Pre-Socratic philosophy

From New World Encyclopedia

I am developing this article. —Keisuke Noda 04:25, 6 Oct 2005 (UTC)

Western philosophy began with philosophers in ancient Greece. Those philosophers who opened the paths of philosophy before Socrates are in group called Pre-Socratics or Pre-Socratics philosophers. Some philosophers were contemporary to or after Socrates, but they are also included in the group, since they kept the same line of thought. Those thinkers tried to find the principle that can uniformly and consistently explain all phenomena in nature and events in human life without appealing to mythology. Their style of though is often called natural philosophy, but their concept of nature is much broader than ours. It encompasses ethical, spiritual, mythical, and cosmological elements as well as physical ones. Within their thoughts, we can find insights into the questions of metaphysics. Pre-Socratics are basically metaphysicians who inquire into the question of the principles of being.

Studies on Pre-Socratics

Works by twentieth century philosophers such as Heidegger and Werner Jaeger contributed to re-discover the significance of those ancient thinkers and the originality of their thoughts.

Studies of ancient thinkers are restricted by lack of primary sources. Their writings were lost and fragments of their thoughts, words, and ideas have been preserved in the works of other authors such as Aristotle, Plato, Diogenes, and Herodotus.

Characterization and assessment of Pre-Socratics and their views owe much to Aristotle. Aristotle tried to establish a comprehensive and systematic thought that can integrate views of his predecessors. This vision for philosophy or a conception of philosophy as the comprehensive system of thought lead him to the needs of evaluating views of thinkers before him.

Based upon his theories of four causes, Aristotle placed Pre-Socratics as those who explained phenomena by means of a material cause.

Those fragments have been gathered and indexed by H. Diels and W. Kranz in their Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. This is a current standard source for Pre-Socratics. The name "Pre-Socratics" came to be widely used among philosophical scholarships by this work.

Philosophy and Myth

Prior to an appearance of philosophers, there were myth. When people wonder about the cause and reason of fortune and misfortune in life, where they are from, why and how evil came into the world, and how they can attain peace and happiness, they found explanation in mythology. Those who talked about gods were in a sense “lovers of wisdom”(philosopher) as Aristotle called them.

In ancient Greece, Homer andHesiod explained the origin of the world, genealogy of gods, the origin of evil, responsibilities and punishments, destiny and chance, and a life after death. They answered to those fundamental philosophical questions which have been lingering even today in a form of mystic poetic lanuages.

Orphics came into Greece in sixth century. They brought its own cosmology, a belief for reincarnation, and ascetic life style. Orpheusians’ belief for the immortality of soul and its reincarnation left traces in Plato’s works such as Gorgias, Phaidon, and Republic. Poetic intuition and mystic stories gave impacts on thinkers of the time.

Ancient wise men, whom Aristotle called “those who speak about gods,” are certainly “lovers of wisdom” (philosopher). They are, however, distinguished from philosophers for the reason that philosophers tried to find the principles by which they can uniformly and consistently explain phenomena. While mythology is a story-telling based upon uncritical social beliefs, philosophy is an explanation based upon reason and the principle. Aristotle distinguished philosophers from “those who speak of gods” for the reason that philosophers tried to give rational justification for their claim based upon self-examining, self-reflective, and critical attitude.

To distinguish rational discourse from poetic and mythical intuitive discourse may be justifiable with a qualification. We should notice that insights and ideas in mythology have been living in philosophical discourses as we can see in Plato’s works. It raises a question of rationality, a question of how rational is rational discourse is. As Husserl and Kierkegaard realized, one may hold certain belief underneath rational thinking. As Nietzsche and Shopenhauer pointed out, human reason has an unnoticed irrational drives underneath rational discourse.

Distinction between philosophy and mythology, reason and belief, and poetic intuition and critical reasoning is justifiable only in a limited sense. While Pre-Socratics took a step of rationality, mythological elements are still running in their thoughts. We can find those elements in the philosophy of Plato as well. Concept of pure and neutral rationality is rather an idea and ideal of modern philosophy and it met serious objections in the nineteenth and twentieth century.

Approaches to the Question of Being

Pre-Socratics approached to the question of being from two sets of perspectives. The fist set is the question of whether the ultimate reality (ousia) is conceived of based on a model of sensible element or intelligible element, or to put in a general term, visible materialistic element or invisible intelligible element. Milesians and Pythagoreans were divided by their views for this question. Milesians approached being from sensible or materialistic aspect, and Pythagoreans approached being from intelligible or non-sensible aspect. This distinction of sensible and intelligible became a foundation for the distinction of matter and form, which Aristotle developed later in a full scale.

The second set is a question of whether ultimate reality (ousia) is unchanging or changing. Heraclites conceived being as ever changing process or becoming and Parmenides conceived it as unchanging or identical. The question of being and becoming, being and process have become one of perennial questions in the history of philosophy.

The Milesians

Inquiry into the Principles of Being

Birthplace of Greek philosophy is Ionia in Asia minor. Earliest Greek thinkers lived in cities such as Miletus, Colophon, and Ephesus in this area. Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes are called in group the Milesians. Those thinkers identified the ultimate principle which govern all phenomena in an element or elements in nature. For this reason, they are often called natural philosophers. This naming, however, needs to be carefully understood.

The Milesians did not try to find laws of nature or basic element in nature as natural scientists do. Their concern is to find the ultimate principle that governs all beings and phenomena, not principles operating in nature. Their inquiry was metaphysical in the sense that it was directed to the discovery of the principles of being. This stance of inquiry and concern for the ultimate principles distinguish themselves from an attitude of natural scientists who are trying to find laws and mechanism of nature.

The Milesians conceived the world as one. In spite of diverse appearances of phenomena, they thought that there was one identical being which is the ultimate reality and all phenomenal diversity is its manifestation. In the background of their thoughts, there is a distinction between appearance and essence or phenomena and ultimate reality (ousia).

Materiality of Being

Thales of Miletus (c. 624-546 B.C.E.) is known as the first philosopher. This view was established by Aristotle who called Thales as the “father of philosophy.”(Metaphysics vol. 1, Chap. 3, 983b20). Thales identified the ultimate reality (ousia) with “water.” Like other thinkers of antiquity, material is not pure physical chemical compound. It carries a sense of mystery and divinity. To put it in another way, Thales conceived the ultimate reality, which in itself has divine characters such as one, indestructible, immutable, original, in the world of sensible and visible.

Other thinkers identified the ultimate reality with different material element. Anximander(c. 610-545 B.C.E.) of Miletus identified it with the “boundless” or “undefined matter”(to Apeiron). Anaximenes(c. 585-528 B.C.E.) of Miletus did it with “air.” As noted earlier, these material elements should not be understood within the contexts modern sciences. Philosophers of antiquity think within more mystic frameworks of thought. Common characteristics to these materialistic elements such as water, undefined matter, and air are flexibility and a lack of specific forms and shapes. They have a potential of taking various forms and shapes. They are in themselves what are to be determined, shaped, and formed. Identifying what is undefined with the ultimate reality is a big step from a perspective to see phenomenal appearances as the sole reality.

The Pythagoreans

While the Milesians identified the ultimate reality with what are to be determined, Pythagoreans identified it with determining principles or what determine others. With Pythagoreans, the principle of being is seen in what gives forms and shapes rather than what is formed and shaped. In the terminology of Aristotle, Pythagoreans identified the principle in the sense of arche or origin with form as opposed to matter.

Pythagoras

Major thinker is Pythagoras. He was born in Ionia and moved to southern Italy. formed a religious group in southern Italy. Pythagoras

Heraclites and Eleatics

Heraclitus

Eleatics

Anaxagoras, Democritus, and Anaxagoras

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