Review: Pre-Socratic Philosophers

Key People & Ideas

Thales

• The ultimate reality is Water
• It explains ontology or being
• It explains the relationship of solids, liquids, or gases
• It explains motion

Anaximenes

• Air is the answer to the three questions of being, essence and motion

Anaximander

• No definite substance is “the” answer, so it must be indefinite

Heraclitus of Ephesus

• Everything that exists is in a state of flux—whatever  is, is changing
• “You cannot step into the same river twice” was his motto
• He was a Monist, but saw whatever was the “one” as being dynamic

Parmenides of Elea

• “Whatever is, is”, or, that which truly exists is not in flux
• This was counter to Heraclitus by saying that if objects are truly in constant flux, they cannot be said to “be” anything
• Even if they were once “something”, they are not now because the object changed to something  different 

Zeno of Elea

• A pupil of Parmenides
• He made the reductio ad absurdum argument famous
• His main opponents were the pluralistic Pythag oreans
• His four arguments against motion were the stories of Achilles and the tortoise, stadium (half-way argument), flying arrow, and moving rows 

Key Concepts

The One and the Many: Explores the relationship between unity and diversity.

Monists: All reality is one (pantheism). God is “the One”

Pluralists: All reality is various, like a multitude of “seeds.” Democritus best summed up this position with his belief that all reality was made up of tiny particles, also called atoms.

Corporeal and Incorporeal Monists: Either one substance or one spiritual entity make up reality.

Corporeal and Incorporeal Pluralists: Either many particles or many spiritual particles make up reality.

Apeiron: A boundless, ageless and infinite material, also known as the “5th Essence”; the being conceived was not personal, but purely transcendent