The origins of European science and philosophy must be sought in Ancient Greece. It was there that the main approaches to understanding reality were born. One of the most ancient schools is the direction of natural philosophy of Thales of Miletus and his students. A prominent representative of this pre-Socratic period was Anaximander, whose philosophy belongs to the so-called elemental materialism. Let's talk about how the views of this philosopher differ. And also consider a brief biography of Anaximander and the main provisions of his philosophical and scientific views.
Ancient Greek philosophy
A small area on the Asia Minor coast of Ancient Greece, Ionia, is the birthplace of ancient, and hence European philosophy. This place was unique because it was at the crossroads of East and West. 12 famous Greek cities were located here, in which the culture of Ancient Greece was born. Numerous ships from the East were unloaded in the ports of Ionia. They brought to the cities not only goods, but also information.about life in other countries, the knowledge that Eastern scientists have obtained, as well as foreign ideas about the structure and origin of the world. The inquisitive Greeks themselves visited the East a lot and could get acquainted with Indian, Persian, Egyptian religious and philosophical worldviews.
Under the influence of Eastern cultures, as well as due to the special socio-economic conditions in Greece, a new type of character is being formed. The Greeks respected other people's opinions and knowledge, were interested in the structure of the world and the causes of all things, and they were also characterized by common sense, a penchant for logical reasoning, and attentiveness to the world around them. At that time in the East there were already harmonious systems of ideas about how the world works, about the divine principles of life, about the meaning of human existence. There, ideas were formulated about the absolute beginning, about the divine origin of people and the world around, about the need for self-improvement and self-knowledge, about the moral foundations of human society. All this knowledge was taken up by representatives of the Milesian school, who also began to think about how the world works, what are its laws. So in the 6th century BC. e. ancient Greek philosophy began to take shape. This was not a borrowing of Eastern ideas, but original thinking, which included Eastern knowledge.
Main questions of ancient philosophy
The economic flourishing of Ancient Greece, the emergence of a large amount of free time among free citizens of Greek policies contributed to the developmentancient Greek art and philosophy. Unencumbered by the need to spend all their time and energy on survival, the Greeks began to think at their leisure about everything that surrounds them. In ancient Greece, an independent social stratum appeared - philosophers who led discussions, revealed to citizens the meaning of everything. It was in such conditions that Anaximander lived, whose main ideas grew out of reflections on the main questions of being, which the ancient Greek philosophers set for themselves and the world. The main questions that interested people in ancient times include:
- Where did the world come from?
- What underlies the world?
- What is the main law of the world, logos?
- How can natural phenomena be explained;
- What is truth and how can it be known?
- What is a person and what place does he occupy in the world?
- What is the purpose of man, what is good?
- What is the meaning of human life?
- How does the soul work and where does it come from?
All these questions worried the Greeks, and they diligently looked for answers to them. As a result, there were two main approaches to explaining the world and its origin: idealistic and materialistic. Philosophers have discovered the main ways of knowing: empirical, logical, sensual, rational. The earliest period of ancient philosophy is called natural philosophy, since in this era thinkers were most interested in the Cosmos and the world around them. Anaximander of Miletus also made a significant contribution to understanding these problems. In this regard, the main object of study in ancient philosophy is the origins ofcosmology and cosmogony.
Miletian school
The very first scientific and philosophical school appeared in Greece at the beginning of the 6th century BC. e. It is called Milesian and belongs to the Ionic direction in ancient philosophy. The main representatives of the Milesian school are Thales and his students Anaximenes, Anaximander, Anaxagoras and Archelaus. Miletus in those days was a large, developed city, educated people came here not only from the coast of Asia Minor, but also from the countries of the East. Milesian philosophers were interested in how the world works, from which everything came. Milesian thinkers were the founders of many European sciences: physics, astronomy, biology, geography and, of course, philosophy. Their views were based on the thesis that nothing arises from nothing, and the idea that only the cosmos is eternal and infinite. Everything that a person sees around him has a divine origin, but primary sources lie at the basis of everything. The problem of finding the original primordial substance was the subject of the main reflections of Thales and his students, including the philosophy of Anaximander.
Thales and his disciples
Thales of Miletus is considered to be the founder of European science and ancient Greek philosophy. The years of his life are determined approximately: 640/624 - 548/545 BC. e. The Greeks revered Thales as the father of philosophy, he is included among the seven famous ancient Greek sages. His biography can be judged from various sources, the reliability of which is not absolute certainty. It is believed that Thales was of Phoenician origin, he was from a noble family and receiveda good education. He was engaged in trade and sciences, traveled a lot, visited Egypt, Memphis, Thebes. He studied the causes of floods, mathematics, the experience of priests. Found a way to measure the height of the Egyptian pyramids. He is considered the founder of Greek geometry. There is no single version about the occupation of Thales in Greece. Some sources say that he was close to the local ruler and was involved in politics, according to another version, he lived an ordinary life, far from state affairs. The assumptions about his marital status also vary. According to some sources, he was married and had several children, according to others, he was single and lived in solitude. Thales became famous after he predicted a solar eclipse in 585 BC. e. This is the only exact date that is known from the life of Thales.
The works of the scientist have not been preserved, in the Greek tradition two main works are attributed to him: “On the Solstice” and “On the Equinoxes”. It is believed that he was the first to discover the constellation Ursa Major for the Greeks, and also made a number of astronomical discoveries. Answering the question about the primary world substance, he argued that the beginning of everything is water. She, in his opinion, is a living, active principle. When it hardens, dry land appears, and when it evaporates, air appears. The cause of all transformations of water is the spirit. Thales also has a number of accurate physical observations, as well as many fantastic assumptions. For example, he believed that the stars are made up of earth, and the earth, in turn, floats in water. The earth, in his opinion, is the center of the world, if it disappears, the whole world will collapse.
But the merit of Thales was inthat he was trying to understand the structure of the universe, he asked many important questions that laid the foundations of science. The activities of the scientist attracted several students to him, who formed the basis of the Milesian school of natural philosophy. There is no information left about the interaction of Thales with his followers, just as none of his works have been preserved. Today we learn about his thoughts and activities only from the memoirs of the next generations of scientists and thinkers, and there is no certainty in their accuracy. The closest students were Anaximenes and Anaximander. Philosophy has become a matter of life for them. The followers of this direction were Anaxagoras, Archelaus, who created their own schools of philosophy. Archelaus is considered the teacher of Socrates. Thus, the Milesian school became the foundation on which the whole philosophy of Ancient Greece grew.
Anaximander: biography and interesting facts
Unfortunately, there is even less information about the students of Thales than about himself. Even whether Anaximander was actually a student of Thales has not been proven. Also, only approximately the years of Anaximander's life are known. He was born approximately in 610 BC. e., presumably in a we althy merchant family. Contemporaries recall that he was engaged in a variety of activities: trading, traveling, doing science and thinking.
He lived in Sparta for a while. Anaximander of Miletus was also involved in the state structure, it is known that he took part in the organization of one of the Milesian colonies. Like his teacher Thales, he studied natural phenomena and even predicted an earthquake in Sparta and saved many residents. He is also considered the founder of scientific geography. The philosopher lived for 55 years and died in the same year as his teacher Thales. There were many myths and legends, and even anecdotes about prominent people of early Greek history. Anaximander, interesting facts from whose life also turned into tales, is forever associated with the fact that he first drew a map of Greece on a sheet: “he dared to draw an oecumene,” as scientists of much later years wrote about him. He is also known as the first creator of the globe.
Treatise "On Nature"
The original tests of Anaximander have not been preserved, we learn about his works and thoughts from the later retellings of Greek scientists, as well as from the interpretations of early Christian scientists, who treated the primary sources very freely. Christian authors generally used quotations from the works of Anaximander solely to ridicule the pagan notions of the ancient Greeks. The only work of the philosopher that has come down to us is the treatise "On Nature". It is familiar to modern readers from paraphrases and the only surviving fragment of the original text. In this essay, the scientist outlined his thoughts about the structure of the world and its origin. His analysis shows that Anaximander went far from his teacher in his views on the Cosmos and its structure and was able to make many serious discoveries.
Cosmology of Anaximander
The main area of thought of the philosopher was connected with space. Hebelieved that the stars are windows in the firmament. Inside the star, a fire burns in shells.
To all appearances, Anaximander, whose works are inaccessible to us for direct study, understood the structure of the Earth in a very peculiar way. He imagined her as a cylinder; we walk on one side, but there is another plane opposite to it. The earth is the center of the world, it does not rest on anything, but floats in space. The philosopher explained the reason for hovering by the fact that it is equidistant from all other objects in space. The earth is surrounded by giant rings with holes inside which fire burns. Small tubes end with stars, there is less fire in them, which is why the light of the stars is so dim. The second ring is larger and the fire in it is brighter, the Moon is visible through its hole. It sometimes overlaps - this is how the lunar phases are explained. The farthest ring is the brightest, and through its hole we see the Sun. Thus, the universe, according to Anaximander, ends with heavenly fire.
The cosmological theory of Anaximander was incredibly innovative for its time. He placed the Earth at the center of the world, thus creating the first geocentric concept. She stands still, she has no reason to move. And the heavenly bodies move around the Earth in their orbits - in this way the scientist was able to explain the movement of space objects, which required powerful, unorthodox thinking.
Cosmogony of Anaximander
Thinking about the origin of the universe was also a big part of the scientist's activities. Philosophy of Anaximanderwas based on the denial of the participation of the Olympian gods in the creation of the universe. He believed that it develops on its own, according to its own laws, and it does not have a moment of occurrence, since the Cosmos is eternal. In his opinion, everything that exists begins to appear from some non-material beginning. At the first stage, everything is divided into physical entities: dry, wet, hard, soft, etc. The interaction of these substances forms the cosmos in the form of a ball, and already inside this shell various physical processes begin to occur. As a result of cooling, the earth and air around it appear, and hotter remains outside - fire. As a result of the influence of fire, the substance hardens so much that it creates a shell in which the universe exists. At the final stage of the formation of the universe, living beings appear. Anaximander believed that life originated in the remnants of the dried seabed. Moisture evaporates, and all living things are born from heat and silt. That is, he believed that there is a natural origin of life, without divine intervention. He also believed that the universe, like everything in the world, has its own life span, it is born, dies, and then reappears.
New ideas of Anaximander
In the field of cosmology, the scientist made many discoveries. His version that the earth stands motionless in the center of the world without any support was revolutionary for its time. Then all the thinkers still believed in the presence of the earth's axis, which holds the planet in place. The source of all things is something infinite, immaterial and eternal. The philosopher called this essence apeiron. This isa certain substance that is elusive, as it is in constant motion. Apeiron constantly arises from something and transforms into something; it is incomprehensible to the human mind. The philosophical doctrine of Anaximander is built on the idea of apeiron as an attribute of something. In those days, this word was an adjective, only later Aristotle transforms it into a noun. From apeiron, as from a substrate, four elements appear, which organize everything that exists. The concepts of apeiron and substrate are the most important achievements of Anaximander. His ideas about the origin of all life without the participation of the gods became another innovative contribution to the baggage of human thought. These views will develop much later, already in modern times. The philosopher also became the progenitor of the dialectical approach to understanding the world. He talked about the fact that essences can flow into one another, wet things can dry out, and vice versa. He argued that the opposite has a single beginning, this became an anticipation of future dialectics.
Scientific opinions
One should remember Anaximander's contribution to geography. In fact, he became the founder of this science in the European tradition. Thinking about the structure of the universe, he also thinks about how the earth works and tries to depict it graphically. Anaximander's land map is very naive: three continents - Europe, Asia and Libya - are washed by the ocean. And they are separated by the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. He was the first European to draw a map of his world (it has not been preserved, we can only judge it byfragments). Of course, so far there are very few geographical features on it, but this was already a breakthrough, as the next generations of scientists and travelers were able to expand and supplement this map.
Another important scientific achievement of Anaximander is the installation of the first gnomon in Greece - a sundial and the improvement of the skafis, the Babylonian clock. Among the astronomical achievements of Anaximander, whose discoveries were a breakthrough for his time, one can name an attempt to compare the magnitudes of known celestial bodies with the Earth.
Disciples of Anaximander: Anaximenes
Anaximander became one of the important steps in the evolution of ancient Greek philosophy. His main student Anaximenes continued and developed the views of his teacher, he also belongs to the Milesian school. The main merit of the philosopher in the continuation of reflections on the movement of the universe. As the fundamental principle of all things, he put forward air. He is unlimited and has no qualities. Its particles interact with each other, and from here everything that exists is born, the characteristics of the material world appear. Anaximenes became the closing link in the flow of elemental materialism.
