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History of Philosophy > The Presocratics > Flashcards

The Presocratics Flashcards

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1
Q

What were the two ‘motive powers’ in Empedocles’ cosmology?

A

Love and Strife

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2
Q

Where was Parmenides from?

A

Elea (Italy)

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3
Q

What was Anaximenes’ arche?

A

Aer (a sort of dense moist air or vapor)

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4
Q

Which philosopher was thought to have died by leaping into Etna?

A

Empedocles

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5
Q

Which philosophical school discovered that numerical ratios explain the consonant intervals of the musical scale?

A

The Pythagoreans

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6
Q

Where was Democritus from?

A

Abdera (Thrace)

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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

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8
Q

Who was the first notable philosopher to make his career in Athens?

A

Anaxagoras

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9
Q

When was Anaximenes’ floruit?

A

546 BCE

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10
Q

What does ‘floruit’ mean?

A

‘He flourished’

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11
Q

When was Leucippus’ floruit?

A

5th century BCE

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12
Q

Why does the earth stay in place according to Anaximenes?

A

It sits on a cushion of air

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13
Q

According to Anaxagoras, what acts upon the elements, putting them in motion?

A

Nous (mind or reason)

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14
Q

What were the two main characteristics of reality challenged by Zeno’s paradoxes?

A

Motion and Plurality

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15
Q

Which philosopher said that you could not step into the same river twice?

A

Heraclitus

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16
Q

Why does the earth stay in place according to Anaxagoras?

A

It rests on air

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17
Q

What did Aristotle call the Presocratics?

A

phusikoi (physicists)

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18
Q

When was Xenophanes’ floruit?

A

540 BCE

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19
Q

What was the shape of the earth according to Anaximander?

A

Cylindrical (like a drum)

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20
Q

Which philosophical school believed that reality is constituted by number.

A

The Pythagoreans

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21
Q

Why did Socrates and Plato dislike the sophists?

A

They taught people how to win arguments, not how to discover truth.

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22
Q

Along with atoms, what existed according to the atomists?

A

The void

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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

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24
Q

What is atomism?

A

The theory that everything is composed of tiny, imperceptible, ‘uncuttable’ objects

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25
Q

Which philosopher seems to have thought that the world and god are the same thing?

A

Xenophanes

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26
Q

According to Empedocles, what is the universe like when it’s governed by Love? (3 parts)

A

1) Inert
2) Sphere
3) Four roots are unmixed

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27
Q

Which philosopher thought that everything is in flux?

A

Heraclitus

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28
Q

Which philosopher was credited with being the first person to draw a map of the ‘entire’ world?

A

Anaximander

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29
Q

Where was Anaximenes from?

A

Miletus (Ionia)

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30
Q

Which philosopher thought that life started as random combinations of elements (Cronenbergish monsters) then became refined as only the well-adapted survived and reproduced?

A

Empedocles

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31
Q

What was a sophist in ancient Greece?

A

Someone who made a profession out of teaching rhetoric and oratory

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32
Q

What are nomos and phusis? What was their significance in Athens during the 5th century BCE.

A

Nomos (law); Phusis (nature)

There was a debate on whether moral norms come from human convention or nature.

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33
Q

Describe the way of representing numbers introduced by the Pythagoreans.

A

Dots were arranged into triangles, squares, and rectangles and arithmetical properties were demonstrated through the geometries of these arrangements

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34
Q

When was Pythagoras’ floruit?

A

532 BCE

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35
Q

When was Democritus’ floruit?

A

415 BCE

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36
Q

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

A

Anaxagoras

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37
Q

When was Parmenides’ floruit?

A

465 BCE

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38
Q

Which philosopher believed that music purifies the soul?

A

Pythagoras

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39
Q

Which disciple of Heraclitus appears in a Platonic dialogue bearing his name?

A

Cratylus

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40
Q

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”?

A

Xenophanes

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41
Q

Which philosopher thought that humans originally came from fish?

A

Anaximander

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42
Q

Where was Heraclitus from?

A

Ephesus (Ionia)

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43
Q

Which philosophers thought there was an infinite number of indivisible, eternal, unchangeable atoms?

A

Democritus and Leucippus

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44
Q

What was the primary concern for the Presocratics?

A

The nature and origins of the world

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45
Q

Which Pythagorean concept was influential in the medical theory of ‘humors’ and the ethical ‘Doctrine of the Mean’?

A

Harmonia

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46
Q

When was Zeno’s floruit?

A

450 BCE

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47
Q

Why does the earth stay in place according to Anaximander?

A

It has no more reason to move in one direction rather than another

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48
Q

Which philosopher thought the earth extended infinitely downwards?

A

Xenophanes

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49
Q

Which philosopher was said to have been a pupil of Xenophanes?

A

Parmenides

50
Q

Describe the chronology of the Empedocles’ cosmology.

A

An eternal cosmos passes through cycles where Love or Strife is dominant

51
Q

Which philosopher was brought to trial in 450 BCE on charges of impiety?

A

Anaxagoras

52
Q

Which philosopher thought we see by emitting streams of light from our eyes?

A

Empedocles

53
Q

Where was Zeno from?

A

Elea (Italy)

54
Q

What was Thales’ arche?

A

Water

55
Q

What did the Pythagoreans think lies beyond the heavens and what was its function?

A

A ‘boundless breath’ which the world inhales, thereby acquiring cohesion and order

56
Q

When was Diogenes Laërtius’ floruit?

A

3rd century CE

57
Q

Which philosopher thought that the fundamental elements (or ‘seeds’) of things are all present together in everything?

A

Anaxagoras

58
Q

Where was Anaximander from?

A

Miletus (Ionia)

59
Q

Who suggested that ‘man is the measure of all things’?

A

Protagoras

60
Q

What were the two sections of Parmenides’ poem?

A

‘Truth’ and ‘Opinion’

61
Q

Which philosopher said that ‘all things come into being and pass away through strife’?

A

Heraclitus

62
Q

The Pythagoreans believed in ‘metempsychosis’. What is this?

A

The transmigration and reincarnation of souls

63
Q

What is the term for the study of language in historical texts?

A

Philology

64
Q

What was the shape of the earth according to Anaxagoras?

A

Flat

65
Q

What were three characteristics of ‘What Is’ according to Parmenides?

A

1) Single
2) Eternal
3) Unchanging

66
Q

Which philosopher said that the people must fight for the city’s laws as for its walls?

A

Heraclitus

67
Q

Which philosopher thought there was a new sun every day?

A

Xenophanes

68
Q

Name six major sophists.

A

1) Protagoras
2) Gorgias
3) Prodicus
4) Hippias
5) Antiphon
6) Critias

69
Q

Where was Thales from?

A

Miletus (Ionia)

70
Q

Which philosopher thought things come in and out of existence according to a principle of justice or balance?

A

Anaximander

71
Q

Who wrote the earliest extant fragment of philosophy?

A

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
Q

What was Xenophanes’ arche?

A

Earth and water

73
Q

Which philosopher thought there was an infinite number of worlds?

A

Anaximander

If void and space are infinite, body too must be infinite.

74
Q

Which philosopher was influenced by the Pythagorean idea that knowledge purifies the soul, allowing it to escape the cycle of rebirth?

A

Empedocles

75
Q

What is the term for the scholarly task of identifying and collating fragments and testimonia to understand the beliefs of dead philosophers?

A

Doxography

76
Q

Where was Pythagoras born?

A

Samos (Ionia)

77
Q

When did Hesiod write his “Theogony”?

A

c.700 BCE

78
Q

When was Empedocles’ floruit?

A

450 BCE

79
Q

When was Thales’ floruit?

A

585 BCE

80
Q

Which philosopher was said to have fallen into a well because he was gazing at the stars?

A

Thales

81
Q

What was the Pythagorean idea of the ‘harmony of the spheres’?

A

The heavenly bodies emit a hum as they fly through space and the distances between them form a scale

82
Q

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?

A

Thales

83
Q

When was Anaximander’s floruit?

A

570 BCE

84
Q

What came into being first according to Hesiod?

A

Chaos

85
Q

Where was Pythagoras said to have travelled before settling in Croton?

A

Egypt and the East

86
Q

Which philosopher is credited with thinking that the earth is a sphere and that the cosmos is heliocentric?

A

Pythagoras

87
Q

How are other elements created from air according to Anaximenes?

A

Condensation and rarefaction

88
Q

Which philosopher was known as ‘the Obscure’, ‘the Dark’ and ‘the Riddler’?

A

Heraclitus

89
Q

What was Anaximander’s arche?

A

The apeiron (unbounded, indefinite, infinite)

90
Q

Which philosopher was said to have helped the army of King Croesus cross the River Halys by diverting the river around them?

A

Thales

91
Q

What was the shape of the earth according to Anaximenes?

A

Flat

92
Q

Where did Pythagoras move later in life?

A

Croton (Italy)

93
Q

When was Anaxagoras’ floruit?

A

470 BCE

94
Q

According to Empedocles, what is the universe like when it’s governed by Strife?

A

Chaos

95
Q

Which philosopher proclaimed the ‘unity of opposites’, suggesting that ‘the way up and the way down is one and the same’?

A

Heraclitus

96
Q

When was Heraclitus’ floruit?

A

495 BCE

97
Q

Where was Empedocles from?

A

Acragas (Sicily)

98
Q

What were three of Zeno’s paradoxes?

A

1) The Dichotomy
2) The Arrow
3) Achilles and the Tortoise

99
Q

What discovery horrified the Pythagoreans and supposedly led them to drown a man?

A

Irrational numbers

100
Q

What did Anaximenes’ arche have in common with Anaximander’s?

A

It was infinite

101
Q

According to Anaxagoras, what two masses were separated by nous from initial undifferentiated mass of elements?

A

Aether and air

Then air aggregated into the earth

102
Q

How much of the literature of antiquity is estimated to have been lost in the Christian “onslaught” which started in the fourth century?

A

90%

103
Q

Where was Xenophanes from?

A

Colophon (Ionia)

104
Q

Where was Anaxagoras born?

A

Clazomenae (Ionia)

105
Q

Which philosopher thought that the sun does not circle underneath the earth to reappear at dawn, but instead rides round the circumference?

A

Anaximenes

106
Q

What was Heraclitus’ arche?

A

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
Q

Who was the tutor of Pericles?

A

Anaxagoras

108
Q

Which philosopher noted the presence of fish fossils and seaweed on mountain tops?

A

Xenophanes

109
Q

Which philosopher inspired Plato’s distinction between the world of appearances and the world of forms?

A

Parmenides

110
Q

Which philosopher was said to have predicted an eclipse in 585 BCE?

A

Thales

111
Q

Who wrote “Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers”?

A

Diogenes Laërtius

112
Q

Whom was Zeno a pupil of?

A

Parmenides

113
Q

Why did Parmenides consider change and motion impossible?

A

They require nonbeing in the future and past. Nonbeing is inconceivable and therefore, according to Parmenides, impossible.

114
Q

An important fragment containing lines by Empedocles was discovered in the twentieth century. What is it called?

A

The Strasbourg Papyrus

115
Q

Who did Aristotle credit with inventing dialectic?

A

Zeno

116
Q

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?

A

Pythagoras

117
Q

What is the “wall” standing between us and the world of antiquity?

A

The period of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity

118
Q

What does the term ‘arche’ refer to?

A

That which the cosmos is made of and/or from which it comes into existence

119
Q

What was Empedocles’ arche?

A

Earth, air, fire and water

120
Q

What are irrational numbers?

A

Numbers which cannot be expressed as a ratio of two integers

121
Q

What explanation did Aristotle criticize the atomists for neglecting in their theory?

A

The origin of existing things

History of Philosophy (3 decks)

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