most manifestly those things of which there are the most in it". He introduced the concept of "Nous" (Cosmic Mind) as an ordering force, which moved and separated out the original mixture, which was homogeneous, or nearly so. He also gave a number of novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena. He deduced a correct explanation for eclipses and described the Sun as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese, as well as attempting to explain rainbows and meteors.
Introduction
Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras | Introduction
He also gave a number of novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena. He deduced a correct explanation for eclipses and described the Sun as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese, as well as attempting to explain rainbows and meteors. He introduced the concept of "Nous" (Cosmic Mind) as an ordering force, which moved and separated out the original mixture, which was homogeneous, or nearly so. He brought philosophy and the spirit of scientific inquiry from Ionia to Athens. His observations of the celestial bodies and the fall of meteorites led him to form new theories of the universal order, and to prediction of the impact of meteorites. He deduced a correct explanation for eclipses and described the Sun as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese, as well as attempting to explain rainbows and meteors.
where is the solar system located in our galaxy
user
The Solar System, is located in the Milky Way's galactic habitable zone.
assistant
what is the milky way?
user
It is the galaxy that contains our Solar System.
assistant
can you tell me the names of the stars that form a part of this galaxy?
user
The Milky Way may contain ten billion white dwarfs, a billion neutron stars, and a hundred million stellar black holes.
assistant
can this galaxy be seen from earth in the northern hemisphere?
user
The Milky Way is visible from Earth as a hazy band of white light, some 30° wide, arching across the night sky.  As viewed from Earth, the visible region of the Milky Way's galactic plane occupies an area of the sky that includes 30 constellations.
assistant
how would you describe its size?
user
The Milky Way is the second-largest galaxy in the Local Group with its stellar disk approximately in diameter and, on average, approximately thick. The Milky Way is approximately 890 billion times the mass of the Sun.
assistant
name the structural parts of this.
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
what is the estimated age of this galaxy?
user
Several individual stars have been found in the Milky Way's halo with measured ages very close to the 13.80-billion-year age of the Universe.
assistant
what are the names of the intellects who studied and observed this cluster of stars?
user
Aristotle, Anaxagoras, Democritus
assistant
what is the professional background of the first person mentioned?
user
He  was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece.
assistant
which period did he exist?
user
384–322 BC
assistant
what was his contribution as an intellect?
user
Aristotle's work encompassed virtually all facets of intellectual inquiry. Aristotle makes philosophy in the broad sense coextensive with reasoning, which he also would describe as "science".
assistant
were any of his original writings recovered?
user
The works of Aristotle that have survived from antiquity through medieval manuscript transmission are collected in the Corpus Aristotelicum. These texts, as opposed to Aristotle's lost works, are technical philosophical treatises from within Aristotle's school.
assistant
what is the professional background of the second person mentioned amongst the intellects?
user
He was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher.
assistant
what were some of his notable contributions?
user
most manifestly those things of which there are the most in it". He introduced the concept of "Nous" (Cosmic Mind) as an ordering force, which moved and separated out the original mixture, which was homogeneous, or nearly so. He also gave a number of novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena. He deduced a correct explanation for eclipses and described the Sun as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese, as well as attempting to explain rainbows and meteors.
Anaxagoras | Introduction
Anaxagoras (; , "Anaxagoras", "lord of the assembly"; BC) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae at a time when Asia Minor was under the control of the Persian Empire, Anaxagoras came to Athens. According to Diogenes Laërtius and Plutarch, in later life he was charged with impiety and went into exile in Lampsacus; the charges may have been political, owing to his association with Pericles, if they were not fabricated by later ancient biographers. Responding to the claims of Parmenides on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras described the world as a mixture of primary imperishable ingredients, where material variation was never caused by an absolute presence of a particular ingredient, but rather by its relative preponderance over the other ingredients; in his words, "each one is...
Anaxagoras | Introduction
Anaximander (; "Anaximandros"; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia (in modern-day Turkey). He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his master Thales. He succeeded Thales and became the second master of that school where he counted Anaximenes and, arguably, Pythagoras amongst his pupils. Little of his life and work is known today. According to available historical documents, he is the first philosopher known to have written down his studies, although only one fragment of his work remains. Fragmentary testimonies found in documents after his death provide a portrait of the man.
Anaximander | Introduction
Anaxarchus (; ; ) was a Greek philosopher of the school of Democritus. Together with Pyrrho, he accompanied Alexander the Great into Asia. The reports of his philosophical views suggest that he was a forerunner of Pyrrhonism. Aelian writes that he was called Eudaemonicus or "Happy Man"().
Anaxarchus | Introduction
The fragments of Hecataeus suggest that he wrote only an annal-like sequence long on names and events but short on connecting narrative. To this framework Herodotus adds the logoi, or independent anecdotes of persons and events derived from independent oral traditions, which Herodotus obtained by interview with record-keepers and state historians. The disconnectedness comes from their being independent. It is pointless, therefore, to try to invent connections.
Aristagoras | The affirmative view
Alexamenus of Teos () was, according to Aristotle in his dialogue "On Poets", the first person who wrote Socratic dialogues before the time of Plato. An Aristotelian papyrus from Oxyrhynchus claims that this is merely malicious gossip by Aristotle.
Alexamenus of Teos | Introduction
Classical historians debate whether Pythagoras made these discoveries, and many of the accomplishments credited to him likely originated earlier or were made by his colleagues or successors. Some accounts mention that the philosophy associated with Pythagoras was related to mathematics and that numbers were important, but it is debated to what extent, if at all, he actually contributed to mathematics or natural philosophy.
Pythagoras | Introduction
This subtle agent, possessed of all knowledge and power, is especially seen ruling in all the forms of life. Its first appearance, and the only manifestation of it which Anaxagoras describes, is Motion. It gave distinctness and reality to the aggregates of like parts. Decrease and growth represent a new aggregation () and disruption (). However, the original intermixture of things is never wholly overcome. Each thing contains in itself parts of other things or heterogeneous elements, and is what it is, only on account of the preponderance of certain homogeneous parts which constitute its character. Out of this process arise the things we see in this world.
Anaxagoras | Philosophy
Pericles, the leader of Athens during the period of its greatest glory was an admirer of Anaxagoras. Other influential pre-Socratics or rational philosophers include Protagoras (like Anaxagoras a friend of Pericles), known for his famous dictum "man is the measure of all things" and Democritus, who proposed that matter was composed of atoms. Little of the written work of these early philosophers survives and they are known mainly from fragments and quotations in other writers, principally Plato and Aristotle. The historian Thucydides, noted for his scientific and rational approach to history, is also much admired by later humanists. In the 3rd century BCE, Epicurus became known for his concise phrasing of the problem of evil, lack of belief in the afterlife, and human-centred approaches to achieving eudaimonia.
Humanism | Ancient Greece
None of the works ascribed to him in ancient times, if indeed they were written by him, have survived. He was said to have written a book comparing the laws of the Scythians with the laws of the Greeks, as well as work on the art of war. All that remains of his thought is what later tradition ascribes to him. He became famous for the simplicity of his way of living and his acute observations on the institutions and customs of the Greeks. He exhorted moderation in everything, saying that the vine bears three clusters of grapes: the first, pleasure; the second, drunkenness; the third, disgust.
Anacharsis | Ideas
Anaxagoras is mentioned by Socrates during his trial in Plato's "Apology". In the Phaedo, Plato portrays Socrates saying of Anaxagoras that as a young man: 'I eagerly acquired his books and read them as quickly as I could'. In a quote which begins Nathanael West's first book "The Dream Life of Balso Snell" (1931), Marcel Proust's character Bergotte says, "After all, my dear fellow, life, Anaxagoras has said, is a journey." Anaxagoras appears as a character in "Faust, Part II" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Anaxagoras | Literary references
He also contributed significantly in the progress of the "Pro-education Society of Kastoria" ("Φιλοεκπαιδευτικός Σύλλογος Καστοριάς") which was founded in 1872. For this task he was helped materially and morally by some scholars of the age, mainly Anastasios Goudas and Konstantinos Asopios, both Epirotans from Grammeno, Ioannina, the first a doctor and scholar and the second a professor of the University of Athens.
Anastasios Pichion | Biography
Anacharsis (; ) was a Scythian philosopher; he travelled from his homeland on the northern shores of the ancient Iran, to Athens, in the early 6th century BC, and made a great impression as a forthright and outspoken barbarian, that is, a non-Greek speaker. He very well could have been a forerunner of the Cynics, in part because of his strong, but playful, "parrhesia". None of his works have survived.
Anacharsis | Introduction
He thought the Earth was flat and floated supported by 'strong' air under it and disturbances in this air sometimes caused earthquakes. These speculations made him vulnerable in Athens to a charge of asebeia (impiety). Diogenes Laërtius reports the story that he was prosecuted by Cleon for impiety, but Plutarch says that Pericles sent his former tutor, Anaxagoras, to Lampsacus for his own safety after the Athenians began to blame him for the Peloponnesian war.
Anaxagoras | Biography
Though this remains uncertain, "it would certainly explain why he came to Athens in the year of Salamis, 480/79 B.C." Anaxagoras is said to have remained in Athens for thirty years. Pericles learned to love and admire him, and the poet Euripides derived from him an enthusiasm for science and humanity. Anaxagoras brought philosophy and the spirit of scientific inquiry from Ionia to Athens. His observations of the celestial bodies and the fall of meteorites led him to form new theories of the universal order, and to prediction of the impact of meteorites. Plutarch says "Anaxagoras is said to have predicted that if the heavenly bodies should be loosened by some slip or shake, one of them might be torn away, and might plunge and fall down to earth".
Anaxagoras | Biography
Anaxagoras is believed to have enjoyed some wealth and political influence in his native town of Clazomenae. However, he supposedly surrendered this out of a fear that they would hinder his search for knowledge. The Roman author Valerius Maximus preserves a different tradition: Anaxagoras, coming home from a long voyage, found his property in ruin, and said: "If this had not perished, I would have"—a sentence described by Valerius as being "possessed of sought-after wisdom!" Anaxagoras was a Greek citizen of the Persian Empire and had served in the Persian army; he may have been a member of the Persian regiments that entered mainland Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars.
Anaxagoras | Biography
Anaximander, son of Praxiades, was born in the third year of the 42nd Olympiad (610 BC). According to Apollodorus of Athens, Greek grammarian of the 2nd century BC, he was sixty-four years old during the second year of the 58th Olympiad (547–546 BC), and died shortly afterwards. Establishing a timeline of his work is now impossible, since no document provides chronological references. Themistius, a 4th-century Byzantine rhetorician, mentions that he was the "first of the known Greeks to publish a written document on nature." Therefore, his texts would be amongst the earliest written in prose, at least in the Western world.
Anaximander | Biography
The Greek philosopher Anaxagoras is suggested as a possible trivialist by Graham Priest in his 2005 book "Doubt Truth to Be a Liar". Priest writes, "He held that, at least at one time, everything was all mixed up so that no predicate applied to any one thing more than a contrary predicate."
Trivialism | Anaxagoras
Around the time that "The Clouds" was produced, Democritus at Abdera was developing an atomistic theory of the cosmos and Hippocrates at Cos was establishing an empirical and science-like approach to medicine. Anaxagoras, whose works were studied by Socrates, was living in Athens when Aristophanes was a youth. Anaxagoras enjoyed the patronage of influential figures such as Pericles, but oligarchic elements also had political advocates and Anaxagoras was charged with impiety and expelled from Athens around 437 BC. The battle of ideas had led to some unlikely friendships that cut across personal and class differences, such as between the socially alert Pericles and the unworldly Anaxagoras, and between the handsome aristocrat, Alcibiades, and the ugly plebeian, Socrates.
The Clouds | Historical background
The "Refutation" attributed to Hippolytus of Rome (I, 5), and the later 6th century Byzantine philosopher Simplicius of Cilicia, attribute to Anaximander the earliest use of the word "apeiron" ( "infinite" or "limitless") to designate the original principle. He was the first philosopher to employ, in a philosophical context, the term "archē" (), which until then had meant beginning or origin. "That Anaximander called this something by the name of is the natural interpretation of what Theophrastos says; the current statement that the term was introduced by him appears to be due to a misunderstanding." And "Hippolytos, however, is not an independent authority, and the only question is what Theophrastos wrote."
Anaximander | Apeiron
The pre-Socratic philosophers were interested in cosmology; the nature and origin of the universe, while rejecting mythical answers to such questions. They were specifically interested in the "arche" (the cause or first principle) of the world. The first recognized philosopher, Thales of Miletus (born ca. 625 BCE in Ionia) identified water as the arche (claiming "all is water"). His use of observation and reason to derive this conclusion is the reason for distinguishing him as the first philosopher. Thales' student Anaximander claimed that the "arche" was the "apeiron", the infinite. Following both Thales and Anaximander, Anaximenes of Miletus claimed that air was the most suitable candidate.Pythagoras (born ca.
Western philosophy | Pre-Socratic period
According to Anaxagoras all things have existed in some way from the beginning, but originally they existed in infinitesimally small fragments of themselves, endless in number and inextricably combined throughout the universe. All things existed in this mass, but in a confused and indistinguishable form. There was an infinite number of homogeneous parts () as well as heterogeneous ones. The work of arrangement, the segregation of like from unlike and the summation of the whole into totals of the same name, was the work of Mind or Reason (). Mind is no less unlimited than the chaotic mass, but it stood pure and independent, a thing of finer texture, alike in all its manifestations and everywhere the same.
Anaxagoras | Philosophy
His knowledge of geometry allowed him to introduce the gnomon in Greece. He created a map of the world that contributed greatly to the advancement of geography. He was also involved in the politics of Miletus and was sent as a leader to one of its colonies.
Anaximander | Introduction
Anacharsis cultivated the outsider's knack of seeing the illogic in familiar things. For example, Plutarch remarks that he "expressed his wonder at the fact that in Greece wise men spoke and fools decided." His conversation was droll and frank, and Solon and the Athenians took to him as a sage and philosopher. His rough and free discourse became proverbial among Athenians as 'Scythian discourse'.
Anacharsis | Life
Anaxagoras raised two objections against Parmenides: He did not object, however, to Parmenides's main doctrine that there is only being, not becoming. Anaximander and Heraclitus had claimed that there is becoming and passing away. Thales and Heraclitus had said that the world of multiple qualities comes out of one prime substance. With Anaxagoras, all subsequent philosophers and scientists rejected all coming into existence out of nothing and disappearance into nothing. If the many things that we experience in the world are not mere semblance but do not come from nothing and do not come from one single thing, what is their origin? Since like produces like, the many different things come from many different things.
Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks | Anaxagoras
Very little is known about his philosophical views. It is thought that he represents a link between the atomism of Democritus, and the skepticism of Pyrrho. Anaxarchus is said to have studied under Diogenes of Smyrna, whose teachings were said to be the same as those of Democritus' student Protagoras. Diogenes studied under Metrodorus of Chios, who used to declare that he knew nothing, not even the fact that he knew nothing. According to Sextus Empiricus, Anaxarchus "compared existing things to a scene-painting and supposed them to resemble the impressions experienced in sleep or madness." Anaxarchus's student Pyrrho is said to have adopted "a most noble philosophy, … taking the form of agnosticism and suspension of judgement." Anaxarchus is said to have praised Pyrrho's "indifference and sang-froid." Anaxarchus is said to have possessed "fortitude and contentment in life," which earned him the epithet "eudaimonikos" ("fortunate"), which may imply that he held the end of life to be "eudaimonia." Plutarch reports that he told Alexander the Great that there were an infinite number of worlds, leading Alexander to weep, for he had not yet conquered even one.
Anaxarchus | Philosophy
David Sedley, in his book "Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity", traces creationary thought to the presocratic thinkers Anaxagoras and Empedocles, in the 5th century BCE. Sedley states that Anaxagoras was recognized by Plato as "the first overt champion of a creative cosmic intelligence. Anaxagoras's theory was that the original state of the world was a roughly even mixture of all opposites, and that it was the effect of the action of "nous" (intelligence or mind) that led to the partial separation of such opposites, hot from cold, land from water, rarefied from dense. Anaxagoras also developed the philosophical innovation of dualism of mind from matter, diverging from the stringent monism of his predecessor, Parmenides.
History of creationism | Early history
"Helen" 14). Jebb entertained the possibility that this work survives in the form of the "Encomium of Helen" ascribed to Gorgias: "It appears not improbable that Anaximenes may have been the real author of the work ascribed to Gorgias." According to Pausanias (6.18.6), Anaximenes was "the first who practised the art of speaking extemporaneously." He also worked as a logographer, having written the speech prosecuting Phryne according to Diodorus Periegetes (quoted by Athenaeus XIII.591e). The "ethical" fragments preserved in Stobaeus' "Florilegium" may represent "some philosophical book."
Anaximenes of Lampsacus | Rhetorical works
Some of the missing parts of the second book (chapters 15, 31, 33, and 46) have, however, been recovered from a 14th-century gnomology. His knowledge of physics — in the wide sense which the Greeks assigned to this term — is often untrustworthy. Stobaeus betrays a tendency to confound the dogmas of the early Ionian philosophers, and he occasionally mixes up Platonism with Pythagoreanism. For part of the first book and much of the second, it is clear that he depended on the (lost) works of the Peripatetic philosopher Aetius and the Stoic philosopher Arius Didymus.
Stobaeus | Books 1 and 2
The concept of universal mind was presented by Anaxagoras, a Pre-Socratic philosopher who arrived in Athens some time after 480 BC. He taught that the growth of living things depends on the power of mind within the organisms that enables them to extract nourishment from surrounding substances. For this concept of mind, Anaxagoras was commended by Aristotle. Both Plato and Aristotle, however, objected that his notion of mind did not include a view that mind acts ethically, i.e. acts for the “best interests” of the universe.[1] The most original aspect of Anaxagoras's system was his doctrine of "nous" ("mind" or "reason").
Universal mind | Introduction
Anaximander's bold use of non-mythological explanatory hypotheses considerably distinguishes him from previous cosmology writers such as Hesiod. It confirms that pre-Socratic philosophers were making an early effort to demystify physical processes. His major contribution to history was writing the oldest prose document about the Universe and the origins of life; for this he is often called the "Father of Cosmology" and founder of astronomy. However, pseudo-Plutarch states that he still viewed celestial bodies as deities. Anaximander was the first to conceive a mechanical model of the world. In his model, the Earth floats very still in the centre of the infinite, not supported by anything.
Anaximander | Cosmology
The pluralists were the first to try and reconcile Heraclitus and Parmenides. Anaxagoras may have been influenced by Heraclitus in his refusal to separate the opposites. Empedocles forces of Love and Hate were probably influenced by Heraclitus' Harmony and Strife. Empedocles is also credited with introducing the concept of the four classical elements.
Heraclitus | Pluralists
This is what Robin Smith says in English that Aristotle said in Ancient Greek: "... If M belongs to every N but to no X, then neither will N belong to any X. For if M belongs to no X, neither does X belong to any M; but M belonged to every N; therefore, X will belong to no N (for the first figure has again come about)." The above statement can be simplified by using the symbolical method used in the Middle Ages: If MaN
Prior Analytics | Syllogism in the second figure
Anania is considered by modern scholars to be a representative of the Hellenizing School since many of his works were based on classical Greek sources. He was the first Armenian scholar to have "imported a set of scientific notions, and examples of their applications, from the Greek-speaking schools" into Armenia. He was well versed in Greek literature, and the influence of Greek syntax is evident in his works. Anania was also knowledgeable about native Armenian and Iranian cultural traditions; several of his works provide important information on late Sassanian Iran. Anania accepted the importance of experience, observation, rational practice and theory, and was influenced by the ideas of the 5th-century Neoplatonist philosopher Davit Anhaght (the Invincible), and Greek philosophers Thales of Miletus, Hippocrates, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno of Citium, Epicurus, Ptolemy, Pappus of Alexandria, and Cosmas Indicopleustes.
Anania Shirakatsi | Philosophy
Anaxagoras () of Aegina was a sculptor who lived around 480 BCE, and created the statue of Zeus in bronze set up at Olympia by the states which had united in repelling the invasion of Xerxes I of Persia. He is supposed to be the same person as the sculptor mentioned in an epigram by Anacreon, but not the same as the writer on scene-painting mentioned by Vitruvius.
Anaxagoras of Aegina | Introduction
Among his numerous contributions to Greek literature may be mentioned, Hephaestion's "Encheiridion" (1810); "Poëtae minores Graeci" (1814–1820); Stobaeus' "Florilegium" (1822); Herodotus, with variorum notes (1824); Suidas's "Lexicon" (1834); "Etymologicum Magnum" (1848). Eusebius's "Praeparatio evangelica" (1843) and "Demonstratio evangelica" (1852).
Thomas Gaisford | Academic career
Pythagoras (570 BC – 495 BC) was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and is also considered to be “the Father of Ethical Vegetarianism”. He believed that in order to obtain the highest level of spiritual and physical health it was necessary to follow a lifestyle that included a vegetarian diet which excluded meats and other flesh foods. Anaxagoras (500 BC – 428 BC) was also a Greek philosopher, he suggested that foods that we ate contained fragments that were needed for growth in the body. His belief was that “everything is in everything, at all times”, physical characteristics (hair, nails, flesh, etc.) were generated from foods that contained those same substances.
Nutrition in Classical Antiquity | People of Interest
Another philosopher, Anaxagoras (5th century BCE), claimed that the Sun was "a fiery mass, larger than the Peloponnese"; a charge of impiety was brought against him, and he was forced to flee Athens. The first fully materialistic philosophy was produced by the atomists Leucippus and Democritus (5th century BCE), who attempted to explain the formation and development of the world in terms of the chance movements of atoms moving in infinite space. Euripides (480–406 BCE), in his play "Bellerophon", had the eponymous main character say: “Doth some one say that there be gods above? There are not; no, there are not.
History of atheism | Presocratic philosophy
Pseudo-Justin starts his analysis of the pagan thinkers by looking at the teachings of the Milesian school, including Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes of Miletus. Together with the Milesians he adds Heraclitus, Hippasus, Anaxagoras, and Archelaus. He briefly mentions their various theories of "principle[s]" or "first cause[s]" (see "arche"); for example, Thales' theory that all matter comes from water. Next he mentions the theories of Pythagoras, Epicurus, and Empedocles. He concludes that all these Pre-Socratic philosophers and Epicurus (who was not Pre-Socratic) could not agree, and that this lack of agreement shows the weakness of their philosophy altogether. Heraclitus is listed as coming from the same city as Hippasus—Metapontum—although he in fact came from Ephesus.
Exhortation to the Greeks | Content
Sizeable Pythagorean communities existed in Magna Graecia, Phlius, and Thebes during the early fourth century BC. Around the same time, the Pythagorean philosopher Archytas was highly influential on the politics of the city of Tarentum in Magna Graecia. According to later tradition, Archytas was elected as "strategos" ("general") seven times, even though others were prohibited from serving more than a year. Archytas was also a renowned mathematician and musician. He was a close friend of Plato and he is quoted in Plato's "Republic". Aristotle states that the philosophy of Plato was heavily dependent on the teachings of the Pythagoreans. Cicero repeats this statement, remarking that "Platonem ferunt didicisse Pythagorea omnia" ("They say Plato learned all things Pythagorean").
Pythagoras | On Greek philosophy
Anaxicrates () was a Greek writer of uncertain date, one of whose statements is compared with one of Cleitodemus. He wrote a work on Argolis.
Anaxicrates | Introduction
Although his work appears to have been well-known and influential, mention of him by other early Christian apologists, notably in the extensive writings of Eusebius, is strangely absent. It may be that his treatises, circulating anonymously, were for a time considered as the work of another apologist, or there may have been other circumstances now lost. There are only two mentions of him in early Christian literature: several accredited quotations from his "Apology" in a fragment of Methodius of Olympus (died 312) and some untrustworthy biographical details in the fragments of the "Christian History" of Philip of Side (c. 425).
Athenagoras of Athens | Work and writings
Lysis of Taras (; ; fl. c. 5th-century BC) was a Greek philosopher. His life is obscure. He was said to have been a friend and disciple of Pythagoras. After the persecution of the Pythagoreans at Croton and Metapontum he escaped and went to Thebes, where he became the teacher of Epaminondas, by whom he was held in the highest esteem. There are, however, serious chronological difficulties with his being both a disciple of Pythagoras and the teacher of Epaminondas. Some of the commentators and doxographers have failed to distinguish between the two different anti-pythagorean revolutions: the first one around -500, when Pythagoras himself died, and the second one fifty years later.
Lysis of Taras | Introduction
The "Suda" and various scholia on Plato's "Timaeus" ascribe to Timaeus of Locri a work entitled "Mathēmatiká", of which nothing else is known. This is possibly a false attribution, confusing Timaeus with an astronomer bearing the same name. He is also reported to have authored a biography of Pythagoras, but this may be a confusion with the historian Timaeus of Tauromenium, who devoted part of his history to Pythagoras's life and work.
Timaeus of Locri | Attributions of other works
Although acquainted with the theories of the Eleatics and the Pythagoreans, Empedocles did not belong to any one definite school. An eclectic in his thinking, he combined much that had been suggested by Parmenides, Pythagoras and the Ionian schools. He was a firm believer in Orphic mysteries, as well as a scientific thinker and a precursor of physics. Aristotle mentions Empedocles among the Ionic philosophers, and he places him in very close relation to the atomist philosophers and to Anaxagoras. According to House (1956) Another of the fragments of the dialogue "On the Poets" (Aristotle) treats more fully what is said in Poetics ch.
Empedocles | Philosophy
Anaxagoras (Greek: Ἀναξαγόρας) of Clazomenae (c. 510 – c. 428 BCE) regarded material substance as an infinite multitude of imperishable primary elements, referring all generation and disappearance to mixture and separation respectively. All substance is ordered by an ordering force, the cosmic mind ("nous").
Ionian School (philosophy) | Anaxagoras
He had previously been responsible for supervising the second edition of J.D. Denniston's "The Greek Particles" (1950); though Dover is not named on the title page, his signed preface notes that he made various cuts, additions and changes. His series of Sather lectures on the corpus of speeches attributed to Lysias was important for its early application of stylometry to the study of Greek texts, as well as its agnostic conclusions. Since Athenian speechwriters adapted their style to the personality of their clients, Dover argued, it is difficult to make firm judgments about the authorship of speeches on the basis of style.
Kenneth Dover | Scholarship
In his biography of Pythagoras in his "Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers", Diogenes Laërtius (3rd century AD) cites the statement of Aristoxenus (4th century BC) that Themistoclea taught Pythagoras his moral doctrines: Porphyry (233–305 AD) calls her Aristoclea ("Aristokleia"), although there is little doubt that he is referring to the same person. Porphyry repeats the claim that she was the teacher of Pythagoras: Herodotus at 1.66 in his history of the Persian Wars reports that the Spartans consulted Delphi about their plans to invade the lands of their neighbors, the Arcadians and their city of Tegea. The Pythia replied:
List of oracular statements from Delphi | circa 550 BC
He considers it to be by the same author as the "Sixth Letter".
Second Letter (Plato) | Introduction
Archytas (; ; 428–347 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and strategist. He was a scientist of the Pythagorean school and famous for being the reputed founder of mathematical mechanics, as well as a good friend of Plato.
Archytas | Introduction
In this work, Proclus also listed the first mathematicians associated with Plato: a mature set of mathematicians (Leodamas of Thasos, Archytas of Taras, and Theaetetus), a second set of younger mathematicians (Neoclides, Eudoxus of Cnidus), and a third yet younger set (Amyntas, Menaechmus and his brother Dinostratus, Theudius of Magnesia, Hermotimus of Colophon and Philip of Opus). Some of these mathematicians were influential in arranging the Elements that Euclid later published. In addition to his commentaries, Proclus wrote two major systematic works. The "Elements of Theology" (Στοιχείωσις θεολογική) consists of 211 propositions, each followed by a proof, beginning from the existence of the One (divine Unity) and ending with the descent of individual souls into the material world.
Proclus | Works
The argument from intelligent design appears to have begun with Socrates, although the concept of a cosmic intelligence is older and David Sedley has argued that Socrates was developing an older idea, citing Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, born about 500 BC, as a possible earlier proponent. The proposal that the order of nature showed evidence of having its own human-like "intelligence" goes back to the origins of Greek natural philosophy and science, and its attention to the orderliness of nature, often with special reference to the revolving of the heavens. Anaxagoras is the first person who is definitely known to have explained such a concept using the word ""nous"" (which is the original Greek term that leads to modern English "intelligence" via its Latin and French translations).
Teleological argument | Socrates and the pre-Socratics
The poet Heraclitus of Ephesus, who was born across a few miles of sea away from Samos and may have lived within Pythagoras's lifetime, mocked Pythagoras as a clever charlatan, remarking that "Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, practiced inquiry more than any other man, and selecting from these writings he manufactured a wisdom for himself—much learning, artful knavery." The Greek poets Ion of Chios () and Empedocles of Acragas () both express admiration for Pythagoras in their poems. The first concise description of Pythagoras comes from the historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus (), who describes him as "not the most insignificant" of Greek sages and states that Pythagoras taught his followers how to attain immortality.
Pythagoras | Biographical sources
His analogies often connected parallels between man and the cosmos, insinuating that the same natural laws observable on earth applied to the heavens. Over 2000 years later, Isaac Newton proved this to be true. Throughout history, Anaximenes's observations proved helpful to uncover powerful theories, such as quantum physics and chemical properties. By the end of the Milesian philosophy era, there were many questions left unanswered; this sparked the stimulation of Pre-socratic thought to continue through many other notable philosophers such as Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Democritus. Anaximenes greatest influence is not from his theories of matter, but instead it is from how he thought about these ideas.
Anaximenes of Miletus | Influence on philosophy
He was a gifted writer, being in charge of editing the copy and galleys himself, and helping typeset in the printing room. He would sometimes write without using any sort of manuscript, simply setting type as he wrote. In fact, Burns described him as being a printer by trade.
Encyclopædia Britannica Second Edition | Introduction
Rom. 218. 8; fourth at the City Dionysia in 349 with either "Rustics" or "Anchises"). He was probably from the city of Camirus on Rhodes (test. 1. 1; 2. 9), although the Suda (test. 1. 2–3) reports that "according to some authorities" he was from Colophon. The Suda (test. 1. 3–4) also reports that Anaxandrides was "the first to introduce love-affairs and rapes of girls" (sc. to the comic stage).
Anaxandrides | Introduction
During his travels, according to Diogenes Laërtius, he became acquainted with the Chaldean magi. "Ostanes", one of the magi accompanying Xerxes, was also said to have taught him. After returning to his native land he occupied himself with natural philosophy. He traveled throughout Greece to acquire a better knowledge of its cultures. He mentions many Greek philosophers in his writings, and his wealth enabled him to purchase their writings. Leucippus, the founder of atomism, was the greatest influence upon him. He also praises Anaxagoras. Diogenes Laertius says that he was friends with Hippocrates, and he quotes Demetrius saying: "It would seem that he also went to Athens and was not anxious to be recognized, because he despised fame, and that while he knew of Socrates, he was not known to Socrates, his words being, `I came to Athens and no one knew me.'" Aristotle placed him among the pre-Socratic natural philosophers.
Democritus | Life
The only aspect of his philosophical views which are known is that he did not make the first principle of reality the "One" beyond intellect and being as Plotinus did, but rather the first principle was the supreme intellect and primary being, which suggests that his views were that of traditional Middle Platonism, rather than the Neoplatonism of Plotinus.
Origen the Pagan | Introduction
Following Croton's decisive victory over Sybaris in around 510 BC, Pythagoras's followers came into conflict with supporters of democracy and Pythagorean meeting houses were burned. Pythagoras may have been killed during this persecution, or escaped to Metapontum, where he eventually died. In antiquity, Pythagoras was credited with many mathematical and scientific discoveries, including the Pythagorean theorem, Pythagorean tuning, the five regular solids, the Theory of Proportions, the sphericity of the Earth, and the identity of the morning and evening stars as the planet Venus. It was said that he was the first man to call himself a philosopher ("lover of wisdom") and that he was the first to divide the globe into five climatic zones.
Pythagoras | Introduction
He devoted particular attention to what is called inventio, and made a peculiar division of the parts of an oration, which differed from that adopted by other rhetoricians. Cicero opposes his system, but Quintilian defends it, though in some parts the latter censures what Cicero approves of. But in his eagerness to systematize the parts of an oration, he was said to have entirely lost sight of the practical point of view from which oratory must be regarded.
Hermagoras of Temnos | Introduction
Sixth-century BCE pre-Socratic Greek philosophers Thales of Miletus and Xenophanes of Colophon were the first in the region to attempt to explain the world in terms of human reason rather than myth and tradition, thus can be said to be the first Greek humanists. Thales questioned the notion of anthropomorphic gods and Xenophanes refused to recognize the gods of his time and reserved the divine for the principle of unity in the universe. These Ionian Greeks were the first thinkers to assert that nature is available to be studied separately from the supernatural realm. Anaxagoras brought philosophy and the spirit of rational inquiry from Ionia to Athens.
Humanism | Ancient Greece
Pythagoras was a Greek mathematician and philosopher. Pythagoras may also refer to:
Pythagoras (disambiguation) | Introduction
By the end of the first century, Plutarch had said, in his "Glory of the Athenians", that Xenophon had attributed "Anabasis" to a third party in order to distance himself as a subject, from himself as a writer. While the attribution to Themistogenes has been raised many times, the view of most scholars aligns substantially with that of Plutarch, and certainly that all the volumes are written by Xenophon.
Anabasis (Xenophon) | Authorship
Menander Rhetor (), also known as Menander of Laodicea (), was a Greek rhetorician and commentator of the 3rd or 4th century AD. Two incomplete treatises on epideictic speeches have been preserved under his name, but it is generally considered that they cannot be by the same author. Bursian attributes the first to Menander, whom he placed in the 4th century, and the second to an anonymous rhetorician of Alexandria Troas, who possibly lived in the time of Diocletian. Others, from the superscription of the Paris manuscript, assign the first to Genethlius of Petra in Palestine. In view of the general tradition of antiquity, that both treatises were the work of Menander, it is possible that the author of the second was not identical with the Menander mentioned by the "Suda"; since the name is of frequent occurrence in later Greek literature.
Menander Rhetor | Introduction
The view, once current, that Alexander's "Areskonta" served as a doxographical basis for such authors as Anonymus Londinensis, Aetius the doxographer, Soranus of Ephesus, and Anonymus Bruxellensis is an inference on the basis of flimsy evidence.
Alexander Philalethes | Introduction
Anaximenes of Miletus (; ; ) was an Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher active in the latter half of the 6th century BC. The details of his life are obscure because none of his work has been preserved. Anaximenes' ideas and philosophies are only known today because of comments made by Aristotle and other writers on the history of Greek philosophy. As one of the three philosophers of the Milesian School, considered the first revolutionary thinkers of the Western world, Anaximenes is best known and identified as a younger friend or student of Anaximander, who was himself taught by Thales. Each philosopher developed a distinct cosmology without completely rejecting their teacher's view of the universe or creating major disagreement between them.
Anaximenes of Miletus | Introduction
He believes that the philosopher is key in furthering the fields of science. The philosopher must be able to stand back and observe science and nature with an impartial eye. Furthermore, the importance of science and the advancements of such intellects as Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, Descartes, John Locke and others are explained.
Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot | Part II
Corax originated some of the basic principles and laid the groundwork for the Greek scholars to follow – particularly Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. They took these properties and applied them to other rhetorical uses, particularly in government. However, Corax developed these methods specifically for the law court, not the assembly. Under the Deinomenids, the land and property of many common citizens had been seized; these people flooded the courts in an attempt to recover their property. Corax devised an art of rhetoric to permit ordinary men to make their cases in the courts. His chief contribution was in helping structure judicial speeches into various parts: proem, narration, statement of arguments, refutation of opposing arguments, and summary.
Corax of Syracuse | Contributions to rhetorical study
He was the first of his intellectual circle to raise the philosophy of Plato above that of Aristotle and to teach philosophy as a professor. Surpassing Photius in intellect and wit, he lacks that scholar's dignity and solidity of character. A restless brilliance characterized his life and literary activity. At first a lawyer, then a professor; now a monk, now a court official; he ended his career the prime minister. He was equally adroit and many-sided in his literary work; in harmony with the polished, pliant nature of the courtier is his elegant Platonic style of his letters and speeches.
Byzantine literature | Encyclopedists and essayists
This could clarify the source of the chronological incoherence. Lysis was credited as the actual author of a work which was attributed to Pythagoras himself. Diogenes Laërtius quotes from an undoubtedly spurious letter from Lysis to Hippasus as an authority for some statements concerning Damo.
Lysis of Taras | Introduction
Since language and communication were very limited in his time, Anaximenes's analogies were key in explaining the uncertain through the certain. For example, he knew for certain that blowing air on his hand with his mouth wide open produced hot air, while blowing on his hand with half-closed lips produced cold air. These observations were key in his postulate that the hot air was due to rarefaction and expansion, whereas the cold air was due to condensation and compression. Although in modern times it is known that this is actually the opposite, Anaximenes was key in arriving at this conclusion.
Anaximenes of Miletus | Influence on philosophy
Plutarch's main principle was that the study of Aristotle must precede that of Plato, and like the Middle Platonists believed in the continuity between the two authors. With this object he wrote a commentary on Aristotle's "On the Soul" ("De Anima") which was the most important contribution to Aristotelian literature since the time of Alexander of Aphrodisias; and a commentary on the "Timaeus" of Plato. His example was followed by Syrianus and others of the school. This critical spirit reached its greatest height in Proclus, the ablest exponent of this latter-day syncretism. Plutarch was versed in all the theurgic traditions of the school, and believed, along with Iamblichus, in the possibility of attaining to communion with the Deity by the medium of the theurgic rites.
Plutarch of Athens | Philosophy
Modern writers consider it certain these two were the same artist, and that this Pythagoras was one of the Samian exiles who moved to Zankle at the beginning of the 5th century BC and came under the power of the tyrant Anaxilas in Rhegium. While a Samian by birth, he was a pupil of Clearchus of Rhegium. Pythagoras was at first a painter, but eventually turned to sculpture, apparently focusing on portraits of athletic champions from Hellenized cities in Italy and Sicily. Despite his contemporary eminence in his field, it is difficult to estimate his skill and attainments, as no certain copy of his works is known to exist.
Pythagoras (sculptor) | Introduction
Anaxagoras provided a similar response, but instead of atoms, he hypothesized a number of eternal, primal "ingredients" which were mixed together in a continuum. No material object was made of a pure ingredient; rather, it had its material character due to a preponderance of various ingredients over every other. In this way, Anaxagoras could assert that nowhere did any ingredient ever fully come into or go out of being.
Impermanence | Responses to the Eleatics
The accuracy of the works of Herodotus are controversial. The writings attributed to the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus of Croton, who lived in the late fifth century BC, are the earliest texts to describe the numerological and musical theories that were later ascribed to Pythagoras. The Athenian rhetorician Isocrates (436–338 BC) was the first to describe Pythagoras as having visited Egypt. Aristotle wrote a treatise "On the Pythagoreans", which is no longer extant. Some of it may be preserved in the "Protrepticus". Aristotle's disciples Dicaearchus, Aristoxenus, and Heraclides Ponticus also wrote on the same subject. Most of the major sources on Pythagoras's life are from the Roman period, by which point, according to the German classicist Walter Burkert, "the history of Pythagoreanism was already...
Pythagoras | Biographical sources
By the time of Plato, his philosophy was almost forgotten, and Aristotle, his successor Theophrastus and a few doxographers provide us with the little information that remains. However, we know from Aristotle that Thales, also from Miletus, precedes Anaximander. It is debatable whether Thales actually was the teacher of Anaximander, but there is no doubt that Anaximander was influenced by Thales' theory that everything is derived from water. One thing that is not debatable is that even the ancient Greeks considered Anaximander to be from the Monist school which began in Miletus, with Thales followed by Anaximander and which ended with Anaximenes.
Anaximander | Biography
Anaxagoras (500–428 BCE) was of the opinion that matter of the universe had an innate capacity for infinite division.
Infinity (philosophy) | Anaxagoras
He devoted himself intensely to the historical and philosophical research. Among his more important contributions, is his research on Ramon Llull and, especially, on Arnau de Vilanova.
Joaquim Carreras i Artau | Introduction
From these divisions spring smaller subdivisions such as physics, poetry, music and many others. d'Alembert was also greatly influenced by the Cartesian principle of simplicity. In this first part of the book, he describes how the reduction of the principles of a certain science gives them scope and makes them more "fertile" (22). Only by reducing principles can they be understood and related to each other. Ultimately, from a high "vantage point" (47) the philosopher can then view the vast labyrinth of sciences and the arts. d'Alembert then goes on to describe the tree of knowledge and the separation and simultaneous connections between memory, reason, and imagination.
Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot | Part I
In philosophy, anamnesis (; ) is a concept in Plato's epistemological and psychological theory that he develops in his dialogues "Meno" and "Phaedo" and alludes to in his "Phaedrus". The idea is that humans possess innate knowledge (perhaps acquired before birth) and that learning consists of rediscovering that knowledge from within.
Anamnesis (philosophy) | Introduction
Arcesilaus (; ; 316/5–241/0 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic philosopher. He was the founder of Academic Skepticism and what is variously called the Second or Middle or New Academy—the phase of the Academy in which it embraced philosophical skepticism. Arcesilaus succeeded Crates of Athens as the sixth scholarch of the Academy around 264 BC. He did not preserve his thoughts in writing, so his opinions can only be gleaned second-hand from what is preserved by later writers. In Athens Arcesilaus interacted with the Pyrrhonist philosopher, Timon of Phlius, whose philosophy appears to have influenced Arcesilaus to become the first Academic to adopt a position of philosophical skepticism, that is, he doubted the ability of the senses to discover truth about the world, although he may have continued to believe in the existence of truth itself.
Arcesilaus | Introduction
The first two books ("Eclogues") consist for the most part of extracts conveying the views of earlier poets and prose writers on points of physics, dialectics, and ethics. We learn from Photius that the first book was preceded by a dissertation on the advantages of philosophy, an account of the different schools of philosophy, and a collection of the opinions of ancient writers on geometry, music, and arithmetic. The greater part of this introduction is lost. The close of it only, where arithmetic is spoken of, is still extant. The first book was divided into sixty chapters, the second into forty-six, of which the manuscripts preserve only the first nine.
Stobaeus | Books 1 and 2
The work contained the biographies of a great many ancient figures, including orators, poets, historians, and philosophers. It contained the earliest known biography of Aristotle, as well as philosophers such as Pythagoras, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Democritus, Zeno, Socrates, Plato, Antisthenes, Diogenes, Stilpo, Epicurus, Theophrastus, Heraclides, Demetrius Phalereus, and Chrysippus. The work has been lost, but many later "Lives" extensively quote it.
Hermippus of Smyrna | Introduction
Mnasagoras (; fl. 2nd century BCE) was an ancient Greek stoic philosopher. He was probably from Alexandria Troas. Almost nothing is known about the life of Mnasagoras. He was either the disciple of Antipater of Tarsos or Diogenes of Babylon (or both). The book VII of Diogenes Laërtius' work "Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers" has contained his biography, but the section containing it has been lost; only a reference to it in the table of contents remains.
Mnasagoras | Introduction
In Greece, Empedocles wrote that they were fire, air, water and earth, although he used the word "root" rather than "element" (στοιχεῖον; "stoicheion"), which appeared later in Plato. From the association (φιλία; "philia") and separation (νεῖκος; "neikos") of these indestructible and unchangeable root elements, all things came to be in a fullness (πλήρωμα; "pleroma") of ratio (λόγος; "logos") and proportion (ἀνάλογος; "analogos"). Similar to Empedocles, Anaxagoras was another ancient Greek philosopher with ties to the Pluralist school. His metaphysical system is centered around mechanically necessitated "nous" which governs, combines and diffuses the various "roots" of reality (known as "homoioneroi"). Unlike Empedocles' four "root elements" and similar to Democritus's multitude of atoms (yet not physical in nature), these "homoioneroi" are used by Anaxagoras to explain the multiplicity in reality and becoming.
Pluralism (philosophy) | Ancient pluralism
The king refused, but the women became wilder than ever, and he was forced to seek out Melampus again, who this time demanded both a third for himself and another third for his brother Bias. Sometimes, this story is told not of Anaxagoras, but of his grandfather, Proetus. Anaxagoras was succeeded by his son Alector. His house lasted longer than those of Bias and Melampus, and eventually the kingdom was reunited under its last member, Cyanippus.
Anaxagoras (mythology) | Introduction
Apollonius Paradoxographus, a paradoxographer who may have lived in the second century BC, identified Pythagoras's thaumaturgic ideas as a result of Pherecydes's influence. Another story, which may be traced to the Neopythagorean philosopher Nicomachus, tells that, when Pherecydes was old and dying on the island of Delos, Pythagoras returned to care for him and pay his respects. Duris, the historian and tyrant of Samos, is reported to have patriotically boasted of an epitaph supposedly penned by Pherecydes which declared that Pythagoras's wisdom exceeded his own. On the grounds of all these references connecting Pythagoras with Pherecydes, Riedweg concludes that there may well be some historical foundation to the tradition that Pherecydes was Pythagoras's teacher.
Pythagoras | Alleged Greek teachers
Archedemus of Tarsus () was a Stoic philosopher who flourished around 140 BC. Two of his works: "On the Voice" () and "On Elements" (), are mentioned by Diogenes Laërtius. Archedemus is probably the same person as the Archedemus, whom Plutarch calls an Athenian, and who, he states, went into Parthia and founded a school of Stoic philosophers at Babylon. Archedemus is also mentioned by Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, and other ancient writers.
Archedemus of Tarsus | Introduction
The only internal evidence in the surviving book are citations of the two philosophers in the introduction and two literary references; if Melissus is Melissus of Samos, he lived in the previous century, and one possible Lamiscus is a Pythagorean contemporary of Plato. The literary references are one citation of Hesiod and the presentation of Alcestis, which is quite similar to Euripides' "Alcestis".
Palaephatus | One author behind these traditions
Malebranche replied in a short preface added to that second volume, and then, in the 1678 third edition, he added 50% to the already considerable size of the book with a sequence of (eventually) seventeen "Elucidations". These responded to further criticisms, but they also expanded on the original arguments, and developed them in new ways. In the Tenth "Elucidation", for instance, Malebranche introduced his theory of "intelligible extension", a single, archetypal idea of extension into which the ideas of all particular kinds of bodies could be jointly resolved. In others, Malebranche placed a greater emphasis than he had previously done on his occasionalist account of causation, and particularly on his contention that God acted for the most part through "general volitions" and only rarely, as in the case of miracles, through "particular volitions".
Nicolas Malebranche | Philosophical career
Archelaus (; ; fl. 5th century BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher, a pupil of Anaxagoras, and may have been a teacher of Socrates. He asserted that the principle of motion was the separation of hot from cold, from which he endeavoured to explain the formation of the Earth and the creation of animals and humans.
Archelaus (philosopher) | Introduction
A couple emphasized topics to be found in the first section are "certitude and the psychology of logic." It includes a medieval examination of epistemological issues; such as the certainty of knowledge. A strong Aristotelian appreciation is felt in the remaining sections, since the majority of the work is dedicated to commenting on the first eight chapters of Aristotle's "Physics", and his treatises "On Generation and Corruption" & "On the Soul". In those sections of the "Summa" will be found discussions and commentary on such topics as: alteration, change (i.e., the measure of motion), properties of natural bodies and their forms (parts II and III); questions dealing with classification (e.g., "whether light belongs to some element"; motions and changes of bodies/forms (parts IV – VI); and in the final sections an examination of the intellect and matters of the soul (parts VII – IX).
John Dumbleton | Philosophical contributions
The second work traditionally attributed to Alexander Numenius, titled "On Show-Speeches" (), is acknowledged by virtually all critics to not be the work of this Alexander, but of a later grammarian also named Alexander; it is, to speak more correctly, made up very clumsily from two distinct works, one of which was written by one Alexander, and the other by Menander Rhetor. The first edition of these two works is the Aldine edition ("Rhetores Graeci", Venice, 1508, fol., vol. i. p. 574, &c.). They are also contained in Walz's "Rhetores Graeci", vol. viii. The genuine work of Alexander Numenius has also been edited, together with Minucianus and Phoebammon, by L.
Alexander Numenius | Introduction
Empedocles may have been an associate of both Parmenides and the Pythagoreans. He claimed the "arche" was in fact composed of multiple sources, giving rise to the model of the four classical elements. These in turn were acted upon by the forces of Love and Strife, creating the mixtures of elements which form the world. Another view of the "arche" being acted upon by an external force was presented by his older contemporary Anaxagoras, who claimed that "nous," the mind, was responsible for that.
Western philosophy | Pre-Socratic period
Thales had a profound influence on other Greek thinkers and therefore on Western history. Some believe Anaximander was a pupil of Thales. Early sources report that one of Anaximander's more famous pupils, Pythagoras, visited Thales as a young man, and that Thales advised him to travel to Egypt to further his philosophical and mathematical studies. Many philosophers followed Thales' lead in searching for explanations in nature rather than in the supernatural; others returned to supernatural explanations, but couched them in the language of philosophy rather than of myth or of religion. Looking specifically at Thales' influence during the pre-Socratic era, it is clear that he stood out as one of the first thinkers who thought more in the way of "logos" than "mythos".
Thales of Miletus | Influence on others
Significant figures include: the Milesians, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Zeno of Elea, and Democritus.
Pre-Socratic philosophy | Introduction
On the other hand, concerning the active intellect, like Alexander and Plotinus, he saw this as a transcendent being existing above and outside man. Differently from Alexander, he did not equate this being with the first cause of the Universe itself, but something lower. However he equated it with Plato's Idea of the Good.
Nous | Themistius
Diogenes of Apollonia from Thrace (born c. 460 BC) was an eclectic philosopher who adopted many principles of the Milesian school, especially the single material principle, which he identified as air. He explained natural processes in reference to the rarefactions and condensations of this primary substance. He also adopted Anaxagoras' cosmic thought.
Pre-Socratic philosophy | Others
Asclepiodotus () of Alexandria was a Neoplatonic philosopher who lived in the second half of the 5th century. He was a native of Alexandria who studied under Proclus in Athens. He eventually moved to Aphrodisias where he maintained a philosophy school jointly with another man also called Asclepiodotus, whose daughter, Damiane, he married. He wrote a commentary on Plato's "Timaeus", which is however lost. He taught Damascius, who describes Asclepiodotus in disparaging terms, in part because of his disregard for oracular lore: Asclepiodotus' mind was not perfect, as most people thought. He was extremely sharp at raising questions, but not so acute in his understanding.
Asclepiodotus of Alexandria | Introduction
Unlike his predecessors, Mondino focuses specifically on anatomical descriptions rather than engaging in a larger discourse on pathology and surgery in general. "Anathomia" opens with the assertion that human beings are superior to all other creatures because of their intellect, reasoning ability, tool-making abilities, and upright stature; because he possesses these noble qualities, man is worthy to be studied. Mondino goes on to describe the organs in the order in which they present themselves during the dissection process. Dissection began with the opening of the abdominal cavity via vertical incision running from the stomach to the pectoral muscles and a horizontal cut above the navel.
Mondino de Luzzi | Contributions to anatomy