BLARGistania
26-03-2005, 06:11
Okay, this is either philosophy-made-easy or philosophy-lite, whatever you prefer.
Below is a short paper on three pre-socratic philosophers and what they saw as the basic stuff that made up the universe as well as a very short critique of their thoughts. Read through it (its only about a page long) and then make your comments.
In the ancient world there was one pervading question in everyday life – what is the world made of in its most basic substance? Before the discovery of the universe and before the confirmation of the existence of atoms, philosophers all over ancient Greece asked themselves this question. Many came up with answers, most were refuted, even it was just by saying that one had a better answer than another. The philosophers believed in their answers to the basic substance of the earth though, and they tried to tell others what it was.
One of these philosophers was Anaximenes. He believed the world was built of air (Palmer, 19). Anaximenes first had the thought ex nihilo, nihil, translated, it means from nothing comes nothing. This thought, in counter to the idea the world was made of things we can’t see (later to be called atoms), led him on a search to find the real stuff the world was made of. Eventually, Anaximenes decided it was air. Through his ideas of condensation and rarefraction, Anaximenes put together how air was the building block of the world. He thought that from air came steam, then smoke, then fire. And on the other end of the scale, from air came mist, then water, then mud, then dirt, then stone (Palmer, 20). He believed in only the use of natural elements to create the world, a philosophy today called naturalism. The one main problem with Anaximenes was the fact that he did not account for how air turned into other tings, he just said it did. This problem would haunt his philosophy long after he had left it behind.
The second of the philosophers was Heraclitus; he believed the basic stuff of the world was fire. Heraclitus wrote “There is an exchange of all things fire and of fire for all things” (Palmer, 24). Heraclitus based this off the idea that in the creation of all things, fire was involved, and at the time, he was right. Fire was the basis of civilization in his time. It provided heat, light, safety, and warm food, all important things. Based off his observation of fire, Heraclitus stated that all things change in the universe and nothing is stable. This led to his idea that “you cannot walk in the same river twice” (Palmer, 26) because the river is continually flowing. Heraclitus was one of the more obscure philosophers though; most of his work was written in prose and should probably not be taken literally. Over one hundred passages from, Heraclitus survived, but most of them are unintelligible now because of the obscure style in which he wrote.
The third of these philosophers was Pythagoras. Pythagoras saw the world in numbers, in fact, he was the world’s first numerologist (Palmer, 21). Pythagoras was interested in the mythology of numbers and how they created and controlled the world. Pythagoras thought that the world revolved around mathematical patterns, and for the most part, he was right. Most of his theories were not proved until much later (the golden ratio for example). He also thought that the number 10 was divine, leading to his thought that the solar system had ten planets, he was close (Palmer, 22). Pythagoras did not try to say that the world was numbers, he just thought that the world revolved around numbers. His influence was so great that his school lasted for 400 years affecting minds as great as Plato in future philosophy.
Each of the three philosophers had an idea of what made up the stuff of the world and how everything was going to be organized. Anaximenes believed it was wind, Heraclitus – fire, Pythagoras – numbers. Each of these men left a mark on the world in either their beliefs or what their beliefs would lead to. In time, all of them would be proven wrong in one way or another. Anaximenes and Heraclitus would go with the discovery of the atom and Pythagoras would go with the discovery on nine planets and the atom. Still, their thoughts had a great impact on the modern world.
Below is a short paper on three pre-socratic philosophers and what they saw as the basic stuff that made up the universe as well as a very short critique of their thoughts. Read through it (its only about a page long) and then make your comments.
In the ancient world there was one pervading question in everyday life – what is the world made of in its most basic substance? Before the discovery of the universe and before the confirmation of the existence of atoms, philosophers all over ancient Greece asked themselves this question. Many came up with answers, most were refuted, even it was just by saying that one had a better answer than another. The philosophers believed in their answers to the basic substance of the earth though, and they tried to tell others what it was.
One of these philosophers was Anaximenes. He believed the world was built of air (Palmer, 19). Anaximenes first had the thought ex nihilo, nihil, translated, it means from nothing comes nothing. This thought, in counter to the idea the world was made of things we can’t see (later to be called atoms), led him on a search to find the real stuff the world was made of. Eventually, Anaximenes decided it was air. Through his ideas of condensation and rarefraction, Anaximenes put together how air was the building block of the world. He thought that from air came steam, then smoke, then fire. And on the other end of the scale, from air came mist, then water, then mud, then dirt, then stone (Palmer, 20). He believed in only the use of natural elements to create the world, a philosophy today called naturalism. The one main problem with Anaximenes was the fact that he did not account for how air turned into other tings, he just said it did. This problem would haunt his philosophy long after he had left it behind.
The second of the philosophers was Heraclitus; he believed the basic stuff of the world was fire. Heraclitus wrote “There is an exchange of all things fire and of fire for all things” (Palmer, 24). Heraclitus based this off the idea that in the creation of all things, fire was involved, and at the time, he was right. Fire was the basis of civilization in his time. It provided heat, light, safety, and warm food, all important things. Based off his observation of fire, Heraclitus stated that all things change in the universe and nothing is stable. This led to his idea that “you cannot walk in the same river twice” (Palmer, 26) because the river is continually flowing. Heraclitus was one of the more obscure philosophers though; most of his work was written in prose and should probably not be taken literally. Over one hundred passages from, Heraclitus survived, but most of them are unintelligible now because of the obscure style in which he wrote.
The third of these philosophers was Pythagoras. Pythagoras saw the world in numbers, in fact, he was the world’s first numerologist (Palmer, 21). Pythagoras was interested in the mythology of numbers and how they created and controlled the world. Pythagoras thought that the world revolved around mathematical patterns, and for the most part, he was right. Most of his theories were not proved until much later (the golden ratio for example). He also thought that the number 10 was divine, leading to his thought that the solar system had ten planets, he was close (Palmer, 22). Pythagoras did not try to say that the world was numbers, he just thought that the world revolved around numbers. His influence was so great that his school lasted for 400 years affecting minds as great as Plato in future philosophy.
Each of the three philosophers had an idea of what made up the stuff of the world and how everything was going to be organized. Anaximenes believed it was wind, Heraclitus – fire, Pythagoras – numbers. Each of these men left a mark on the world in either their beliefs or what their beliefs would lead to. In time, all of them would be proven wrong in one way or another. Anaximenes and Heraclitus would go with the discovery of the atom and Pythagoras would go with the discovery on nine planets and the atom. Still, their thoughts had a great impact on the modern world.