The Presocratics Flashcards
1
Q
What were the two ‘motive powers’ in Empedocles’ cosmology?
A
Love and Strife
2
Q
Where was Parmenides from?
A
Elea (Italy)
3
Q
What was Anaximenes’ arche?
A
Aer (a sort of dense moist air or vapor)
4
Q
Which philosopher was thought to have died by leaping into Etna?
A
Empedocles
5
Q
Which philosophical school discovered that numerical ratios explain the consonant intervals of the musical scale?
A
The Pythagoreans
6
Q
Where was Democritus from?
A
Abdera (Thrace)
7
Q
Which philosopher thought that soul (anima) is mixed in with the whole universe and that ‘all things are full of gods’?
A
Thales
8
Q
Who was the first notable philosopher to make his career in Athens?
A
Anaxagoras
9
Q
When was Anaximenes’ floruit?
A
546 BCE
10
Q
What does ‘floruit’ mean?
A
‘He flourished’
11
Q
When was Leucippus’ floruit?
A
5th century BCE
12
Q
Why does the earth stay in place according to Anaximenes?
A
It sits on a cushion of air
13
Q
According to Anaxagoras, what acts upon the elements, putting them in motion?
A
Nous (mind or reason)
14
Q
What were the two main characteristics of reality challenged by Zeno’s paradoxes?
A
Motion and Plurality
15
Q
Which philosopher said that you could not step into the same river twice?
A
Heraclitus
16
Q
Why does the earth stay in place according to Anaxagoras?
A
It rests on air
17
Q
What did Aristotle call the Presocratics?
A
phusikoi (physicists)
18
Q
When was Xenophanes’ floruit?
A
540 BCE
19
Q
What was the shape of the earth according to Anaximander?
A
Cylindrical (like a drum)
20
Q
Which philosophical school believed that reality is constituted by number.
A
The Pythagoreans
21
Q
Why did Socrates and Plato dislike the sophists?
A
They taught people how to win arguments, not how to discover truth.
22
Q
Along with atoms, what existed according to the atomists?
A
The void
23
Q
Why was Xenophanes critical of Homer and Hesiod?
A
Because they ascribed to the gods all the behaviors that are shameful and disgraceful among men
24
Q
What is atomism?
A
The theory that everything is composed of tiny, imperceptible, ‘uncuttable’ objects
25
Which philosopher seems to have thought that the world and god are the same thing?
Xenophanes
26
According to Empedocles, what is the universe like when it's governed by Love? (3 parts)
1) Inert
2) Sphere
3) Four roots are unmixed
27
Which philosopher thought that everything is in flux?
Heraclitus
28
Which philosopher was credited with being the first person to draw a map of the 'entire' world?
Anaximander
29
Where was Anaximenes from?
Miletus (Ionia)
30
Which philosopher thought that life started as random combinations of elements (Cronenbergish monsters) then became refined as only the well-adapted survived and reproduced?
Empedocles
31
What was a sophist in ancient Greece?
Someone who made a profession out of teaching rhetoric and oratory
32
What are nomos and phusis? What was their significance in Athens during the 5th century BCE.
Nomos (law); Phusis (nature)
There was a debate on whether moral norms come from human convention or nature.
33
Describe the way of representing numbers introduced by the Pythagoreans.
Dots were arranged into triangles, squares, and rectangles and arithmetical properties were demonstrated through the geometries of these arrangements
34
When was Pythagoras' floruit?
532 BCE
35
When was Democritus' floruit?
415 BCE
36
Which philosopher though we sense things 'by opposites'?
(For example the same bowl of water might feel hot or cold depending on the temperature of your hand)
Anaxagoras
37
When was Parmenides' floruit?
465 BCE
38
Which philosopher believed that music purifies the soul?
Pythagoras
39
Which disciple of Heraclitus appears in a Platonic dialogue bearing his name?
Cratylus
40
Which philosopher said that "If oxen and horses or lions had hands, and could paint with their hands, and produce works of art as men do, horses would paint the forms of the gods like horses, and oxen like oxen"?
Xenophanes
41
Which philosopher thought that humans originally came from fish?
Anaximander
42
Where was Heraclitus from?
Ephesus (Ionia)
43
Which philosophers thought there was an infinite number of indivisible, eternal, unchangeable atoms?
Democritus and Leucippus
44
What was the primary concern for the Presocratics?
The nature and origins of the world
45
Which Pythagorean concept was influential in the medical theory of 'humors' and the ethical 'Doctrine of the Mean'?
Harmonia
46
When was Zeno's floruit?
450 BCE
47
Why does the earth stay in place according to Anaximander?
It has no more reason to move in one direction rather than another
48
Which philosopher thought the earth extended infinitely downwards?
Xenophanes
49
Which philosopher was said to have been a pupil of Xenophanes?
Parmenides
50
Describe the chronology of the Empedocles' cosmology.
An eternal cosmos passes through cycles where Love or Strife is dominant
51
Which philosopher was brought to trial in 450 BCE on charges of impiety?
Anaxagoras
52
Which philosopher thought we see by emitting streams of light from our eyes?
Empedocles
53
Where was Zeno from?
Elea (Italy)
54
What was Thales' arche?
Water
55
What did the Pythagoreans think lies beyond the heavens and what was its function?
A 'boundless breath' which the world inhales, thereby acquiring cohesion and order
56
When was Diogenes Laërtius' floruit?
3rd century CE
57
Which philosopher thought that the fundamental elements (or 'seeds') of things are all present together in everything?
Anaxagoras
58
Where was Anaximander from?
Miletus (Ionia)
59
Who suggested that 'man is the measure of all things'?
Protagoras
60
What were the two sections of Parmenides' poem?
'Truth' and 'Opinion'
61
Which philosopher said that 'all things come into being and pass away through strife'?
Heraclitus
62
The Pythagoreans believed in 'metempsychosis'. What is this?
The transmigration and reincarnation of souls
63
What is the term for the study of language in historical texts?
Philology
64
What was the shape of the earth according to Anaxagoras?
Flat
65
What were three characteristics of 'What Is' according to Parmenides?
1) Single
2) Eternal
3) Unchanging
66
Which philosopher said that the people must fight for the city's laws as for its walls?
Heraclitus
67
Which philosopher thought there was a new sun every day?
Xenophanes
68
Name six major sophists.
1) Protagoras
2) Gorgias
3) Prodicus
4) Hippias
5) Antiphon
6) Critias
69
Where was Thales from?
Miletus (Ionia)
70
Which philosopher thought things come in and out of existence according to a principle of justice or balance?
Anaximander
71
Who wrote the earliest extant fragment of philosophy?
Anaximander
"Where things have their origin there too their passing away occurs according to necessity; they pay justice and reparation to one another for their injustice in conformity with the ordinance of time."
72
What was Xenophanes' arche?
Earth and water
73
Which philosopher thought there was an infinite number of worlds?
Anaximander
If void and space are infinite, body too must be infinite.
74
Which philosopher was influenced by the Pythagorean idea that knowledge purifies the soul, allowing it to escape the cycle of rebirth?
Empedocles
75
What is the term for the scholarly task of identifying and collating fragments and testimonia to understand the beliefs of dead philosophers?
Doxography
76
Where was Pythagoras born?
Samos (Ionia)
77
When did Hesiod write his "Theogony"?
c.700 BCE
78
When was Empedocles' floruit?
450 BCE
79
When was Thales' floruit?
585 BCE
80
Which philosopher was said to have fallen into a well because he was gazing at the stars?
Thales
81
What was the Pythagorean idea of the 'harmony of the spheres'?
The heavenly bodies emit a hum as they fly through space and the distances between them form a scale
82
Which philosopher was said to have predicted a bumper olive crop, rented all the olive presses, and then rented them back at a premium after being criticized for his poverty?
Thales
83
When was Anaximander's floruit?
570 BCE
84
What came into being first according to Hesiod?
Chaos
85
Where was Pythagoras said to have travelled before settling in Croton?
Egypt and the East
86
Which philosopher is credited with thinking that the earth is a sphere and that the cosmos is heliocentric?
Pythagoras
87
How are other elements created from air according to Anaximenes?
Condensation and rarefaction
88
Which philosopher was known as 'the Obscure', 'the Dark' and 'the Riddler'?
Heraclitus
89
What was Anaximander's arche?
The apeiron (unbounded, indefinite, infinite)
90
Which philosopher was said to have helped the army of King Croesus cross the River Halys by diverting the river around them?
Thales
91
What was the shape of the earth according to Anaximenes?
Flat
92
Where did Pythagoras move later in life?
Croton (Italy)
93
When was Anaxagoras' floruit?
470 BCE
94
According to Empedocles, what is the universe like when it's governed by Strife?
Chaos
95
Which philosopher proclaimed the 'unity of opposites', suggesting that 'the way up and the way down is one and the same'?
Heraclitus
96
When was Heraclitus' floruit?
495 BCE
97
Where was Empedocles from?
Acragas (Sicily)
98
What were three of Zeno's paradoxes?
1) The Dichotomy
2) The Arrow
3) Achilles and the Tortoise
99
What discovery horrified the Pythagoreans and supposedly led them to drown a man?
Irrational numbers
100
What did Anaximenes' arche have in common with Anaximander's?
It was infinite
101
According to Anaxagoras, what two masses were separated by nous from initial undifferentiated mass of elements?
Aether and air
Then air aggregated into the earth
102
How much of the literature of antiquity is estimated to have been lost in the Christian "onslaught" which started in the fourth century?
90%
103
Where was Xenophanes from?
Colophon (Ionia)
104
Where was Anaxagoras born?
Clazomenae (Ionia)
105
Which philosopher thought that the sun does not circle underneath the earth to reappear at dawn, but instead rides round the circumference?
Anaximenes
106
What was Heraclitus' arche?
Fire
'The cosmos, which is the same for all, was not made by gods or men, but it was ever, is now, and ever shall be, an ever-living fire.'
'All things are an exchange for fire, and fire for all things.'
107
Who was the tutor of Pericles?
Anaxagoras
108
Which philosopher noted the presence of fish fossils and seaweed on mountain tops?
Xenophanes
109
Which philosopher inspired Plato's distinction between the world of appearances and the world of forms?
Parmenides
110
Which philosopher was said to have predicted an eclipse in 585 BCE?
Thales
111
Who wrote "Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers"?
Diogenes Laërtius
112
Whom was Zeno a pupil of?
Parmenides
113
Why did Parmenides consider change and motion impossible?
They require nonbeing in the future and past. Nonbeing is inconceivable and therefore, according to Parmenides, impossible.
114
An important fragment containing lines by Empedocles was discovered in the twentieth century. What is it called?
The Strasbourg Papyrus
115
Who did Aristotle credit with inventing dialectic?
Zeno
116
Which philosopher was said to have stopped a man from beating a dog because he heard the voice of a deceased friend in the dog's howling?
Pythagoras
117
What is the "wall" standing between us and the world of antiquity?
The period of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity
118
What does the term 'arche' refer to?
That which the cosmos is made of and/or from which it comes into existence
119
What was Empedocles' arche?
Earth, air, fire and water
120
What are irrational numbers?
Numbers which cannot be expressed as a ratio of two integers
121
What explanation did Aristotle criticize the atomists for neglecting in their theory?
The origin of existing things
