The Philosopher Project - Philosophers cannot deal with all of philosophy. They need to focus on a particular line of thought, to grasp precisely what it is that each particular philosopher is especially concerned with finding out.
The Natural Philosophers - earliest Greek philosophers concerned with natural world, and its processes. Greeks assumed something has always existed. Nature is in a constant state of transformation. Philosophy gradually liberated itself from religion.
Three philosophers from Miletus
Parmenides - Nothing came from nothing. Nothing can change, therefore, our sensory perceptions must be unreliable.
Heraclitus - World is characterized by opposites. Everything changes/all things flow, therefore, our sensory perceptions are reliable.
Basic Elements - All things are a mixture of air, water, fire, and earth.
Empedocles - Established roots in nature. Two different forces in nature: love and strife, substance and force.
Anaxagoras - nature is built up of an infinite number of minute particles invisible to the eye. Couldn't accept that air, earth, water, and fire can be transformed into blood and bone.
Questions to ponder
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Parmenides - from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Heraclitus - the fire priest - with selected fragments Anaxagoras - from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Anaxagoras - Fragments and Commentary Anaxagoras' Philosophy of Nature Thales and the Origin of Theoretical Reasoning Thales - from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |
Anaximander - from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Anaximander - an outline Anaximander - Fragments and Commentary Empedocles - from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Empedocles - an outline Empedocles - Fragments and Commentary Anaximenes - Fragments and Commentary Anaximenes - from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Anaximenes - outline |