This is a part of my series on the Presocratics, the Greek philosophers who flourished before and during the life of Socrates. This is an ongoing series detailing their ideas and importance in a simple manner.
Introduction— Why study the Presocratics?
The Presocratics were the first philosophers, so they reveal to us how the mythological explanation of the world become the philosophical explanation of the world. Soon, philosophy would give birth to science. These three fields were born out of a desire to explain that world. Studying the Presocratics gives a unique perspective on science. Exposure to new ideas also makes you more creative.
Studying the Presocratics gives us a better understanding of how human thought transitioned from mythology to philosophy to science.
The Presocratics
Philosophy started in Miletus (a place in Greece) in the 6th-century B.C.E. The first three philosophers were Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. Although many of their hypotheses about how the world worked were wrong, we should still study them. Having a solid grasp on the Presocratics helps us study later philosophers because they were very influential. Also, studying the Presocratics gets you to think and consider perspectives you hadn't before.
Most of the writings of the Presocratics have not survived. We know their ideas because of secondary sources. Much of what we know of Thales, for example, is because Aristotle quoted him frequently. The Presocratics were generally focused on metaphysical questions. This means they wanted to explain the world and figure out the nature of existence.
One of the things that many Presocratics thought about was what the world was made of. According to Aristotle, "Thales said [all things are] water." At first, this makes no sense, but you have to remember that much of the Greek culture before Thales was trying to use stories and myths to explain the world. Thales suggesting that the world was made of a mechanical, non-personal substance was new to the world. This was when we started trying to explain the world objectively. I will go into more detail on this in the post on Thales.
The Presocratics weren't as worried about ethics. Ethics is the study of living a good life. Socrates believed metaphysical questions were a waste of time; even if we could answer the purpose of our existence, it wouldn't change the fact that we're here. Socrates was concerned with improving our life. After Socrates, the philosophical lens shifted from metaphysics to ethics.
The Presocratics I will discuss in this series are (in order):
- Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes
- Heraclitus
- Pythagoras
- Parmenides
- Zeno
- Empedocles
- Anaxagoras
- Archelaus
- The Sophists
- Democritus
I expect each post will take a lot of time. There is a lot of research involved. I hope you will enjoy.
P.S. I am writing this in the simplest language possible. I'm trying to convey the general idea because the specifics can be confusing for the layperson.