Philosophy Exam 1 - pre Socrates

Thales what did he believe / who was he

Aristotle 4 statements about Thales

known as the father of philosophy

he thought beyond his senses

he believed that there was a fundamental substance to all things - which was water

principles

1. basic nature of all things is water

2. the earth rests upon water

3. all things are full of Gods

   1. meaning all physical objects [living and non living] in the world had a non living component to it [ everything has a soul]

4. the magnetic stone has a soul because it sets the iron in motion

   1. this is his understanding of magnitism. the rock has a soul that reaches out to another rocks soul and pulls them together.

AnaxiMANDER

believed that every being living and non living was made up of qualities that are pairs of opposites

When one thing is present in this world, its opposite is in the APEIRON

• if its light in our world it is dark in the apeiron

Law of Justice

• this is how they switch places

• its only in our where where the thing performs its function

AnaxMENES

he believes the basic substance is air

air changes its form based on density

fire - ether - air - wind - cloud - water - mud - earth - stone

Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans

they lived an ascetic life - a simple life

they believed in the transmigration of ones soul so they did all they could to live pure lives

belief system

the earth is mathematical in nature 

they believe all things are numbers - there are 2 interpretations of this statement 

1. the number 1 = point, everything is made of points, they are building blocks.  2 = line.   3= place / surface.    4 = solid  every 3D object is a manifestation of the number 4 

2. between any two points there are literally exists an infinant number of points. that means the whole universe and everything in it is made up of an infinant number of points 

Heraclitus

Ponta rei - means that everything moves / changes

he believes everything in the universe is in perpetual conflict with each other

he disagreed with Homer, who thought the world needed peace and tranquility he wanted harmony - no conflict.

Heraclitus says that conflict is necessary. without conflict the world will collapse

his basic substance is fire

but he uses it in more of a symbolic way not literally

he says some thing are fiery and some are not.

like humans - they are both fiery and not fiery. the soul of the person is fiery but the body is not.

he uses LOGOS - meaning universal reason that determines everything that happens in the universe

Logos is both willing and unwilling to be called Zeus.

• it depends on the persons view on Zeus

• if you think of Zeus as all of his faults and the bad things he’s done - then no

• if you think of Zeus positively - then yes

Parmenides

he believes reason and reason alone is the the truth about reality. to him, the senses could not be trusted.

reason tells him that being is one. he literally thinks that being, or reality, is 1 thing compressed into a solid sphere

non being is nothing

being is one, unchanging, eternal

being has always existed and will always exist

If it had a beginning, it could only come from two things, being or nonbeing, and neither one makes sense.

the question of can the being sphere be split.

1. split being with being. doesn’t do anything because then you and one side of being, other of being, and the middle is being

2. split with non being

It is UNBREAKABLE because if it were to be split, it would have to be split by nonbeing, meaning nothing; to say, "nothing splits being".

Zeno

he holds all of the same beliefs as Parmenides

he does reductio ad absurdum - meaning he takes his opponents side, assumes it is correct, and stretches their belief system so far that it fails to make sense.

Zeno’s paradox

To the parthagorans between any two numbers there is an infinite number of points.

he argues if the universe is made up of an infinite number of points all movement would impossible

Zeno's paradox - To get from one side of the stadium to another, you need to get halfway, then halfway again, then again, forever. The underlying logic is that it is impossible to cross an infinite number of points in a finite amount of time

what does Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and the atomists have in common

they all buy into Parmenides idea that being is eternal

• but they all do think that being have a beginning and ending

• it is the particles that are eternal

who of the pre Socrates are the only non pluralists

Zeno and Parmenides

What separates Empedocles and Anaxagoras from The Atomists 

they are known as Qualitative pluralists 

Empedocles

he believed the world was made up of particles and he calls them the ‘‘ root of all’’

• there are 4 types of roots [earth, fire, water, air] 

he accounts for 2 non physical forces - hate and love

the world goes through 3 phases love, love and hate, and hate - it takes 1000 years to complete a full cycle

• when the world is in love - all particles are fused together - there is no world

• when the world is in hate - no two particles come together - air, earth, fire, and water partials stay in their own separate groups  

• the world is only the world as we know it when there is both love and hate. here love pulls some things together while hate keeps others apart.

every time love and hate are both in the world, completely new environments and animals populate the planet. animals not suited to live on that particular planet die

• this is though to be the first idea of natural selection

anaxAGORAS

his eternal particle is the seed

there are many different types of seed and fore every type of substance, there is a seed

homeomerism

• everything is made up of every possible kind of seed in some way

• every being is made up of seeds of every single substance

Before Nous, all seeds were still, not doing anything.

Nous comes in and made a huge vortex that spins faster and faster, until it finally shot out the world as we know it.

Socrates criticized this belief - saying that it sounds like Nous was thrown into the philosophy to bridge a gap and disappear forever.

the atomists

Atom - Meaning unbreakable, atoms don't have qualities; the only difference between them is their size and shape. No active external force, they are self-moving.

From void - eventually, one atom collides with another and forms a chain reaction, a vortex is made,and then our world comes from it.

MATERIALISM - anything that exists is made up of atoms, INCLUDING the human soul.

The soul is a physical entity, made up of smaller, finer atoms that can't be seen by the naked eye.

DETERMINISM - Two levels:
1 - Cosmic level - If you took into account every variable in the entire universe at the time that the first atom collided with another, you could predict anything and everything in the future.

2 - human level - Humans DON'T have free will, because everything from the beginning is the result of the movement of the atoms from the beginning of time.

who is known as the father of philosophy

thales - he was the first to think beyond the senses 

what person or community is associated with ascetics

pyhagorans

who is associated with pona rei

what does it mean

heraclits

everuthing moves / changes

who is reducto ad absurdum associated with

zeno

who is homeomerism associtated with

empedocles

what are the two names associtated with the atomists

• leucitus

• democitus