The pre socratic philosophers were searching for

Unit 1 Tutorials: Great Philosophers

INSIDE UNIT 1

Introduction to Philosophy and the Pre-Socratics

What is Philosophy? Why Study Philosophy? Cosmology and the First Philosophers The Atomistic Worldview Parmenides and the Doctrine of Permanence Heraclitus and the Doctrine of Impermanence

Socrates and Dialectic

Socrates: The Father of Western Philosophy The Socratic Approach Introducing Arguments Evaluation and Analysis of Arguments Evaluating an Argument in Action The Apology: A Defense of Philosophy The Apology — Socrates' Arguments The Crito: The Duties of the Social Contract The Phaedo: The Death of Socrates

Plato and Aristotle

Plato: An academic approach to concepts Plato's Forms: The Objects of Knowledge Plato Forms: The Foundations of Being Applying Plato's Metaphysics The Footnotes to Plato Aristotle: The Dissection of Reality Aristotle on What There Is Plato vs. Aristotle: The Mathematician or the Biologist

Philosophy as a Way of Life

Aristotelianism: The Naturalistic Worldview Aristotle's Highest Good Applying Aristotle's Ethics Stoicism: The Ethics of Dispassion Philosophical Analysis as a Way of Life

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What is Philosophy? by Sophia Tutorial

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Philosophy is a field of study that many people (including students) don't know much about. This course enables you to increase your knowledge of philosophy by examining its origins in ancient Greece, as well as some of the areas that are studied by philosophers today, including logic, epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics.

This section responds to the question, "What is Philosophy?" in three parts:

1. The Beginning of Western Philosophy 2. The Big Picture and a Contemporary Definition 3. Some Major Branches of Philosophy

1. The Beginning of Western Philosophy Western philosophy is traditionally thought to have started when a mathematician named Thales of Miletus successfully predicted an eclipse in 585 BCE. Although this may seem to have been an accomplishment in the field of astronomy, not philosophy, astronomy, like many other sciences, was once considered to be a branch of philosophy.

Imagine for a moment that you lived in Greece 2600 years ago, but Thales had not made his famous prediction about the eclipse. What would people have thought caused the eclipse? Would they have concluded that the gods were angry, or bringing the world to an end? Whatever conclusions might have been reached about the meaning of the event, it's likely that it would have been connected to the gods. By making his prediction based on analysis of his observations, Thales demonstrated that humans were capable of interpreting reality on their own, without divine assistance.

Thales demonstrated that the world was fundamentally understandable and predictable. Human beings do not need to appeal to the gods to learn about the world, or to use what they learn. By applying reason to observations, people can solve many of life's puzzles. The desire to know and learn is the foundation of philosophy.

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Thales, illustrated here, was a pre-socratic philosopher. In addition to philosophy, Thales also had a strong interest in mathematics and

astronomy.

2. The Big Picture and a Contemporary Definition To better understand what philosophy involves, consider the etymology of the word, “philosophy.” It comes from two Greek words, philos and sophia. Philos means "love." It is the basis of a number of common words, including “philanthropy” and “Philadelphia.” Sophia, which is also part of “sophisticated” and “sophomore,” means “wisdom” (and before you sophomores start feeling too proud, sophomore means “wise fool”). Philosophy, at a fundamental level, is the love of wisdom.

Wisdom is not the same as knowledge. One can have all of the knowledge in the world but still lack wisdom. Rather than referring to information retained in memory (i.e, knowledge), wisdom refers to the ability to apply reason to knowledge, in order to make use of it in beneficial ways. Wisdom focuses on how we use what we learn, rather than on what we learn.

The highest degree one can earn in biology is a PhD — a doctorate in philosophy. A PhD in biology not only means that you know facts and concepts in the field (i.e., knowledge), but that you can use that knowledge to make new contributions — in biology or a related field. You can evaluate the body of biological knowledge and determine how parts of it can be used in new ways. As a result of philosophy's focus on wisdom, science and philosophy share a similar methodology.

Defining philosophy as “love of wisdom” helps us to begin to understand it, but it lacks precision. Here is the definition of philosophyphilosophy that we will use in this course:

 TERM TO KNOW

Philosophy The pursuit of truths that cannot be wholly determined empirically.

Philosophy seeks to find truth in areas where science cannot.

 EXAMPLE Consider this philosophical question: “Is there a creator god of a certain description?" We cannot answer this question by looking for a god through a telescope. In this instance, science cannot help

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us to find the truth. There are two possible answers to this question: "there is" or "there isn’t."

In seeking to arrive at the truth, philosophy is not mere opinion. If two people disagree, this doesn’t mean that it is not possible to find an answer and that they must agree to disagree. With respect to the example above, If two people disagree as to what is true, one of them is simply wrong. Philosophy helps us to determine which one.

Since we cannot use a telescope, a microscope, etc. to discover who is right and who is wrong, we must make inferences: We take the evidence we have and ask whether it supports one position or the other. We use logic to decide which position is better-supported and, therefore, more reasonable. It is for this reason that logic is the backbone of philosophy.

3. Some Major Branches of Philosophy Philosophy encompasses a number of branches/sub-disciplines. The three most significant branches involving the philosophers we'll study in this course are ethicsethics, epistemology, and metaphysics.

 TERM TO KNOW

Ethics The branch of philosophy that analyzes and defends concepts of value, and thereby determines right and wrong.

Questions of right and wrong fit within the definition of philosophy provided above. Consider this action: punching a small child. The sciences can tell us a lot about this action. Medicine can predict the damage it would cause. Political science can determine its legal consequences. Psychology can provide insight into the mind of the perpetrator. But no scientific analysis can tell us that this action is wrong.

Of course, it is wrong, and anyone who claims that "wrong" is merely an opinion, and that this action is not something that can be true or false, should be ignored. Science can tell us that this action would cause pain, but it is a philosophical truth that causing pain unnecessarily is wrong.

Although questions of right and wrong are the prerogative of philosophy, science has a role. Later in the course, we will consider philosophical approaches to ethics, including the philosophy of Socrates, who was not only deeply interested in determining how to live a morally upright life, but was willing to die to uphold his beliefs.

Philosophy provides a benefit to science through epistemologyepistemology.

 TERM TO KNOW

Epistemology The branch of philosophy that analyzes and defends concepts of knowledge and the methodologies by which it is attained.

Philosophy is sometimes called the "mother of the sciences" because it determines what constitutes knowledge. For example, it helps biologists determine what is biological knowledge (versus mere opinion), and what methods can generate knowledge. Philosophers of science were the driving force behind the development and refinement of the scientific method. Socrates distinguished knowledge from opinion, while Plato gave the first clear account of knowledge. Aristotle, the father of physics, biology, and astronomy, used philosophy to develop and enhance these disciplines.

The largest and, perhaps, the most fundamental branch of philosophy is metaphysicsmetaphysics.

 TERM TO KNOW

Metaphysics The branch of philosophy that seeks to uncover and describe the ultimate nature of reality.

The prefix “meta” means “beyond.” Metaphysics works on fundamental issues that are beyond science —

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principles in which science may be grounded. For instance, although science identifies and describes the laws of physics, what is a law? What is its status? What kind of a thing is it? These are metaphysical questions. Metaphysics also considers questions including, is there a god? Are we free to make decisions, or are all of our choices predetermined? What is the ultimate nature of time? What is causation? All of the philosophers included in this course have something to say about these topics. Additionally, we'll learn how metaphysics informs other philosophical disciplines, such as ethics.

These three branches of philosophy will be a major focus of this course. Other branches of philosophy (e.g., natural philosophy and cosmology), have been largely relegated to the sciences.

 TERMS TO KNOW

Natural Philosophy The branch of philosophy that examines nature and the universe

Cosmology The branch of philosophy that studies the universe in its totality

The subjects studied in what was called "natural philosophy" have moved from philosophy to physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Cosmology is now a branch of astrophysics (cosmogony is a branch of cosmology that focuses on the origin of the universe).

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Since philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom, it supports all pursuits of knowledge. To discover wisdom, philosophy uses logic, reason, and critical thinking, and studies topics including ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. In this course, we’ll learn about these branches of philosophy, practice logic, and examine philosophical approaches to questions including “What is knowledge?” “What is real?” and “What is a good life and how should I live?”

Source: Image of Thales, PD, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thales_of_Miletus#/media/File:Illustrerad_Verldshistoria_band_I_Ill_107.jpg

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Cosmology

The branch of philosophy that treats the universe in its totality

Epistemology

The branch of philosophy that analyzes and defends concepts of knowledge and the methodologies

that attain it

Ethics

The branch of philosophy that analyzes and defends concepts of value and thereby seeks to

determine right and wrong

Metaphysics

The branch of philosophy that seeks to uncover and describe the ultimate nature of reality

Natural Philosophy

The branch of philosophy that treats nature and the universe

SUMMARY

TERMS TO KNOW

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thales_of_Miletus#/media/File:Illustrerad_Verldshistoria_band_I_Ill_107.jpg
Philosophy

The pursuit of truths that cannot be wholly determined empirically

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Why Study Philosophy? by Sophia Tutorial

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Philosophy is sometimes stereotyped as an "ivory tower" discipline that does not apply to the "real" world. In this lecture, we will cover four areas in which the benefits of philosophy are easy to see: higher education, the sciences, society, and the people who study philosophy.

This section answers the question, "Why Study Philosophy?" in five parts:

1. Philosophy and Higher Education 2. Benefits of the Philosophical Mindset 3. Benefits Through the Sciences 4. Benefit to Society 5. Benefit to the Individual

1. Philosophy and Higher Education Recall that philosophyphilosophy is the pursuit of truths that cannot be wholly determined empirically. Philosophy pursues wisdom, and is therefore crucial in defining methods for the development and refinement of knowledge in all fields. As a result, philosophy is nearly synonymous with higher learning. Indeed, the words “academia” and “academic” come from the name of Plato’s school of philosophy, the Academy. The highest degree attainable in academia is the PhD, Latin for philosophiae doctor, or doctor of philosophy.

 TERM TO KNOW

Philosophy The pursuit of truths that cannot be wholly determined empirically.

Asking “why care about philosophy” is like asking “why care about higher education?” Philosophy is a collegiate activity that signifies intellectual maturity. One can question the status quo — not to be belligerent, but out of a genuine desire to understand it. All you have learned previously becomes a starting point, not an end.

2. Benefits of the Philosophical Mindset In enumerating the advantages of philosophy, 20th century philosopher Bertrand Russell pointed out that it enlarges our thoughts and frees us from the “tyranny of custom.” How does philosophy do this? By asking “why” questions, and determining whether the answers are satisfactory. Philosophy requires that all beliefs be justified. What does this mean?

 TRY IT

State a belief: “I believe (fill in the blank) is true.” Next, ask “why” you believe what you've stated. Why do you think your belief is true? If you can provide a good answer, one that is good enough to convince a reasonable skeptic, then you have justified your belief and, therefore, know it. If you cannot provide an answer, or only an answer that a skeptic would find unsatisfactory, you have an opinion, but do not know. You should not believe what you've stated, or should believe it only provisionally.

Philosophy's requirement that beliefs must be justified leads to regular questioning of beliefs and refinement of answers.

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 EXAMPLE For thousands of years, people believed that only certain organic matter (composted plants and excrement) were adequate fertilizers. In the 20th century, someone finally asked the crucial question: “Why do we think that we can only use organic matter as fertilizer?” No one could provide a good answer to this question. What people had believed for thousands of years was opinion, not knowledge — something handed down through generations of farmers. It was Russell’s “tyranny of custom.” When freed from this tyranny, scientists developed nitrogen-based fertilizers, more land was farmed, and every acre produced more crops. Millions of people were spared famine and starvation, thanks to the philosophical mindset and its determination to hold only justified beliefs.

This is only one example, but it represents how progress has taken place over the centuries.

3. Benefits Through the Sciences As the last example demonstrated, the philosophical mindset is key to progress in the sciences. However, the connection between philosophy and science is deeper than that.

Philosophers have made the significant contributions to scientific methodology, and have contributed to the formation of science as we know it today. EpistemologyEpistemology set the standards of knowledge, and the philosophy of science developed methods to attain it. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, is considered to be the father of physics and biology. He contributed to the development of the foundations of science. His concepts were later refined and incorporated into the modern scientific method by Francis Bacon, who was also a philosopher.

 TERM TO KNOW

Epistemology The branch of philosophy that analyzes and defends concepts of knowledge and the methodologies used to attain it.

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Images of Aristotle and Francis Bacon, key contributors to the foundations of science and to the modern scientific method.

Philosophy has inspired breakthroughs in theoretical science. Isaac Newton’s Principia is, in part, a text on natural philosophy. Albert Einstein cites the work of philosopher David Hume as the primary influence on his development of the Theory of Relativity. Hume’s work also inspired much of Adam Smith’s economics.

Many philosophers were also mathematicians and/or scientists, including René Descartes (perhaps you have heard of Cartesian coordinates), and G.W. Leibniz, who developed the binary number system and symbolic logic, without which we would not have computers. When someone’s passion is knowledge, and that knowledge is groundbreaking, distinctions between philosophy and theoretical science disappear.

4. Benefit to Society Although you may have hesitated to give philosophy any credit for developments in theoretical science, you need only look around you to see what it has done in ethics and political philosophy. As a result of its influence in these areas, philosophy has led to improvements in society and culture.

 DID YOU KNOW

The U.S. Constitution, including much of the Bill of Rights, is based on the political philosophy of John Locke. Many of the Founding Fathers were Lockeans.

General acceptance of democracy as the fairest form of government was a philosophical development. Similarly, most of our modern concepts and advancements with respect to justice, fairness, and equality originated with political philosophers. If you appreciate the end of slavery, the fight for racial equality, women’s suffrage, or other instances of social progress, thank a philosopher.

Philosophy has also contributed to advancement in ethics. Philosophers are often employed as consultants on hospital ethics boards, as well as in other fields of applied ethics including environmental and business

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ethics. Philosophy has influenced societies' views on right and wrong for millennia.

5. Benefit to the Individual Do you think you would benefit from being wiser? More moral? A better critical thinker? Being better equipped to distinguish knowledge from opinion? Making decisions based on reason instead of emotion? Acting according to your beliefs? Having a consistent worldview? Recognizing value? Minimizing bias while maximizing objectivity?

The study of philosophy does all this and more. It makes you a better person, but it can also have more immediate, tangible results. The study of philosophy has been shown to increase standardized test scores and performance in other courses. And, despite opinions to the contrary, philosophy degrees are highly sought by business employers because "thinking outside the box" is vital to business solutions and strategy.

Like your other courses, you will get out what you put into a philosophy class. If you make an effort in "Ancient Greek Philosophers," you will be rewarded.

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Philosophy brings value from the global level to the individual. A philosophical mindset is required for any sort of progress. Philosophy has advanced (and continues to advance) the sciences; it has contributed to the growth of more ethical and just societies; and has broadened and improved the minds of those who study it.

 ATTRIBUTIONS

Image of Francis Bacon | License:License: Public Domain

Image of Aristotle | License:License: Public Domain

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Epistemology

The branch of philosophy that analyzes and defends concepts of knowledge and the methodologies

that attain it

Philosophy

The pursuit of truths that cannot be wholly determined empirically

SUMMARY

TERMS TO KNOW

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon#/media/File:Pourbus_Francis_Bacon.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle#/media/File:Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg
Cosmology and the First Philosophers by Sophia Tutorial

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In this section, we will examine the very first western philosophers, the Pre-Socratics. After discussing why they are considered philosophers, we'll learn about some of the major figures and their ideas, and how those ideas shaped the world as we know it.

This tutorial examines Cosmology and the first philosophers in three parts:

1. Who Were the Pre-Socratic Philosophers? 2. Some Pre-Socratic Philosophers and their Influential Ideas 3. Intellectual Legacy of the Pre-Socratics

1. Who Were the Pre-Socratic Philosophers? A group of philosophers now known as the Pre-SocraticsPre-Socratics were active In Greece between (approximately) 600- 450 BCE.

 TERM TO KNOW

Pre-Socratics A collective term used for Greek philosophers who practiced philosophy before Socrates

The influence of the Pre-Socratics is limited because most of their work has not survived. What remains of their beliefs and teachings are fragmenta: mostly quotations from other philosophers whose works were preserved, and testamonia: references to them and their work (but not quotations) in other ancient texts. Our access to their work, therefore, is limited, but their work remains important. They influenced and inspired those whose ideas changed our science, culture and intellectual traditions. They were true philosophers, even though what we know about them and their work is limited to their major ideas.

They are categorized as Pre-Socratics, not only because of their limited influence, but also because much of their work can be assigned to natural philosophynatural philosophy or cosmologycosmology, branches of philosophy that have been largely relegated to the sciences.

 TERMS TO KNOW

Natural Philosophy The branch of philosophy that considers nature and the universe

Cosmology The branch of philosophy that considers the universe in its totality

Natural philosophy has moved from being a branch of philosophy to an area that is studied in physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Cosmology is now a branch of astrophysics (cosmogony is a branch of cosmology that focuses on the origin of the universe). When we take this into account, we can see that the Pre-Socratics were practicing theoretical science when science was still part of philosophy.

Why then was their work once considered philosophy? To answer this question, recall that philosophy is the pursuit of truths that cannot be determined empirically. Questions like, “what are stars made of” could not be answered empirically 2,500 years ago. The theories, discoveries, and tools required to answer those questions had not been developed. All that the Pre-Socratics had to work with was their observations, and what they could conclude based on those observations.

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Their methodology was philosophical in two ways: First, they used argument and reason to identify the best answers to the questions. Second, their methodology was naturalistic. They did not rely on divine mechanisms to support their answers. Also, they did not only work on these topics. Their findings in natural philosophy influenced their views in other areas of philosophical inquiry.

2. Some Pre-Socratic Philosophers and their Influential Ideas Following is a list of some of the most influential Pre-Socratic philosophers, and their major ideas. The list is a sample; it is not comprehensive. Two significant Pre-Socratics, Heraclitus of Ephesus and Parmenides of Elea, have been omitted because they will be examined in detail in separate tutorials.

The MilesiansThe Milesians This group, usually considered to be the first Pre-Socratic philosophers, consisted of Thales and his pupils, Anaximander and Anaximenes. It was said that Thales claimed that everything in the cosmos was made of water, but Anaximenes held that everything was made of air. Anaximander maintained that the cosmos was initially apeiron (i.e., “boundless” or “without qualities”), but became differentiated.

If these theories seem far fetched, note that their methodology was sound. These philosophers used empirical data (i.e., information obtained by observation) to formulate theories of reality that best fit that data.

What these three theories have in common was the positing of a single cosmos: the claim that all matter was united according to a single arrangement/order, governed by universal laws. This was the Milesians’ true philosophico-scientific advancement. They were essentially correct in taking this position. Science worked out the details over the next 2,500 years.

PythagorasPythagoras Pythagoras (long thought to be the discoverer of the Pythagorean Theorem) and his followers incorporated mathematics into his philosophical worldview.

 MAKE THE CONNECTION

The Pythagorean Theorem, a basic component of algebra courses today, has been around for thousands of years!

To the Pythagoreans, the world was a mathematical entity of perfect harmony. They assigned great importance to certain numbers found in nature (e.g., the number of heavenly bodies). A human’s job was to find his or her proper place in this harmonious system. They also formulated and defended a reincarnation doctrine related to their worldview.

Xenophanes of ColophonXenophanes of Colophon Xenophanes, a traveling poet, was also a philosopher who lived to a great age. Secularization played a major role in his philosophy. He reassigned divine mechanisms to naturalistic causes, such as the rainbow, which ancient Greeks believed to be a manifestation of the messenger goddess Iris. Xenophanes identified rainbows as phenomena produced as a result of meteorological causes.

Xenophanes maintained that it is better to rely on observation and reason than on signs from the gods. He was not an atheist, but objected to then-common conceptions of the gods, faulting earlier poets for depicting deities as treacherous and deceitful beings who constantly interfered in human affairs. He also opposed theories that relied on “the god of the gaps,” in which a miracle is used to support an otherwise-scientific explanation because there was no known natural cause. To Xenophanes, the gods controlled all things, but acted predictably, not miraculously. Indeed, science is close to impossible if gods constantly interfere with natural phenomena.

Xenophanes characterized this as anthropomorphism — the application of human attributes to something that is non-human (like the gods). In some ways, the Greek gods were depicted as the worst of humans. Zeus used his powers to change his form and rape women. Hera, his wife, punished those women. The gods sometimes helped the strong to defeat the weak, and the unreasonable to kill the reasonable. As depicted, the gods often behaved in ways that humans might behave if they had divine power. In these depictions,

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therefore, humans projected their attributes onto the gods. As Heraclitus stated:

Any gods worth their titles would be the authors of the laws of nature. Their actions in the world would take place through nature, not above and beyond it.

Anaxagoras of ClazomenaeAnaxagoras of Clazomenae Anaxagoras was primarily interested in cosmology. Denying that celestial bodies were gods, he interpreted the world around him in natural terms, and formulated one of the first cosmogonies. Before there was a known universe, he theorized that everything began as an undistinguished mixture that took form and definition when a force called nous began to spin the mixture. The literal translation of nous is “mind,” but ancient Greek had such a small vocabulary that a word was often used for several things. As a result, it is not clear whether Anaxagoras defined nous as a deity or as a force of order (like the laws of nature). Either way, nous is the force which gives form to the universe, a process which Anaxagoras believed to be ongoing. He was condemned in Athens for maintaining this naturalistic concept.

Empedocles of AcragasEmpedocles of Acragas Empedocles was a physicist who was deeply religious. He was probably a Pythagorean. As a physicist, Empedocles maintained that there were four “roots” — what Aristotle would later call the elements — earth, air, fire, and water. These were combined by love, and separated by strife. In this system, there were six metaphysical entities that formed everything in the cosmos. Instead of coming into existence and passing away, Empedocles viewed the universe in terms of mixing and separating. (He thought this process also occurred on the physical level, involving the flow of blood.) He was concerned with religious purity and purification, and defended the Pythagorean notion of reincarnation.

Protagoras of AderaProtagoras of Adera Protagoras was a member of the “Older Sophists,” a group of traveling intellectuals. He made two significant intellectual contributions, which are interrelated. Protagoras was perhaps the first outspoken agnostic. He argued that we could not know whether the gods existed or not. This led him to make a second claim: “man is the measure of all things.” This statement is usually interpreted to mean that knowledge is relative to the knower. This implies that we cannot escape our biased perspective. We cannot know what it is like to walk in another person’s shoes.

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3. Intellectual Legacy of the Pre-Socratics It might be tempting to dismiss some of the ideas of the Pre-Socratics as quaint and outdated, but they mark the beginning of science. By observing the natural world and using reason to explain phenomena, the Pre- Socratics' provided a basis for all subsequent advances in the sciences.

Notice that there are common themes shared by the Pre-Socratic philosophers. The first is a consistent worldview, in which one or a few laws and elements are used to account for a variety of phenomena. The second is methodological naturalism. Most Pre-Socratics did not deny the existence of the gods, but maintained that we should not invoke them to explain phenomena. This (as a method, not with respect to belief) has enabled scientific progress from their time until the present day.

The Pre-Socratics viewed natural philosophy and theology as separate disciplines, with different standards of knowledge, and different applications. Their commitment to natural philosophy enabled them to think in new ways. In a number of areas, it took science millennia to catch up with them (e.g., thought described as a result of physical processes; Anaximander hinting that humans evolved from lower animals).

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The Pre-Socratics were the first Western philosophers. In this tutorial, we examined the contributions of some of the most influential philosophers in this group. The Pre-Socratics took a philosophical approach to questions that are now of interest to the sciences. Their ideas were a starting point for philosophic and scientific investigation.

 ATTRIBUTIONS

Heraclitus Image | License:License: Public Domain

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Cosmology

The branch of philosophy that treats the origin of the universe in its totality

Natural Philosophy

The branch of philosophy that treats nature and the universe

Pre-Socratics

A collective term for the group of Greek philosophers practicing philosophy before the influence of

Socrates

SUMMARY

TERMS TO KNOW

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus#/media/File:Hendrik_ter_Brugghen_-_Heraclitus.jpg
The Atomistic Worldview by Sophia Tutorial

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In this lecture, we will examine the notion of a philosophical worldview, and present an influential worldview from ancient Greece: philosophical atomism.

This tutorial investigates the philosophical worldview and atomism, in three parts:

1. Philosophy as a Worldview 2. The Atomistic Worldview 3. Atomistic Influence

1. Philosophy as a Worldview Perhaps you have been asked, “What is your philosophy?” In light of our definition of philosophy — the pursuit of truths that cannot be wholly determined empirically — you may find this question difficult to answer. However, the question and our definition may be more closely related than they seem to be. Since metaphysics, a branch of philosophy, considers first principles and the ultimate components of reality, there is a sense in which everything falls within the purview of philosophy.

A cohesive and defensible system of metaphysics enables provides one with a way to interpret reality — a worldview. For example, if you answer “what is your philosophy?” by stating your belief that physical reality is the only reality, your answer impacts how you view the world. As a result of your answer, you must reject or radically reinterpret religion and belief in a deity. You must also interpret thought as a purely physical phenomenon, and deny the existence of a brain-independent mind or soul. You must likewise take a position on other abstract entities that many people believe exist.

 EXAMPLE Numbers are abstract entities that many people believe exist independent of the human mind. If your philosophy only allows for physical entities, you must reject the existence of mind- independent numbers, since they are not physical things. (You would also have to equate “mind” with part of the brain.)

Lastly, you must ensure that your actions are consistent with your beliefs. Hence, in developing a metaphysical view, you have also developed a worldview.

2. The Atomistic Worldview An early and extremely influential worldview was developed by the ancient Greek atomists. According to atomism, reality is composed of atoms in a void.

The word "atom" comes from the Greek atomon, which means "uncuttable." An atom, therefore, is matter which is indivisible and without parts. This is not the definition of atom used in contemporary chemistry and physics. We now know that atoms are divisible and have parts (i.e., subatomic particles).

At the time when these atoms (think of them as “chemical atoms”) were discovered, scientists thought they had found a basic, indivisible entity, so they took the name from ancient Greek philosophy and applied it to their discovery. It was later determined that chemical atoms are divisible, but the name (i.e., atom) continues to be used. As a result, we must distinguish a philosophicalphilosophical atom atom from a chemical atom.

 TERM TO KNOW

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Philosophical Atom An indivisible physical entity

Since chemical atoms do not fit this description, they are not the same as philosophical atoms.

The chief defenders of philosophical atomism in ancient Greece were Leucippus and his student Democritus. It is through the latter that we have received most of what we know about ancient Greek atomism. (It is important to note that, in addition to Greek atomism, there were other ancient atomist philosophies, including Indian and Islamic traditions.)

Greek atomism states that everything that exists is either an atom or a collection of atoms. Atoms are the smallest entity, but they are not infinitely small. Aristotle, when attempting to solve one of Parmenides’ (another philosopher) metaphysical puzzles involving change, referred to the atomistic view that new things don’t come into existence. Instead, existing things change their organization: they take new forms.

 THINK ABOUT IT

Have you ever seen something begin to exist? Matter doesn’t seem to come into being. It only seems to change form. Consider, for instance, a human coming into being. The cellular material doesn’t come from nowhere. It comes from nutrients consumed and processed by the mother. Matter (the nutrients) is reordered into a new form (a human).

The atomists believed that there were different kinds of atoms. They came in different shapes and sizes, and could be combined in a variety of ways. In the atomistic view, different atomic textures were used to explain how different sensations were produced. Different bonding configurations accounted for the degree of solidity of objects and other phenomena. Since, at that time, action at a distance was believed to be impossible, the atomist account was used to solve other puzzles (as in the following example).

 EXAMPLE The ability to perceive odors — to smell — was explained as the transfer of atoms from an object into the nose. Different shapes and configurations of atoms produced a variety of smells.

It is important to note that the atomist philosophy is rich in explanations. Starting with a few simple assumptions, the atomists described and explained a variety of complex phenomenon.

3. Atomistic Influence As was the case with the work of the Pre-Socratics in natural philosophy, science has had to "catch up" with philosophy. With some revisions (including how molecules form bonds), the atomist worldview has been adopted by contemporary science.

However, it is important to keep in mind that, in addition to its influence on the sciences, atomism is a philosophical worldview, and that worldviews impact your perception of reality. The natural explanations for phenomena provided by philosophical atomism provoked religious and theological responses. Some theologians viewed atomism as an attack on religious belief. Others embraced it. In general, the worldview provided by Greek atomism, which is rich in satisfactory explanations of reality, requires us to consider, and even accommodate it. We are compelled to incorporate the tenets of atomism into our own worldviews, just as we are obliged to incorporate contemporary breakthroughs in physics and astrophysics.

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Ancient Greek atomism is an example of a successful worldview. It provides a metaphysical system that is defensible and rich in explanations of phenomena. It is based on a belief in philosophical atoms of different qualities (e.g., shape, texture) that are the fundamental components of reality.

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SUMMARY

TERMS TO KNOW

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Philosophical Atom

An indivisible physical entity

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Parmenides and the Doctrine of Permanence by Sophia Tutorial

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Parmenides of Elea was an influential Pre-Socratic philosopher, often considered the father of metaphysics. He and his school had a profound impact on later philosophy, especially that of Plato. Though, as with other Pre-Socratics, we have only fragments and testemonia of his philosophy, they indicate that he was an original thinker. What remains of Parmenides' work is part of a single, extended metaphysical poem in which a student travels to meet a goddess, who lectures him about truth and belief. The proper interpretation of the poem has been the subject of scholarly debate. In this tutorial, Parmenides' ideas regarding "the turn to metaphysics," and his doctrine that the universe is one unchanging entity, will be examined.

This tutorial investigates the philosophy of Parmenides, including the doctrine of permanence, in three parts:

1. The Turn to Metaphysics 2. The Doctrine of the Unchanging One 3. Zeno’s Paradoxes

1. The Turn to Metaphysics Parmenides was deeply influenced by Xenophanes (Parmenides may have been his student). Recall that Xenophanes criticized the pre-philosophical tradition of relying on the gods to explain natural phenomena. Xenophanes maintained that there was a strict division between mortal and divine knowledge that cannot be crossed. Parmenides upheld this distinction, but went even further by claiming that the opinions of mortals are universally unreliable.

If mortals do not have access to divinity, but cannot attain knowledge without divine aid, how can they move beyond their flawed opinions and discover the nature of reality? Parmenides' answer is that there are signs we can follow, which point to genuine reality: signs that "turn to metaphysics."

Recall that metaphysics seeks to uncover and describe the ultimate nature of reality. In this context, it is a quest to look beyond the mortal world, the world of the senses and of unreliable opinion, to perceive reality as it truly is. MetaphysicsMetaphysics is the answer to how humans can take a god’s-eye view and discover what is real.

 TERM TO KNOW

Metaphysics The branch of philosophy that seeks to uncover and describe the ultimate nature of reality

2. The Doctrine of the Unchanging One Substance monism is a component of Parmenides’ metaphysics, that has been attributed to him by later sources. It is the view that all of reality is one object, usually translated as the “what-is.” The "what-is" is a term for the way things are: The True. Parmenides also posited a corresponding “what-is-not.” This can be thought of as The False. Together, these two concepts create a duality in Parmenidean metaphysics.

In this metaphysical system, what-is, is, but what-is-not, cannot be. That this must be so becomes evident when basic questions are asked: where would what-is-not come from? How would it come into being?

WHAT'S COVERED

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What-is-not cannot come from what-is. The False cannot come from The True. Non-being cannot come from being. However, it is also impossible for what-is-not to come from nothing, since nothing cannot produce anything. As a result, the universe cannot change from what-is to what-is-not. If "The True" is true, it cannot become "The False." At the same time, what-is cannot cease to be, since transformation from being to non- being is metaphysically impossible, according to Parmenides.

In this system, what-is is eternal and unchanging, because change would require the universe to pass from what-is to what-is-not. Although this is the conclusion to which Parmenides’ metaphysical analysis leads, it is not the universe with which we are familiar. Our universe is changing and impermanent. This creates a duality between the genuine, unchanging realm of reality, and the changing world of appearance. Parmenides’ way focuses on the former, but the way of opinion, in which observers do not realize that this transient world of change is illusory, is focused on the latter.

 THINK ABOUT IT

What are some advantages in seeing the world as unchanging? How might they account for our ability to know and learn?

3. Zeno’s Paradoxes Maintaining that change is illusory, as Parmenides does, seems to run counter to common sense. You may be tempted to dismiss Parmenides’ view for that reason alone, but you would be wise to avoid a quick dismissal of his conclusions. Think about all of the things we know are true, despite what "common sense" tells us.