Class scribe 1-26-11

In class Wednesday we discussed philosophy in cosmology. We examined the word cosmos and fond it to mean something extra like jewelry or cosmetics. Dr. Layne them brought up the question “why something rather than nothing?” We went over the term arche, and related it to architect or original craftsman. This is what makes up all things in the universe. we studied different philosophers’ arches, or what they thought to be the origin or first building block of the universe. Thales was an epistemological optimist and believed the arche of the universe was water. He found unity in all things by relating them to water. He believed this because all things need water to live, it makes up most of the world, it makes up most of us as people, it has different states (gaseous, solid and liquid), it is naturally malleable and you cannot destroy it. I believed that the mind and soul flowed like water, and if you truly know yourself, you know all things.
Anaximander is an epistemological pessimist. He believes that the arche is infinite and cannot be defined or articulated. He believes when you describe someone you are doing them a disservice, because people are constantly changing their identity and all that they are could never be put into words. Like the arche, people are infinite, and indefinable. “My identity does not precede me, for I am constantly creating it”. He appreciates mystery in people and relationships.
Anaximenes is an epistemological optimist. He believed the arche is air, and he believed in measurable certainty, and not relying on just “wisdom” to state facts.
Pythagoras is an epistemological optimist. He believes the arche is numbers. He did not feel that there is a material arche but an abstract one. Knowledge is mathematical certainty and all things can be understood (even the workings of the human brain through waves) mathematical formulas. He finds unity in numbers.
Xenophanes believe there are no anthropomorphic gods. They believe that god has nothing to do with anything that we think he does. Monotheists believe that god things as a whole, sees as a whole, and hears as a whole. We cannot have complete knowledge, because that is only for God.