The Milesian School. Philosopher Profile. Pre-Socratic Philosophy A brief introduction of the Milesian School of philosophical thought.

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1 The Milesian School Philosopher Profile Pre-Socratic Philosophy A brief introduction of the Milesian School of philosophical thought. ~ Eternity in an Hour Background Information Ee Suen Zheng Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Banking and Finance jamesesz@yahoo.com jamesesz.wordpress.com The term Pre-Socratic philosophy includes all early Greek theorists irrespective of whether their interests lie in cosmology or philosophy. Pre-Socratic philosophy was active before the end of the fifth century BC and included abstract cosmological theorizing that was not recognised as a distinct discipline during this period. The Milesian School Natural Philosophy The three main thinkers of the Milesian school 1. Thales 2. Anaximander 3. Anaximenes The Milesian school was founded by the sixth-century Milesians: Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. All three had a profound interest in abstract cosmology that aimed to construct probable theories about the universe as a whole. Lacking the appropriate instruments for experimental verification of their ideas, the Milesians based their theories upon the observable world by the concept of phusis (nature). This concept implied that there is a basic uniformity of behaviour in the natural world with an overall guidance by a supreme intelligence (the Creator). Location of Miletus in Anatolia, home to Thales, Anaximander & Anaximenes 1

2 Historical Background Thales was a native of Miletus, a flourishing commercial city in Asia Minor, where there was a large slave population, and a bitter class struggle between the rich and poor (Russell, 1972). This situation was not unique as similar conditions prevailed in most Greek cities of Asia Minor at the time of Thales. Thales of Miletus 6 th Century B.C. Intellectual Setting Thales is said to have travelled to Egypt and brought back to the Greeks the science of geometry. According to Bertrand Russell (Russell, 1972), Thales is rumoured to have discovered how to calculate the distance of a ship at sea from observations taken at two points on land, and how to estimate the height of a pyramid from the length of its shadow. According to Aristotle, Thales thought that water is the original substance of all things and maintained that the earth rest on water. Thales was also the founder of the Ionian school. Notable Ideas and Achievements According to Herodotus, Thales predicted within a year the solar eclipse of 585 BC. Aristotle attributes him to the conjecture that (1) water is the material principle of all things and that (2) a soul (psyche) is a sort of motor (kinētikon), for he said that a magnet has a soul because it moves iron (G. S. Kirk, 1990). He is also said to be one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece and is recognised as one of the earliest philosophers in the Western world. Thales was often reproached for his poverty, which was supposed to show that philosophy had no practical use. According to legend, he knew in winter by observing the stars that there would be a great harvest of olives in the coming year and used whatever money he had to speculate on olives-presses. When the harvest time came, he made a huge sum of money and showed that philosophers could be rich if they wanted to. Chronology Thales of Miletus N/A: Too little is known of Thales to reconstruct a chronology of events. Memorable Quotes Everything is made out of water. Water is best. 2

3 Historical Background Anaximander was an associate of Thales and one of the three Milesian natural philosophers. His dates are uncertain, but he was said to have been sixty-four years old in 546 BC (Russell, 1972). Anaximander of Miletus fl. c. 550 B.C. Intellectual Setting Too little is known of Anaximander to reconstruct his intellectual setting. Notable Ideas and Achievements Anaximander held that all things came from a single primal substance. Contrary to Thales, he believed that this primal substance was not water or any other substance that we know. This primal substance was infinite, eternal, ageless and that it encompasses all worlds (he thought that our world only one out of many). According to Anaximander, it was this primal substance that transforms into the various substances that we are familiar with. Anaximander had an argument to prove that the primal substance could not be water or any other known element because if one of the known elements were primal, it would conquer all others (Russell, 1972). Due to the fact that air is cold, water is moist, and fire is hot, if any of these were infinite, the rest would cease to exist. Hence, the primal substance must be something neutral in this cosmic strife. Another important note on Anaximander was that he was one of the earliest advocates of evolution. He believed that there was an eternal motion that brought about the origin of worlds. Thus, the world was not created (as in Jewish, Christian and Islamic theology), but evolved. He believed that man, like every other animal, descended from fishes. Anaximander was also believed to be the first man who made a map in the Western world. Detail of Raphael's painting The School of Athens, This could be a representation of Anaximander leaning towards Pythagoras on his left. Chronology N/A: Too little is known of Thales to reconstruct a chronology of events. The Infinite Anaximander s monistic cosmology was based on the self-transformations of the infinite, an infinitely extended being, living and intelligent (Kahn, 1960). 3

4 Historical Background Anaximenes was the last philosopher of the Milesian school. Although the exact dates are very uncertain, he most probably flourished before 494 B.C. as Miletus was destroyed in that year by the Persians to suppress an Ionian revolt. Anaximenes of Miletus fl. c. 550 B.C. Intellectual Setting Too little is known of Anaximenes to reconstruct his intellectual setting. Notable Ideas and Achievements Similar to both Thales and Anaximander, Anaximenes was concerned with the fundamental substance that all things in our world came from. Unlike his predecessors, Anaximenes believed that this fundamental substance is air. The soul is air; fire is rarefied air; when condensed, air first becomes water, then, when further condensed, earth and finally stone. Air, according to this natural philosopher was the origin of earth, water, and fire. For Anaximenes, the earth was shaped like a round table with air encompassing everything. This line of thought was adopted by later day atomist that believed that the world was shaped like a disc. Chronology Anaximenes N/A: Too little is known of Thales to reconstruct a chronology of events. Everything is Air Anaximenes proposed a cosmological theory in which the whole universe consisted of air in different degrees of density the first attested attempt to explain qualitative differences in terms of quantitative ones, and one backed by everyday experience (air breathed from an open mouth feels warm, air breathed through pursed lips feel cold) (Barnes, 1979). 4

5 Food for Thought: Natural Philosophers The earliest of the Greek philosophers like Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximedes were sometimes called natural philosophers because of their main concern with the natural world and its constant state of transformation. Most of them sought to find the something that all things came from and returned to. The natural philosophers marked a very important intellectual development in philosophy as they gradually moved away from mysticism and religion while relying instead on scientific reasoning to obtain more tangible and concrete results. This movement is believed by many academicians to be the founding of science. Bibliography Barnes, J. (1979). The Presocratic Philosophers. London. G. S. Kirk, J. E. (1990). The Presocratic Philosophers, 2nd Edition. Cambridge. Honderich, T. (2005). The Oxford Guide: Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kahn, C. H. (1960). Anaximander and the Origins of Greek Cosmology. New York. Russell, B. (1972). The History of Western Philosophy. New York, United States of America: Touchstone, Simon and Schuster, INC. 5

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