From myth to logos
This modern day county is considered the birthplace of western philosophy
What is Turkey?
For Pythagoras everything is...
Number, or mathematical ratios
Change
It is water.
Thales' first principle, or arché
Is Parmenides a natural philosopher? Explain
No. Parmenides can be considered the father of logic. His goal is to understand something about the way we use reason, or laws of thought
Greek word for origin, or first principle
What is arché?
Name one ritual, belief or odd custom that was encouraged among the Pythagoreans
vegetarianism and other dietary restrictions like not eating beans, reincarnation, communal living, worship of numbers, prohibition of wearing wool...
What makes the world intelligible for humans? In other words, what holds it together in the midst of all the change?
The Logos!
It is the apeiron.
What is the Arché for Anaximander?
What was Parmenides' book called? In what style did he write? How was the book divided
On Nature. Poetry. Three parts: Proem, Way of Truth, Way of Seeming
It is a "story" or "narrative"
What is myth?
Why did Pythagoras not eat meat?
He believed in the transmigration of human souls into other animals after death
What is the significance of fire for Heraclitus?
It is a metaphor for change
This philosopher discussed two processes in which matter can travel from fire to air, air to wind, wind to cloud, cloud to water, water to earth, earth to stone and vice-versa.
Anaximenes (talking about condensation and rarefaction)
What did Parmenides think about knowledge acquired through sense experience?
It is deceiving because it makes us think that things chance and can come into being or go out of being.
Greek word for reason or logic.
What is Logos?
Aside from being a mathematician and philosopher, what is Pythagoras best known for?
Being the leader of a religious cult!
In what style did Heraclitus write?
In riddles and aphorisms
Moniker used to remember the Milesians.
What is the Material Monists of Miletus?
Attributes of God, according to Xenophanes.
What is One, eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent
These two poets were responsible for organizing Greek myths into a cohesive narrative
Who are Homer and Hesiod
What did Pythagoras write?
Nothing!
In what way is Heraclitus' arché different from those who came before him?
"Change" is a process, not a material thing (Milesians) or simply an abstract thing like "number"
Modern scholars must rely on these two types of sources for information on Presocratic philosophers.
Fragments and testimonia
Name two criticisms Xenophanes had of the way in which the Greeks imagined the Olympian Gods.
What is Gods (1) aren't immoral, (2) do not resemble humans, (3) aren't born nor die, (4) no divine hierarchy, (5) do not meddle in human affairs