Pre-Socratics

The Fathers of Western Philosophy

Class Stuff

• Seating Chart.• Website

Greek Mythology

• Philosophy began around 600 BCE. What was before philosophy?

• Greek myths (神话 ) were stories about gods and heroes that answered questions like:– How did the world begin?– Why is there good/evil in the world?– How do we live a good life?– Where did humans come from?– Where do humans go after death?

Greek Mythology

• Zeus: King of gods. Ruler of Mount Olympus. God of sky and thunder

• Hera: Queen of gods. Goddess of marriage and family

• Poseidon: God of sea• Dionysus: God of wine• Apollo: God of light and knowledge• Artemis: Goddess of hunting• Athena: Goddess of courage and defense• Ares: God of violence and war• Hades: God of underworld – death - afterlife

Greek Mythology

• GREEK MYTH SLIDESHOW!!! WOW!!! FUN!!!!• This is the story of the creation (创建 ), the

beginning of the world.

Greek Mythology• This story and the hundreds of stories that came after it became

the main religion ( 宗教 ) of the Greeks. Heroes and epics.• It answered all the hard questions:

– How did the world begin? • The sky and the earth fell in love and had children.

– Why is there good/evil in the world?• There are good gods and evil gods and they fight.

– How do we live a good life?• Follow the good gods and do what they tell you to do.

– Where did humans come from?• The good gods created humans.

– Where do humans go after death?• There is a god of death that takes all the good people away. The bad people

go to Tartarus.

Greek Mythology

• These gods and stories about gods were very important in Greek culture.

• There were festivals (节日 ).• The government followed the myths.• Almost everything in Greek culture came from

these myths. • Then…

Greek Mythology

• The philosophers came and said that there was more truth than just these myths.

• Talk in groups for a few minutes about the question: “What is the difference between Greek Mythology and the new Philosophy?”

Greek Philosophy

• Greek Philosophy was new because it stopped using gods and myths to explain the difficult questions of life.

• REASON = LOGIC (逻辑 )• Philosophy used only the mind and its logic to

find answers. Philosophy chose intellect (智力 ) over religion and superstition (迷信 ).

• Philosophers said that wisdom is greater than piety (虔诚 ). Piety is being good and loyal to a religion.

Pre-Socratics- Where?

North-East part of Mediterranean Sea ( 地中海 )

Pre-Socratics – Milesians

• Thales (624-546 BCE) -约前 624年－约前 546年– He was the first philosopher, because he was the first

man to solve problems using reason (logic) instead of religion and myth.

– Before Thales, people thought that the sun went up and down because the god Apollo did it.

– But, Thales taught that the earth spun ( 纺 ) and lit the earth. He was the first to say that there are 365 days in one year and he learned this from watching the sun.

Milesians

• Thales worked in government and wrote poetry. He also worked in math and many people think he was the first mathematician.

• He measured the height of buildings and the distance of ships on the water from the land.

Milesians

• WATER!!!!• Thales was most famous for saying that “

Water is the substance (物质 )of everything.”• What is substance?– Substance is the beginning of everything– It is what everything is made of. – So, Thales was saying “Water is everything and

everything is water.”

Milesians

• Why do you think Thales said this? What was he thinking?

• Talk for a couple minutes about the quote: “Water is the substance of everything.”

Milesians• Thales is the first to talk about this idea of substance.• All of the Greek philosophers after him will ask the

same question: What is this substance that everything is made of?

• Thales thought it was water. Why? 3 reasons.– 1. He saw earthquakes ( 地震 ), hurricanes (飓风 ), and

other disasters (灾害 ) and thought that they happened because the earth floats (浮动 ) on water.

– 2. He watched water change into air (蒸发 ) and water also change into dirt ( 泥 ).

– 3. He said that all animals, plants and people need water to live and we are all made of water.

Milesians

• Anaximenes (585-528 BCE)• He thought Thales was wrong. He said the

substance is AIR (空气 ). Why?• Anaximenes saw a connection between density

( 密度 ) and temperature ( 温度 ). He found this by blowing ( 吹 ) on his hand. Try it!

• So, he saw that when air becomes cold, it changes to water and then to stone. But, when it becomes hot it changes to fire. So, air created everything.

Milesians

• Anaximander (610-546 BCE)• Anaximander is famous for many things:– First map of the world– First map of the stars– First indoor clock – Earth is a cylinder (气缸 )• “3x wider than it is deep.”

– Man came from fish.• Tree example

Milesians

• BUT, he is most famous for the APEIRON• Like the other 2 philosophers, Anaximander

had ideas about the great substance of everything.

• Read this quote and think about it for a minute. Talk, write, or just think.

Apeiron

The Apeiron is the substance of all things. Where things have their beginning,There also is their destruction.This is necessary.For they give to each other justice and pay for their injustice,Adjusting to the order of time.

凡事物都有其开始，也有其销毁。这是必要的。他们给对方正义和支付他们的不公，调整的时间顺序。

Apeiron

• OK!?!?!? What does that mean?• To tell the truth, no one knows. I don’t think

Anaximander even knows what he was saying really.

• But I want to talk about it a little. • First, this word….Apeiron

Apeiron

• In the Greek language, Apeiron has many meanings:– Void (无效 )– Nothing (没什么 )– Infinite (无限 )

• Not helpful…• Anaximander also said this: “They are in opposition

one to another — air is cold, water is moist, and fire is hot — and therefore, if any one of them were infinite, the rest would have died.”

Apeiron• What does that mean?• He’s saying that Thales and Anaximenes were wrong. • He’s saying that these elements ( 元素 ) can’t be the

substance because, if they were the substance, the other elements would die.

• For example: If water was the substance, then everything would eventually change to water.

• Also, if water created everything, then why did it change at all? What made water change to air or dirt?

• If it is water, then how did something dry like wood come?• So, the substance must be something completely

DIFFERENT.

Apeiron

• So, this Apeiron is the substance, but it is not anything that we know or see. It is something unknowable (不可思议 ), something beyond and above everything.

• The Apeiron is a super-substance that can be both wet and dry at the same time. It can be air, water, fire, and earth at the same time. It creates the elements.

• So, we understand the beginning. What about the end of the quote?

Apeiron

The Apeiron is the substance of all things. Where things have their beginning,There also is their destruction.This is necessary.For they give to each other justice and pay for their injustice,Adjusting to the order of time.

凡事物都有其开始，也有其销毁。这是必要的。他们给对方正义和支付他们的不公，调整的时间顺序。

Apeiron

• What does Anaximander mean by Justice (正义 )?• Water and Fire are opposites. They bring balance like

yin-yang. If there is too much Water, then Fire dies and if there is too much Fire, then water dies. Right?

• I think Anaximander is talking about change (改变 ). • “They give each other justice.” = Change• Fire lives for a little time and then it returns to the

Apeiron so that water can have a chance.

Pythagoreans

• Pythagoras (570-495 BCE)– All you need to know about Pythagoras is NUMBERS– Pythagoras did not think that there was a substance,

but that the earth was made of different %’s of elements. He spent his life trying to find these %’s.

– He is the first man to use the word “philosopher”– He is also the first to start communities of

philosophers. They lived together, shared money and food and studied all day every day.

Pythagoreans

• He is most famous for his math.• He was also the first person to understand the

connection (连接 ) between music and math. – Blacksmith (铁匠 ) story.

• He had many followers and they also did math.

NEXT WEEK

• Parmenides, Heraclitus, and the Atomists• Also, PLATO and his buddy Socrates (苏格拉底 )• Homework: Read the “Allegory of the Cave” by

Plato• 柏拉图之地穴寓言是讲述• Beginning of Book 7 or “Republic”• http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.h

tml• http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/

platoscave.html