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Greek Philosophy: Philosophers
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Greek philosophy may be divided between those philosophers who sought an explanation of the world in physical terms and those who stressed the importance of nonmaterial forms or ideas. The first important school of Greek philosophy, the Ionian or Milesian, was largely materialistic. Founded by Thales of Miletus in the 6th century BC, it began with Thales' belief that water is the basic substance out of which all matter is created. A more elaborate view was offered by Anaximander, who held that the raw material of all matter is an eternal substance that changes into the commonly experienced forms of matter. These forms in turn change and merge into one another according to the rule of justice, that is, balance and proportion. Heraclitus taught that fire is the primordial source of matter, but he believed that the entire world is in a constant state of change or flux and that most objects and substances are produced by a union of opposite principles.
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Greek philosophy can be separated, more or less, into three distinct types: Pre-Socratic, Classical and Hellenistic philosophy. The earliest group was the Pre-Socratics, or those who came before Socrates. However, some of the Pre-Socratic philosophers were contemporaries of Socrates. The Pre-Socratics were followed by the Sophists, then the Classical philosophers – Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and finally by the Hellenistic philosophers or those who came after Alexander the Great. The Hellenistic Age begins with the death of Alexander the Great and ended with the Roman Empire.
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In the writings of Plato and Aristotle the dominant strains of idealism and materialism in Greek philosophy reached, respectively, their highest expression, producing a body of thought that continues to influence philosophical inquiry. Subsequent Greek philosophy, reflecting a historical period of civil unrest and individual insecurity, was less concerned with the nature of the world than with the problems in the individual. During this period four major schools of largely materialistic, individualistic philosophy arose: that of the Cynics, and those espousing Epicureanism, Skepticism, and Stoicism. For a detailed history of these and earlier schools, see Philosophy. For additional information on individual philosophers, see biographies of those whose names are not followed by dates.
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Greek philosophy can be said to culminate with Aristotle, who wrote treatises on a breathtaking range of subjects. He is said to be the first to view knowledge as being divided into specific disciplines such as biology or astronomy. The university was later modeled on this approach. More than any other philosopher, Aristotle synthesized the views that preceded him.
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Greek philosophy may be divided between those philosophers who sought an explanation of the world in physical terms and those who stressed the importance of nonmaterial forms or ideas. The first important school of Greek philosophy, the Ionian or Milesian, was largely materialistic. Founded by Thales of Miletus in the 6th century
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The Greek historian of philosophy Diogenes Laertius, refers to a lost work, that of Hieronymus of Rhodes, crediting Thales with "measuring the pyramids by their shadow, having observed the time when our own shadow is equal to our height" (G.S. Kirk & J.E. Raven, The Presocratic Philosophers, Cambridge, 1964, p. 83). This would be a little awkward, since one's own height would have to be ascertained and the shadow measured by it. Since the gnomon -- a stick in the ground -- was in use at the time to observe the path of the sun, using one would be considerably easier and just as simple.
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