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Pre-Socratic Philosophers

Pre-Socratic Philosophers. James Van Slyke. Historical Background. Major Periods Ancient (624 BCE – 270) Plato Aristotle Medieval (354 – 1350) Augustine Aquinas Modern (1450 – 1900) Descartes Kant Postmodern (Contemporary) ( 1940 - ?) Wittgenstein Derrida.

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Pre-Socratic Philosophers

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  1. Pre-Socratic Philosophers James Van Slyke

  2. Historical Background • Major Periods • Ancient (624 BCE – 270) • Plato • Aristotle • Medieval (354 – 1350) • Augustine • Aquinas • Modern (1450 – 1900) • Descartes • Kant • Postmodern (Contemporary) • (1940 - ?) • Wittgenstein • Derrida

  3. The beginning of philosophy… • Ancient Greeks were the first philosophers • 6th century BC • Attempted to use reason to construct arguments about the nature of the universe • Moved beyond mythology and religion (ancient Greek gods) seeking knowledge for its own sake

  4. The Milesians • Thales (624-545 B C) • Earliest forms of geometry and math • Predicted a solar eclipse using reason alone • 585 B. C. • First instance of not relying on myth or religion • Asked first metaphysical questions about the structure of the universe • Water is the root substance • Necessary for the production and sustenance of life • Political and Military advisor

  5. The Milesians • Anaximander (612 – 545 B C) • Pupil of Thales • Metaphysics based on the Infinite • No gods or beginning nor end to reality • Theory of evolution based on adaptation • First idea of natural laws • Nature follows the dictates of laws not Gods • Relied on reason rather than suspicion and myth

  6. Pythagoras (580–496 BC) • Founder of Geometry as a Systematic study • Metaphysics based on souls inhabiting different forms of life • Transmigration of the soul – souls migrates through different material forms of life – human souls are reincarnated • Morality was based on the harmony of the soul

  7. Heracleitus(540-480 BC) • Metaphysics of becoming rather than being • Universe held together through the Great Logos • Universe constructed through paradox • divisible and indivisible • Mortal and immortal • Word and Eternity • Universe in constant flux

  8. Zeno (490-430 BC) • One of the first to use logical forms • Constructed a series of paradoxes • Paradox of Motion • Argued that it was impossible to measure motion • Legend claims that Zeno met Socrates at a festival in Athens ushering in the golden age of philosophy

  9. Democritus (460-370 BC) • Theory of Atomism • Matter is not infinitely divisible • Smallest part of an object must have magnitude • Matter is composed of tiny bodies (called atoms) • Early form of Materialism • Material substances are the only forms of existence • Different objects are merely the aggregates of different combinations of atoms

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