Download UNI 104 Understanding Nature and Knowledge

Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
UNI 104
Understanding Nature and Knowledge
Second Week
Ancient Period
Instructor: Ahmet Ademoglu, PhD
Spring 2011
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
The rst written evidence of natural philosophy appears in
Egypt with hieroglyphics and Mesopotamia with cuneiform
(3500 to 3000 B.C.).
Here religion, myth, magic, and gross observation fused
together to provide answers to perplexing questions.
The idea of creation from nothing (ex nihilo) did not occur
in the ancient world until the rise of Christianity.
The great emphasis on mythology and religion is because
they are the means of explaining the creation of the world
and its operations.
Also a practical interest in the physical world manifested
itself primarily in the areas of astronomy, mathematics, and
medicine.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
The rst written evidence of natural philosophy appears in
Egypt with hieroglyphics and Mesopotamia with cuneiform
(3500 to 3000 B.C.).
Here religion, myth, magic, and gross observation fused
together to provide answers to perplexing questions.
The idea of creation from nothing (ex nihilo) did not occur
in the ancient world until the rise of Christianity.
The great emphasis on mythology and religion is because
they are the means of explaining the creation of the world
and its operations.
Also a practical interest in the physical world manifested
itself primarily in the areas of astronomy, mathematics, and
medicine.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
The rst written evidence of natural philosophy appears in
Egypt with hieroglyphics and Mesopotamia with cuneiform
(3500 to 3000 B.C.).
Here religion, myth, magic, and gross observation fused
together to provide answers to perplexing questions.
The idea of creation from nothing (ex nihilo) did not occur
in the ancient world until the rise of Christianity.
The great emphasis on mythology and religion is because
they are the means of explaining the creation of the world
and its operations.
Also a practical interest in the physical world manifested
itself primarily in the areas of astronomy, mathematics, and
medicine.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
The rst written evidence of natural philosophy appears in
Egypt with hieroglyphics and Mesopotamia with cuneiform
(3500 to 3000 B.C.).
Here religion, myth, magic, and gross observation fused
together to provide answers to perplexing questions.
The idea of creation from nothing (ex nihilo) did not occur
in the ancient world until the rise of Christianity.
The great emphasis on mythology and religion is because
they are the means of explaining the creation of the world
and its operations.
Also a practical interest in the physical world manifested
itself primarily in the areas of astronomy, mathematics, and
medicine.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
The rst written evidence of natural philosophy appears in
Egypt with hieroglyphics and Mesopotamia with cuneiform
(3500 to 3000 B.C.).
Here religion, myth, magic, and gross observation fused
together to provide answers to perplexing questions.
The idea of creation from nothing (ex nihilo) did not occur
in the ancient world until the rise of Christianity.
The great emphasis on mythology and religion is because
they are the means of explaining the creation of the world
and its operations.
Also a practical interest in the physical world manifested
itself primarily in the areas of astronomy, mathematics, and
medicine.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
The rst written evidence of natural philosophy appears in
Egypt with hieroglyphics and Mesopotamia with cuneiform
(3500 to 3000 B.C.).
Here religion, myth, magic, and gross observation fused
together to provide answers to perplexing questions.
The idea of creation from nothing (ex nihilo) did not occur
in the ancient world until the rise of Christianity.
The great emphasis on mythology and religion is because
they are the means of explaining the creation of the world
and its operations.
Also a practical interest in the physical world manifested
itself primarily in the areas of astronomy, mathematics, and
medicine.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
Egyptians had a high level of knowledge on medicine,
anatomy, and physiology at least two thousand years
before Hippocrates.
Mesopotamians were superior to their Egyptian
contemporaries in astronomy and mathematics.
Babylonians assigned 360 degrees to the circle traced out
by the Sun's apparent path around the earth and divided it
into 12 divisions of 30 degrees as the signs of the zodiac.
They had a number system based on sixty including zero,
fraction operations, algebra with solutions to quadratic
equations.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
Egyptians had a high level of knowledge on medicine,
anatomy, and physiology at least two thousand years
before Hippocrates.
Mesopotamians were superior to their Egyptian
contemporaries in astronomy and mathematics.
Babylonians assigned 360 degrees to the circle traced out
by the Sun's apparent path around the earth and divided it
into 12 divisions of 30 degrees as the signs of the zodiac.
They had a number system based on sixty including zero,
fraction operations, algebra with solutions to quadratic
equations.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
Egyptians had a high level of knowledge on medicine,
anatomy, and physiology at least two thousand years
before Hippocrates.
Mesopotamians were superior to their Egyptian
contemporaries in astronomy and mathematics.
Babylonians assigned 360 degrees to the circle traced out
by the Sun's apparent path around the earth and divided it
into 12 divisions of 30 degrees as the signs of the zodiac.
They had a number system based on sixty including zero,
fraction operations, algebra with solutions to quadratic
equations.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
Egyptians had a high level of knowledge on medicine,
anatomy, and physiology at least two thousand years
before Hippocrates.
Mesopotamians were superior to their Egyptian
contemporaries in astronomy and mathematics.
Babylonians assigned 360 degrees to the circle traced out
by the Sun's apparent path around the earth and divided it
into 12 divisions of 30 degrees as the signs of the zodiac.
They had a number system based on sixty including zero,
fraction operations, algebra with solutions to quadratic
equations.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Egypt and Mezopotamia
Egyptians had a high level of knowledge on medicine,
anatomy, and physiology at least two thousand years
before Hippocrates.
Mesopotamians were superior to their Egyptian
contemporaries in astronomy and mathematics.
Babylonians assigned 360 degrees to the circle traced out
by the Sun's apparent path around the earth and divided it
into 12 divisions of 30 degrees as the signs of the zodiac.
They had a number system based on sixty including zero,
fraction operations, algebra with solutions to quadratic
equations.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Example
Golden Ratio:
a
b
=
a +b
a
Herodotus told that the dimensions of the Great Pyramid
were so chosen that the area of each face would be the
same as the area of a square with sides equal to the
Pyramid's height.
The area of the base is to the sum of the areas of the
triangular faces as this sum is to the sum of the areas of
the faces and base.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Example
Golden Ratio:
a
b
=
a +b
a
Herodotus told that the dimensions of the Great Pyramid
were so chosen that the area of each face would be the
same as the area of a square with sides equal to the
Pyramid's height.
The area of the base is to the sum of the areas of the
triangular faces as this sum is to the sum of the areas of
the faces and base.
Early Beginnings
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Example
Golden Ratio:
a
b
=
a +b
a
Herodotus told that the dimensions of the Great Pyramid
were so chosen that the area of each face would be the
same as the area of a square with sides equal to the
Pyramid's height.
The area of the base is to the sum of the areas of the
triangular faces as this sum is to the sum of the areas of
the faces and base.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Milesian School
Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander replaced the poetry
and mythology of Homer and Hesiod with the idea of
universal order based on physical laws.
They had two innovations i) the discovery of nature ii)
practice of rational criticism and debate.
The idea of the divine often gures in their cosmologies,
but the supernatural plays no part in their explanations.
It was a new approach that was added to the mythological
explanations of the world that had characterized earlier
Greek descriptions of physical phenomena.
Monism : for Thales water was the basic substance, for
Anaximender, apeiron, for Anaximenes, air.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Milesian School
Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander replaced the poetry
and mythology of Homer and Hesiod with the idea of
universal order based on physical laws.
They had two innovations i) the discovery of nature ii)
practice of rational criticism and debate.
The idea of the divine often gures in their cosmologies,
but the supernatural plays no part in their explanations.
It was a new approach that was added to the mythological
explanations of the world that had characterized earlier
Greek descriptions of physical phenomena.
Monism : for Thales water was the basic substance, for
Anaximender, apeiron, for Anaximenes, air.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Milesian School
Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander replaced the poetry
and mythology of Homer and Hesiod with the idea of
universal order based on physical laws.
They had two innovations i) the discovery of nature ii)
practice of rational criticism and debate.
The idea of the divine often gures in their cosmologies,
but the supernatural plays no part in their explanations.
It was a new approach that was added to the mythological
explanations of the world that had characterized earlier
Greek descriptions of physical phenomena.
Monism : for Thales water was the basic substance, for
Anaximender, apeiron, for Anaximenes, air.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Milesian School
Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander replaced the poetry
and mythology of Homer and Hesiod with the idea of
universal order based on physical laws.
They had two innovations i) the discovery of nature ii)
practice of rational criticism and debate.
The idea of the divine often gures in their cosmologies,
but the supernatural plays no part in their explanations.
It was a new approach that was added to the mythological
explanations of the world that had characterized earlier
Greek descriptions of physical phenomena.
Monism : for Thales water was the basic substance, for
Anaximender, apeiron, for Anaximenes, air.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Milesian School
Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander replaced the poetry
and mythology of Homer and Hesiod with the idea of
universal order based on physical laws.
They had two innovations i) the discovery of nature ii)
practice of rational criticism and debate.
The idea of the divine often gures in their cosmologies,
but the supernatural plays no part in their explanations.
It was a new approach that was added to the mythological
explanations of the world that had characterized earlier
Greek descriptions of physical phenomena.
Monism : for Thales water was the basic substance, for
Anaximender, apeiron, for Anaximenes, air.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Milesian School
Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander replaced the poetry
and mythology of Homer and Hesiod with the idea of
universal order based on physical laws.
They had two innovations i) the discovery of nature ii)
practice of rational criticism and debate.
The idea of the divine often gures in their cosmologies,
but the supernatural plays no part in their explanations.
It was a new approach that was added to the mythological
explanations of the world that had characterized earlier
Greek descriptions of physical phenomena.
Monism : for Thales water was the basic substance, for
Anaximender, apeiron, for Anaximenes, air.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
Pythagoras of Samos is referred to as a founder both of a
religious sect and at the same time a school of
mathematics.
For Pythagorians, the substratum underlying our world was
formal (mathematics-number), rather than material. They
replaced the matter of Milesians with form.
Everything in the universe consists of numbers.
Pythagorians had a reputation for geometry and number
theory that they played a strong role in mathematics and
science. They were strong proponents of number
mysticism.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
Pythagoras of Samos is referred to as a founder both of a
religious sect and at the same time a school of
mathematics.
For Pythagorians, the substratum underlying our world was
formal (mathematics-number), rather than material. They
replaced the matter of Milesians with form.
Everything in the universe consists of numbers.
Pythagorians had a reputation for geometry and number
theory that they played a strong role in mathematics and
science. They were strong proponents of number
mysticism.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
Pythagoras of Samos is referred to as a founder both of a
religious sect and at the same time a school of
mathematics.
For Pythagorians, the substratum underlying our world was
formal (mathematics-number), rather than material. They
replaced the matter of Milesians with form.
Everything in the universe consists of numbers.
Pythagorians had a reputation for geometry and number
theory that they played a strong role in mathematics and
science. They were strong proponents of number
mysticism.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
Pythagoras of Samos is referred to as a founder both of a
religious sect and at the same time a school of
mathematics.
For Pythagorians, the substratum underlying our world was
formal (mathematics-number), rather than material. They
replaced the matter of Milesians with form.
Everything in the universe consists of numbers.
Pythagorians had a reputation for geometry and number
theory that they played a strong role in mathematics and
science. They were strong proponents of number
mysticism.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
Pythagoras of Samos is referred to as a founder both of a
religious sect and at the same time a school of
mathematics.
For Pythagorians, the substratum underlying our world was
formal (mathematics-number), rather than material. They
replaced the matter of Milesians with form.
Everything in the universe consists of numbers.
Pythagorians had a reputation for geometry and number
theory that they played a strong role in mathematics and
science. They were strong proponents of number
mysticism.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
In mathematical and scientic thought, the Pythagorians
saw a mystical purication and immortality.
They saw music as a form of harmony which can be
expressed by the numbers and therefore, it had a highly
therapeutic value for the human spirit.
Their brilliance is measured to some extent on their
inuence on Plato's theory of forms.
The idea of mathematics as the basis of nature would have
a long history and represents another contribution by these
early Greek thinkers.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
In mathematical and scientic thought, the Pythagorians
saw a mystical purication and immortality.
They saw music as a form of harmony which can be
expressed by the numbers and therefore, it had a highly
therapeutic value for the human spirit.
Their brilliance is measured to some extent on their
inuence on Plato's theory of forms.
The idea of mathematics as the basis of nature would have
a long history and represents another contribution by these
early Greek thinkers.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
In mathematical and scientic thought, the Pythagorians
saw a mystical purication and immortality.
They saw music as a form of harmony which can be
expressed by the numbers and therefore, it had a highly
therapeutic value for the human spirit.
Their brilliance is measured to some extent on their
inuence on Plato's theory of forms.
The idea of mathematics as the basis of nature would have
a long history and represents another contribution by these
early Greek thinkers.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
In mathematical and scientic thought, the Pythagorians
saw a mystical purication and immortality.
They saw music as a form of harmony which can be
expressed by the numbers and therefore, it had a highly
therapeutic value for the human spirit.
Their brilliance is measured to some extent on their
inuence on Plato's theory of forms.
The idea of mathematics as the basis of nature would have
a long history and represents another contribution by these
early Greek thinkers.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
In mathematical and scientic thought, the Pythagorians
saw a mystical purication and immortality.
They saw music as a form of harmony which can be
expressed by the numbers and therefore, it had a highly
therapeutic value for the human spirit.
Their brilliance is measured to some extent on their
inuence on Plato's theory of forms.
The idea of mathematics as the basis of nature would have
a long history and represents another contribution by these
early Greek thinkers.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
They practiced counting with pebbles (calculus) and
merged number with geometry by associating 1 pebble with
a point, 2 pebbles with a line, 3 points with a triangle etc.
Example
Pythagoras Theorem:
a
2
+ b2 = c 2
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
They practiced counting with pebbles (calculus) and
merged number with geometry by associating 1 pebble with
a point, 2 pebbles with a line, 3 points with a triangle etc.
Example
Pythagoras Theorem:
a
2
+ b2 = c 2
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pythagorian School
They practiced counting with pebbles (calculus) and
merged number with geometry by associating 1 pebble with
a point, 2 pebbles with a line, 3 points with a triangle etc.
Example
Pythagoras Theorem:
a
2
+ b2 = c 2
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Attempts to Explain Change
Heraclitus of Ephesus stated that all things are in constant
change . Things change and assume dierent forms but
they have something which continues to stay the same.
Everything is in ux and unity in diversity comes from re,
which is process rather than an element.
Nothing is really ever lost in the nature an idea that
implies an early form of law of conservation.
The process of change is a product of God's universal
reason called logos.
The most real thing is the soul and it is identied with God
or reason which is also a universal law.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Attempts to Explain Change
Heraclitus of Ephesus stated that all things are in constant
change . Things change and assume dierent forms but
they have something which continues to stay the same.
Everything is in ux and unity in diversity comes from re,
which is process rather than an element.
Nothing is really ever lost in the nature an idea that
implies an early form of law of conservation.
The process of change is a product of God's universal
reason called logos.
The most real thing is the soul and it is identied with God
or reason which is also a universal law.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Attempts to Explain Change
Heraclitus of Ephesus stated that all things are in constant
change . Things change and assume dierent forms but
they have something which continues to stay the same.
Everything is in ux and unity in diversity comes from re,
which is process rather than an element.
Nothing is really ever lost in the nature an idea that
implies an early form of law of conservation.
The process of change is a product of God's universal
reason called logos.
The most real thing is the soul and it is identied with God
or reason which is also a universal law.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Attempts to Explain Change
Heraclitus of Ephesus stated that all things are in constant
change . Things change and assume dierent forms but
they have something which continues to stay the same.
Everything is in ux and unity in diversity comes from re,
which is process rather than an element.
Nothing is really ever lost in the nature an idea that
implies an early form of law of conservation.
The process of change is a product of God's universal
reason called logos.
The most real thing is the soul and it is identied with God
or reason which is also a universal law.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Attempts to Explain Change
Heraclitus of Ephesus stated that all things are in constant
change . Things change and assume dierent forms but
they have something which continues to stay the same.
Everything is in ux and unity in diversity comes from re,
which is process rather than an element.
Nothing is really ever lost in the nature an idea that
implies an early form of law of conservation.
The process of change is a product of God's universal
reason called logos.
The most real thing is the soul and it is identied with God
or reason which is also a universal law.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Attempts to Explain Change
Heraclitus of Ephesus stated that all things are in constant
change . Things change and assume dierent forms but
they have something which continues to stay the same.
Everything is in ux and unity in diversity comes from re,
which is process rather than an element.
Nothing is really ever lost in the nature an idea that
implies an early form of law of conservation.
The process of change is a product of God's universal
reason called logos.
The most real thing is the soul and it is identied with God
or reason which is also a universal law.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Eleatics
Parmenides of Elea rejects the idea that everything is in
constant change and the Milesian theories about the origin
of things.
Behind the apparent continuous change in nature, there is
a constant substratum which is permanent and
indestructible.
Zeno of Elea with his 4 famous paradoxes challenged the
plurality of things and claimed that change and motion are
impossible.
Having acknowledged that we keep observing change, they
were convinced that there is only one being, continuous,
material and motionless.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Eleatics
Parmenides of Elea rejects the idea that everything is in
constant change and the Milesian theories about the origin
of things.
Behind the apparent continuous change in nature, there is
a constant substratum which is permanent and
indestructible.
Zeno of Elea with his 4 famous paradoxes challenged the
plurality of things and claimed that change and motion are
impossible.
Having acknowledged that we keep observing change, they
were convinced that there is only one being, continuous,
material and motionless.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Eleatics
Parmenides of Elea rejects the idea that everything is in
constant change and the Milesian theories about the origin
of things.
Behind the apparent continuous change in nature, there is
a constant substratum which is permanent and
indestructible.
Zeno of Elea with his 4 famous paradoxes challenged the
plurality of things and claimed that change and motion are
impossible.
Having acknowledged that we keep observing change, they
were convinced that there is only one being, continuous,
material and motionless.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Eleatics
Parmenides of Elea rejects the idea that everything is in
constant change and the Milesian theories about the origin
of things.
Behind the apparent continuous change in nature, there is
a constant substratum which is permanent and
indestructible.
Zeno of Elea with his 4 famous paradoxes challenged the
plurality of things and claimed that change and motion are
impossible.
Having acknowledged that we keep observing change, they
were convinced that there is only one being, continuous,
material and motionless.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Eleatics
Parmenides of Elea rejects the idea that everything is in
constant change and the Milesian theories about the origin
of things.
Behind the apparent continuous change in nature, there is
a constant substratum which is permanent and
indestructible.
Zeno of Elea with his 4 famous paradoxes challenged the
plurality of things and claimed that change and motion are
impossible.
Having acknowledged that we keep observing change, they
were convinced that there is only one being, continuous,
material and motionless.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pluralists
Empedocles of Agragas, Leucippus of Elea and Democritus
of Abdera (circa 450 B.C.) agreed with Parmenides that
something could not exist from nothing but they assumed
the plurality of basic substances from which the world and
things in it were composed.
Empedocles assume the existence of 4 basic elements, re,
earth, water and air, a theory existed through centuries
almost to the 18th.
Anaxagoras introduced the concept of mind (nous ) which
he distinguished from matter.
Matter is existing and unperishable but its shape and
behavior are inuenced by mind which is a controlling and
moving force.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pluralists
Empedocles of Agragas, Leucippus of Elea and Democritus
of Abdera (circa 450 B.C.) agreed with Parmenides that
something could not exist from nothing but they assumed
the plurality of basic substances from which the world and
things in it were composed.
Empedocles assume the existence of 4 basic elements, re,
earth, water and air, a theory existed through centuries
almost to the 18th.
Anaxagoras introduced the concept of mind (nous ) which
he distinguished from matter.
Matter is existing and unperishable but its shape and
behavior are inuenced by mind which is a controlling and
moving force.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pluralists
Empedocles of Agragas, Leucippus of Elea and Democritus
of Abdera (circa 450 B.C.) agreed with Parmenides that
something could not exist from nothing but they assumed
the plurality of basic substances from which the world and
things in it were composed.
Empedocles assume the existence of 4 basic elements, re,
earth, water and air, a theory existed through centuries
almost to the 18th.
Anaxagoras introduced the concept of mind (nous ) which
he distinguished from matter.
Matter is existing and unperishable but its shape and
behavior are inuenced by mind which is a controlling and
moving force.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pluralists
Empedocles of Agragas, Leucippus of Elea and Democritus
of Abdera (circa 450 B.C.) agreed with Parmenides that
something could not exist from nothing but they assumed
the plurality of basic substances from which the world and
things in it were composed.
Empedocles assume the existence of 4 basic elements, re,
earth, water and air, a theory existed through centuries
almost to the 18th.
Anaxagoras introduced the concept of mind (nous ) which
he distinguished from matter.
Matter is existing and unperishable but its shape and
behavior are inuenced by mind which is a controlling and
moving force.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pluralists
Empedocles of Agragas, Leucippus of Elea and Democritus
of Abdera (circa 450 B.C.) agreed with Parmenides that
something could not exist from nothing but they assumed
the plurality of basic substances from which the world and
things in it were composed.
Empedocles assume the existence of 4 basic elements, re,
earth, water and air, a theory existed through centuries
almost to the 18th.
Anaxagoras introduced the concept of mind (nous ) which
he distinguished from matter.
Matter is existing and unperishable but its shape and
behavior are inuenced by mind which is a controlling and
moving force.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pluralists
Leucippus and Democritus developed an atomic theory
that atoms with unique shape and size, eternal, indivisible
and impenetrable exist in the innite void.
In Democritus's system each atom was a Parmenidean
being that it was eternal and unchanging but in motion in
a void which is non-being but considered as a real existent
entity.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pluralists
Leucippus and Democritus developed an atomic theory
that atoms with unique shape and size, eternal, indivisible
and impenetrable exist in the innite void.
In Democritus's system each atom was a Parmenidean
being that it was eternal and unchanging but in motion in
a void which is non-being but considered as a real existent
entity.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pluralists
Leucippus and Democritus developed an atomic theory
that atoms with unique shape and size, eternal, indivisible
and impenetrable exist in the innite void.
In Democritus's system each atom was a Parmenidean
being that it was eternal and unchanging but in motion in
a void which is non-being but considered as a real existent
entity.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pluralists
Leucippus and Democritus developed an atomic theory
that atoms with unique shape and size, eternal, indivisible
and impenetrable exist in the innite void.
In Democritus's system each atom was a Parmenidean
being that it was eternal and unchanging but in motion in
a void which is non-being but considered as a real existent
entity.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pre-Socratic Thought
Divine intervention was absent in their thought and the
world had no beginning and would have no end.
The object was to detemine the causal mechanisms
producing change. In studying nature, they aim was not to
control but to understand it.
They rarely used careful observational data or experiments
but the problems with which they grappled by abstract,
rational arguments formed the basis of natural philosophy
shaped by Aristotle in the 4th century B.C.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pre-Socratic Thought
Divine intervention was absent in their thought and the
world had no beginning and would have no end.
The object was to detemine the causal mechanisms
producing change. In studying nature, they aim was not to
control but to understand it.
They rarely used careful observational data or experiments
but the problems with which they grappled by abstract,
rational arguments formed the basis of natural philosophy
shaped by Aristotle in the 4th century B.C.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pre-Socratic Thought
Divine intervention was absent in their thought and the
world had no beginning and would have no end.
The object was to detemine the causal mechanisms
producing change. In studying nature, they aim was not to
control but to understand it.
They rarely used careful observational data or experiments
but the problems with which they grappled by abstract,
rational arguments formed the basis of natural philosophy
shaped by Aristotle in the 4th century B.C.
Pre-Socratic Period 600-400 B.C.
Egypt and
Mesopotamia
The Ancient
Greek
Pre-Socratic Thought
Divine intervention was absent in their thought and the
world had no beginning and would have no end.
The object was to detemine the causal mechanisms
producing change. In studying nature, they aim was not to
control but to understand it.
They rarely used careful observational data or experiments
but the problems with which they grappled by abstract,
rational arguments formed the basis of natural philosophy
shaped by Aristotle in the 4th century B.C.