Presocratic Philosophy

Presocratic Philosophy

1. Compare and contrast the philosophies of the Milesian/Ionian thinkers to the philosophies of the Western thinkers.

For Thales the standard of things is water, which should not be advised solely in a materialistic and empirical sense. Indeed it is advised that which has neither starting neither end, and hardworking, dwelling, divine force. It appears that Thales was induced to proffer water as the first standard by the fact that all dwelling things are maintained by moisture and perish without it. Further, Thales affirms that the world is "full of gods." It is not very easy to glimpse how this second affirmation acquiesces with the first. It may be that he was induced by the well liked conviction in polytheism to accept the multiplicity of gods.[1]

For Anaximander the first standard of all things is the "indeterminate" -- apeiron. There are no chronicled facts and numbers to enlighten us as to what Anaximander may have intended by the "indeterminate"; possibly it was the Chaos or Space of which physicists talk today. Whatever may be the response to the this inquiry, it is essential to hold in brain that the difficulty comprises in the search for a metaphysical standard which would give an account of the whole empirical world, and therefore the apeiron is not to be bewildered with any empirical element.

Pythagoras, founder of the Pythagorean School, was born at Samos about 570 B.C. His life is enclosed by legend. Many voyages, one of them to Egypt are attributed to him. It is certain that at about the age of forty years he came to Italy in Magna Graecia, and in Croton, the Doric colony, founded a school with technical, devout, and political leanings.

To this school were accepted youths of both sexes of the high aristocracy who were split up into diverse parts as asserted by the degree of initiation to learning. The political aspires of the school increased up much opponents, and in a well liked uprising in 497 the school was granted to the flames. Pythagoras appears to have taken himself to Metapontum before this uprising and past away there either in the identical or the following year. Pythagoras left no writings, and the doctrine which is renowned under his title should be attributed to him and to his disciples, particularly to Philolaus, who dwelled until the time of Socrates. [2]

Zeno, selected disciple of Parmenides, was born in Elea about the year 500 B.C. He is called by Aristotle the first dialectician because he presumed the task of verifying with contentions (Sophistic) how much of paradox there was in the doctrine of his master.

Parmenides had decreased evolving to non-being and to illusion. Zeno tried to verify just what precisely is becoming. To realise the contentions of Zeno it is essential to recall that becoming signifies movement. If the action were not genuine but illusory, it would pursue that becoming furthermore has no other consistency save that of illusion. This is the task which Zeno ...