The origins of European science and philosophy must be sought in ancient Greece. It was there that the basic approaches to understanding reality were born. One of the oldest 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 refers to the so-called spontaneous 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 therefore European philosophy. This place was unique because it was at the junction of East and West. It housed 12 famous Greek cities in which the culture of Ancient Greece was born. Numerous ships from the East were unloaded at the ports of Ionia. They brought to the cities not only goods, but also information about life in other countries, the knowledge acquired by Eastern scientists, as well as foreign ideas about the structure and origin of the world. Inquisitive Greeks themselves traveled a lot in the East 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 emerging. 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 also had common sense, a tendency to logical reasoning, and attentiveness to the outside world. In those days, 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 they formulated ideas about the absolute beginning, about the divine origin of people and the world around them, about the need for self-improvement and self-knowledge, about the moral foundations of human society. All this knowledge was adopted by the representatives of the Milesian school, who also began to think about how the world works and what its laws are. 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.
The main issues of ancient philosophy
The economic heyday of ancient Greece, the emergence of free citizens of Greek policies, a large amount of free time contributed to the development of ancient Greek art and philosophy. Unencumbered by the need to spend all their time and energy on survival, the Greeks began to think in their free time about everything that surrounds them. In ancient Greece, an independent social stratum appeared - philosophers who led discussions, revealed to citizens the meaning of everything that exists. It was in such conditions that Anaximander lived, whose main ideas grew out of reflections on the basic questions of being, which the ancient Greek philosophers set themselves and the world. The main issues that interested people in ancient times include:
- Where did the world come from?
- What is the basis of the world?
- What is the main law of the world, the logo?
- How can one explain the phenomena of nature;
- What is truth and how can it be known?
- What is a man 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 did it come from?
All these questions excited the Greeks, and they diligently sought answers to them. As a result, there were two main approaches to explaining the world and its origin: idealistic and materialistic. Philosophers discovered the basic methods of cognition: empirical, logical, sensual, rational. The earliest period of ancient philosophy is called natural philosophy, because in this era, thinkers were most interested in the Cosmos and the world around it. Anaximander of Miletus made a significant contribution to understanding these problems. In this regard, the sources of cosmology and cosmogony become the main object of study in ancient philosophy.
Miletus 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 is attributed to the ionic trend 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. The Miletian philosophers were interested in how the world works, from which everything came. Miletus thinkers were the founders of many European sciences: physics, astronomy, biology, geography and, of course, philosophy. The basis of their views was the thesis that nothing arises from nothing, and the idea that only the cosmos is eternal and infinite. Everything that a person sees around himself has a divine origin, but the source is at the heart of everything. The main reflections of Thales and his students, including the philosophy of Anaximander, were devoted to the problem of searching for the source of primary matter.
Thales and his students
The founder of European science and ancient Greek philosophy is considered to be Thales of Miletus. The years of his life are determined approximately: 640/624 - 548/545 BC. e. The Greeks considered Thales as the father of philosophy, he is included in the number of seven famous ancient Greek sages. His biography can be judged from various sources, the reliability of which there is no absolute certainty. It is believed that Thales was of Phoenician origin, he was from a noble family and received a 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 of 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 a normal life, far from government affairs. 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 a celebrity after he predicted a solar eclipse of 585 BC. e. This is the only exact date that is known from the life of Thales.
The scientist’s works were not 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 a 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, land appears; when it evaporates, air appears. The cause of all water transformations is spirit. Thales also has a number of accurate physical observations, as well as many fantastic assumptions. For example, he believed that the stars consist of earth, and she, in turn, floats in the water. Earth, in his opinion, is the center of the world, if it disappears, the whole world will collapse.
But the merit of Thales was that he tried to understand the structure of the universe, asked many important questions, which laid the foundation for science. The scientist's activities attracted several students to him, who formed the basis of the Milesian school of natural philosophy. No information was left about the interaction of Thales with his followers, just as his works were not preserved. Today we learn about his thoughts and activities only from the recollections of the next generations of scientists and thinkers, but there is no confidence in their accuracy. The closest students were Anaximenes and Anaximander. Philosophy for them has become a matter of life. 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 Thales's disciples than about himself. Even whether Anaximander was actually a student of Thales is not proven. Only about the years of Anaximander's life are also known. He was born tentatively in 610 BC. e., presumably in the wealthy family of the merchant. Contemporaries recall that he was engaged in a wide variety of activities: he traded, traveled, studied sciences and thoughts.
For some time he lived in Sparta. Anaximander of Miletus was also involved in government, it is known that he took part in the organization of one of the Miletian colonies. Like his teacher, Thales, he studied natural phenomena and even predicted the earthquake in Sparta and saved many residents. He is also considered the founder of scientific geography. The philosopher lived 55 years and died at the same age as his teacher Thales. A lot of myths and legends, and even jokes, developed about the prominent people of early Greek history. Anaximander, whose interesting facts from his life also turned into tales, is forever connected with the fact that he first drew a map of Greece on the sheet: “dared to draw the ecumenical world”, as scientists wrote about him much later. He is also known as the first creator of the globe.
The treatise "On Nature"
The original tests of Anaximander were not preserved, we learn about his works and thoughts from the later retellings of Greek scholars, as well as from the interpretations of early Christian scholars who were very free to use the original sources. Christian authors generally used quotes from the works of Anaximander solely to ridicule the pagan representations of the ancient Greeks. The only work of the philosopher that has come down to us is the treatise On Nature. He is familiar to modern readers through paraphrases and the only surviving fragment of the original text. In this essay, the scientist outlined his thoughts on 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 Anaximander
The main area of thought of the philosopher was connected with the cosmos. He believed that stars are windows in the firmament. Inside the star, a fire shrouded in shells burns.
Apparently, it seems that Anaximander understood, whose works are not available to us for direct study, the structure of the Earth. He represented her in the form of a cylinder; we walk on one side, but there is another plane that is opposite to it. Earth is the center of the world, it does not rely on anything, but hovers in space. The philosopher explained the reason for soaring 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, they have less fire, so the light of stars is so dim. The second ring is larger, and the fire in it is brighter, the moon is visible in its hole. It sometimes overlaps - this is the explanation of the lunar phases. The farthest ring is the brightest, and through its opening we see the Sun. Thus, the universe, according to Anaximander, ends with celestial 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 celestial bodies move around their Earth in their orbits - in this way the scientist was able to explain the motion of space objects, which required powerful, unorthodox thinking.
Cosmogony Anaximander
Reflections on the origin of the universe were also a large part of the scientist's studies. The philosophy of Anaximander was based on the denial of the participation of the Olympian gods in the creation of the universe. He believed that it develops by itself, according to its own laws, and it does not have a moment of occurrence, since Cosmos is eternal. In his opinion, all that exists begins to emerge from some intangible principle. At the first stage, everything is divided into physical entities: dry, wet, hard, soft, etc. The interaction of these substances forms a space in the form of a ball, and various physical processes begin to occur inside this shell. As a result of cooling, the earth and the air around it appear, and outside it remains hotter - 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 a dried up seabed. Moisture evaporates, and all life is born from heat and silt. That is, he believed that there is a natural birth 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 Anaximander ideas
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 thinkers still believed in the existence of the earth's axis, which holds the planet in place. The source of all things is something infinite, intangible and eternal. The philosopher called this entity apeiron. This is a certain substance, which 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 teaching of Anaximander is based on the representation of apeiron as an attribute of something. In those days, this word was an adjective, only later Aristotle converts it into a noun. Four elements appear from the apeiron as from a substrate, which organize everything. 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. Also, the philosopher became the progenitor of the dialectical approach to understanding the world. He said that entities can flow one into another, wet can dry, and vice versa. He argued that the opposite has a single beginning, this was an anticipation of future dialectics.
Scientific views
We should recall the contribution of Anaximander to geography. In fact, he became the founder of this science in the European tradition. Reflecting on the structure of the universe, he also reflects on how the earth works and tries to depict it graphically. The map of the land of Anaximander is very naive: three continents - Europe, Asia and Libya - are washed by the ocean. And the Mediterranean and the Black Sea share them. He was the first of the Europeans to draw a map of his world (it has not been preserved, we can judge it only by fragments). Of course, so far there are very few geographical objects 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 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 values of famous celestial bodies with the Earth.
Pupils 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 thoughts about the movement of the universe. As the fundamental principle of all things, he put forward the air. It is unlimited and has no qualities. Its particles enter into interactions with each other, and from here everything is born, the characteristics of the material world appear. Anaximenes became the closing link during spontaneous materialism.