The Presocratics Flashcards
What were the two ‘motive powers’ in Empedocles’ cosmology?
Love and Strife
Where was Parmenides from?
Elea (Italy)
What was Anaximenes’ arche?
Aer (a sort of dense moist air or vapor)
Which philosopher was thought to have died by leaping into Etna?
Empedocles
Which philosophical school discovered that numerical ratios explain the consonant intervals of the musical scale?
The Pythagoreans
Where was Democritus from?
Abdera (Thrace)
Which philosopher thought that soul (anima) is mixed in with the whole universe and that ‘all things are full of gods’?
Thales
Who was the first notable philosopher to make his career in Athens?
Anaxagoras
When was Anaximenes’ floruit?
546 BCE
What does ‘floruit’ mean?
‘He flourished’
When was Leucippus’ floruit?
5th century BCE
Why does the earth stay in place according to Anaximenes?
It sits on a cushion of air
According to Anaxagoras, what acts upon the elements, putting them in motion?
Nous (mind or reason)
What were the two main characteristics of reality challenged by Zeno’s paradoxes?
Motion and Plurality
Which philosopher said that you could not step into the same river twice?
Heraclitus
Why does the earth stay in place according to Anaxagoras?
It rests on air
What did Aristotle call the Presocratics?
phusikoi (physicists)
When was Xenophanes’ floruit?
540 BCE
What was the shape of the earth according to Anaximander?
Cylindrical (like a drum)
Which philosophical school believed that reality is constituted by number.
The Pythagoreans
Why did Socrates and Plato dislike the sophists?
They taught people how to win arguments, not how to discover truth.
Along with atoms, what existed according to the atomists?
The void
Why was Xenophanes critical of Homer and Hesiod?
Because they ascribed to the gods all the behaviors that are shameful and disgraceful among men
What is atomism?
The theory that everything is composed of tiny, imperceptible, ‘uncuttable’ objects
Which philosopher seems to have thought that the world and god are the same thing?
Xenophanes
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
Which philosopher thought that everything is in flux?
Heraclitus
Which philosopher was credited with being the first person to draw a map of the ‘entire’ world?
Anaximander
Where was Anaximenes from?
Miletus (Ionia)
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
What was a sophist in ancient Greece?
Someone who made a profession out of teaching rhetoric and oratory
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.
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
When was Pythagoras’ floruit?
532 BCE
When was Democritus’ floruit?
415 BCE
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
When was Parmenides’ floruit?
465 BCE
Which philosopher believed that music purifies the soul?
Pythagoras
Which disciple of Heraclitus appears in a Platonic dialogue bearing his name?
Cratylus
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
Which philosopher thought that humans originally came from fish?
Anaximander
Where was Heraclitus from?
Ephesus (Ionia)
Which philosophers thought there was an infinite number of indivisible, eternal, unchangeable atoms?
Democritus and Leucippus
What was the primary concern for the Presocratics?
The nature and origins of the world
Which Pythagorean concept was influential in the medical theory of ‘humors’ and the ethical ‘Doctrine of the Mean’?
Harmonia
When was Zeno’s floruit?
450 BCE
Why does the earth stay in place according to Anaximander?
It has no more reason to move in one direction rather than another
Which philosopher thought the earth extended infinitely downwards?
Xenophanes
Which philosopher was said to have been a pupil of Xenophanes?
Parmenides
Describe the chronology of the Empedocles’ cosmology.
An eternal cosmos passes through cycles where Love or Strife is dominant
Which philosopher was brought to trial in 450 BCE on charges of impiety?
Anaxagoras
Which philosopher thought we see by emitting streams of light from our eyes?
Empedocles
Where was Zeno from?
Elea (Italy)
What was Thales’ arche?
Water
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
When was Diogenes Laërtius’ floruit?
3rd century CE
Which philosopher thought that the fundamental elements (or ‘seeds’) of things are all present together in everything?
Anaxagoras
Where was Anaximander from?
Miletus (Ionia)
Who suggested that ‘man is the measure of all things’?
Protagoras
What were the two sections of Parmenides’ poem?
‘Truth’ and ‘Opinion’
Which philosopher said that ‘all things come into being and pass away through strife’?
Heraclitus
The Pythagoreans believed in ‘metempsychosis’. What is this?
The transmigration and reincarnation of souls
What is the term for the study of language in historical texts?
Philology
What was the shape of the earth according to Anaxagoras?
Flat
What were three characteristics of ‘What Is’ according to Parmenides?
1) Single
2) Eternal
3) Unchanging
Which philosopher said that the people must fight for the city’s laws as for its walls?
Heraclitus
Which philosopher thought there was a new sun every day?
Xenophanes
Name six major sophists.
1) Protagoras
2) Gorgias
3) Prodicus
4) Hippias
5) Antiphon
6) Critias
Where was Thales from?
Miletus (Ionia)
Which philosopher thought things come in and out of existence according to a principle of justice or balance?
Anaximander
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.”
What was Xenophanes’ arche?
Earth and water
Which philosopher thought there was an infinite number of worlds?
Anaximander
If void and space are infinite, body too must be infinite.
Which philosopher was influenced by the Pythagorean idea that knowledge purifies the soul, allowing it to escape the cycle of rebirth?
Empedocles
What is the term for the scholarly task of identifying and collating fragments and testimonia to understand the beliefs of dead philosophers?
Doxography
Where was Pythagoras born?
Samos (Ionia)
When did Hesiod write his “Theogony”?
c.700 BCE
When was Empedocles’ floruit?
450 BCE
When was Thales’ floruit?
585 BCE
Which philosopher was said to have fallen into a well because he was gazing at the stars?
Thales
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
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
When was Anaximander’s floruit?
570 BCE
What came into being first according to Hesiod?
Chaos
Where was Pythagoras said to have travelled before settling in Croton?
Egypt and the East
Which philosopher is credited with thinking that the earth is a sphere and that the cosmos is heliocentric?
Pythagoras
How are other elements created from air according to Anaximenes?
Condensation and rarefaction
Which philosopher was known as ‘the Obscure’, ‘the Dark’ and ‘the Riddler’?
Heraclitus
What was Anaximander’s arche?
The apeiron (unbounded, indefinite, infinite)
Which philosopher was said to have helped the army of King Croesus cross the River Halys by diverting the river around them?
Thales
What was the shape of the earth according to Anaximenes?
Flat
Where did Pythagoras move later in life?
Croton (Italy)
When was Anaxagoras’ floruit?
470 BCE
According to Empedocles, what is the universe like when it’s governed by Strife?
Chaos
Which philosopher proclaimed the ‘unity of opposites’, suggesting that ‘the way up and the way down is one and the same’?
Heraclitus
When was Heraclitus’ floruit?
495 BCE
Where was Empedocles from?
Acragas (Sicily)
What were three of Zeno’s paradoxes?
1) The Dichotomy
2) The Arrow
3) Achilles and the Tortoise
What discovery horrified the Pythagoreans and supposedly led them to drown a man?
Irrational numbers
What did Anaximenes’ arche have in common with Anaximander’s?
It was infinite
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
How much of the literature of antiquity is estimated to have been lost in the Christian “onslaught” which started in the fourth century?
90%
Where was Xenophanes from?
Colophon (Ionia)
Where was Anaxagoras born?
Clazomenae (Ionia)
Which philosopher thought that the sun does not circle underneath the earth to reappear at dawn, but instead rides round the circumference?
Anaximenes
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.’
Who was the tutor of Pericles?
Anaxagoras
Which philosopher noted the presence of fish fossils and seaweed on mountain tops?
Xenophanes
Which philosopher inspired Plato’s distinction between the world of appearances and the world of forms?
Parmenides
Which philosopher was said to have predicted an eclipse in 585 BCE?
Thales
Who wrote “Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers”?
Diogenes Laërtius
Whom was Zeno a pupil of?
Parmenides
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.
An important fragment containing lines by Empedocles was discovered in the twentieth century. What is it called?
The Strasbourg Papyrus
Who did Aristotle credit with inventing dialectic?
Zeno
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
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
What does the term ‘arche’ refer to?
That which the cosmos is made of and/or from which it comes into existence
What was Empedocles’ arche?
Earth, air, fire and water
What are irrational numbers?
Numbers which cannot be expressed as a ratio of two integers
What explanation did Aristotle criticize the atomists for neglecting in their theory?
The origin of existing things
