Get Schooled
Though there was no "Monist" school, this school stood in opposition to the idea of monism.
What is the Pluralist school?
Thales thought everything was made of this substance, but be careful to bring up wells of it since this is a sensitive topic for him.
What is water?
This philosopher thought everything was made of different kinds of numbers because he believed that everything could be quantified.
Who is Pythagoras?
Parmenides is credited with founding this branch of philosophy because he thought that everything was made of "Being".
What is Metaphysics?
This school was home to the first Pre-Socratics: Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. The first name of this "Party in the U.S.A" singer could be helpful to think about when trying to pronounce it.
What is the Milesian school?
As the kids would say, his theory of the One is "Fire".
Who is Heraclitus?
This paradox of Zeno supposedly proves that motion is absurd when you consider the infinite amount of halfway points between Achilles and this notoriously slower reptile.
What is Zeno's Paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise?
Anaximenes thought that this substance was the "arche" of it all, and that "the many" was simply more condensed and expanded states of it. Therefore, everything is different because "the many" exists in different densities.
What is air?
The study of the universe, the root of which Pythagoras invented himself and means "world harmony" or "world order".
What is Cosmology?
This school, if it had a physical building, would have likely been a right triangle since its founder discovered the a famous theorem related to them.
What is the Pythagorean School?
He could go on forever about his answer to the one and the many, perhaps even to "infinity and beyond"
Who is Anaximander?
The discovery of these different kinds of numbers got Hippasus killed by Pythagoras because he saw them as a threat to his views on cosmic order.
What are irrational numbers?
This philosopher thought that he could control the four classical elements, so he jumped into a volcano. He did not survive.
Who is Empedocles?
Pythagoras not only asked the question of "what there is" but also "what should be done", making him the first to do this branch of philosophy.
What is Ethics.
The philosopher who created the "Parmenidean Problem" belonged to this school.
What is the Eleatic School?
Xenophanes thought that everything was made of this substance. The details may have been lost to history, it probably had something to do with water (but not wind or fire).
What is Earth?
Since this philosopher believed that "all is One", he likely can't even make sense of this being a category, let alone make sense of motion, change, or difference.
Who is Parmenides?
Even pagans such as Xenophanes were able to discover important truths about God through human reason alone (i.e., that God must be all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good, timeless, immutable, etc..), making him the first to do this subbranch of Theology.
What is Natural Theology?
This school hoped to address the Parmenidean Problem by describing non-being as void.
What is the Atomist school?
This philosophers answer to the one is that everything has... everything.
Modern chemistry still uses this term, which comes from the greek word meaning "indivisible".
What is an atom?
This branch of philosophy is behind the "nightmare" that Cratylus had when he realized that words, just like everything else, are always changing.
What is Epistemology?