Philosophical Bridges: The Influence of Atomism 62
THE SOPHISTS 62
Prologue 62 63
Biographical History 63
Philosophical Overview 63 Fragments 64
Study Questions 65
GORGIAS 65
Biographical History 65
Philosophical Overview 66 Fragments 66
Study Questions 69
Philosophical Bridges: The Sophist Influence 69
Philosophical Bridges: The Early Ancient Influence 70
Bibliography 71
II: PLATO
<¢)PROLOGUE 72
PLATO 73
Biographical History 73
Philosophical Overview 73
Euthyphro 75
Study Questions 86
Apology 86
Study Questions 103
Crito 103
Study Questions 112
Protagoras: Selections 112
Study Questions 116
Gorgias: abridged 117
Study Questions 138
Meno 139
Study Questions 158
Phaedo: Selections 159
Study Questions 173
Symposium:Selections 173
Study Questions 188
Republic: Books I-X Abridged 188
Study Questions 240
Phaedrus: Selections 241
Study Questions 248
Parmenides:Selections 249
Study Questions 255
Theaetetus:Selections 255
Study Questions 262
Timaeus: Selections 262
Study Questions 265
Letter VII: Selections 266
Study Questions 269
Philosophical Bridges: The Platonic Influence 270
Bibliography 271
III: ARISTOTLE
{)PROLOGUE 273
273
ARISTOTLE 273
Biographical History 273
Philosophical Overview 274
Categories: Chapters 1-5 276
Study Questions 280
On Interpretation: Chapters4 and 9 281
Study Questions 284
Prior Analytics: Book I, Chapters 1 and 4
Study Questions 289
Posterior Analytics: Book I, Chapters 1-2; and Book II, Chapter 19 289
Study Questions 298
Physics: Selectionsfrom Books I-III and VIII 299
Study Questions 319
Metaphysics:Selectionsfrom Books I, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and XII 320
Study Questions 347
On the Soul: Selectionsfrom Books II and III 348
Study Questions 358
NicomacheanEthics: Selectionsfrom Books I-III, VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X 358
Study Questions 411
Politics: Books I, II, III, and VII 412
Study Questions 432
Poetics: Chapters 1 4, 9, 13, and 14 432
Study Questions 437
Philosophical Bridges: The Aristotelian Influence 437
Bibliography 439
IV: HELLENISTIC OPHY
OPROLOGUE 441
EPICUREANISM 442
Prologue 442
EPICURUS 442
Biographical History
Philosophical Overview
Letter to Herodotus
Study Questions
Letter to Menoeceus
Study Questions
Principal Doctrines
Study Questions
LUCRETIUS
Biographical
Philosophical Overview 459
On the Nature of Things: Selections 459
Study Questions 468
Philosophical Bridges: The Influence of Epicureanism 468
STOICISM
Prologue 468 468
ZENO OF CITIUM
Biographical History
Philosophical Overview
Zeno: Fragments
Study Questions
EPICTETUS 476
Biographical History 476
Philosophical Overview 476
Encheiridion (The Manual): Complete 476
Study Questions 486
MARCUS AURELIUS 486
Biographical History 486
Philosophical Overview 487
The Meditations: Book IV 487
Study Questions 492
Philosophical Bridges: The Influence of Stoicism 493
SKEPTICISM 493
Prologue
SEXTUS EMPIRICUS 494
Biographical History 494
Philosophical Overview 494
Outlines of Pyrrhonism 494
Study Questions 503
Philosophical Bridges: The Influence of Skepticism 504
Philosophical Bridges: The Ancient Influence 504
Bibliography 505
Sources 507
PREFACE
Philosophymay not be the professionbut it is the oldestdiscipline, the sourceof our views about reality, knowledge,and morality. To understandthe revolutionary nature of the evolution of philosophyis to understandourselvesand our world anew. Inspiredby the intellectual intimacy that philosophyaffords, the mind is broadenedand refreshed.In that sensephilosophy is always anything but old: awashwith new possibilities of inquiry and understanding,the illuminating questionsof philosophyliberateus from the blinding obvi~ ousnessof acceptedanswers, blinders of our individual and collective biases.
Though philosophersbuild upon the work of their they continually revise and often overthrow the views of their predecessors-sometimes,eventhoseof their own teachers.One of the most famousexamplesis the sequence Socratesto Plato to Aristotle. And yet throughout the evolution of thought that philosophy heralds much remains the same: the call to wonder, to dispute, to question, to liberate, to ponder, to inquire, to understandeverythingone can about the whole of our being-reality, knowl~ and morality-without becomingourselvesclosedoff. To behold the whole without being conqueredby the wholenessof the vision, that is the sum and substanceof the west~ ern intellectualtradition madepossibleby philosophy.
To seenew wisdom in old and old wisdom in the new is to be not just learnedbut wise. And to not just toleratesuchexpansiveopennessbut to love it now then is what it meansto be a philosopher,then and now. This book may not make you a philosopher. But it will provide you with you need to becomeone. A claim and, there~ a big book: with 44 of the greatestworks by 20 of the most importantwesternphiloso~ from ancienttimes, this volume assemblesinto one book someof most profound edifying ideas in the history of thought. In addition to 14 major dia~ of Plato and 10 of Aristotle's groundbreaking works, this volume contains a full seu;:ctJlon of the Pre~Socratic philosophersand the Hellenistic and Roman schools of thought.
Suitable for a one~semester introduction to ancient philosophy, history of philoso~ phy, history of ideas,or westernintellectual history, this book is a covert assemblywith a covert purpose, to bring philosophy to you but even more importantly: to bring you to philosophy.
We havestructuredthe book to this possible.The volume as a whole is divided into four standarddivisions: "Section I, Early Ancient Greek Philosophy," "Section II, ""Section III, Aristotle," and IV, Hellenistic and RomanPhilosophy."Each Sectionopenswith a "Prologue", a contextfor specific philosophers,suchas "Pro~ to Plato," or to key schoolsof thought, such as "Prologue to Stoicism." These are ae~ngr1ed to let you in on what hascomebefore,so that you don't enterthe conversationin
the middle. Individual "Biographical Histories" give details about the life and times of philosopher,such as "Aristotle: A Biographical History." The purposeis to show you that philosophersare neither divine demigods nor depersonalizedthinking machinesbut individual human beings with a penchantfor grappling with the perennial big questions.The purposeof the "PhilosophicalOverviews" to each philosopheris two~ fold: first, to show how that philosopher'sthinking about reality, knowledgeand morality integrate into a coherentview; to integrate each particular philosopher into a broaderphilosophicalcontext. Each reading selectioncomeswith its own concise intro~ duction designedto quickenyour entry into the issuesand prepareyou for what is to come. The selectionsthemselveshave been for their profundity and edited to high~ light the central importance,while leaving in the all~important methods,processes,and developmentof views expressed Where translationsare involved, we eachcase the most lucid. The "Study Questions"at the end of eachcnapt:er, as "Study Questionsfor Pre~Socratic Philosophy," comprehensionquestionsas well as discussionquestions; are for you, to test yourself, to seehow well you have understoodwhat you have read. "The PhilosophicalBridges" at the end of each chapter, such as "The Platonic Influence," summarizesthe influence of eachthinker on later gener~ ations in order that you can appreciatethe threadsconnectingdifferent periods and see how philosophy'sperennialquestionslead to ever more views.
thanks to each of the following reviewers, whose commentsabout one or more of the volumes in the "Longman Standard of Philosophy" serieshelped to enrtan1:::eeachbook.
Michael L. Anderson, Universityof Maryland
Marina P. Banchetti~Robino, Florida Atlantic University
David Pacific University
;:,tt~PllLen Braude,University of Maryland Baltimore County
Cynthia K. Brown, Catholic University of America
RichardJ. Burke, OaklandUniversity
Marina Bykova, North CarolinaStateUniversity
Jeffrey ChristopherNewport University
JamesP. Cooney,MontgomeryCounty CommunityCollege
Elmer H. Duncan,Baylor University
ChristianEarly, EasternMennoniteUniversity
EmmaL. Easteppe,Boise StateUniversity
JamesE. Falcouner,Brigham Young University
Chris L. Firestone,Trinity InternationalUniversity
Merigala Gabriel, GeorgiaSouthernUniversity
Bruce Hauptli, Florida InternationalUniversity
Larry Hauser,Alma College
David J. Hilditch, WebsterUniversity
Mary Beth Ingham, Loyola MarymountUniversity
Betty Kiehl, PalomarCollege
John H. Kulten, Jr., University of Missouri
Nelson P. Lande, University of Massachusetts
DorotheaLotter, Wake ForestUniversity
CharlesS. MacKenzie,ReformedTheologicalSeminary
ThomasJ. Martin, University of North CarolinaCharlotte
D. A. Masolo, University of Louisville
LeemonB. McHenry, California StateUniversity, Northridge
We would like to thank the following people for their help. Brandon West of the College of Woosterfor his sterling work as a studentresearchassistant.Amy Ericksonand Patrice Reederof the College of Wooster for their unfailing secretarialhelp. Professors Martin Gunderson,Ron Hustwit, Henry Kreuzman,Adrian Moore, ElizabethSchiltz, and Philip Turetzsky for useful comments.Everyone at Longman for their very profes, sional work, especially Priscilla McGeehan,who has supportedthe project with tireless energyand enthusiasm.Our wives, Wendy and Helena,for their help and understanding. Finally, we would like to dedicatethis volume to our children: Julia, Sophia, Dylan, and Andre Kolak; and to Andrew, Frances,Verena,Susana,and RobertThomson.
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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
About 2,600 yearsago, somethingremarkableoccurred.Original thinkers appearedalmost simultaneouslyaround globe. It was as if thinking had beendiscoveredindependently in different parts of the world. In China, there were Lao Tzu (604-510 B.C.) and Confu# cious (557-479 B.C.); in India, Gotma Buddha (563-483 B.C.) and Mahavira Jain (540-468 B.C.); and in Zoroaster(628-551 The most fertile land for growing thinkers was Greece. Anaximander, Pythagoras,and Parmenidesall flourished within one century. BetweenThales (624-545 B.C.) and Socrates(470-399 B.C.), is only about 150 years. during this short span, we can see many of the great of westernphilosophyin embryonicform.
Ancient philosophy contains nearly all the major elements of western thought. Becauseof its simplicity, it is often more beautiful and edifying than later philosophical work, which tends to cluttered with qualifications and which contains ideological debates,such as those surroundingChristian doctrine. The ancient Greek philosophers pioneeredmany of the greatideasof humanity,and by studyingthesethinkerswe may hope to regainthe original freshness,and clarity of insights.
The intellectual culture of ancient Greecewas optimistic and bold. In general, it lackedthe cynicism and self#doubtthat sometimesplagueour age.The early Greeksin par# ticular had an extraordinaryconfidencethat they could understandthe world in all its aspectsthrough the applicationof their own intellectual capacities.They discoveredthat we learn some of nature'ssecretsjust by reasoning and systematicallybasedon empirical observation. is probably humanity'sgreatestdiscovery.It was an exl:retnellV powerful, invigorating, liberating breakthrough ancient Greeks. Probably for thesereasons,ancientGreecegavebirth to threeof the greatestminds of all time: '""' ..,,t-""" Plato, and Aristotle.
When reading ancient Greeks, it is important to rememberthat we take for granteda vast and complex backgroundof accumulatedknowledgeand conceptsthat ancientphilosophersdid not have. For example,we know that the moon is smaller than the sun, we assumethat all animalsand plantsare classifiedinto species,and we know how to explain the existence In the ancientworld, this complex web of background knowledgeand concepts yet to be discoveredand formulated.For the Greeks, pre# senteditself as a challenge; was a whole world to understandand explore.
A Brief Story
Any story is a simplification of what occurs.It is necessarilyselective.Furthermore,schol# ars often disputehow the views of thesethinkers should understood.Nevertheless,
developmentof ancient philosophy is an interesting story that can be divided into four parts, which correspondto the sectionsof this first volume.
The Early Ancient Greek Philosophers
From about 580 B.C., in the easternprovincesof the Greek empire, the first pre~Socratic thinkers (Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes) tried to explain systematically the natureof the universeby identifying the basicstuff out of which all things are made,and by specifyingthe fundamentalprinciples that order nature.Around 500 B.C., with the work of Heraclitusand Pythagoras,this philosophybecamemore metaphysicallyoriented.
Around 450 B.C., Parmenidesthreateneddramatically this whole enterprise. He denied the very possibility of scienceor natural philosophy. He and Zeno arguedfor the claim that the universe is an undivided whole in which changeand plurality are impossi~ ble. In other words, they arguedthat natural philosophywas no more than a descriptionof illusion. The problem was that their argumentsappearedsound. Although later natural philosophers,suchas Empedoclesand Democritus,tried to ward off this threat and brought progressto natural philosophy,the challengewas not met decisively.
In about420 B.C., a new and evenmore skepticalapproachemerged:Sophism.Partly in reaction to the diversity of earlier metaphysicaltheories,the Sophiststaught a form of relativism that spurnedmetaphysicsand challengedthe religious and moral views of the time. In general terms, the Sophistsargued that there were no metaphysicaland ethical truths to be learned.Instead,they taught their pupils to debatepersuasively.
Socratesand Plato
In about420 B.C.,. Socratesbeganto argueagainstSophism.He took issuewith its skeptical and relativist view of ethics. In order to refute such relativism decisively, Plato arguedfor the existenceof universalForms. TheseForms,or Ideas,are abstractobjectsthat define the essenceof terms, such as 'justice' and 'goodness,'and their existenceis requiredto explain knowledge and language.In his many dialogues,Plato expoundsthe implications of the theory of Forms for many areasof knowledge, such as epistemology,education,theology, ethics, art, and politics.
Plato also rejected the pre~Socratic tradition of natural philosophy, arguing that purely mechanicalexplanationsnever provide the reasonswhy things happen.The rejec~ tion of mechanismalso indicatesthe needfor the Forms. In other words, Plato saw the two options of pre~ Socraticthought, that is, the physical mechanismof the Ionians and the rel~ ativism of the Sophists, as a false dichotomy. This points to the existenceof universal Forms. It seemedthat the deadlockof pre~Socratic philosophyhad beenresolved.
Aristotle
However, does the refutation of Sophismand mechanismreally require the existenceof universalForms?Aristotle arguedthat it doesnot. He claimed that the denial of relativism doesnot require Platonicabsolutism.Aristotle had a great interestin the naturalworld and the classificationof species.He also classifiedusesof misleadingphilosophicalterms, such as 'to be' and 'cause,'and this led him to concludethat things can be said to exist in differ~ ent ways, which he calls categories.In particular, the categoryof 'substance'indicateswhat exists primarily, and other kinds of existencesuch as that of qualities or the Forms are derivative. In other words, Plato was mistakento treat the Forms as if they were substances. Furthermore,Aristotle aspectsof substance: the Form is its essence,and the matter is what it is composedof. This allowed Aristotle to transcendboth Plato and the pre~Socratics, who respectivelyand mistakenly treat form
and matter as if they were independentsubstances.Aristotle thoughtthat universalsexist, but that their existenceis derivative or parasitic on natural substances.The forms are immanentin the naturalworld.
Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy
The period of brilliance in Greekphilosophydid not end with Aristotle, even though the golden age of the city~states faded away. About 20 yearsafter the deathof Aristotle, there emerged three important new schools of philosophy: Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Pyrrhoneanskepticism.As the Greeceof small city#statesdeclinedand Rome becamethe central Europeanpower, these new systemsgained strength,especiallyStoicism. Around 170 A.D., the Stoic RomanemperorMarcus Aurelius gave grantsto the four philosophical schoolsof Athens: Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, Epicurus' Garden, and the Stoa of the Stoics. By this time, however, the philosophicaloriginality of ancient Greecehad been lost. Rome was already under the threat of invasion, and philosophy was about to decline.The revival of philosophyin the medievalperiod is the themeof Volume II of this collection.
Some Historical Background
Ancient Greecewas not a single country but rathera collection of small city#states,spread throughoutthe Aegean,which shareda languageand a culture. An importantpart of this common heritagewas the mythology that Homer expressedin the Iliad and Odysseyin around 700 B.C. Another aspectof this sharedculture was athletics; the Olympic Games, first held in 776 B.C., were also festivals in which peoplefrom all over the region partici# pated.As its wealth increased,Greekcivilization developedits distinctive drama,architec# ture, and otherart forms, as well as the first scientific philosophy.As it spreadeastward,this civilization cameinto conflict with the great and growing PersianEmpire.
In 491 B.C., a Greek force of about 20,000 soldiers won the historic battle of Marathonagainstthe Persianarmy of possiblymore than 100,000.Then, in 480, after years of preparation,the Persianking Xerxessenta hugearmy and navy againstGreece.Remark# ably, becauseAthens and Spartaworked togetherand becauseof their superiororganiza# tion, the Greekswere able to resist this onslaughtwith an especiallydecisiveseabattle at Salamis.Theseeventsmark an important turning point in Europeanhistory, after which victorious Athens enjoyeda golden age of greatness.Becauseof its newfoundwealth, sta# bility, and self~confidence, Athens attainednew intellectual and cultural heights.Pericles, who held political office from 467 to 428 B.C., led this process:he institutedmany reforms that made Athens a democracyas well as an economic and cultural center. During this golden period, the arts flourished. In 447, Pericles initiated the construction of the Parthenon.This was the period of the great tragic plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles,and Euripides, and later the comediesof Aristophanes.This was also the time of the great philosophers such as Parmenides, Zeno, Democritus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Sophists,and Socrates.In PericleanGreece,Herodotusand Thucydidesproducedtheir major historical works, and Hippocrateswrote his systematicmedical texts.
However, under the leadershipof Sparta,the other Greekcity~states, suchas Megara and Corinth, challengedAthens' military and economic supremacy.This initiated the PeloponnesianWar (431-404B.C.), which Spartaeventuallywon. The ensuingwar led to the crowding of Athens' population into the city walls, and a devastatingplagueresulted. Pericleswas blamed,convicted,and removedfrom office. That sameyear, in 429, he died. The turning point in the war was the Sicilian Expeditionof 415-413.Under the leadership
of Alcibiades, Athens to capture the rich of Syracuseon Sicily, which was a colony Corinth, Athens' great commercialrival. In this debacle,Athens lost half of its military power. This loss a conflict betweenaristocracyand democracyin Athens, and, in 411, various oligarchic councils replacedthe democraticassembly.There~ after, Athens lost its fleet and its citizens starvationduring a blockade.
Athens' defeat in 404 marks the beginning of the end of the age of classical Greece.Therewas no stablepeaceunderSpartancontrol. In 387, Sparta a pact with the Persiansthat gave Spartathe protectionof the Persiansbut cededall the cltles in Asia to Persiancontrol. This led to discontentamong Greek city~states and Thebes won a famous against Sparta,which allowed Athens to supremacyof the region by around360 B.C. However, even though it was home to Plato and Aristotle and despite its economic prosperity, Athens did not repeat the artistic and cultural achieve~ mentsof its Pericleanpast.
SECT; ! ON > EARLY ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY
(),___P_R_O L_O_G_U_E
The early ancient Greek, or pre~Socratic, philosopherswere interestedprimarily in the study of nature.They tried to systematicallydescribeand explain naturalphenomena.This makesthem both the first philosophersand scientists.Of course,no suchdistinction existed 2,500 years ago. The early ancientsdid not separatequestionsthat are best answeredcon~ ceptually throughreasoningand thosethat are best addressedempirically through observa~ tion. Their philosophy was based on the assumptionthat nature is orderly and can be classified, explained, and understoodsystematically.They tried to make senseof nature without ad hoc appealsto the whims of the gods. The pre~Socratics assumedthat natureis organizedaccordingto certainprinciples. Their main aim was to discoverthoseprinciples. This aim requiredthe pre~Socratics to invent or form conceptsthat are now usually takenfor granted.For ex mple, they usedthe word 'cosmos'to standfor the universeas an orderly whole. They employedthe word 'nature' (or phusis, from which we have derived 'physics') to standfor things that grow, as opposedto artifacts, which are made.The aim of explainingnaturalphenomenaalso requiresthe conceptof naturalessences.Natural things have certainfundamentalpropertiesor an essence,in terms of which their other properties can be explained.The pre~Socratic enterprisealso employsthe notion of systematicexpla~ nation: the idea of explaining as much as possible,assumingas little as possible. Thesefirst thinkers tried to advanceargumentsin favor of their positions. For this reason,they deserveto be called the first philosophers,who discoveredthat careful reason~ ing can yield knowledgeof nature. Such a discoverycan belong only to those who distin~ guish reasoningfrom speculation. The idea of giving argumentsfor one'sclaims was novel. In this respect,we might contrastthe pre~Socratic philosopherswith the mythical storiesof Hesiod'sTheogony.Hesiod'spoem, which was probably written in the eighth century B.C., charts the genealogyof the gods, starting with Chaos,Gaea (Earth), and Eros (Love). Its mythology becamea generallyacceptedpart of Greek culture. The poem personifiesnatu~ ral forces and objects, and tries to explain the origin of somenatural phenomena,such as
day and night, the mountains,the sea, and people. For example,it describeshow the mat~ ing of Earth and her son, Uranus, the Heavens,producedthe first race, the Titans.
Furthermore,the idea that claims about the nature of the universe and morality should be supportedby some argument or reasoningdestroys the assumptionthat they should be acceptedbecauseth ey are advancedby an authority. Argumentsare revolution~ ary, becausethey allow for more freedom of thought than acceptancebasedon authority.
The Development of Early Ancient Greek Philosophy
Early ancientGreekphilosophyfirst unfolds as a story of the conflict betweenvariousvisions concerningthe basicprinciplesof nature.Philosophywas born in what is today Turkey. The first three philosophers,Thales (624-545 B.C.), Anaximander,and Anaximenes,lived in the coastaltown of Miletus, which was in the Greekprovinceof Ionia. To identify the basic principles aroundwhich the natureis organized,they studiedmany varied natural phenom~ ena,from planetsto plants.
In the secondphaseof pre~Socratic thought, Ionian philosophy becamemore meta~ physical. Pythagoras(570-497 B.C.) taught that the soul is immortal and that it transmi~ grateseven into the bodiesof animals. He formed a school to teach peoplehow to live in accordancewith his semimysticalviews. Around 500 B.C., Heraclituswrote a seriesof caus~ tic and mystical aphorismsthat expressan intriguing metaphysicsbasedon changeand the duality of opposites.
In the third phase,Parmenidesand his followers arguedforcefully that the very idea of a scienceof naturewas an error. Thesethinkers from Elea, the Eleatics,arguedthat there could not be a plurality of things. Parmenideswrote a poem arguing for the existenceof a single, indivisible, changelessthing. Zeno supportedthis position with many arguments, including his famous so~called paradoxes.The works of Parmenidesand Zeno constitutea fundamentalobjection to pre~Socratic naturalisticthought.
The fourth phaseconsistsin various responsesto Parmenidesand in attemptsto con~ tinue with the Milesian or Ionian tradition of natural philosophy.The main authorsof this period are Empedocles,Anaxagoras,and Democritus. For example, Empedoclesagreed with Parmenidesthat nothing can come into or go out of existence,but he arguedthat the eternal stuff of the universe, the four elements(earth, air, fire, and water), could change and intermingle. Democritusarguedfor the existenceof indivisible atoms.
In the fifth phase,the Sophistsembracedrelativism and skepticism,and rejectedthe project of discoveringtruths about nature,substitutingfor it the aim of teachingthe art of persuasion.In so doing, they set philosophy a fundamentalchallenge: 'Are there truths that can be discoveredby reasoning?'The replies of Socratesand Plato to this question constituteSectionII of this volume.
The Texts
The original works of the pre~Socratic philosophershave beenlost. Our knowledgeof their thought is basedentirely on later reports, quotations,and commentaries.This meansthat the reliability of thesesourcesis questionableand often disputed.
The Greek philosopherAristotle (384-322 B.C.) discussedthe views of many of the pre~Socratic thinkers, and so his wr iti ngs are an important source of information, even though his interpretationsmay reflect his own reading of the developmentof thought. Aristotle's pupil, Theophrastus(371-287 B.C.), wrote a work called On the Senses,which
discussesthe views of several pre,Socraticphilosophers.Plutarch (45-120 A.D.) wrote papersand treatisesabouthistory, biography,literature,and philosophythat containquota, tions from the pre,Socratics.In the third century A.D., Laertius wrote a work called the Lives of the Philosophers,which has survived and which is a valuable sourceof information about the pre,Socratics,even though some of its stories are probably false. Another very importantsourceof many of the original texts is Simplicius' commentaryon Aristotle's Physics,written in 530 A.D.
The fragmentsof the pre,Socraticphilosophers,which were scatteredin many later writings, were collectedby HermannDiels and Walther Kranz the end of the nine, teenthcentury. His work, Fragmenteder Vorsokratiker, was translatedinto English by Kath, leen Freemanand publishedas Ancilla to the PresocraticPhilosophers.The B numberscited after eachfragment refer to this text. However, there are later and bettertranslationsfrom the original Greek, which we have usedin this collection. Also, the Ancilla not con, tain the commentaries later ancientthinkers,which are sometimes usefuL
There are considerableand unavoidableproblems when translating these ancient texts. First, abstracttermssuchas 'logos' significantly different sensesin different con, texts. can mean'reason,''rational principle,' 'causallaw,' or 'organizingidea' in dif, ferent texts. Second,none of our English equivalentterms may capturewell nuances and ambiguities that the original Greek word may have had for an ancient reader. For example, 'logos' has a connotationof the divine or godly that none of earlier men, tioned English words have. Third, additionally, all words come with a history of usage,and many of our philosophicalterms a Christianancestry.For this reason,it is not exactly correct to translatethe term 'psuche'with the English 'soul,' or 'arete' with 'virtue.' For thesereasons, should be careful in attributing contemporarymeanings to the texts.
THE MI IANS
PROLOGUE
Our threephilosopherscomefrom the town of Miletus, a city in the Greekprovinceof Ionia, locatedon what is now the westerncoastofTurkey. Sometimes,thesephilosophers are also called the Ionians. Miletus was a wealthy seaport,a focal point for commercial activity, and partly becauseof this, there was leisure time that permittedthought, discussion,and art. Miletus becamea cultural center.
APPROX. 624-545 B.C.)
Biographical History
We do not know much about the life of Thales,and nothing of his work remains,if indeed he wrote, exceptfragmentsreportedby later writers, such as Aristotle and Herodotus,the fifth centuryA.D. historian. he was namedas one of the sevensagesof the early ancientGreeks,and he was known not only as a philosopherand scientist,but also as a political advisor. He the Ionians to establisha single council locatedat the centerof the province.During the PersianWar, when the army of Croesuscould not crossthe River Halys, Thalesorderedthe digging of a channeland dam that diverted the river so that it
was fordable. He was also an astronomerwho predictedan eclipseof 585 B.C., as well as discoveringsomeof the first theoremsof geometry(such as that in every isosceles triangle, the anglesat the baseare equal). Reportedlyhe once fell in a ditch when looking at the stars.The womanhe was with exclaimed,"Do you think, Thales,that you will learn what is in the heavens,when you cannotseewhat is in front of your feet?" In contrast,it is claimed that he wantedto show that it is easyfor a philosopherto becomerich: he foresaw a good early olive crop, and hired all the olive presses,which he rentedout at greatprofit.
Philosophical Overview
Thalesis famousfor claiming that all things are madeof water. Although this may sound like a ludicrous statementto us today, neverthelessit is important becauseThales conjec~ tured about the natureof the substance~stuff out of which everything is made. He intra~ duced the idea of the fundamentalcompositionof the world, and thereby launchedone of humanity'sgreatdebates.In so doing, he saw that proposingthe idea of one fundamental substance~ kind would be the simplestway to explain all naturalphenomena.The claim that there exists suchstuff is potentially the most powerful and most economicalway to system~ atically explain nature. Moreover, as far as historical sourcesallow us to tell, it seemsthat Thalesadvancedan argumentfor his position. He claimed that water is essentialto life. Thales is also well known for claiming that all things have a soul. His argumentfor this claim is that magnetscan move iron and that anything that is capableof initiating movementis therebyanimate.By definition, anything that is animatehas a soul. The Greek word psuche(soul) comesfrom the word empsuchos,which means'animate.'When reflecting on this thesis, we should not impose the Christian conceptionof the soul as a consciousspiritual substanceon Thales. His idea is more that all things are to somedegree animateand that, therefore,there is no strict dividing line betweenwhat is alive and what is not.
FRAGMENTS
Thales
As the selectionshows, the most importantfragmentsconcerningthe philosophyof Thalescome from Aristotle, who lived some 250 years later. The wording of the first frag~ ment, which is from Aristotle's Metaphysics,revealshow Aristotle reviews the thoughtsof the early pre~Socratics in order to draw lessonsfor his own philosophy.
1.
Most of the first philosophersthought that principles in the form of matter were the only principles of all things. For they say that the elementand first princi~ ple of the things that exist is that from which they all are and from which they first come into being and into which they are finally destroyed, its substance remaining and its properties changing.... There must be somenature-eitherone or more than onefrom which the other things come into being, it being
preserved.But as to the numberand form of this sort of principle, they do not all agree. Thales, the founder of this kind of philosophy,saysthat it is water (that is why he declares that the earth rests on water). He perhapscame to acquire this belief from seeing that the nourishmentof everything is moist and that heat itself comesfrom this and lives by this (for that from which anything comesinto being is its first principle)-he came to his belief both for this reason and becausethe seedsof everything have a moist nature, and water is the natural principle of moist things.
(Aristotle, Metaphysics983b6-ll, 17-27)
2.
Somesay that [the earth] rests on water. This in is the oldestview that hasbeentransmittedto us, and they say that it was advancedby Thales of Miletus who thought that the earth rests becauseit can float like a log or somethingelse of that sort (for none of these things can rest on air, but they can rest on water)-as though the same must not hold of the water supportingthe earthas holds of the earth itself.
(Aristotle, On the Heavens294a28-34)
3.
He supposedthat water was the first principle of all things, and that the world has a soul and is full of spirits. They say he discovered seasonsof the year and divided it into three hundredand sixty~five days.
DiogenesLaertius,Lives of the Philosophers,I 22-28, 33-40
4.
Somesay that <soul> is mixed in the whole universe. Perhapsthat is why Thales thought that everything was full of gods.
(Aristotle, On the Soul411a7-8)
Thales, judging by what they report, seems to havebelievedthat the soul was somethingwhich pro~
THE MILESIANS t> Thales I Fragmentst>
duces motion, inasmuchas he said that the magnet has a soul becauseit movesiron.
(ibid 405a19-21)
5.
Aristotle and Hippias say that he ascribed souls to lifeless things too, taking the magnetand amberas his evidence.
(DiogenesLaertius,Lives of the Philosophers,I 33-40)
6.
The following aphorisms are ascribed to him. Of existing things, god is the oldest-for he is ungener~ ated. The world is the most beautiful-for it is god's creation.Spaceis the greatest-forit includesevery~ thing. Mind is the swiftest-for it runs throughevery~ thing. Necessity is the strongest-for it controls everything.Time is the wisest-forit discoversevery~ thing. He said that death is no different from life. 'Then why don't you die?' someone asked him. 'Becauseit makes no difference,' he replied. When someoneaskedhim which camefirst, day or night, he answered,'Night camefirst-by a day.'Whensomeone askedhim whethera man can escapethe notice of the gods if he doeswrong, he replied: 'Not evenif he thinks of doing wrong.' An adultereraskedhim if he should swearthat he had not committedadultery: he replied, 'Perjury is no worse than adultery.'When askedwhat is difficult, he said, 'To know yourself'; what is easy, 'To give advice to someoneelse'; what most pleasant, 'Success';what divine, 'What has neither beginning nor end'. Whenaskedwhat was the strangestthing he had seen,he said: 'An old tyrant'. How can we bear misfortunemost easily?-Ifwe seeour enemiesfaring worse. How can we live best and most justly?-If we do not ourselvesdo the things we blame others for doing. Who is happy?-Onewho has a healthy body, a well,stockedsoul, and an educablenature.
DiogenesLaertius,Lives of the Philosophers,I 22-28, 33-40
STUDY QUESTIONS: THALES, FRAGMENTS
1. What doesThalesmeanby claiming that everythingis madeof water?
2. What doesThalesmeanby 'first principle'?
3. What is Thales'view of the soul?
4. Why is Thalesconsideredto be a philosopher?
ANAXIMANDER (610-540 B.c.)
Biographical History
Anaximanderwas reportedlya studentof Thales.He wrote an ambitious,wide~ranging work called On Nature, which includeda cosmology;a natural history of the a descriptionof many kinds of natural phenomena,suchas rain and wind; an accountof the developmentof animals;and a including a famous map of the world. Unfortu~ nately, only a few sentencesof this work have survived.
Philosophical Overview
Anaximanderclaimedthat the fundamentalconstituentof the universeis sotnermng nite or without limits. This is usually takento meansomethingspatially infinite, .......-.,Lu.cu, and without determinatequalities, or somethinginfinitely old and and without defi~ nite properties.Anaximanderprobablyheld these basedon similar to that outlined below.
If the basic constituentof nature is somethingindefinite, as Anaximanderargues, then it cannotbe any of the four traditional elements:earth, water, air, and fire. Since theseelementscan changeinto one another,they cannotbe basic. Furthermore,Anaxi~ manderalso that the four elementshave opposingqualities; for example,air is cold and fire is hot. If any one of theseelementswere unlimited, then it would have destroyed the others.Sincenone of the elementshave beendestroyed,we may concludethat the basic constituentof the universeis not one of theseelements.
1. The basic substance~stuff mustbe infinitely old.
2. If the basic substance~stuff were one of the elements,then it would have destroyedthe other ele~ mentsin an infinite amount 3. elementscan be observedto exist.
4. Therefore,the basic substance~stuff is not one of the elements.
Anaximanderis also famousfor his ingeniousexplanationof the fact that the earth hangsin empty spacewithout physical supportand yet doesnot move. He arguedthat if the earth is midway betweenall other things, then there can be no reasonfor it to move one way rather than another.Consequently,if the earth is the centerof the universe,then it must stay where it is. To give an idea of the rangeof his interests,we have also included passagesthat show Anaximander'saccountof the origin of
FRAGMENTS
Anaximander
The first selectionoutlines the basic points of Anaximander'sphilosophy.In the second selection,which is from Aristotle's Physics,we find Anaximander'sargumentfor the need of an infinite first: principle:
1. Everythingmusteither comefrom principle or sucha principle.
2. The unlimited cannotbe derivedfrom a principle, for then it would be limited by that principle.
3. Therefore,the unlimiteditself mustbe a principle from which other things are derived.
As the third selection(also from Aristotle) indicates,Anaximanderprobablyalso argued that the primordial substance,stuffof the universeis infinite in age becausechangeis per, petual,and all changeis the alterationof somepreexistingsubstance.
The fourth fragment,which is quotedfrom Simplicius, is probablyvery close to Anaximander'soriginal text, in which caseit is the earliestsurviving pieceof written westernphilosophy.It gives an argumentbasedon the premisethat the basicstuff of the universemust underlie all changes.Sinceall of the so,calledelements(earth, water, air, and fire) can changeone into the other, none of them can be the basicsubstanceof the universe.
1 The basic substance,stuffunderliesall change,and, therefore,it cannotchangeinto somethingelse.
2. The elementsdo changeinto the others.
3. Therefore,the basic substance,stuffof the universe not one of the elements.
1.
He said that a certain infinite nature is first principle of the things that exist. From it comethe heavensand the worlds in them. It is eternal and ageless,and it containsall the worlds. He speaksof time, sincegener, ation andexistenceand destructionare determinate.
Anaximandersaid that the infinite is principle and elementof the things that exist, being the first to call it by the nameof principle. In addition, thereis an eternalmotion in which the heavenscomeinto being.
Hippolytus, Refutationof All HeresiesI vi 1-7
2.
It is with reason that they all make [the infinite] a principle; for it can neither exist to no purposenor have any power exceptthat of a principle. For every, thing is either a principle or derivedfrom a principle. But the infinite has no principle-for then it would havea limit. Again, it is ungeneratedand indestructi, ble and so is a principle. For what comes into being must have an end, and there is an end to every destruction.Hence, as I say, it has no principle but itself is thought to be a principle for everything else and to govern everything And it is also the divine; for it is deathlessand unperishing,as Anaxi, manderand most of the natural scientistssay.
(Aristotle, Physics203b6-ll)
[A]gain, becausegenerationand destructionwill give out unless there is something infinite from which what comesinto being is subtracted.
(Aristotle, Physics203b6-ll, 13-30)
4.
Of those who hold that the first principle is one, moving, and infinite, Anaximander,son of Praxiades, a Milesian, who was a successorand pupil of Thales, said that the infinite is principle and elementof the things that exist. He was the first to introduce this word 'principle'. He says that it is neither water nor any other of the so,calledelementsbut some differ, ent infinite nature, from which all the heavensand the worlds in them come into being. And the things from which existing things come into being are also the things into which they are destroyed,in accor, dance with what must be. For they give justice and reparation to one anotherfor their injustice in accordance with the arrangementof time [12 B 1] (he speaksof them in this way in somewhatpoetical words). It is clear that he observedthe change of the four ele, ments into one another and was unwilling to make any one of them the underlyingstuff but ratherchose something else apart from them. He accounts for coming into being not by the (\lteration of the
elementbut by the separatingoff of the opposites by the eternalmotion.
(Simplicius, Commentaryon the Physics24.13-25)
5.
Anaximander, an associateof Thales, says that the infinite is the universal causeof the generationand destruction of the universe. From it, he says, the heavens were separatedoff and in general all the worlds, infinite in number. He assertedthat destruction and, much earlier, generationoccur from time immemorial, all the samethings being renewed
(Plutarch,Miscellaniesfragment 179.2, in Eusebius, Preparationfor the Gospel, I vii 16)
6.
The earth is aloft, not supportedby anythingbut resting where it is becauseof its equal distance from everything.
(Hippolytus, Refutationof All Heresies Ivi 1-7)
7.
Some say that [the earth] rests where it is becauseof the similarity (so, among the ancients, Anaximander). For there is no reason why what is situated in the middle and is similarly relatedto the edgesshould move upwards rather than downwards or sideways.
But it cannotmove in oppositedirectionsat the same time. So it necessarilyrestswhere it is.
(Aristotle, On the Heavens295bll-16)
8.
Anaximandersays that the first animals were born in moisture, surroundedby prickly barks. As they grew older they emergedon to drier parts, the bark burst, and for a short time they lived a different kind of life.
([Plutarch], On the Scientific Beliefs of the Philosophers908D)
9.
Animals come into being <from moisture> evaporated by the sun Humans originally resembled anothertype of animal, namelyfish.
(Hippolytus, Refutationof All Heresies I vi 1-7)
10.
Further, he says that originally humans were born from animals of a different kind, becausethe other animalscan soon look after themselveswhile humans alone require a long period of nursing; that is why if they had been like this originally they would not have survived.
([Plutarch], Mi cellanies fragment 179.2, in Eusebius, Preparationfor the GospelI vii 16)
STUDY QUESTIONS:ANAXIMANDER, FRAGMENTS
1. What is the first principle, accordingto Anaximander?
2. What is Anaximander'sargumentfor claiming that the first principle must be infinite?
3. What preventsgenerationand destructionfrom 'giving out'?
4. What are Anaximander'stwo argumentsfor thinking that the first principle cannotbe one of the four elements?
5. According to Anaximander,why doesthe earthfloat in space?
6. How doesAnaximanderaccountfor animalscoming into being?
7. What would Anaximandersay about the principle of the conservationof energy?
Biographical History
Anaximenesmay have beena studentof Anaximander.Apart from the fact that he was Milesian, very little else is known about his life.
Philosophical Overview
Like his two predecessorsfrom Miletus, Anaximenesproposedthat there is a single substance~stuff out of which everythingis made.Anaximenesthought that Anaximander's views were not explicit enoughin two crucial ways. First, Anaximenesclaimedthat the elementalsubstance~stuff is unlimited air. In other words, he substitutedhis teacher'sinde~ terminatesubstancefor somethingdeterminateand gaseous.Second,Anaximeneswas more explicit than his predecessorsconcerningthe processesthroughwhich ordinary things are generatedfrom the one materialprinciple; theseare condensationand rarefac~ tion. Throughcompression,air thickensand progressivelybecomesclouds,water, and earth.Through expansion,air becomesthinner and turns into fire. This view implies that the different propertiesof the things we observe(suchas liquids and solids) are due to dif~ ferencesin their relative density.
FRAGMENTS
Anaximenes
The first selectiondescribesthe processesof condensationand compressionby which all naturalobjectsare formed out of invisible air, and how in this processhot and cold come into being. This first point is reinforcedin the fourth fragment, and the last point (regard~ ing hot and cold) is reinforcedin the third one.
The secondfragmentis importantin part becauseof the claim that the soul is air and becauseof the parallel that it draws betweenair and breath.Anaximenesthought that air was the basicstuff of naturebecauseit is the constituentof the souL
1.
Anaximenes,son of Eurystratus,was also Milesian. He said that the first principle is infinite air, from which what is coming into being and what has come into being and what will exist and godsand divinities come into being, while everything else comes into being from its offspring. The form of the air is this: when it is most uniform it is invisible, but it is made apparentby the hot and the cold and the moist and the moving. It is always in motion; for the things that changewould not changeif it were not in motion. For as it is condensedand rarefied it appearsdifferent: when it dissolves into a more rarefied condition it becomesfire; and winds, again,are condensedair, and cloud is produced from air by compression.Again,
when it is more condensedit is water, when still fur~ ther condensedit is earth, and when it is as denseas possibleit is stones.Thus the most important factors in coming into being are opposites-hotand cold. (Hippolytus, Refutationof All HeresiesI vii 1-9)
2.
Anaximenes,son of Eurystratus,a Milesian, asserted that air is the first principle of the things that exist; for everything comesinto being from air and is resolved again into it. For example,our souls, he says,beingair, hold us together, and breath and air contain the whole world ('air' and 'breath'are usedsynonymously).[B 2] ([Plutarch],On the Scientific Beliefs of the Philosophers876 A B)
Anaximander,from Early GreekPhilosophy,translatedby JonathanBarnes,(PenguinClassics,Harmondsworth,1987).
Or should we, as old Anaximenesthought, treat the hot and the cold not as substancesbut rather as com~ mon properties of matter which supervene upon changes?For he says that matter which is concen~ tratedand condensedis cold, while that which is rare and slack (that is the word he uses)is hot. [13 B 1]
(Plutarch,The Primary Cold 947F)
4.
Winds are generatedwhen the air is condensedand driven along. As it collects together and is further thickened, clouds are generatedand in this way it changesinto water. Hail comesaboutwhen the water falling from the clouds solidifies, and snow when thesesamethings solidify in a more watery form.
(Hippolytus, Refutation HeresiesI vii 1-9)
STUDY QUESTIONS: ANAXIMENES, FRAGMENTS
1. What is the jtlrst principle, accordingto Anaximenes?
2. According to Anaximenes,what is the form of air?
3. Why doesAnaximenesrefuseto treat hot and cold as substances?
4. According to Anaximenes,how does air change into stones?What is the process?
5. According to Anaximenes,what is the soul?
6. Are the Milesians scientists? How should one distinguish between science and philosophy?
7. Which of the Milesianshas the most plausibleview? Why is this?
Philosophical Bridges: The Milesian Influence
The Milesians introducedthe fundamentalconceptof the substance~kind or ~stuff out of which everything is composed,as well as the claim that all natural phenomenashould be explainedin terms of alterationsto that substance.They were the first to take a systematic and unified approachto the explanationof naturalphenomena.Much of later ancientphi~ losophy,suchas the influential atomismofDemocritusand Epicurus,continuedin this same tradition. Much of the rest of ancientthought,such as Plato'stheory of Forms, con~ sideredin part as a reactionagainstthe 1v1ilesian~inspired tradition of naturalphilosophy.
The revolution in thought that occurredduring the sixteenth century, which gave birth to modern science, was inspired directly by the rediscovery of ancient thinkers. Toward the end of the medievalperiod and in the early Renaissance,ancientphilosophers had considerableinfluence.The fact someof the ancientGreekshad arguedfor mate~ rialistic scientific theories,including atomism,was profoundly liberatingfor the early scien~ tists and scientific philosophers,such as Galileo Galilei and FrancisBacon. In this way, the Milesians were the forerunnersof sixteenth~ and seventeenth~century natural philosophy and, hence,of contemporaryscience.For example,the contemporaryprinciple of the con, servationof matter and energyhas its roots in Milesian tradition. You can seethe idea passingon from Thales and Anaximanderto the Epicureansand Stoics, and from them to modemscientific thinkers such as ReneDescartesand Galileo. In The Critique of Pure Rea~ son ( 1781), ImmanuelKant arguesexplicitly for the Miles ian claim that substancecannot be createdor destroyedbecauseall changesmust be conceivedas alterationsto a single underlyingsubstanceor stuff. His argumentof the First Analogy contendsthat this claim is a preconditionof the unity of time and henceof all knowledge.
The Milesians were also the precursorsof scientific enquiry becauseof the broad scopeof their interestin nature.They initiated a long tradition that examinedand tried to
explain a wide range of natural phenomena,from stars to mountainsand from plants to animals, as well as the tides, the wind, and the rain, in a unified and systematicmanner. This tradition continuedin the ancientperiod until On the Nature of Things by the great Roman poet Lucretius (99-55 B.C.). However, we can also see Descartes'book The World (1633) as a continuationof the sametradition becauseit seeksa unified accountof all nat, ural material phenomena,such as fire, light, the movementsof the planets,the tides, and humanphysiology.
THE IONIANS
PROLOGUE
Although the next two philosophersare consideredas Ionian in terms of their birth and tradition, their thought is significantly different from that of the earlier Milesians. The philosophiesof Pythagorasand Heraclitusgo beyondthe scientific philosophyof natureof the Milesians becausethey both are also concernedwith and, to someextent, with ethics.
Biographical History
Pythagoraswas born on the island of Samosin the easternAegean,locatedbetweenMile, tus and Athens. Around the age of 30, he movedto Croton in southernItaly, where he establisheda communityof followers. The communitygrew and acquiredpolitical impor, tance in the region. As a consequenceof this, after about 20 years,there was an uprising againstthe Pythagoreans.
Pythagoraswrote nothing, but his later followers wrote much, attributing to him many views. It is from his followers that we have the picture of Pythagorasas a brilliant mathematician,who inventedthe theoremthat, in any right,angledtriangle, the squareof the hypotenuseis equal to the sum of the squareof the other two sides.He was portrayed as applying his mathematicsto music and astronomyand, thereby,developinga metaphys, ical systembasedon numbers.However, it is difficult to define exactly what Pythagoras himself thoughtbecausethe later Pythagoreanschoolstend to attribute to the mastertheir own teachings.By the fourth centuryA.D., Pythagoraswas consideredthe greatestof all philosophers,eclipsingevenPlato and Aristotle becauseof his influenceon both of these thinkers. As we shall see,Pythagorashad an especiallyimportant influenceon Plato.
Philosophical Overview
After his death,his disciplessplit into two groups: the mathematikoiand the akousmatikoi. The first group was interestedin the study of mathematics,music, and astronomy.The key to their ideasis that the universeconsistsof a harmonythat should be studiedmathemati, cally. In this, they rejectedthe Ionian idea of trying to discoverthe basicstuff of the uni, verse,replacingit with the study of form. In this study, the numericalratios between soundsin the musicalscalesprovidedan analogyfor the harmoniousdevelopmentof the whole universe.In other words, accordingto this group, we can understandthe universe
by knowing the numericalrelationsthat expressthe harmonicratios accordingto which everythingchanges.
The secondPythagoreanSchool was called the akousmatikoi,and it followed Pythagoras'religious teachingconcerningthe soul and the right way to live. They regardedPythagorasas a spiritual masterwho taught about the existenceof the immortal soul that may be reborn in animal form. This doctrine of transmigrationhas two impor~ tant implications. First, it implies that personalidentity is constitutedby the soul. A per~ son literally is his or her soul. Second,it laid down someguidelinesfor the moral way of life or for a moral code. Pythagoras'doctrine of the soul meansthat we are not mortal beingsbut rather immortal souls, and that we are not really at home in our bodies.It also meansthat the animalsare our kin, and, for this reason,the Pythagoreansconsideredthe eating of flesh as a form of cannibalism.Pythagorasprobably conceivedof the world as divided into good and and claimed that eachpersonmust struggleto be a good moral agent.
FRAGMENTS
Pythagoras
The first four passagesquotedbelow are fragmentsfrom Philolaus,born in Croton around 4 70 B.C., who was the first Pythagoreanto set down the teachingin writing. The other fragmentsare called the testimonies,which are later in origin. The religious aspectof Pythagoras'following is emphasizedin selections5-11. In contrast,the selectionsnum~ bered 12-17 emphasizethe Pythagoreanconception numberas the fundamentalhar~ mony of the universe.
1.
(DK 44B14) The ancient theologians and prophets testify to the fact that the soul has beenyoked to the body as a punishmentof some kind and that it has beenburied in the body as in tomb.
(Philolaus 14 Diels/Kranz] in Clement, Miscellanies2.203.11Stahlin/Friichtel)
2.
(DK 44Bl; KRS 424) Nature in the universe was har~ monized out of both things which are unlimited and things which limit; this applies to the universe as a whole and to all its components.
(Philolaus[fr. 1 Diels/Kranz] in DiogenesLaertius, Lives of EminentPhilosophers8.85.13-14Long)
Pythagoras,from The First Philosophers:The t'resocraH,cs Reprintedby permissionof Oxford University Press.
3.
(DK 44B4; KRS 427) And everything which is known has number, becauseotherwise it is impossible for anything to be the object of thoughtor knowledge. (Philolaus[fr. 4 Diels/Kranz] in Johnof Stobi, 1.21.7b Wachsmuth/Hense)
4.
44B6; KRS 429) On the subject of nature and harmony, this is how things stand: the being of things, qua eternal, and nature itself are accessible only to divine and not human knowledge-except that it is impossible for any of the things that and are known by us to have arisenwithout the prior existenceof the being of the things out of which the
universe is composed,namely limiters and unlimit~ eds. Now, since thesesourcesexisted in all their dis~ similarity and incompatibility, it would have been impossible for them to have been made into an orderly universeunlessharmonyhad beenpresentin some form or other. Things that were similar and compatiblehad no needof harmony, but things that were dissimilar and incompatible and incommensu~ rate had to be connectedby this kind of harmony, if they are to persistin an ordereduniverse.
(Philolaus[fr. 6 Diels/Kranz) in John of Stobi, Anthology1.21.7dWachsmuth/Heme)
5.
(DK 14Al; KRS 261) The Egyptians were also the first to claim that the soul of a human being is immortal, and that each time the body dies the soul entersanothercreaturejust as it is being born. They also say that when the soul has made the round of every creatureon land, in the sea, and in the air, it oncemore clothesitself in the body of a humanbeing just as it is being born, and that a complete cycle takes three thousand years. This theory has been adopted by certain Greeks too-somefrom a long time ago, somemore recently-whopresentedit as if it were their own. I know their names,but I will not write them down.
(Herodotus,Histories 2.123.2-3Hude)
6.
(DK 58B39) They [Aristotle's predecessors]try only to describethe soul, but they fail to go into any kind of detail about the body which is to receivethe soul, as if it were possible (as it is in the Pythagoreantales) for just any old soul to be clothed in just any old body.
(Aristotle, On the Soul407b20-3Ross)
7.
(DK 14A8) Heraclidesof Pontussays that Pythagoras usedto say abouthimself that he had oncebeenborn as Aethalides and was regardedas a son of Hermes. Hermes told him that he could chooseanything he wantedexceptimmortality, and he askedto be able to retain, both alive and dead, the memory of things that had happened.He thereforerememberedevery~ thing during his lifetimes, and when deadhe still pre~
served the same memories. Later he entered into Euphorbusand was wounded by Menelaus. Euphor~ bus used to say that he had formerly been born as Aethalides and had received the gift from Hermes, and used to tell of the journeying of his soul and all its migrations,recountall the plants and creaturesto which it had belonged, and describe everything he had experienced in Hades and the experiences undergone by the rest of the souls there. When Euphorbus died, his soul moved into Hermotimus, who also wanted to prove the point, so he went to Branchidae, entered the sanctuary of Apollo, and pointed out the shield which Menelaus had dedi~ cated there When Hermotimusdied, he became Pyrrhus,the fishermanfrom Delos, and again remem~ bered everything, how he had formerly been Aethalides, then Euphorbus,then Hermotimus, and then Pyrrhus. And when Pyrrhus died, he became Pythagorasand rememberedeverythingthat has just beenmentioned.
(Heraclidesof Pontus[fr. 89 Wehrli) in DiogenesLaertius, Lives of EminentPhilosophers8.4-5 Long)
8.
(DK 58c3; KRS 275) In On the PythagoreansAristo~ tle explains the Pythagoreaninjunction to abstain from beans as being due either to the fact that they resemblethe genitalsin shape,or becausethey resem~ ble the gates of Hades (since it is the only plant which has no joints), or becausethey ruin the consti~ tution, or becausethey resemblethe nature of the universe,or becausethey are oligarchic, in the sense that they are used in the election magistratesby lot. And the injunction not to pick up things that have fallen he explains as being an attempt to accustom them not to eat in immoderatequantities,or due to the fact that it signals someone'sdeath.... The injunction not to touch a white cock is due to the fact that the creatureis sacredto the New Month and is a suppliant The injunction not to touch any sacred fish is due to the fact that the samefood shouldnot be served to gods and men, just as free men and slaves shouldhave different food too. The injunction not to breaka loaf is due to the fact that in olden daysfriends usedto meetover a single loaf.
(Aristotle [fr. 195 Rose] in DiogenesLaertius, Lives of EminentPhilosophers8.34.1-35.2Long)
9.
(KRS 434) Anticleides says that Pythagoras was particularly interested in the arithmetical aspect of geometry,and discoveredthe propertiesof the mono~ chord. Nor did he neglect medicine either. Apol~ lodorus the mathematician says that Pythagoras sacrificed a hecatombwhen he discoveredthat the squareon the hypotenuseof the right~angled triangle is equal to the squareson the sideswhich encompass the right angle.
(Anticleides [fr. 1 Jacoby] in DiogenesLaertius,Lives of EminentPhilosophers8.11.10-12.5Long)
10.
In his Introduction to Music Heraclides says that, accordingto Xenocrates,it was Pythagoraswho dis~ covered that the musical intervals also come about inevitably becauseof number, in the sensethat they consistin a comparisonof one quantity with another, and that he also looked into the question of what makesthe intervals concordantor discordant,and in generalwhat factors are responsiblefor harmonyand disharmony.
(Xenocrates[fr. 9 Heinze] in Commentaryon Ptolemy's'Harmonics' 30.1-6 During)
11.
(OK 14A4) Pythagorasof Samos visited Egypt and studiedwith the Egyptians.He was the first to import philosophy in generalinto Greece,and he was espe~ cially concerned,more conspicuouslythan anyone else, with sacrifice and ritual purification in sanctuar~ ies, since he thought that even if, as a result of these practices, no advantageaccrued to him from the gods, they would at least gain him a particularly fine reputationamongmen. And this is exactly what hap~ pened.He becameso much more famous than any~ one elsethat all the young menwantedto becomehis disciples, while the older men preferred to see their sons associatingwith him than looking after their own affairs. And it is impossible to mistrust their opinion, becauseevennow thosewho claim to be his followers are more impressive in their silence than thosewith the greatestreputationfor eloquence.
(!socrates,Busiris 28.5-29.9van Hook)
12.
(KRS 279) In order to indicate this [the importanceof numberin things] the Pythagoreansare accustomedon
occasionto say that 'There is a resemblanceto num~ ber in all things', and also on occasionto sweartheir most characteristicoath: 'No, by him who handed down to our companythe tetraktys, the fount which holds the roots ever~flowing nature.' By 'him who handed down' they mean Pythagoras,whom they regardedas divine, and by the 'tetraktys' they meana certainnumberwhich, being composedout of the first four numbers, producesthe most perfect numberthat is, ten (for 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 10). This number is the first tetraktys and it is called 'the fount of ever~ flowing nature'becauseit is their view that the whole universe is organized on harmonic principles, and harmonyis a systemof threeconcords(the fourth, the fifth, and the octave), and the ratios of these three concordsare found in the four numbersI havealready mentioned-thatis, in 1, 2, 3, and 4. For the fourth is constitutedby 4 : 3, the fifth by 3 : 2, and the octave 2: 1.
(SextusEmpiricus, the Professors7.94-6 Bury) 13.
(OK 58B4, B5; KRS 430) At the sametime [as Leucip~ pus and Democritus] and earlier than them were the so~called Pythagoreans,who were interestedin math~ ematics. They were the first to make mathematics prominent, and becausethis discipline constituted their educationthey thought that its principles were the principles of all things. Now, in the nature of things, numbersare the primary mathematicalprinci~ ples; they also imagined that they could perceive in numbersmany analoguesto things that are and that come into being (more analoguesthan fire and earth and water reveal)-such~and~such an attribute of numbers being justice, such~and~such an attribute beingsoul and mind, dueseasonanother,and so on for pretty well everything else; moreover, they saw that the attributesand ratios of harmoniesdependon num~ bers. Since, then, the whole natural world seemed basically to be an analogueof numbers,and numbers seemedto be the primary facet of the natural world, they concludedthat the elementsof numbersare the elementsof all things, and that the whole universeis harmonyand number.They collectedtogetherall the properties of numbers and harmonies which were arguablyconformableto the attributesand partsof the universe,and to its organizationas a whole, and fitted them into place; and the existenceof any gaps only
made them long for the whole thing to form a con~ nectedsystem.Here is an exampleof what I mean:ten was, to their way of thinking, a perfect number, and one which encompassedthe natureof numbersin gen~ eral, and they said that there were ten bodiesmoving throughthe heavens;but sincethereareonly nine vis~ ible heavenlybodies,they cameup with a tenth, the counter~earth ....
They hold that the elementsof number are the even and the odd, of which the even is unlimited and the odd limited; one is formed from both even and odd, since it is both even and odd; numberis formed from one and, as I have said, numbersconstitutethe whole universe.Othermembersof the sameschoolsay that there are ten principles, which they arrange in co~ordinate pairs: limit and unlimited; odd and even; unity and multiplicity; right and left; male andfemale; still and moving; straightandbent; light anddarkness; good and bad; squareandoblong.
(Aristotle, Metaphysics985b23-986a26Ross)
14.
(DK 58A8) The Pythagoreansspokeof two causesin the sameway, but added,as an idiosyncraticfeature, that the limited and the unlimited and the one were not separatenatures, on a par with fire or earth or something,but the unlimited itself and the one itself were taken to be the substanceof the things of which they are predicated.This is why they said that num~ ber was the substanceof everything.
(Aristotle, Metaphysics987al3-19Ross)
15.
The Pythagoreans,as a result of observingthat many properties of numbers exist in perceptible bodies, came up with the idea that existing things are num~ bers,but not separatenumbers:they said that existing things consistof numbers.Why? Becausethe proper~ ties of numbers exist in musical harmony, in the heavens,and in many other cases.
(Aristotle, Metaphysics1090a20-5Ross)
16.
(DK 58B9; KRS 431) The Pythagoreansrecognize only one kind of number, mathematicalnumber, but they say that it is not separate,but that perceptible things are madeup of it. For they constructthe whole universeout of numbers-andnot numbersmade up of abstractunits, but they take their numerical units to have spatial magnitude.But they apparentlyhave no way to explain how the first spatially extended unit was put together.
(Aristotle, Metaphysics1080bl6-21Ross)
17.
(DK 44A23; KRS 451) There is another theory about the soul that has come down to us, which many people find the most plausible one around They say that the soul is a kind of attunement(harm~ onia), on the grounds that attunementis a mixture and compoundof opposites,and the body is madeup of opposites.
(Aristotle, On the Soul407b27-32Ross)
STUDY QUESTIONS: PYTHAGORAS, FRAGMENTS
1. From wheredoesharmonyin natureoriginate, accordingto Pythagoras?
2. What role do the limited andthe 'unlimited'play in the Pythagoreannotion of numbers?
3. What reasonsdid the Pythagoreansgive for the claim that numberwas the substanceof everything?
4. How did Pythagorasdiscoverthe relationshipbetweennumbersand musical intervals?
5. When the Pythagoreanssay that the unlimited and the one are the substanceof things ( 14), what doesthis mean?
6. Explain the differencebetweenthe two Pythagoreanschools.
7. What is the natureof the soul, accordingto the Pythagoreans?
8. What sort of injunctions did the Pythagoreanslive by? Why did their community have suchrules?
9. In what ways is Pythagoras'thoughtdifferent from that of the Milesians?Do thesediffer~ encestell us anything about the distinctionsbetweenscience,religion, and philosophy?
10. Why did the Pythagoreansthink that ten was the perfectnumber? 11. Are numbersa featureof things in the way that hot and cold are?
Philosophical Bridges: The Pythagorean Influence
By the fourth centuryA.D., Pythagoraswas consideredto be a philosopherof at least equal importanceas Plato and Aristotle. First, his idea that the universehas numericalstructure and harmonyhad an enormousimpact on the later Plato and the neo~ Platonic thinkers of the Roman Empire. Second,his mystical religious views concerningthe importanceand natureof the o ul also influencedPlato. Thesetwo strandsof Pythagoras'thinking also had a longer~term impact.
1. The rediscoveryof Pythagoreanideas during the sixteenthcentury reignited the claim that the universeis inherently mathematicaland harmonious,and, consequently,was vital to the birth of modern science.These ideas were seen as an illuminating and refreshing antidote to the Scholasticismof the middle and later medieval periods. For example, Copernicus(1473-1543) drew inspiration from this Pythagoreanand neo~Platonic tradi~ tion in formulating his bold hypothesis that the earth orbits the sun. The Ptolemic hypothesisthat the sun and planetsorbit the earth had becomeincreasinglycomplex to accommodatenew observations, and Copernicus sought an alternative explanation becauseof his Pythagoreanconviction that nature had to be simple. JohannesKepler's great astronomicalwork had the Pythagoreantitle The Harmony of the World (1619). Hav~ ing explainedthe orbits of the planetsin terms of three simple laws, Kepler comparedthe speedof eachorbit to a musical note and likened their combinedeffect to the music of the spheresin true Pythagoreantradition. Later, Galileo claimed that the universeis written in the languageof mathematics.This general idea has support today among realists, who claim that the universeis inherentlymathematical.
2. Pythagoraswas the first westernthinker to articulate clearly the idea of a soul distinct from the body, which found full expressionin the works of Plato. Furthermore,like Plato after him, Pythagorasstressed the moral importanceof the soul. ThesePythagoreanideas becamepart of westernculture becauseof the later marriageof neo~Platonism and Chris~ tianity through the works ofPlotinus (205-270)and St. Augustine(354-430) (seethe sec~ tion below, 'PhilosophicalBridges: The Platonic Influence').
HERACLITUS
Biographical History
Heraclituswas born in Ephesus,a town on the westerncoastof Ionia, betweenMiletus and Colophon.Heraclituswas of noble birth, but he gave up all of his political opportunitiesto pursuephilosophy.He wrote his main philosophicalwork in about500 B.C. Of this, over 120 fragmentsremain.Thesesayingsare culled from other later writers, such as Sextus Empiricus, who quote Heraclitus.This meansthat we do not know the order of the short sayingsof Heraclitus,exceptfor the first two, which occurrednear the beginningof the
