It is the period in the history of philosophy, which was based on cosmology, focused on the structure, the laws of the universe and the supposed principles that gave an explanation to the various changes in nature. Its beginning dates from the appearance of its main supporter, which was Thales of Mileto, who was born in the XNUMXth century BC. C.
Due to the quality that the pre-Socratics have, in caring about the nature and the principle of things, it is that this stage within Greek philosophy is characterized as cosmological.
His name despite the etymological conceptualization that unites several components of the Latin lexicon (such as the prefix "pre" which means before; the name of Socrates that refers to the philosopher and the suffix "ico", which is used to indicate a “relative to”), has another definition.
This is an adjective that also serves as an alternative conceptualization and characterizes the term 'pre-Socratic', and is so called because it developed before Socrates and even includes those who were after him, who continue to maintain their position be influenced by the thoughts of the aforementioned great author.
One of the most predominant characteristics of this movement is that for that time the philosophers could not argue what they affirmed because all the data and reflections were based on metaphysical intuitions.
However, they were hypotheses of great value, so much so that, although they could not be proven, these are very realistic in connotations and for the time irrefutable.
The most prominent pre-Socratic philosophers
Thales of Miletus
He was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, geometrist, physicist and legislator and the founder of the Miletus school, in which other followers of his also took part.
Although there are no texts with his authorship, endless contributions are attributed to him not only in the field of philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, physics, among others. And that are between the XNUMXth century to the C.
He is also characterized as an active legislator of the Greek polis of the Ionian coast, Miletus, where in addition to being born, he also died.
Most of the biography of this author is built by a collection of data, opinions, quotes, among other things that helped date it.
Recognized by some as one of 'the seven sages of Greece', it is not known for sure if Miletus came, even to write something, since there is no conclusive evidence. Another of the attributed achievements is to believe that it was who brought geometry to the Greek world.
Among the pre-Socratic thoughts that are said to be the author's is the idea of believing that the earth floats on water.
Anaxagoras
This philosopher stood out with his idea of 'the notion of nous' which means mind or thought and which fundamentally characterizes his philosophical conception.
Another of the things that characterize him is being the first foreign thinker in Athens, since he was born and lived mainly in Clazómenas and by 483 BC he moved, due to a series of events and misfortunes, among which the Ionian revolt against the Persian empire.
He was one of those who stimulated or focused on the investigation of nature from the perspective of experience, memory and technique. According to this author's astronomy it was more rational than that of others, and among these stand out, the idea that animals were originally born in the wet and then from each other; the belief that stars are huge incandescent stones and if we do not notice their heat it is because of their distance.
Another of his explanations is about eclipses and the sun; Starting from these, he stated that the moon had no light of its own, but that it received it from the sun and that it had plains and chasms. He also had research on the anatomy of the brain and fish.
Anaxagoras was one of the first questioners who spoke of God not from the creator's point of view but rather as an architect of the world, that is, he considered it as a guiding principle of the universe.
In the biography of this author, the exception is usually made that he was in favor of or took into account the reasoning of Parmenides, which said, “that no new reality can originate; then everything has always existed. Tiny particles of all substances exist forever (homeomeries). These innumerable particles were first mixed in a compact mass, how did it begin to move and the particles to separate and unite to give rise to different beings? "
And in view of the above, Anaxagoras resorts to what we mentioned earlier, the Nous, which in this approach is an external cause that denotes the understanding or intelligence that gave that inert mass a movement in the form of a whirlpool.
Anaximander of Miletus
Considered a disciple and successor of Miletus, he was a philosopher and geographer of Ancient Greece, as well as a friend of Anaxímedes. He is known for his belief that the origin of all things (arjé) is unlimited (ápeiron).
He was also a faithful believer in the existence of innumerable worlds, although it is not known exactly whether they are successive or coexistent.
One of the books attributed to this author was "on nature"; a text of which there is no physical copy or original work, but has been recovered through 'dexographic' comments from other authors.
He was the first to raise the issue of 'opposites' as fundamental to the evolution of the world. Hypothesis that other supporters would later take up.
Another of the things attributed to this author is the measurement of the solstices and equinoxes by means of a gnomon, a terrestrial map, the work to determine the distance and size of the stars; as well as the incredible claim that the Earth is cylindrical and occupies the center of the Universe.
Anaximenes of Miletus
Another disciple of Miletus and besides Anaximander. With the latter he agreed in the belief that the origin or principles of all things were infinite and it is said that he was 22 years younger.
However this threw a difference in such belief; for him there was no apeiron but a specific element such as 'air', which he considered as a material principle of condensation and replacement.
For Anaximenes, rarefaction generates fire, while condensation, wind, clouds, water, earth and stones; from these substances, the rest of things are created.
This philosopher was born in Miletus in 590 BC. C., approximately, and died in 524 a. C. And contributions are attributed to cosmology, meteorology and physics.
Archelaus
Like the others, no physical writings of this thinker who was Socrates' teacher are preserved.
It is not known with certainty if he was originally from Athens or Miletus and was a ward of Anaxagoras. Another of the few things that are known is that he was the first to bring the philosophy of natural to Athens.
He reflected on nature, one of his statements was that there were two causes that generated everything, cold and heat; that condensed water produces earth and when it melts it produces air.
As for the animals, he explained that they are born "from the heat of the earth, which distills a slime similar to milk, which serves as their nourishment" and that men were born for the first time in this same way.
In the same way, he established that the greatest of all the stars is the Sun, that the seas are contained in the depths of the earth (in whose veins it is infiltrated) and that the Universe is infinite.
Archytas
Archytas of Tarentum was a philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and general. This belonged to the sect school of the Pythagoreans and was a student of Philolaus. It is also said that he was a friend of Plato, whom he met after Socrates' death, during the first trip he made to southern Italy and Sicily in 388/7 BC. C.
He contributed to a series of creations where he lived, such as political reform, memorials, temples, among other buildings that gave the city luster. Archytas was educated and also gave contributions through their joint knowledge in the area of Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy and Music. Also in the Quadrivium, Acoustics and adapting mathematics in a disciplined and technical way.
His strategic studies, more than all the mathematicians, it is said that perhaps they had to do in the invention of the pulley, the hammer and a kind of mechanical bird, since it had wings and also made it fly because of impulses from a nucleus of compressed steam.
Something curious in the biographical texts of this author is that most of the attributions are made by other philosophers of the time, who also made similar or equal considerations to other authors and therefore there is no accuracy or certainty of certain achievements or total authorship. .
Cratyl
One of the pre-Socratic philosophers of the late XNUMXth century BC. C. Considered a representative of relativism.
He is also known for being one of the supporters of the idea of Heraclitus, who stated that "one cannot bathe twice in the same river because between the two, the body and the river water have been altered." According to researchers, this took such a reflection even further; one of these was Aristotle, who, according to Cratylus, proclaimed that "it cannot be done even once."
This opinion added by the author, gave rise to the reflection that "if the world is constantly changing, then the river changes instantly." It should be noted that, keeping the same form or structure of the words, they tend to change repeatedly.
One of the events that characterize this philosopher is that, consequently, from such reflections, he decided that communication was impossible and gave up talking, limiting himself to communicating with the movement of his finger.
An important fact to highlight is that Cratylus met Socrates in 407 BC. C. and for the next 8 years he dedicated himself to teaching him.
Xenophanes
His name is Xenophanes de Colophon and his birth dates between 580 BC. C. and 570 a. Like the other pre-Socratic philosophers, his works are preserved with the compilation of fragments.
According to the few biographical data that are found and are even in doubt, because there is no certainty about them; This philosopher was born in Colophon, a coastal city in Asia Minor.
In addition to being a Greek philosopher, he was an elegiac poet, interested in religious problems and refuting what he did not consider, such as being against Homer, the archetype of poets and the fundamental basis of contemporary education.
Their reactions or arguments against it are said to have been colored by immorality and the anthropomorphic nature of the gods of conventional religion.
Heraclitus
He was born for the year 540 a. His full name was Heraclitus of Ephesus and he was also known as "The Dark One of Ephesus." Maintaining the characteristic of the others, their contributions are known due to the testimonies of later philosophers.
As mentioned above, it originated the reflection of the phrase "You cannot bathe twice in the same river"; which was invented by himself.
His work is considered aphoristic, it is also in the first physical philosophers who thought that the world originated from a natural principle (such as water for Thales of Miletus, air for Anaximenes and the apeiron for Anaximander). The difference is that, for Heraclitus, the principle was about fire and should not be taken literally, since like the other authors, it was a metaphor.
The explanation that he gave to fire as the original material of things, was that “the principle of fire refers to the constant movement and change in which the world is, with a permanent mobility that is based on a structure of opposites; and the contradiction is at the origin of all things ”.
One of the curious facts is that there is a lunar crater called Heraclitus, in his honor. Also the asteroid (5204) Herakleitos commemorates the philosopher. It is said that he died around 480 BC. C.
Other no less important pre-Socratic philosophers:
- Democritus
- Diogenes of Apollonia
- Empedocles
- epicharm
- Ferécides of Syros
- Hippocrates of Chios
- Jeniades
- Xenophanes
- Leucippus of Miletus
- Meliso from Samos
- Lámpsaco Metrodoro
- Chios Metrodoro
- Elea Parmenides
- Zeno of Elea