Heraclitus was born in Ephesus around 540 BCE. He was a member of the aristocracy but turned his back on politics, the normal job for the aristocrats in ancient Greece. He had a reputation of misanthropy (the hatred of other people) and obscurity which led to his nicknames of "the obscure" and "the riddler".
His philosophy.
His cosmological view is seems to be influenced by Xenophales. Having a single divine law that controls and steers the cosmos, called logos. Where his views change is that he believes people have the capacity to know all of logos, he believes that the most people do not exercise this ability. Heraclitus tries to bridge the gap between logos and human knowledge pointed out in mytho-poetic traditions. And believes that learning facts is useless unless used to gain insight into logos.
He seems to be a little full of himself, but does make some strong arguments in how to live ones life. He constantly talks about digging deeper "You would not discover the limits of the soul although you traveled every road: so deep a logos does it have" Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosopher.
His point in trying to say that even if you knew every road in the world you would have not discovered everything about logos is that he finds facts useless unless they are examined and thought in away that shows how logos interacts with the cosmos.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
Xenophanes
I open this post with Xenophanes's rejection of the traditional Greek Olympian gods. This struck me for a few reasons one being that after reading the trial and death of Socrates, this to me seems like a punishable offense in some city-states in ancient Greece. Also struck me that he has a belief in a unmoving, but all seeing, all hearing and all thinking god. Close to what most monotheistic religions of today think of as an All Good, all powerful, and All knowing god (AGAPAK god for short). He also believes in a gap between what humans can possible know and what this god knows. And to differ from the beliefs that people can know all he makes the distinction between knowing and believing. This further separating humans and this god. Making another parallel to monotheistic religions of today. He also believed that because we are human we are inclined to believes that gods look like us but if a horse or oxen could draw and think like humans their gods would look like horse or oxen. He believed that god was non-anthropomorphic or did not look like humans.
Like most pre-socratic philosophers not a lot is know about his life. He was born in Colophon in Asia Minor, near Miletus, in abut 570 BCE. He focused on religious and philosophical topics with some poems. But in later account of his views, he shifted focus on natural philosophy like the Milesians.
Like most pre-socratic philosophers not a lot is know about his life. He was born in Colophon in Asia Minor, near Miletus, in abut 570 BCE. He focused on religious and philosophical topics with some poems. But in later account of his views, he shifted focus on natural philosophy like the Milesians.
My thoughts of Class on 1/16/2014
While starting the class Thursday on Homer and Hesiod and how they formed what is known as the Mytho-Poetic tradition and its influence on the creation of philosophy. Made me think of how philosophy and literature, if approached in the same way can be mistaken as the same subject. But where philosophy differs from literature is in the message that the author is trying to say. In literature, the story really does not make one ponder a question but simply states a question or problem and gives a solution, with the occasional lesson involved. But philosophy is different it asks the question then pulls the reader into an argument making them pick a side or ponder an unanswered question.
This leads me into my thoughts on Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. These early philosophers started looking past their everyday world and questioned their environment around them. They looked past the idea that gods caused everything and tried to rationalize their surroundings. Thales thought that things were made up of water in one form or the other. While Anaximander believed things were made up of boundless things and not water. Since water has its own form it cannot become something else. So he claims the cosmos is made up of something that is boundless. While Anaximenes agrees in material monoism, he differs from both Thales and Anaximander of what the material is. He thinks the material is Aer which is a thick mist. Aer is indefinite to the point it can create other things but not as vague as Anaximander's definition.
This leads me into my thoughts on Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. These early philosophers started looking past their everyday world and questioned their environment around them. They looked past the idea that gods caused everything and tried to rationalize their surroundings. Thales thought that things were made up of water in one form or the other. While Anaximander believed things were made up of boundless things and not water. Since water has its own form it cannot become something else. So he claims the cosmos is made up of something that is boundless. While Anaximenes agrees in material monoism, he differs from both Thales and Anaximander of what the material is. He thinks the material is Aer which is a thick mist. Aer is indefinite to the point it can create other things but not as vague as Anaximander's definition.
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