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THE MILESIAN PHILOSOPHERS
Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes
THALES OF MILETUS
(624-545
BCE)
Life
- Born
Phoenician
- Miletus
citizen
- Slavery
existed there.
- The poor
murdered the wives and children of the rich.
- The rich
burned the poor alive.
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In May 28, 585
BCE Thales was the first to predict a solar
eclipse. It threw the war between the Lydeans and
Persians into confusion.
This
picture is the negative of the original
photograph of the 1919 solar eclipse that
confirmed Einstein's theory of general
relativity. |
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-
Thales diverted a river, so his army could pass.
-
Measured the Pyramids & distance of ships at sea.
-
Called the absentminded professor.
- He cornered the olive market.
Main Ideas
1.
Water is the basic nature of reality. (material monism)
-
He was the first to ask the question: what is the
basic
nature of reality?
- He took the step from
mythology to science and philosophy.
- Until 1925 we
thought everything was made of hydrogen
which is two
thirds water.
2. All things
are full of gods.
ANAXIMANDER OF MILETUS
(610-545 BCE)
On Nature
1.
Fire cannot be explained by water.
2. He
was the first to ask: what is the
cause of all things?
3. The cause of
all things cannot be a thing. If
the cause
of all things were an element, it would
contradict itself,
and it would also require a cause.
4. The Apeiron is
the cause of all things.
a. To Apeiron is
boundless, unlimited, one, eternal,
and
indestructible.
b. All things arise out
of the Apeiron, and all things return
to it. It is a
reservoir of properties. They return according
to justice.
5. The earth is
an unsupported stationary sphere.
6. There are
unlimited worlds existing in unlimited time.
7. The first
creatures were generated in moisture.
a. At one time,
we resembled fish, and were cast ashore.
b. Freaks are cast
aside, and form subspecies: Heraclitus said,
"The
Ephesians would do well to hang themselves, ... for
they have cast out Hermodorus, the best man among
them, saying: 'We will have none who is best among
us; if there be any such, let him be so elsewhere
and among others,'" from the History of
Western Philosophy by Bertrard Russell.
8. Humans
evolved from lower animals.
9.
I is said that he invented the sundial, but there is
evidence that they go back a long way.
ANAXIMENES
(580-500
BCE)
Main Ideas
1. To Apeiron
is not a thing.
2. That which
is not a thing is nothing.
3. Something
cannot arise out of nothing; therefore,
4. To Apeiron
cannot be the cause of all things.
5. Air/soul is the
basic nature of reality. (animism)
6.
Gases are expanding air. Solids are condensed air.
Expansion causes heat. Condensing causes coldness.
7.
Diogenes of
Apollonia was a student of Anaximenes.
Note:
3. We accepted the belief
that reality can not be created out of nothing, and
it cannot perish into nothing. This lead modern
physics to the the law of conservation of mass. It
states that for any closed system, the amount, of
mass of the system remains constant. You cannot have
more or less mass over time because mass cannot be
added or removed from a contained system. Thus mass
can't be created nor destroyed although it may be
rearranged.
Arguments
1. To Apeiron
is not a thing.
2.
That which is not a thing is nothing; therefore,
3. To Apeiron
is nothing.
1. To Apeiron
is nothing.
2. Nothing
cannot cause something to exist; therefore,
3. To Apeiron
cannot cause something to exist.
1. To Apeiron
cannot cause something to exist.
2.
What cannot cause something to exist cannot be
the cause of all things; therefore,
To Apeiron
cannot be the cause of all things.
Perelman,
CH.: 1966, An Introduction to
Philosophical Thinking, New York, Random
House, Inc., p9.
PYTHAGORAS
(570-495 BCE)
Life
-
Born on the Island of Samos.
- He
migrated to Croton Italy.
- He
founded a religious sect that took a vow of secrecy.
Main Ideas
1.
Philosophy is the love of Wisdom.
2. Math
is the language of the Universe. (form over matter)
3. The
soul is immortal.
4. We
can only escape reincarnation by purifying our
souls.
5. He discovered the Pythagoream
theorem.
The Pythagorean theorem:
The sum
of the areas of the two squares on the
legs (a and b) equals the
area of the square on the hypotenuse (c).
XENOPHANES OF
COLOPHON
(570-478 BCE)
Life
- Born in Colophon
- Migrated to Italy
- Taught Parmenides
- Banished to Sicily.
- Lived to be 92 years
old.
Main Ideas
1. There is
no certainty, but we have probable knowledge.
(This was the beginning of epistemology)
2. God is
one, unchanging, and eternal (monotheism).
3. God is
total mind and thought.
4. God's
awareness and knowledge are instantaneous.
5. God thinks
the universe into motion.
Philip Wheelwright,
in The Presocratics p.31-39, tells us that
Xenophanes was the first critical theologian in
Greece. He believed that God is one, and God is
completely different from humans. Weelwright
declares that Xenophanes was interested in theology.
He was not interested in metaphysics. He was a
monotheist. He was not a metaphysical monist.
Wheelwright says, "He does not say that all being is
one and that plurality is impossible...; he confines
himself to proclaiming the doctrine of God as single
and transcendent," (31). Parmenides was a
metaphysical monist.
Testimony
Diogenes Laertius:
Xenophanes holds that
God is spherical in substance, and that he is unlike
men; for the whole of him sees, the whole of him
hears, he does not breath, he is totally mind and
thought, and is eternal.
Simplicious
Commentaria:
Theophrastus says
that Xenophanes of Colophon, teacher of Parmenides,
declared that the first principle is one, and that
What Is is one and all-embracing, that it is neither
limited nor unlimited, and neither moving nor at
rest.
Galenus:
Xenophanes ... had
skeptical doubts about everything except his own
dogma that all things are one, and that this One is
God, who is limited, rational, and immovable.
Pseudo-Plutrarch
Stomata:
Xenophanes ... denied
that there is any coming-to-be or perishing,
declaring that All is always the same. For if it had
come-to-be it could not have existed before that
moment when the coming-to-be occurred; but on the
other hand not-being could not have come-to-be,
because not-being has no power to bring anything
about. Declaring that our senses are deceptive he
even challenges the authority of reason itself.
Hipopolytus:
Xenophanes ... was
the first to declare that nothing can be grasped
with certainty, arguing: "Even if someone happened
by chance to say what is true, he still could not
know [whether he was right or not]; yet all men have
the illusion of knowing" [Fr. 10]. He says that
nothing comes-to-be or perishes, that nothing is
moved, and that the universe is one and changeless.
God is eternal and one, homogeneous throughout,
limited, spherical, and with the power of perception
in all his parts.
HERACLITUS OF EPHESUS
(540-480 BCE)
On Nature
Life
- Born in Ephesus.
- He was a misanthropist.
Main Ideas
1. Knowledge
comes from experience.
2. Fire is
the basic nature of reality.
3. Everything
is in motion.
4. Permanence
is an illusion.
5. There are
no separately existing things.
6. Things
that change cannot be known.
7. The
universe is all being and all touching.
There is
no place were there is nonbeing.
8.
All things
are one - Logos.
9. Only God
has wisdom.
Notes:
3. "Nothing ever is,
everything is always in a state of becoming,"
(Plato).
"Everything flows and
nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing
stays fixed, (70).
"You cannot step
twice into the same river ... ," (71).
"It is in changing
that things find repose," (71).
"[If strife were to
perish] ... all things would cease to exist" (71).
"War is the father of all ... ."
8. From out
of all the many particulars comes oneness, and out
of oneness come all the many particulars, (78).
The one is God, and
it has more reality than the many.
"The Logos is common
to all. Yet ... men live as if each of them had a
private intelligence of his own," (69).
"Although intimately
connected with the Logos, men keep setting
themselves against it," (74)
Everything is
composed out of soul. It is in a constant state of
flux. (72)
9. Pythagoras
(6th century B. C. E.) argued; since only God
possesses true Wisdom, we can only hope to be lovers
of Wisdom. He is the first to define philosophy as
the love of Wisdom.
"Wisdom is one ... ,"
(79).
"Much learning does
not teach understanding ... ," (69)
"Human nature has no
real understanding," (74).
"Man is not
rational," (74)
PARMENIDES OF ELEA
(515-450 BCE)
Parmenides
by Plato
Life
-
Elea was in southern
Italy.
- He was a pupil of Xenophanes.
Main Ideas
1. Reason is
the proper guide to truth.
2. What is
is.
Only Being
exists; nothingness does not exist.
3. What is
not is not.
4. Being is
one.
5. Being is
unchanging.
Notes:
4.
Is reality one or many? Does reality change, or is
it static?
The whole is like
(not is) a limited sphere. All of its exterior
points are equidistant from its center point.
His student Melissus
argued that Being cannot be a sphere because
nothingness would have to surround it. Being must be
infinite in time and space.
Arguments Against a Plurality and
Movement
1. If there is
a plurality of things, then nothingness exists.
2. Nothingness
cannot exist; therefore
There is no plurality
of things.
1. If there is
movement, then nothingness exists.
2. Nothingness
cannot exist; therefore
There is no movement.
1. M > N
2.
~N / ~M
3.
~M 1,2 mt
Refutation
Arguments for Atomisn
1. If there is
movement, then a void exists.
2. There is
movement; therefore
A void exists.
1. M >
V
2. M
/
V
3.
V 1,2 mp
1. If there is
a plurality of things, then a void exists.
2. There is
a plurality of things; therefore
A void exists.
1. P >
V
2. P
/
V
3.
V 1,2 mp
ZENO OF ELEA
(490-430 BCE)
Life
-
He was 25 years
younger than Parmenides.
- He invented the
reductio ad absurdum to prove Parmenidies' doctrine.
- He argued that
believing in a plurality of things results
in absurdities.
Arguments
The Paradoxes of Motion
The Arrow Paradox
“ If everything when it occupies an equal space is
at rest, and if that which is in locomotion is
always occupying such a space at any moment, the
flying arrow is therefore motionless. ”
—Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b5
Imagine an arrow in flight. At any
moment we can say that it is at rest, and it
occupies some space, so when does it move? In any
instant of time there is no motion occurring because
an instant is a snapshot.
Zeno abolishes motion, saying "What is in motion
moves neither in the place it is nor in one in which
it is not". (Diogenes Laertius Lives of Famous
Philosophers, ix.72)
Edward
Muybridge
Nude Descending a Staircase
Marcel Duchamp, 1912
Achilles and the Tortoise
“ In a race, the quickest runner can
never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must
first reach the point when the pursued started, so
that the slower must always hold a lead. ”
—Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b15
Achilles gives the tortoise a head start. After some
time, Achilles will reach the tortoise's starting
point. During this time, the tortoise will have
advanced some distance. It will then take Achilles
some further time to run that distance. By that time
the tortoise will have advanced farther, and then
more time still to reach this third point while the
tortoise moves ahead. Thus, whenever Achilles
reaches somewhere the tortoise has been, he still
has farther to go. Because there are an infinite
number of points Achilles must reach where the
tortoise has already been, he can never overtake the
tortoise.
The Dichotomy Paradox ( also called the Race Course
paradox)
This argument is really a version of
the Tortoise Paradox. It's called the Dichotomy
Paradox because it
requires that we split any distance into two
parts. Suppose you want to catch a stationary bus.
Before you can get there, you must get halfway there
- to its halfway point. Before you can get halfway
there, you must get a quarter of the way there.
Before traveling a fourth, you must travel
one-eighth; before an eighth, one-sixteenth; and so
on - ad infinitum (Latin for "to infinity"). You
would need to complete an infinite
number of tasks in a finite amount of time - which
is impossible.
This can be
represented as:
There is a second problem here. There
is no first distance. Any finite first distance can be divided in
half. Therefore it is not really first, so
the trip cannot even begin. The
conclusion is that travel over any finite
distance can not be completed, nor can it begun;
therefore motion is an illusion.
Paradox of the Grain of Millet:
Suppose you drop a sack of millet.
When it hits the floor, it will make a sound, but if
you drop a single grain, it will not make a sound.
It could be that the notion of primary and secondary
substances, we will study this later, was an
attempted solution to this paradox.
Proposed Solutions:
Aristotle (384 BC−322 BC)
proposed the following solution. While a distance can be
mentally divided into ever smaller units - as in
geometry, the actual physical distance remains the same.
What Aristotle is saying is that what is true of
math is no always true of physical reality. For
example: a line in math has distance, but it has no
thickness. If it had a thickness, it would be a
rectangle. In physical reality there are no such
lines. In art we define a line as a continuous mar,
and that is a very different thing.
Saint Thomas Aquinas offered the following solution
to the arrow paradox: " Instants are not parts of
time, for time is not made up of instants any more
than a magnitude is made of points. Hence it does not follow that a
thing is not in motion in a given time because
it is not in motion in any instant of that time."
Peter Lynds argues that instants in time do not
exist. An object in relative motion cannot have a
determined position. If it did, it could not be in
motion.
Another possible solution is to reject the idea that
between any two points in space or time there is
always another point. Again Aristotle seems to be
right. In math points have location, but they have
no thickness, so any finite distance would be made
of an infinite number of points. We mentally think
this, but physical reality is very different.
Reichenbach points out that the paradox arises from
considering space and time as separate entities.
Einstein's theory of general relativity states a
single space-time continuum.
EMPEDEOCLES OF SICILY
(495-435 BCE)
Main Ideas
1. Perception
is the result of particles bouncing, off
objects, and striking
our sense organs. Blue is
the result of blue particles.
2. Empty
space, or a void, does not exist.
3. Reality is
a sea of undulating toughing particles.
4. Life goes
through random variations. Advantageous variations
survive.
ANAXAGORAS OF
CLAZOMENAE
(500-428 BCE)
Life
- He was a teacher and
friend or Pericles.
- The enemies of
Pericles convicted Anaxagoras
for impiety.
- He escaped, and
returned to Ionia.
Main Ideas
1. Mind
(Nous) is the basic nature of reality.
- The world order was
produced by reason.
2. Nothing
comes into being out of nothing.
3. Objects
have a share of everything in them.
- Since there are many
things, and nothing comes into
being
from nothing, everything that comes into existence
must be present in
the things that they come out of.
4. All things
are present.
5. Things are
infinite in number.
6. Stars are
distant suns.
7. The sun is
molten stone.
8. The moon
is made of earth, and reflects the sun's light.
What two ideas don't go together?
Can we resolve the contradiction?
Collaborate:
ATOMIC THEORY OF
REALITY
ATOMISM
Leucippus, & Democritus
Note:
Isaac Newton, and others, credited the atomic
theory of reality (atomism) to the Phoenician
philosopher Mocus - or Moschus. It has also been held that
Mochus was the biblical Moses, but there is
insufficient historical evidence to support either
of these claims.
LEUCIPPUS
Life:
- He was an Ionian -
probably born in Miletus. The dates are unknown.
-
Leucippus
was the first to formulated the atomic theory for reality.
- He was the teacher
of Democritus.
- His lost works
were Megas Diakosmos (The Great Order of the
Universe) and Peri Nou (On mind). A single fragment
survived:
Nothing happens at random, but everything from
reason and necessity.
—Leucippus, Diels-Kranz 67 B2.
This is called the Principle of Sufficient Reason;
all things have a reason or cause.
Main Ideas
1.
Everything is composed of atoms moving in a void.
2. Atoms are
eternal, unchanging, and inseparable.
- They are physically, but not geometrically, indivisible.
3. The void is
infinite, eternal, and unchanging.
ARGUMENTS
1. If movement
exists, then a void must exist.
2. Movement does
exist / Therefore a void exists
1. M > V
2. M /
V
3. V
1,2 mp
DEMOCRITUS
(460-360 BCE)
Life
- Born in Abdera.
- A
student of
Leucippus.
- He traveled to
Asia, India, Egypt, and Ethiopia.
Main Ideas
1.
Something cannot arise from nothing.
2.
Change is real; it's not an illusion.
3.
Everything is made of atoms moving in a void. (There
is no soul)
- Atoms are indivisible, unchanging, eternal, and
infinite.
- The void is infinite empty space.
4.
Atoms have different shapes.
- Solids are interlocked
atoms.
- Liquids are made of smooth round atoms.
5.
Atoms lack color, smell, taste, odor, and
temperature.
These are perceptions in our minds
only.
- Sweetness is a perception caused by smooth atoms.
-
Bitterness is a perception caused by sharp atoms.
6.
The senses provide indirect subjective knowledge.
7.
Moderation produces calmness and pleasure.
8.
Excess causes agitation and pain.
9.
Pleasure is the only value.
- Calmness is the highest pleasure.
(prudent hedonism)
How is this a compromise between
Heraclitus and Parmenidies?
Collaborate:
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