Anaxagoras Essay Research Paper AnaxagorasGreek philosophy was

Anaxagoras Essay, Research Paper Anaxagoras Greek philosophy was first born in Ionia, where the main place of study, which produced the first great thinkers, was Miletus. The school of Miletus spawned the three first philosophers of the time. Anaxagoras was a philosopher from approximately 500 to 428. He used ideas from past philosophers to come up with ideas that contradicted as well as complemented views of philosophers from the past. These early philosophers had one thing on their minds, Overarching Principle. There was understanding the world on one hand, and how to live life as the second overall idea of philosophy. These thoughts have come to be some of the most prominent ideas that philosophy has accepted to this day. Many things brought Anaxagoras to come up with the

philosophies that he did. Other Pre-Socratic philosophers influenced him to come up with the philosophies that he did. In early Greek philosophy there were two dominant ideas that were used as general themes, how to live life and understanding the world. In the beginning of philosophy, the philosophers were trying to come up with one overarching principle. There were tree main philosophers that started this thinking process. Thales believed that everything in the world came from water or was a form of water, which in the end would eventually turn back into water. He thought that this one element comprised everything that held the universe together. This is what the early philosophers came to think of, something that was the basis for all existence. Next was Anaximander, who was a

disciple of Thales. He knew that Thales’ belief that water composed everything couldn’t be plausible because water is only one substance that is limited. He believed in the “apeiron”, or the boundless. By this he meant that all life comes from infinite atmosphere, which is a perpetual vitality that governs all things. This could connect all things through a more infinite aspect than water. Reflecting on what Anaximander had come up with, Anaxemines thought that there was more to say than just the boundless. Anaximenes was in turn a deciple of Anaximander, he expanded on both of their ideas. He came up with another concept of how the world works. He believed that air was the main principle in holding the world together. He believed that air held the soul together with the

world that we live in. Also he thought that Air could be comprised into Fire and Earth through rarefaction, and water through condensation. After these philosophers, there became one problem: Being and change. Being and change is classified into three main categories. The first one is that Being is everything and change cannot occur. The second idea is that change is everything, and that Being cannot exist. The third idea is a combination of the previous two. It states that Being and change co-exist and support one another to comprise the world into a living thing. Now that there is a basis for thinking, people started to think about how the world changes and what can affect that. First came the doctrine of permanence. These people were called the Eleatics who believed that the

world was permanent and didn’t change. There were five of them that had major ideas in changing thought of the time. First was Xenophanes who believed that one divisible God existed, which is a precursor for most of the religions that we have now. Next we have Permenides who believed that Thought and Being are one; whereas Melissus of Samos who thought that being was interpreted materialistically. As a student of Permenides, Zeno had the notion that motion is not real and that Being, which to him is immutable matter, is alone real. Last is Gorgias of Leontitum, a nihilist, is a pupil of Zeno’s and denies the idea of motion and space and negates Being. On the other end of the spectrum are the Heracliteans. The Heracliteans take the opposite stance, and believe that there is no