Milesians, Thales, Anaximender, Anaximenes, Xenophanes, Pythagoreans ---26th January 2011.
Class Synopsis
Wednesday’s class focused on five different philosophers and what they thought the arche, meaning origin, was. Thales believed the arche was water. He was an epistemological optimist, saying knowledge is possible. Origin is unity and because of this, water must be the arche. Water exists in all living things. It is life-giving and runs through everything like the mind. Water cannot be destroyed, and so because the mind is like water, the mind is immortal. In relation to the Phaedo, the mind is immortal.
Anaximender believed the arche was indefinite, and said that which cannot be defined or limited, made definite. In this way he was an epistemological pessimist. All definition is futile, so finding an arche was futile since it can not be defined. There was appreciation in recognizing the mystery of people, and therefore the mystery of arche.
Anaximenes, however, was a metaphysical and epistemological optimist. He believed the arche was air. Like Thales, Anaximenes said all things are a certain amount of air, rather than water. Knowledge is not just abstract, but certainty. Because of Anaximenes, scientists look for measureable certainty.
Xenophanes was an epistemological pessimist. He had a denial of anthropomorphic gods, and he was the first to speak about monotheism. Monotheism was discussed before Christianity began. Xenophanes also believed there is no complete knowledge for man.
The last philosopher we covered was Pythagoras said the arche was numbers and that “all is number.” The world is not only rational, but also mathematical. In this way, like Anaximenes who believed in measurable certainty, he believed all things can be determined with an exact certainty. Everything is related in a unified whole, like all numbers are one. A definition is good and indefinite is evil. Anaximender believed the opposite, because he believed there is mystery in the indefinite. In relation to the Phaedo, numbers can not be destroyed just like the soul can not be destroyed, and the soul is man’s real nature.
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