled
the audience to think through a problem to a logical conclusion. Sometimes the answer seemed so
obvious, it made Socrates's opponents look foolish. For this, he was admired by some and vilified by
others.

During Socrates's life, Athens was going through a dramatic transition from hegemony in the classical
world to its decline after a humiliating defeat by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. Athenians entered a
period of instability and doubt about their identity and place in the world. As a result, they clung to past
glories, notions of wealth, and a fixation with physical beauty. Socrates attacked these values with his
insistent emphasis on the greater importance of the mind. While many Athenians admired Socrates's
challenges to Greek conventional wisdom and the humorous way he went about it, an equal number
grew angry and felt he threatened their way of life and uncertain future.

Execution

The jury was not swayed by Socrates's defense and convicted him by a vote of 280 to 221. Possibly the
defiant tone of his defense contributed to the verdict and he made things worse during the deliberation
over his punishment. Athenian law allowed a convicted citizen to propose an alternative punishment to
the one called for by the prosecution and the jury would decide. Instead of proposing he be exiled,
Socrates suggested he be honored by the city for his contribution to their enlightenment and be paid for
his services. The jury was not amused and sentenced him to death by drinking a mixture of poison
hemlock. Before Socrates's execution, friends offered to bribe the guards and rescue him so he could
flee into exile. He declined, stating he wasn't afraid of death, felt he would be no better off if in exile and
said he was still a loyal citizen of Athens, willing to abide by its laws, even the ones that condemned him
to death. Plato described Socrates's execution in his Phaedo dialogue: Socrates drank the hemlock
mixture without hesitation. Numbness slowly crept into his body until it reached his heart. Shortly
before his final breath, Socrates described his death as a release of the soul from the body.
Plato
Ancient Greek philosopher Plato founded the Academy and is the author of philosophical
works of unparalleled influence in Western thought.

Synopsis

Born circa 428 B.C.E., ancient Greek philosopher Plato was a student of Socrates and a teacher
of Aristotle. His writings explored justice, beauty and equality, and also contained discussions in
aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, epistemology and the philosophy of
language. Plato founded the Academy in Athens, one of the first institutions of higher learning
in the Western world. He died in Athens circa 348 B.C.E.

Background

Due to a lack of primary sources from the time period, much of Plato's life has been constructed
by scholars through his writings and the writings of contemporaries and classical historians.
Traditional history estimates Plato's birth was around 428 B.C.E., but more modern scholars,
tracing later events in his life, believe he was born between 424 and 423 B.C.E. Both of his
parents came from the Greek aristocracy. Plato's father, Ariston, descended from the kings of
Athens and Messenia. His mother, Perictione, is said to be related to the 6th century B.C.E.
Greek statesman Solon.

Some scholars believe that Plato was named for his grandfather, Aristocles, following the
tradition of the naming the eldest son after the grandfather. But there is no conclusive evidence
of this, or that Plato was the eldest son in his family. Other historians claim that "Plato" was a
nickname, referring to his broad physical build. This too is possible, although there is record
that the name Plato was given to boys before Aristocles was born.

As with many young boys of his social class, Plato was probably taught by some of Athens'
finest educators. The curriculum would have featured the doctrines of Cratylus and Pythagoras
as well as Parmenides. These probably helped develop the foundation for Plato's study of
metaphysics (the study of nature) and epistemology (the study of knowledge).

As a young man, Plato experienced two major events that set his course in life. One was
meeting the great Greek philosopher Socrates. Socrates's methods of dialogue and debate
impressed Plato so much that he soon he became a close associate and dedicated his life to the
question of virtue and the formation of a noble character. The other significant event was the
Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, in which Plato served for a brief time between
409 and 404 B.C.E. The defeat of Athens ended its democracy, which the Spartans replaced
with an oligarchy. Two of Plato's relatives, Charmides and Critias, were prominent figures in the
new government, part of the notorious Thirty Tyrants whose brief rule severely reduced the
rights of Athenian citizens. After the oligarchy was overthrown and democracy was restored,
Plato briefly considered a career in politics, but the execution of Socrates in 399 B.C.E. soured
him on this idea and he turned to a life of study and philosophy.

After Socrates's death, Plato traveled for 12 years throughout the Mediterranean region,
studying mathematics with the Pythagoreans in Italy, and geometry, geology, astronomy and
religion in Egypt. During this time, or soon after, he began his extensive writing. There is some
debate among scholars on the order of these writings, but most believe they fall into three
distinct periods.

Early, Middle and Late Periods: An Overview

The first, or early, period occurs during Plato's travels (399-387 B.C.E.). The Apology of Socrates
seems to have been written shortly after Socrates's death. Other texts in this time period
include Protagoras, Euthyphro, Hippias Major and Minor and Ion. In these dialogues, Plato
attempts to convey Socrates's philosophy and teachings.

In the second, or middle, period, Plato writes in his own voice on the central ideals of justice,
courage, wisdom and moderation of the individual and society. The Republic was written during
this time with its exploration of just government ruled by philosopher kings.

In the third, or late, period, Socrates is relegated to a minor role and Plato takes a closer look at
his own early metaphysical ideas. He explores the role of art, including dance, music, drama and
architecture, as well as ethics and morality. In his writings on the Theory of Forms, Plato
suggests that the world of ideas is the only constant and that the perceived world through our
senses is deceptive and changeable.

Founding the Academy

Sometime around 385 B.C.E., Plato founded a school of learning, known as the Academy, which
he presided over until his death. It is believed the school was located at an enclosed park
named for a legendary Athenian hero. The Academy operated until 529 C.E.., when it was
closed by Roman Emperor Justinian I, who feared it was a source of paganism and a threat to
Christianity. Over its years of operation, the Academy's curriculum included astronomy, biology,
mathematics, political theory and philosophy. Plato hoped the Academy would provide a place
for future leaders to discover how to build a better government in the Greek city-states.
In 367 B.C.E., Plato was invited by Dion, a friend and disciple, to be the personal tutor of his
nephew, Dionysius II, the new ruler of Syracuse (Sicily). Dion believed that Dionysius showed
promise as an ideal leader. Plato accepted, hoping the experience would produce a philosopher
king. But Dionysius fell far short of expectations and suspected Dion, and later Plato, of
conspiring against him. He had Dion exiled and Plato placed under "house arrest." Eventually,
Plato returned to Athens and his Academy. One of his more promising students there was
Aristotle, who would take his mentor's teachings in new directions.

Final Years

Plato's final years were spent at the Academy and with his writing. The circumstances
surrounding his death are clouded, though it is fairly certain that he died in Athens around 348
B.C.E., when he was in his early 80s. Some scholars suggest that he died while attending a
wedding, while others believe he died peacefully in his sleep.

Plato's impact on philosophy and the nature of humans has had a lasting impact far beyond his
homeland of Greece. His work covered a broad spectrum of interests and ideas: mathematics,
science and nature, morals and political theory. His beliefs on the importance of mathematics in
education have proven to be essential for understanding the entire universe. His work on the
use of reason to develop a more fair and just society that is focused on the equality of
individuals established the foundation for modern democracy.

Aristotle
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, together with Socrates and Plato, laid much of the
groundwork for western philosophy.

Who Was Aristotle?

Aristotle (c. 384 B.C. to 322 B.C.) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who is still
considered one of the greatest thinkers in politics, psychology and ethics. When Aristotle
turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy. In 338, he began tutoring Alexander the Great. In
335, Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of the rest
of his life studying, teaching and writing. Some of his most notable works include
Nichomachean Ethics, Politics, Metaphysics, Poetics and Prior Analytics.

Aristotle’s Books

Aristotle wrote an estimated 200 works, most in the form of notes and manuscript drafts
touching on reasoning, rhetoric, politics, ethics, science and psychology. They consist of
dialogues, records of scientific observations and systematic works. His student Theophrastus
reportedly looked after Aristotle’s writings and later passed them to his own student Neleus,
who stored them in a vault to protect them from moisture until they were taken to Rome and
used by scholars there. Of Aristotle’s estimated 200 works, only 31 are still in circulation. Most
date to Aristotle’s time at the Lyceum.

'Poetics'

Poetics is a scientific study of writing and poetry where Aristotle observes, analyzes and defines
mostly tragedy and epic poetry. Compared to philosophy, which presents ideas, poetry is an
imitative use of language, rhythm and harmony that represents objects and events in the
world, Aristotle posited. His book explores the foundation of storymaking, including character
development, plot and storyline.

'Nicomachean Ethics' and 'Eudemian Ethics'

In Nichomachean Ethics, which is believed to have been named in tribute to Aristotle’s son,
Nicomachus, Aristotle prescribed a moral code of conduct for what he called “good living.” He
asserted that good living to some degree defied the more restrictive laws of logic, since the real
world poses circumstances that can present a conflict of personal values. That said, it was up to
the individual to reason cautiously while developing his or her own judgment. Eudemian Ethics
is another of Aristotle’s major treatises on the behavior and judgment that constitute “good
living.”

On happiness: In his treatises on ethics, Aristotle aimed to discover the best way to live life and
give it meaning — “the supreme good for man,” in his words — which he determined was the
pursuit of happiness. Our happiness is not a state but but an activity, and it’s determined by our
ability to live a life that enables us to use and develop our reason. While bad luck can affect
happiness, a truly happy person, he believed, learns to cultivate habits and behaviors that help
him (or her) to keep bad luck in perspective.

The golden mean: Aristotle also defined what he called the “golden mean.” Living a moral life,
Aristotle believed, was the ultimate goal. Doing so means approaching every ethical dilemma by
finding a mean between living to excess and living deficiently, taking into account an
individual’s needs and circumstances.

'Metaphysics'

In his book Metaphysics, Aristotle clarified the distinction between matter and form. To
Aristotle, matter was the physical substance of things, while form was the unique nature of a
thing that gave it its identity.
'Politics'

In Politics, Aristotle examined human behavior in the context of society and government.
Aristotle believed the purpose of government was make it possible for citizens to achieve virtue
and happiness. Intended to help guide statesmen and rulers, Politics explores, among other
themes, how and why cities come into being; the roles of citizens and politicians; wealth and
the class system; the purpose of the political system; types of governments and democracies;
and the roles of slavery and women in the household and society.

'Rhetoric'

In Rhetoric, Aristotle observes and analyzes public speaking with scientific rigor in order to
teach readers how to be more effective speakers. Aristotle believed rhetoric was essential in
politics and law and helped defend truth and justice. Good rhetoric, Aristotle believed, could
educate people and encourage them to consider both sides of a debate. Aristotle’s work
explored how to construct an argument and maximize its effect, as well as fallacious reasoning
to avoid (like generalizing from a single example).

'Prior Analytics'

In Prior Analytics, Aristotle explains the syllogism as “a discourse in which, certain things having
been supposed, something different from the things supposed results of necessity because
these things are so.” Aristotle defined the main components of reasoning in terms of inclusive
and exclusive relationships. These sorts of relationships were visually grafted in the future
through the use of Venn diagrams.

Other Works on Logic

Besides Prior Analytics, Aristotle’s other major writings on logic include Categories, On
Interpretation and Posterior Analytics. In these works, Aristotle discusses his system for
reasoning and for developing sound arguments.

Works on Science

Aristotle composed works on astronomy, including On the Heavens, and earth sciences,
including Meteorology. By meteorology, Aristotle didn’t simply mean the study of weather. His
more expansive definition of meteorology included “all the affectations we may call common to
air and water, and the kinds and parts of the earth and the affectations of its parts.” In
Meteorology, Aristotle identified the water cycle and discussed topics ranging from natural
disasters to astrological events. Although many of his views on the Earth were controversial at
the time, they were re-adopted and popularized during the late Middle Ages.
Works on Psychology

In On the Soul, Aristotle examines human psychology. Aristotle’s writings about how people
perceive the world continue to underlie many principles of modern psychology.

Philosophy

Aristotle’s work on philosophy influenced ideas from late antiquity all the way through the
Renaissance. One of the main focuses of Aristotle’s philosophy was his systematic concept of
logic. Aristotle’s objective was to come up with a universal process of reasoning that would
allow man to learn every conceivable thing about reality. The initial process involved describing
objects based on their characteristics, states of being and actions.

In his philosophical treatises, Aristotle also discussed how man might next obtain information
about objects through deduction and inference. To Aristotle, a deduction was a reasonable
argument in which “when certain things are laid down, something else follows out of necessity
in virtue of their being so.” His theory of deduction is the basis of what philosophers now call a
syllogism, a logical argument where the conclusion is inferred from two or more other premises
of a certain form.

Aristotle and Biology

Although Aristotle was not technically a scientist by today’s definitions, science was among the
subjects that he researched at length during his time at the Lyceum. Aristotle believed that
knowledge could be obtained through interacting with physical objects. He concluded that
objects were made up of a potential that circumstances then manipulated to determine the
object’s outcome. He also recognized that human interpretation and personal associations
played a role in our understanding of those objects.

Aristotle’s research in the sciences included a study of biology. He attempted, with some error,
to classify animals into genera based on their similar characteristics. He further classified
animals into species based on those that had red blood and those that did not. The animals
with red blood were mostly vertebrates, while the “bloodless” animals were labeled
cephalopods. Despite the relative inaccuracy of his hypothesis, Aristotle’s classification was
regarded as the standard system for hundreds of years.

Marine biology was also an area of fascination for Aristotle. Through dissection, he closely
examined the anatomy of marine creatures. In contrast to his biological classifications, his
observations of marine life, as expressed in his books, are considerably more accurate.
When and Where Was Aristotle Born?

Aristotle was born circa 384 B.C. in Stagira, a small town on the northern coast of Greece that
was once a seaport.

Family, Early Life and Education

Aristotle’s father, Nicomachus, was court physician to the Macedonian king Amyntas II.
Although Nicomachus died when Aristotle was just a young boy, Aristotle remained closely
affiliated with and influenced by the Macedonian court for the rest of his life. Little is known
about his mother, Phaestis; she is also believed to have died when Aristotle was young.

Wife and Children

During his three-year stay in Mysia, Aristotle met and married his first wife, Pythias, King
Hermias’ niece. Together, the couple had a daughter, Pythias, named after her mother.

In 335 B.C., the same year that Aristotle opened the Lyceum, his wife Pythias died. Soon after,
Aristotle embarked on a romance with a woman named Herpyllis, who hailed from his
hometown of Stagira. According to some historians, Herpyllis may have been Aristotle’s slave,
granted to him by the Macedonia court. They presume that he eventually freed and married
her. Regardless, it is known that Herpyllis bore Aristotle children, including one son named
Nicomachus, after Aristotle’s father.

Teaching

In 338 B.C., Aristotle went home to Macedonia to start tutoring King Phillip II’s son, the then 13-
year-old Alexander the Great. Phillip and Alexander both held Aristotle in high esteem and
ensured that the Macedonia court generously compensated him for his work.

In 335 B.C., after Alexander had succeeded his father as king and conquered Athens, Aristotle
went back to the city. In Athens, Plato’s Academy, now run by Xenocrates, was still the leading
influence on Greek thought. With Alexander’s permission, Aristotle started his own school in
Athens, called the Lyceum. On and off, Aristotle spent most of the remainder of his life working
as a teacher, researcher and writer at the Lyceum in Athens until the death of his former
student Alexander the Great.
Because Aristotle was known to walk around the school grounds while teaching, his students,
forced to follow him, were nicknamed the “Peripatetics,” meaning “people who travel about.”
Lyceum members researched subjects ranging from science and math to philosophy and
politics, and nearly everything in between. Art was also a popular area of interest. Members of
the Lyceum wrote up their findings in manuscripts. In so doing, they built the school’s massive
collection of written materials, which by ancient accounts was credited as one of the first great
libraries.

When and How Did Aristotle Die?

In 322 B.C., just a year after he fled to Chalcis to escape prosecution under charges of impiety,
Aristotle contracted a disease of the digestive organs and died.

Legacy

In the century following Aristotle’s death, his works fell out of use, but they were revived during
the first century. Over time, they came to lay the foundation of more than seven centuries of
philosophy. Aristotle’s influence on Western thought in the humanities and social sciences is
largely considered unparalleled, with the exception of his teacher Plato’s contributions, and
Plato’s teacher Socrates before him. The two-millennia-strong academic practice of interpreting
and debating Aristotle’s philosophical works continues to endure.

St. Augustine
St. Augustine made some very important philosophical contributions to defend the philosophy
of Christianity. One of these contributions concerned the philosophical problem of evil. Up until
St. Augustine's time, philosophers questioned the idea proposed by Christians that evil
generated in a world created by a perfectly good God. The problem is easy enough to
understand, yet slightly more complicated to solve. St. Augustine raised some fairly good
propositions to offer an explanation for this question. Although the problem of evil has been
answered for the most part, there are still many who disbelieve St. Augustine's interpretation
of the dispute. To me, this is in good reason; the problem of evil is inherent to understanding
the big …show more content…

Depression, to me, is one the most obvious signs of moral evil; I see depression as being the
result of misdirection and heading away from the direction God is leading you to be on. For
instance, the blind pursuit of money is one of the quickest ways to the state of depression. I
think this is a very good example of what Augustine is referring to when he talks about
misdirected love. As I said before, I believe that you come to love what you strive for, and in the
pursuit of money, you develop a love for it. This love for money is obviously not a direction in
which God intends us to pursue, and as a result, moral evil - or moral wrongdoing - will ensue. I
personally believe that to pursue money and to strive for it is one of the quickest ways to
realize just how empty a person's life has become without God's direction or influence.

Augustine's next proposition on evil concerns the foundation of morality. Augustine believed in
a Platonic idea that a basic natural law governs morality and that human behavior must
conform to it. Plato had believed in a cosmic order in which this natural law exists, and
Augustine believed that it was actually written in the hearts of man and is interpreted by them
through their conscience. Augustine stated that this natural law consisted of the "reason and
will of God." This proposition is one that I see as being the most complex and difficult to
interpret.

St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas (AKA Thomas of Aquin or Aquino) (c. 1225 - 1274) was an Italian
philosopher and theologian of the Medieval period. He was the foremost classical proponent of
natural theology at the peak of Scholasticism in Europe, and the founder of the Thomistic
school of philosophy and theology. The philosophy of Aquinas has exerted enormous influence
on subsequent Christian theology, especially that of the Roman Catholic Church, but also
Western philosophy in general. His most important and enduring works are the "Summa
Theologica", in which he expounds his systematic theology of the "quinquae viae" (the five
proofs of the existence of God), and the "Summa Contra Gentiles".

Thales of Miletus
(c. 624 - 546 B.C.) was an early Pre-Socratic philosopher, mathematician and astronomer from
the Greek city of Miletus in Ionia (modern-day Turkey). He was one of the so-called Seven Sages
of Greece, and many regard him as the first philosopher in the Western tradition.

He was the founder of the Milesian School of natural philosophy, and the teacher of
Anaximander. He was perhaps the first subscriber to Materialist and Naturalism in trying to
define the substance or substances of which all material objects were composed, which he
identified as water.

His innovative search for a universality in the disciplines of mathematics, astronomy and
philosophy have earned him the label the "first scientist".In retrospect is is difficult to separate
history from legend, but he is usually considered one of the Seven Sages or Seven Wise Men of
ancient Greece, a group of 7th and early 6th Century B.C. philosophers, statesmen and law-
givers who became renowned in the following centuries for their wisdom. The aphorism "Know
thyself" has been attributed to Thales (as well as to at least six other ancient Greek sages).
Much of what we known of Thales' philosophy has come down to us from Aristotle and so may
be somewhat distorted by Aristotle's own views. Some sources say that he left no writings;
others that he wrote at least two works, "On the Solstice" and "On the Equinox" (neither of
which have survived).

The early Pre-Socratic philosophers (of which Thales was one of the very first) tried to define
the substance or substances of which all material objects were composed (as do modern
scientists even today, hence Thales is sometimes described as the first scientist). He searched
for the "physis" (or nature) of objects that cause them to behave in their characteristic way. He
was one of the first Western philosophers who attempted to find naturalistic explanations of
the world (Naturalism or Materialism) without reference to supernatural or mythological
explanations, such as the Greek anthropomorphic gods and heroes. He explained earthquakes,
for example, by hypothesizing that the Earth floats on water and that earthquakes occur when
the Earth is rocked by waves.

His most famous belief was his cosmological doctrine that water was the first principle. He
claimed that water was the origin of all things, that from which all things emerge and to which
they return, and moreover that all things ultimately are water. He probably drew this
conclusion from seeing moist substances turn into air, slime and earth, and he clearly viewed
the Earth as solidifying from the water on which it floated and which surrounded it.

While considering the effects of magnetism and static electricity, he concluded that the power
to move other things without the mover itself changing was a characteristic of "life", so that a
magnet and amber must therefore be alive in some way (in that they have animation or the
power to act). If so, he argued, there is no difference between the living and the dead. If all
things were alive, they must also have souls or divinities (a natural belief of his time), and the
end result of this argument was an almost total removal of mind from substance, opening the
door to an innovative non-divine principle of action.

Thales recognized a single transcendental God (Monism), who has neither beginning nor end,
but who expresses himself through other gods (Polytheism). His idea of justice included both
the letter of the law and the spirit of the law (e.g. adultery and perjury about it in court are
equally bad). He had some common sense moral advice: that we should expect the same
support from our children that we give to our parents; that we should not let talk influence us
against those we have come to trust; and that we should not do ourselves that for which we
blame others. He believed that a happy man was one who was "healthy in body, resourceful in
soul and of a readily teachable nature".

Anaximenes
 (c. 585 - 525 B.C.) was an early Pre-Socratic philosopher from the Greek city of Miletus in Ionia
(modern-day Turkey). He was a key figure in the Milesian School, a friend and pupil of
Anaximander and he continued the Milesians' philosophical inquiries into the "archê" or first
principle of the universe (which Anaximenes deemed to be air), and sought to give a quasi-
scientific explanation of the world.

In the physical sciences, Anaximenes was the first Greek to distinguish clearly between planets
and stars, and he used his principles to account for various natural phenomena, such as
thunder and lightning, rainbows, earthquakes, etc.

According to Diogenes Laërtius (a biographer of the Greek philosophers, who lived in the 2nd or
3rd Century A.D.), Anaximenes wrote his philosophical views in a book, which survived well into
the Hellenistic period, although nothing now remains of this.

Like the other Milesian philosophers before him, Anaximenes' main concern was to indentify
the single source of all things in the universe (Monism). Thales, the earliest Milesian, had taken
this to be water. His pupil Anaximander refined this somewhat, arguing that no single element
could adequately explain all of the opposites found in nature, and propounded the solution of
an endless, unlimited primordial mass which he called "apeiron". Anaximenes arguably took a
step backwards by revisiting the notion that a single element was indeed the source of all
things, and that element he deemed to be air (actually the Greek word "aer" also denotes
"mist" or "vapour" as well as the normal air we breathe). He held that, at one time, everything
was air, and that, even now, everything is air at different degrees of density. Since air is infinite
and perpetually in motion, it can produce all things without being actually produced by
anything.

According to Anaximenes, the earth is a broad disk, floating on the circumambient air. The sun
and stars, he held, were formed by the same processes of condensation and rarefaction, and
the flaming nature of these bodies is merely due to the velocity of their motions. He also used
his principles to account for various natural phenomena: thunder and lightning result from wind
breaking out of clouds; rainbows are the result of the rays of the sun falling on clouds;
earthquakes are caused by the cracking of the earth when it dries out after being moistened by
rains; hail is a result of frozen rainwater; etc.

Anaximenes also equated the first material principle with the divine, so that effectively "air is
God", both being infinite and eternal. Thus, the pantheons of Greek gods were merely
derivations of the truly divine, air. Similarly, the souls of individuals were also composed of air
(or breath), and hold us together in the same way as air encompasses the entire world.
Xenophanes of Colophon
(c. 570 B.C.E.- c. 478 B.C.E.) was a pre-Socratic philosopher, poet, and social and religious critic.
Xenophanes made a major breakthrough in the conception of God in the polytheistic cultural
environment of ancient Greece. He criticized the concept of the gods depicted in the works of
Homer and Hesiod, and presented God as morally good and ontologically transcendent,
omnipresent, and as a immutable singular whole.

Gods in Greek mythology were like humans. They exhibited immorality in acts such as stealing,
deception, and adultery. These gods were distinguished from humans only for their
immortality. Xenophanes criticized that these misconducts were blameworthy even among
humans and should not be ascribable to the divine. He found the origin of these
misconceptions of gods in human anthropocentric projections of human images to the divine.

Xenophanes conceived God not as a finite being that exists within the realm of a spatially and
temporally limited world as humans, animals, trees, and other things in the world do. He
presented God in a realm beyond the world and characterized it as that which exists beyond
the boundaries of space and time. His contribution to the advancement of monotheism was
unique among pre-Socratics.

Both Plato and Aristotle characterized him as a founder of Eleatic philosophy whose major
thinkers were Parmenides and Zeno of Elea. While Xenophanes’ concept of being can be seen
as the foundation of concepts of being by Eleatics, the extent and nature of the actual
connection among these philosophers is uncertain.

Anaximander
(c. 610 - 546 B.C.) was an early Pre-Socratic philosopher from the Greek city of Miletus in Ionia
(modern-day Turkey). He was a key figure in the Milesian School, as a student of Thales and
teacher of Anaximenes and Pythagoras.

He was an early proponent of science, and is sometimes considered to be the first true
scientist, and to have conducted the earliest recorded scientific experiment. He is often
considered the founder of astronomy, and he tried to observe and explain different aspects of
the universe and its origins, and to describe the mechanics of celestial bodies in relation to the
Earth. He made important contributions to cosmology, physics, geometry, meteorology and
geography as well as to Metaphysics.

Life
Anaximander was born in the Greek city of Miletus (on the Ionian coast of modern-day Turkey)
in about 610 B.C., the son of Praxiades, but little else is known of his life.

According to Diogenes Laërtius (a biographer of the Greek philosophers, who lived in the 2nd or
3rd Century A.D.), he was a pupil of Thales (founder of the Milesian School of philosophy, and
possibly also Anaximander's uncle), and succeeded him as master of the school, where his work
influenced Anaximenes and Pythagoras.

Although he was among the earliest philosophers in the Western world to have actually written
down his studies, only one fragment of his work remains and, by the time of Plato, his
philosophy was apparently almost forgotten.

At a time when the Pre-Socratics were pursuing various forms of Monism and searching for the
one element that constitutes all things (each had a different solution to the identity of this
element: water for Thales, air for Anaximenes, fire for Heraclitus), Anaximander argued that
neither water nor any of the other candidates can embrace all of the opposites found in nature
(e.g. water can only be wet, never dry) and therefore cannot be the one primary substance or
first principle of the universe.

He judged that, although not directly perceptible to us, the only substance which could explain
all the opposites he saw around him, is what he called "apeiron" (variously translated as "the
infinite", "the boundless", etc), an endless, unlimited primordial mass, subject to neither old
age nor decay, that perpetually yielded fresh materials from which everything we perceive is
derived. The Universe originates in the separation of opposites in this primordial matter, and
dying things are merely returning to the boundless element from which they came. He saw the
universe as a kind of organism, supported by "pneuma" (cosmic breath).

Anaximander is sometimes called the "Father of Cosmology" and the founder of astronomy for
his bold use of non-mythological explanations of physical processes. He was the first to
conceive a mechanical model of the world, in which the Earth floats very still in the centre of
the infinite, not supported by anything. He envisioned the Earth as a cylinder with a height one-
third of its diameter, the flat top forming the inhabited world, surrounded by a circular oceanic
mass. This theory allowed for the concept that celestial bodies could pass under or around it,
and provided a better explanation than Thales’ claim of a world floating on water.

Heraclitus of Ephesus
(c. 535 - 475 B.C.) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Ephesus, on the Ionian coast of
modern-day Turkey. He is sometimes mentioned in connection with the Ephesian School of
philosophy, although he was really the only prominent member of that school (which, along
with the Milesian School, is often considered part of the Ionian School).

He was perhaps the first Western philosopher to go beyond physical theory in search of
metaphysical foundations and moral applications, and some consider him, along with
Parmenides, the most significant of the Pre-Socratic philosophers. His idea of a universe in
constant change but with an underlying order or reason (which he called Logos) forms the
essential foundation of the European worldview.

Many subsequent philosophers, from Plato to Aristotle, from the Stoics to the Church Fathers,
from Georg Hegel to Alfred North Whitehead, have claimed to have been influenced by the
ideas of Heraclitus.

Life
According to the "Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers" of Diogenes Laërtius (the 3rd
Century historian of the ancient Greek philsophers), Heraclitus flourished in the 69th Olympiad
(which would be 504 - 501 B.C.), but the dates of his birth and death are just guesswork based
on that. So, all we can say it is it is likely that he was born around 535 B.C. We do know that he
was born to an aristocratic family in Ephesus, an important city on the Ionian coast of modern-
day Turkey.

He was sometimes known as "the Obscure" (or "the Dark") for the deliberate difficulty and
unclearness of his teachings. He was also known as the "Weeping Philosopher", and it is
speculated that he was prone to melancholia or depression, which prevented him from
finishing some of his works. There is no record of his having travelled, even as far as the nearby
learning centre of Miletus, although he seems to have been familiar with the ideas of the
Milesian School.

He was apparently something of a misanthrope and a loner, and he cultivated an aristocratic

disdain for the masses and favoured the rule of a few wise men. He was not afraid to scorn and
denigrate (in no uncertain terms, and in a characteristic shrill voice) almost everyone from the
Ephesians to the Athenians to the Persian leader, Darius. He believed that the poet Hesiod and
Pythagoras "lacked understanding", and claimed that Homer and Archilochus deserved to be
beaten. Diogenes Laërtius reported that, later in life, he wandered the mountains, eating only
grass and herbs.
His years of wandering in the wilderness, resulted in an oedema (dropsy) and impairment of
vision. After 24 hours of his own idiosyncratic treatment (a liniment of cow manure and baking
in the sun), he died and was interred in the marketplace of Ephesus.

Heraclitus is recorded as having written a single book, "On Nature", divided into three
discourses, one on the universe, another on politics and a third on theology. The book was
deposited or stored in the great Temple of Artemis in Ephesus (as were many other treasures
and books of the time) and made available to visitors for several centuries after Heraclitus'
death. However, his writings only survive today in fragments quoted by other later authors.

In his work, he used puns, paradoxes, antitheses, parallels and various rhetorical and literary
devices to construct expressions that have meanings beyond the obvious. The reader must
therefore solve verbal puzzles (he was also nicknamed "The Riddler"), and, by so doing, learn to
read the signs of the world. In fact, he deliberately made his philosophical work obscure, so
that none but the already competent would be able to understand it.

According to Heraclitus, the world is in an eternal state of "becoming", and all changes arise
from the dynamic and cyclic interplay of opposites. Opposites are necessary for life, he
believed, but they are unified in a system of balanced exchanges, with pairs of opposites
making up a unity. Thus, one road carries some travellers out of a city, while it brings others
back in; the way up is also the way down; earth changes to fire and fire changes to earth, etc. In
this, he posits an equal and opposite reaction to every change and, in his theory of the
equivalence of matter, a primitive law of conservation.

The most famous aphorism often attributed to Heraclitus, that "everything is in a state of flux",
probably comes in reality from the much later Neo-Platonist Simplicius of Cilicia (490 - 560
A.D.), although other similar quotes are attributable to him, and it remains a pithy summary of
his views on the recurrent Pre-Socratic problem of change. Similarly, he is often quoted as
saying that one cannot step twice into the same river, although this is based on a simplistic
paraphrasing of Plato's. What he was really suggesting is that rivers can stay the same over time
even though (or indeed because) the waters in it change.

Thus, contrary to the contentions of both Plato and Aristotle, Heraclitus did not hold the
extreme (and logically incoherent) views that everything is constantly changing, that opposite
things are identical, and that everything is and is not at the same time. But he did recognize a
lawlike flux of elements, with fire changing into water and then into earth, and earth changing
into water and then into fire. While parts of the world are being consumed by fire at any given
time, the whole remains. Heraclitus does, to be sure, make paradoxical statements, but his
views are no more self-contradictory than some of the claims of Socrates.
Heraclitus saw the theory of nature and the human condition as intimately connected, and he
was one of the first philosophers to make human values a central concern. He viewed the soul
as fiery in nature, generated out of other substances, just as fire is, but limitless in dimension.

Pythagoras of Samos
(c. 570 - 490 B.C.) was an early Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher and mathematician from the
Greek island of Samos.

He was the founder of the influential philosophical and religious movement or cult called
Pythagoreanism, and he was probably the first man to actually call himself a philosopher (or
lover of wisdom). Pythagoras (or in a broader sense the Pythagoreans), allegedly exercised an
important influence on the work of Plato.

As a mathematician, he is known as the "father of numbers" or as the first pure

mathematician, and is best known for his Pythagorean Theorem on the relation between the
sides of a right triangle, the concept of square numbers and square roots, and the discovery of
the golden ratio.

Unfortunately, little is known for sure about him, (none of his original writings have survived,
and his followers usually published their own works in his name) and he remains something of a
mysterious figure. His secret society or brotherhood had a great effect on later esoteric
traditions such as Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry.

Life
Pythagoras was born on the Greek island of Samos, in the eastern Aegean Sea off the coast of
Turkey, some time between 580 and 572 B.C. His father was Mnesarchus, a Phoenician
merchant from Tyre; his mother was Pythais, a native of Samos. He spent his early years in
Samos, but also travelled widely with his father.

According to some reports, as a young man he met Thales, who was impressed with his abilities
and advised him to head to Memphis in Egypt and study mathematics and astronomy with the
priests there, which he soon had the opportunity of. He also travelled to study at the temples of
Tyre and Byblos in Phoenicia, as well as in Babylon. At some point he was also a student of
Pherecydes of Syros and of Anaximander (who himself had been a student of Thales).While still
quite a young man, he left his native city for Croton in southern Italy in order to escape the
tyrannical government of Polycrates, the Tyrant of Samos (or possibly to escape political
problems related to an Egyptian-style school called the "semicircle" which he had founded on
Samos).

In Croton, Pythagoras established a secret religious society very similar to (and possibly
influenced by) the earlier Orphic cult, in an attempt to reform the cultural life of Croton. He
formed an elite circle of followers around himself, called Pythagoreans or the Mathematikoi
("learners"), subject to very strict rules of conduct, owning no personal possessions and
assuming a largely vegetarian diet. They followed a structured life of religious teaching,
common meals, exercise, music, poetry recitations, reading and philosophical study (very
similar to later monastic life). The school (unusually for the time) was open to both male and
female students uniformly (women were held to be different from men, but not necessarily
inferior). The Mathematikoi extended and developed the more mathematical and scientific
work Pythagoras began.

Other students, who lived in neighbouring areas, were also permitted to attend some of
Pythagoras' lectures, although they were not taught the inner secrets of the cult. They were
known as the Akousmatikoi ("listeners"), and they focused on the more religious and ritualistic
aspects of Pythagoras' teachings (and were permitted to eat meat and own personal
belongings).

Among his more prominent students were the philosopher Empedocles, Brontinus (who may
have been Pythagoras' successor as head of the school), Philolaus (c. 480 - 385 B.C., who has
been credited with originating the theory that the earth was not the center of the universe),
Lysis of Taras (who is sometimes credited with many of the works usually attributed to
Pythagoras himself), Cercops (an Orphic poet), Hippasus of Metapontum (who is sometimes
attributed with the discovery of irrational numbers), Zamolxis (who later amassed great wealth
and a cult following as a god among the Thracian Dacians) and Theano (born c. 546 B.C., a
mathematician, student, and possibly wife or daughter, of Pythagoras).

Towards the end of his life, Pythagoras fled to Metapontum (further north in the Gulf of
Tarentum) because of a plot against him and his followers by a noble of Croton named Cylon.
He died in Metapontum from unknown causes some time between 500 and 490 B.C., between
80 and 90 years old.

Because of the secretive nature of his school and the custom of its students to attribute
everything to Pythagoras himself, it is difficult today to determine who actually did which work.
To further confuse matters, some forgeries under his name (a few of which still exist) circulated
in antiquity. Some of his biographers clearly aimed to present him as a god-like figure, and he
became the subject of elaborate legends surrounding his historical persona.
The school that Pythagoras established at Croton was in some ways more of a secret
brotherhood or monastery. It was based on his religious teachings and was highly concerned
with the morality of society. Members were required to live ethically, love one another, share
political beliefs, practice pacifism, and devote themselves to the mathematics of nature. They
also abstained from meat, abjured personal property and observed a rule of silence (called
"echemythia"), the breaking of which was punishable by death, based on the belief that if
someone was in any doubt as to what to say, they should remain silent.

Pythagoras saw his religious and scientific views as inseparably interconnected. He believed in
the theory of metempsychosis or the transmigration of the soul and its reincarnation again and
again after death into the bodies of humans, animals or vegetables until it became moral (a
belief he may have learned from his one-time teacher Pherecydes of Syros, who is usually
credited as the first Greek to teach the transmigration of souls). He was one of the first to
propose that the thought processes and the soul were located in the brain and not the heart.

Another of Pythagoras' central beliefs was that the essence of being (and the stability of all
things that create the universe) can be found in the form of numbers, and that it can be
encountered through the study of mathematics. For instance, he believed that things like
health relied on a stable proportion of elements, with too much or too little of one thing
causing an imbalance that makes a person unhealthy.

He believed that the number system (and therefore the universe system) was based on the sum
of the numbers one to four (i.e. ten), and that odd numbers were masculine and even numbers
were feminine. He discovered the theory of mathematical proportions, constructed from three
to five geometrical solids, and also discovered square numbers and square roots. The discovery
of the golden ratio (referring to the ratio of two quantities such that the sum of those
quantities and the larger one is the same as the ratio between the larger one and the
smaller,approximately 1.618) is also usually attributed to Pythagoras, or possibly to his student,
Theano.

He was one of the first to think that the Earth was round, that all planets have an axis, and
that all the planets travel around one central point (which he originally identified as the Earth,
but later renounced it for the idea that the planets revolve around a central “fire”, although he
never identified it as the Sun). He also believed that the Moon was another planet that he
called a “counter-Earth".