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Archetypes of Wisdom
Douglas J. Soccio
Chapter 3: The Presocratic Sophos
Including Overview of Classical Themes
Greek Mythology
Before the first Western philosophers, the most
important view of life was the mythical one
expressed in the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic
poems attributed to the Greek poet Homer (c.8th
century B.C.)
Mythology is not sheer fantasy, but the product of
a desire to understand. Philosophy and Science
have both grown out of this search for explanation
and justification.
One function of mythology - shared by philosophy
- is to help in the Search for Happiness, to convey
ideas about living well and being a good person.
Sophos
As early Greek civilization became increasingly
refined and sophisticated, a new kind of thinker
emerged known as a sophos, from the Greek word
for “wise”.
The sophos lived and spoke in ways that were
interpreted as showing disregard for conventional
values, and that set them apart from regular folks
living normal lives.
One of the earliest popular images of philosophers
is the stereotype of an “absent-minded,” starryeyed dreamer asking silly questions.
Woman as Sophos
One of the earliest examples of a woman
philosopher was Aesara of Lucania (c.3rd
century B.C.). In a fragment of her book,
On Human Nature (included in the text),
she claims that through the introspection
and contemplation of our own souls we can
discover the “natural” foundation of all law
and the structure of morality.
From Sophos to Philosopher
Whereas the sophos (sage or wise man) was seen
as a kind of prophet-priest-therapist, the
philosopher was seen as an unusual sort of thinker
and truth-seeker.
The very first Western thinkers identified as
philosophers were initially concerned with
questions about the nature of nature and about the
order of the world – the “kosmos”.
The earliest philosophers were referred to as the
Presocratics because they appeared prior to
Socrates, the first major figure of the tradition.
Thales
Despite the fame of Socrates, the first Western
philosopher was Thales (c.624-545 B.C.)
He is the first thinker to suggest that all of the
things in nature are ultimately made of one basic
“stuff” (which he believed to be water), since, as
he says, “the nutriment of everything is moist”.
This is an example of monism – the belief that
reality is essentially one – whether it be one
process, one structure, or one substance. Thus
began The Search for a Common Principle.
Anaximander
Thales’ claim that everything is composed of water was a
move beyond mythological accounts, an attempt to figure
out a reasonable explanation for the changes he saw in
nature. Seeking reasons for holding a belief is part of
rational discourse.
Anaximander (611-546 B.C.), a student of Thales, thought
that a limited element like water was insufficient to
account for everything. Whatever is responsible for the
existence of the world must be something infinite,
unlimited by space or time. Anaximander’s name for this
indefinite-infinite “thing” - which produces all the
particular objects in the world - was the “apeiron”, or
“boundless”.
Anaximenes
Just as Anaximander identified problems in
Thales’ thinking, so Anaximander’s pupil,
Anaximenes (died c. 500 B.C.), recognized a
problem with the “boundless”. Rather than pairs
of opposites, such as hot and cold, he proposed
two opposing processes of exchange:
condensation and rarefaction.
According to Anaximenes, “pneuma” (air) is the
ultimate spirit that holds the world together. And
its opposing processes turn air to fire to wind to
cloud to water to earth to stone – and back again.
Heraclitus
The fragments of writing that remain of Heraclitus
(d. 510-480 B.C.) reveal a powerful intellect. He
claimed that all things are constantly changing.
But he also claimed that there is an order to how
things change, which he called the Logos.
A complex Greek word, logos means “thought,”
“speech,” and “meaning” (to name a few). But its
most important sense was the rule according to
which all things are accomplished and the law
which is found in all things. For Heraclitus, the
Logos is like God, but without the human qualities
earlier philosophers & poets had attributed to “It”.
Pythagoras
Most of us are familiar with this name – from the
Pythagorean theorem in geometry class. Pythagoras (6th
century B.C.), believed that the principle of number
accounted for everything in the world, expressing the
mathematical relations of an ordered whole.
From music to astronomy, the Pythagoreans felt that the
motion of the heavenly bodies produced harmonies, which
they described as “the cosmic music of the spheres”.
It’s possible to think of these ordered relations – which
describe how things change or move – as an example of
what Heraclitus meant by the Logos.
Parmenides
In contrast to Heraclitus’ notion that things are
always changing, Parmenides (fl. 5th century B.C.)
felt that change was an illusion. The senses make
us trust in the way things appear, while what is
really the case can only be understood through
rational thought. This is the distinction between
appearance and reality.
Parmenides claimed that there are not actually
many things (though there appears to be), but only
“the One” (existence itself, or “being”). And the
study of being – or ontology – begins at this time.
Zeno’s Paradoxes
A student of Parmenides, Zeno (c.490-430 B.C.),
constructed paradoxes in order to illustrate the
truth of his teacher’s counter-intuitive claims. In
each case, the senses tell us that there is motion (of
individual objects), while rational thought shows
that motion is impossible (since the space to be
traversed can be infinitely divided).
Zeno’s paradoxes are one of the earliest uses of a
method of proof known as a reductio ad absurdum
(reduce to absurdity), which shows that following
a particular position leads to a contradiction
(which can never be true).
Empedocles
Building on Parmenides’ belief that motion is
impossible because there is no non-being,
Empedocles (c. 5th century B.C.) claimed that
reality must be “completely full,” a plenum
without any “gaps”. Therefore, all motion must
take place within reality, with things “exchanging
places” with one another.
Rather than an unmoving One, reality consists of
six basic components: four “roots” – earth, air,
fire, and water - and two “motions” – Love (which
unites) and Strife (which divides). This shift back
toward “the many” is referred to as pluralism.
Anaxagoras
Rejecting Empedocles’ two fundamental motions,
Anaxagoras (c. 500-428 B.C.) claimed that there is
an all-pervading Mind which “sets all things in
order”. Nous (Greek for “mind”) imposes an
intelligible pattern to the world, affecting them
without itself being affected by them.
Anaxagoras also believed that “in everything there
is a portion of everything,” that all things contain
the stuff – or “the seeds” – of everything else. Our
senses are unable to detect this, because “What
appears is [itself] a vision of the unseen.”
Atomism
If things all motion happens within being, and
individual objects come and go, then the idea that
all things contain small bits that can serve to make
other things is not too much of a stretch. And the
atomists – Luecippus (c. 5th century B.C.) and
Democritus (c. 460-370 B.C.) - claimed just that.
According to them, everything in the universe
consists of atoms (minute, indivisible particles)
and the void (empty space containing no atoms).
However, the void of the atomists is not non-being
(they agree there is no such thing); the world can
be One, and still have many moving parts. So,
Parmenides’ problem seems to have been solved.
Reason and Necessity
Atomism is a type of materialism – the belief that
everything in the world is made of matter. And while this
serves us well in science, raises some interesting problems.
Is there is any purpose or intention in the universe? The
atomists’ answer is “no”. Though there is predictable
order, “nothing occurs at random” – in other words, there
are no chance occurrences, and everything happens by
necessity.
This leads to another problem: if thinking is a material
process, according to Democritus we are “cut off from the
real,” unable to have certain knowledge. Instead, our only
option is to rely on how we perceive things and what
others around us think is true – that is, on convention.
Overview of Classical Themes
Two principles produced by the desire to find
explanations:
1) There is a difference between the way
things appear and the way they really are.
2) There are unseen causes of events.
Overview of Classical Themes
Nature vs. Convention
Contemporary lessons from the past
The search for Excellence
The search for Happiness