Bernarda Franco December 22 2017 Philosophy of Science Prof. Michael Izady Midterm Exam Revised Discuss how the world of chaos and disorder becomes the world of order and harmony in the universe of the pre-Socratic, Milesian thinkers.
The beginning of Ionian Philosophy started in the city of Miletus which today is part of the republic of Turkey. In the Sixth century Miletus and other cities were in disarray due to the immigration and invasion of the Lydians and the Persians; cities were in chaos and had lost their freedom. During this time is when the Hellenic culture, the Ionian Enlightenment or Ionic revolution, started to rise in Asia Minor and continued on to the early years of the Greek classical period. This revolution encouraged creativeness and discovery giving origin to Miletian Poets, Artists, Historians, Geographers, Architects, City planners and the first Philosophers of nature: Thales, Anaximander Anaximander and Anaximene Anaximenes s whose Ideas were were questioned questioned and refined by by Xenophanes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus and Anaxagoras. Once the Persians had ruled over the Ionic colonies including Miletus, Pythagoras and Xenophanes moved to other Greek colonies in Italy bringing with them the Hellenic Culture which was later carried on in the greek colonies by Parmenides, Zeno and Empedocles. Anaxagoras was the last of the Ionian Philosophers who moved to Athens, Greece during the beginning of the classical era and introduced his interpretations of the ideas of Thales and his followers. Due to the fact that the Ionian Enlightenment was the consequence of a chaotic era, nature philosophers questioned not only about the politics and law at the time but also started to question about the nature of humanity and the cosmos and about enhancing their wisdom about the universe. Aristotle referred to these early greek
philosophers as physicists since the word in Greek means ‘Physikoi’ which means ‘natural philosopher’. The reason why they were called physicists or natural philosophers was because they were the first who tried to explain the reason for phenomena by correlating it to natural causes instead of supernatural causes as it was thought to be in the past by associating everything with mythology of gods and goddesses. There is not much information about the early Ionian philosophers; only phrases or quotes that were later interpreted by other people. Because of this, there exists a lot of different perspectives on who these early Philosophers were and what they did and actually thought and meant. Thales acquired a lot of notoriety and was numbered among the seven sages of Ancient Greece. He was accredited for many acts and discoveries and supposedly, he was the first person to prove geometric theorems and find the relation between geometry and the pyramids in Egypt and the distances of ships on the ocean. All of the discoveries and knowledge of these milesian philosophers, gave the theory that there exists an “Arche” which means origin or “Fundamental substance” that although it may vary in appearance, it will still remain the same always. For Thales, the Arche or fundamental substance was water; his theory was that everything is water and that is why the earth sits on water. Thales believed that because the earth floated on water, water was the basis of everything but today, a physicist would say that Thales thought water as the ‘Arche’ because it can turn into any of the three forms: Liquid, gas or solid and although it looks different in every phase, it is the same thing. Unlike Thales, Anaximander thought of the ‘Arche’ as limitless and boundless, something he called Apeiron; he said that Thales theory was not correct because water or any other elements already have its properties and boundaries; therefore the Arche must be something limitless that creates the entire universe. Anaximander also says that the earth is the center of everything, because there is “no reason” for it to move one
way or another. The reason for this is because there is lack of evidence and no one can prove him wrong until someone proves him otherwise. This became the boundary that separated mythology and science as science always needs physical evidence to prove something. This principle, was the origin for scientific reasoning which we still use to this day. Anaximander also made astronomical discoveries about solstices, times, seasons and equinoxes and created theories of human and animal existence; he was the first one to give logical reasoning to what used to be mythological phenomena such as wind and thunder and lightning. Anaximenes was a younger follower of Anaximander and like him and Thales,
he believed that everything was made of one substance (Monism). For Anaximander, the ‘Arche’ was Air and the air changed in appearance which is defined by its density. “Rarified, it becomes fire; condensed it becomes first wind, then cloud, then water and then earth and stones” For Anaximander, everything was made from Air and its various
changes of density. Pythagoras was born on Samos, northwest of Miletus and decided to leave due
to the political corruption and go to Babylon and Egypt to enlarge his knowledge; when he went back to Samos he realized the corruption was still there and decided to move to southern Italy to the city of Croton where he formed a secret religious society or cult and gained so many followers called the Pythagoreans who for a time, had control over Croton. Because of an issue with a resident of Croton, the cult was broken and Pythagoras had to move to Metapontum. Although after Pythagoras died, there were still followers that kept the original pythagorean ways and practiced their science and philosophy as Pythagoras, eventually the cult died out. Pythagoras was very admired and loved by his followers and in later years in the first century, there was a new movement called Neo Pythagoreanism which began in Rome and included a leader mathematician who presented Pythagoras as the founder of greek mathematics and a great philosopher. Because the society was secret, there is not a lot of information about what was talked about between the pythagoreans but it is said that Pythagoras
gave the most completely “ethical and logical philosophy” about Physics, sciences, various disciplines and everything that the human kind knows of. Pythagoras believed that the soul was infinite or immortal and never died or disappeared; once a person died, the soul would go into another animal. He also said that past events repeat themselves and it is all in a loop and nothing is new. The relationship of all living things pertains to a Pythagorean belief in the word “Cosmos”, which means an “orderly, harmonious and systematic universe” where everyone and everything is bonded and it is all organized and in order. The Pythagoreans were divided into categories and the main category were the Mathematici, who had mastered all of Pythagoras’s mathematical philosophy and believed that numbers were the basis of everything since everything in the world had some sort of relationship with numbers. It is said that Pythagoras discovered the relationship between music and numbers by using a string and dividing it proportionally which created the same sounds at different tones. Music is a harmony, meaning that it is a balance and integration of things that all relate to one another and compose a final result, which for the Pythagoreans, the universe was a harmony of numbers that compose all things. Parmenides views on the that everything was permanent and there was
absolutely no change or movement. Parmenides thought that something either is or it is not, something cannot become something else because nothing comes from nothing and that creation or destruction is impossible. He believed that all apparent change including motion, was an illusion, this was based on the unreliability of the human senses. His perception of the universe was that everything was a motionless, endless, indestructible uncreated sphere of being and everything that proved the contrary was an illusion. Zeno was Parmenides follower and he supported Parmenides thoughts by
presenting texts talking about paradoxes that like Parmenides, endorsed the argument that plurality and motion were an illusion; the only difference was that Zeno presented
his argument in a different manner with paradoxes and making the audience believe that his argument was a different one than Parmenides, but it was the same. Empedocles was the one who questioned Parmenides’ beliefs; he agreed with
Parmenides beliefs that the senses were unreliable, but he disagreed with the concept that motion and plurality was an illusion. He suggested that there were four Arches which were the elements that made up the universe and will make everything else: Earth, Fire, Water and Earth. Empedocles also was the first one to say that light was not instantaneous, but it took time to travel. Anaxagoras had written one book in which he stated that “All things were
together, then mind (Nous) came and set them in order”. By the word nous, he referred to the intelligence or mind of the cosmos. Anaxagoras became famous for his philosophy of nature and his nickname became “Nous”. Anaxagoras “was the first to enthrone in the universe not Chance, nor yet Necessity but mind (Nous), pure and simple, which distinguishes and sets apart in the midst of an otherwise chaotic mass the substances which have like elements.” Anaxagoras believed in what he called the seed theory which consisted of everything which was composed from a variety of elements and everything had a part of everything else and that everything was a mixture of many different things so that there is fragment of everything in everything else. One of the elements mentioned by Anaxagoras, is the Aither which is wrongly associated with fire. He believed that all stars including the sun and the moon were fire stones and rotated according to the Aither. Anaxagoras came up with his philosophy by mixing his three concepts of the Seed theory, the Aither and Nous; Anaxagoras believed that mind was something endless and independent and was the most powerful, finest and purest tool. For Anaxagoras, Mind meant control and order; “Mind set everything in order, what was to be, what was but it is not now, and all that now is and shall be…” Leucippus and Democritus worked together in developing their Atomic theory
which essentially implied that the entire universe is made up of an infinite number of small particles which are constantly moving inside an infinite void and when these
collide, they create compounds which makes up everything that exists in the universe. This theory challenged Parmenides’ theory about the cosmos by saying that nothingness does exist which they call the void, everything is not static but in motion, Something can be created and destroyed and that there exists Plurality in things. The Atomic theory, theory, just like previous previous theories, theories, is also also based in the Arche, Arche, a single single substance substance from where everything in the universe is formed; this substance hold all the atoms which are invisible and vary in different sizes and shapes. While inside the infinite void, the atoms move and converge with other atoms of different properties to form compounds which are the matter in the natural world; the appearance of the compounds in the natural world such as that of a human, animal, plant, etc; is dictated by the configuration of compounds that are made from atoms that have infinite range of properties which allows for the creation of limitless types of compounds, thus, creating all the diversity in the universe and giving the possibility that there are other worlds out there that vary in sizes as well and that these worlds could be similar to ours or completely different. The ending of the pre socratic speculation came when the theory of Atoms was proposed by Leucippus of Miletus and his learner Democritus of Abdera. Leucippus and Democritus, just like Anaximander believed that the world was of cylindrical shape. Although, Although, Democritus Democritus believed believed that the the top surface surface was concave instead of of flat and Leucippus believed on the theory that the earth was at the center of a vortex which was created through the collision of Atoms inside of a void of stronger magnitude than the infinite void and that once the atoms collided to form the vortex, there was a system that sorted out where each atom went; the atoms that went to the center unified and formed the compound that is Earth and the ones outside the center of the vortex, make up the compounds that surround earth such as the moon, sun, stars, etc. The vortex is infinite and always in motion and can still become larger by making physical contact with other atoms. Leucippus and Democritus view on the soul (Psyche), was that the soul distinguished living from non-living objects was a special substance created by small
round atoms that allowed the substance to be flexible in order to enter different bodies. According According to them, the soul is mortal and and it will perish along along with the body when its atoms break apart. ‘Nothing occurs at random, but everything for a reason and by necessity’ According According to Aristotle, Aristotle, this statement was said by Leucippus. Leucippus. This statement was very important for their Atomic theory because it gave it realism and connected everything. Before this, there was a lot confusion as to what produced the atoms to move and be in infinite motion. As to what the statement implies, that the atoms existed in motion because it was necessary for them to move, meaning that the atoms follow the laws of nature which require them to move. This statement was the piece that connected all the parts of their Atomic theory and made it logical. It is clear the way the mindset of the early philosophers and their philosophy developed and advanced over time. In the beginning, before the rise of the Ionian Enlightenment, there was no one who understood the cause of natural phenomena and tried to understand the reasoning behind everything which they assumed was an act of the gods and goddesses. Overtime After the ionian revolution gave birth to the first nature philosophers, people started to question the meaning and the reason behind things by enhancing their knowledge about the world, the relationship between things, the cosmos and the mind. These philosophers intended to understand how the universe worked and tried to understand the universe which before them, was not in chaos and disorder and it did not make any sense. Before them all the causes for everything in the universe, had to do with mythology which was illogical and then when the Ionian revolution happened and the philosophers started to think about logical and simpler reasons for the making of the universe they started to in a way organize the world by providing theories and logical reasons for everything by trying to find the Arche which would connect everything as well as make everything about the cosmos make sense, thus, providing the notion of order and harmony to their minds.
