Anaximander
Anaximander (Greek: Αναξίμανδρος) (609 B.C.E.–c. 547 B.C.E.) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, the second of the philosophers of Ionia (three Ionian philosophers are Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes), a citizen of Miletus, a student of Thales, and a teacher of Anaximenes.
Thales, the first philosopher in the western philosophy according to Aristotle, inquired into the unchanging principle of being, that can uniformly explain all phenomena, and identified it with “water.” This is an innovative form of inquiry in a society where Greek mythology was a primary framework of interpretation.
Anaximander followed a path of his teacher Thales and equally inquired into the ultimate principles. While Thales identified the ultimate being with an extension of particular element in nature (water), Anaximander attempted to find more universal principle of being. If a particular element in nature such as water is the origin, a being with contrary nature such as fire cannot emerge or co-exist. The origin must be universal and free from any particular characteristics. Anaximander identified the ultimate with “indefinite” or “unbounded” (apeiron).
By “indefinite,” Anaximander seems to have thought the stuff or the original matter out of which all beings in nature are originated from. Anaximaner characterized the “indefinite” to be divine and imperishable. Within the framework of ontology of form and matter, Aristotle interpreted Anaximander as a predecessor who inquired into the material cause of being.
Anaximander introduced the principle of diversification or individuation separately from the origin of being. The “indefinite” is diversified by the principle of dual characteristics of hot and cold, and wet and dry (DK. 12A9) and these phenomena in nature are governed by the principle of balance. Although Anaximander did not explicitly conceptualize the principle of dual characteristics, it exists in his thought in an incipient form. This idea is somehow similar to that of the principle of Yin and Yang in ancient Chinese thought.
Anaximander cultivated the path of truth his teacher Thales opened up by extending the level of abstraction to a remarkable degree. Anaximander also seems to have had a broad knowledge in diverse areas of sciences.
Life and work
Little is known of his life and work. Aelian makes him the leader of the Milesian colony to Amphipolis, and hence some have inferred that he was a prominent citizen. The computations of Apollodorus of Athens have fixed his birth in 611, and his death shortly after 547 B.C.E.
Ancient sources represent him as an astronomer and geographer. He has been said to have created such astronomical instruments as the sundial and the gnomon, and be the first person who drew contours of land and sea on a map.
Anaximander also held a theory which some regard as an incipient form of evolution theory. Plutarch, an ancient Greek historian, records Anaximander’s view: man himself and the animals had come into being by like transmutations; man had sprung from some other species of animals, probably aquatic. (DK. 12A30)
Hippolytus, 2nd to 3rd Century church father, explains Anaximander’s cosmology: out of the vague and limitless body there sprang a central mass — this earth of ours, cylindrical in shape, poised equidistant from surrounding orbs of fire, which had originally clung to it like the bark round a tree, until their continuity was severed, and they parted into several wheel-shaped and fire-filled bubbles of air. (DK. 12A11)
Anaximander is said to have written a work entitled On the Nature, which is the first philosophy book in the history of western philosophy. The only surviving fragmentary quote taken from the book exists in Simplicius’s commentary on Arsitotle’s physics (DK. 12A9). Considering Anaximander’s breadth of knowledge, the book seemed to contain studies of nature in broad areas including cosmogony, cosmology, astronomy, biology. meteorology, geography, and others.
The quote in Simplicius’ commentary reads:
Whence things have their origin, Thence also their destruction happens, As is the order of things; For they execute the sentence upon one another - The condemnation for the crime - In conformity with the ordinance of Time.
Commentators agreed that this quoted passage was directly taken from Anaximander’s work, but disagreed with the interpretation of it.
Philosophy
Anaximander distinguished “indefinite,” the ultimate being, and all other existing beings. The “indefinite” exists for eternity, thus, it is divine and does not perish. All other beings have the beginning and the end of existence. They come into existence from the origin and will come to non-existence and return to the origin.
Martin Heidegger, a twentieth century German philosopher, stresses the importance of Anaximander’s insight to distinguish the being at origin and all beings that came into existence. According to Anaximander, the being at origin has no beginning and end, and all other beings can exist only in time. Those beings in time are destined to perish and the cosmos is governed by the principle of balance.
Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th century German philosopher, reads bleak tones in this passage and interpreted Anaximander as a pessimist.
Honors
- Anaximander crater on the Moon, at 66N, 48W, is named after him. For a picture, see:
- http://www.dirkcouprie.nl/Anaximander.html
- The asteroid 6006 Anaximandros is also named after him.
See also
- Milesian school
- Pre-Socratic philosophy
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
Texts
- Diels, H. and Kranz, W. (eds), Die Fragmente der Vorsocratiker (Berlin: Weidmannsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1960) (This is the standard text for pre-Socratics; abbr. DK)
- Freeman, K. (ed), Ancilla to the pre-Socratic philosophers (Cambridge:Harvard University Press, 1983)( a complete translation of the fragments in Diels and Kranz.)
- Kirk, G. S., Raven, J. E. and Schofield, M. The Presocratic Philosophers, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1983).
- Hicks, R. D., Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 2 vols., The Loeb Classical Library, 1925)
Secondary Sources
- Barnes, Jonathan. The Presocratic Philosophers, vol. 1 (London: Routledge, 1979)
- Dirk L.Couprie, et al. Anaximander in Context: New Studies in the Origins of Greek Philosophy, Albany N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 2003)
- Emlyn-Jones, C. The Ionians and Hellenism (London: Routledge, 1980)
- Furley, David. and Allen, R. E. (ed), Studies in Presocratic Philosophy, vol. I (New York: Humanities Press, 1970)
- Guthrie, W.K.C., A History of Greek Philosophy, 6 vol. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986)
- Kahn, C.H. Anximander and the Origins of Greek cosmology (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960)
- Taylor, A.E. Aristotle on his predecessors (La Salle: Open Court, 1977)
External links
- "http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/a/anaximan.htm" Anaximander from The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- "http://www.dirkcouprie.nl/Anaximander-bibliography.htm" for an extensive bibliography.
General Philosophy Sources
- Philosophy Sources on Internet EpistemeLinks
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Paideia Project Online
- The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Project Gutenberg
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