Origins and Early Development of Greek Philosophy
Origin of Philosophy
Philosophy was born in Greece, the culture that laid the foundations for this discipline. Its birth and development are due to the special characteristics of the Greek people. Aristotle indicates that wonder is the beginning of philosophical reflection, a wonder that was moving towards things much higher than the merely natural. Astonishment and subsequent questions are an essential and proper characteristic of Greek thought. In other cultures, experiencing wonder led to fear, to seeing supernatural evil or beneficial powers to which humans must submit. This is similar to the mythical attitude, in which people sought a way to ingratiate themselves with supernatural powers.
In the Greek world, we can observe the awakening of a new perspective, where people truly want to know what things are, to understand them, to know their behavior. This attitude minimizes fear and reverence. There was confidence in reason, which was considered capable of penetrating the essence of things, a basic attitude for all subsequent scientific and technological development.
The development of Greek thought has several assumptions from which it begins its reflection. Despite defining philosophy as all-embracing, the Greeks considered certain elements unquestionable. These seem obvious in their culture but are often a source of great difficulty in understanding their thinking today, as they are questionable for us. For example, to them, nature (reality) has always existed; what changes, what appears, is born and dies, what starts and stops. This was a significant problem for them, but the background where these changes occurred was always the same, so it was not questioned.
Cosmological or Pre-Socratic Period
The first period of Greek philosophy is known as the cosmological period because the central topic of reflection is knowledge about nature and its changes. Questions such as what is the cosmos and what is the first governing principle become very relevant. Aristotle called the thinkers of this stage “physicists,” and they include Thales of Miletus, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Heraclitus of Ephesus, and Anaxagoras, who tried to answer these questions.
The First Philosophers
Philosophy was born in the Ionian coast of Asia Minor in the late seventh and early sixth centuries BCE. Although not originating in the Hellenic peninsula, they are Greek citizens because the Ionian coast, like southern Italy, was inhabited by Greeks, where philosophy also flourished. We find peculiar features: these were rich cities engaged in trade, at the confluence of people from different countries and cultures.
The first three philosophers, belonging to the city of Miletus, are also known as the Milesian School. Their concern was to find the principle of nature, the source of everything we observe, searching for the constituent element of all reality, which gives the foundation of things and makes it possible for beings to be transformed into others. The principle the Ionians were looking for is the first philosophical attempt to explain the origin of the world or the cosmos. Their conclusions were the fruits of careful observation of nature, intuition, and fertile minds. In their ideas, we can appreciate the kinship of their ideas with explanations of current physics and unique components of all bodies: atomic particles.
- Thales of Miletus, known as a great mathematician and astronomer, traveling merchant, and politician. His reflection is a fundamental step in the history of thought, and it does not conform with the mythical but seeks answers in nature itself, the foundation of it; for him, it was water.
- In Anaximander, there is no natural element or elementary particle of all that exists; for him, it is the infinite (apeiron).
- Anaximenes, Anaximander’s pupil, believed that air was a constituent of all existing things, understanding air as a spirit that envelops the world and is also within us as a breath of life.
Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans (570-497 BCE)
Born on the island of Samos in Ionia, Pythagoras moved to Croton in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy), where he founded his philosophical sect known as the Pythagoreans or the Italians. His teaching is influenced by Eastern disciplines, especially that of Zoroaster. He was very famous in his time and was almost a legendary figure, seen by some as the son of Apollo.
The school of philosophy he founded would have a long duration. It was also a mystical religious sect. Their great contribution is the reflection made about the body and the soul. They thought that the soul is immortal and has fallen, due to some fault, into the body, which is a prison for it. Therefore, philosophers must work on purification, leading a life of asceticism with many restrictions. Their doctrine posited a purification through many lives, hence the belief in reincarnation. In addition to ascetic and religious purification, they considered spiritual work, philosophy, and mathematics very important in this process of liberation of the soul, as well as the practice of music as a trainer of humans in harmony and regularity. They noted the existence of abstract beings, immaterial, eternal, immutable principles of the concrete and changing world. Despite the esoteric magic, the Pythagoreans and their philosophy would significantly influence the thinking of one of the most important philosophers of classical Greece, Plato.
Heraclitus of Ephesus
Heraclitus of Ephesus was a very mysterious and solitary figure, called by his contemporaries “the obscure” for his writing, which consisted of small, difficult-to-interpret, paradoxical sentences. He historically ranks among the 6th-5th centuries BCE. The most important idea in his thought, for which he is known today, is the concept of becoming. He states that nothing exists; everything is constantly changing or evolving, everything flows, is being and ceasing to be, and becoming. The most famous of his sayings is: “No one bathes twice in the same river.” Everything changes, not only the water that runs but also the course of the river and we ourselves. This idea diminishes the chances of finding sure knowledge of things since I cannot know something for sure if it is one way now and will be something else tomorrow. This permanent change is the only thing that exists, like fire that is always changing. For Heraclitus, fire is the beginning of the world; although it seems like a permanent material, it is always changing, consuming, and destroying.