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86-535: [REDACTED] Look up obscure in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Obscure may refer to: Heraclitus of Ephesus was called " The Obscure " Obscure (video game) , a 2004 survival horror game Obscure (band) , a Bangladeshi pop rock band Obscure Records , a 1975–1978 UK label founded by Brian Eno "Obscure", a song by Dir en grey from Vulgar See also [ edit ] Obscure vowel ,

172-502: A child plays. Similar to his views on rivers, Heraclitus believed "the Sun is new each day." He also said the Sun never sets . This was "obviously inspired by scientific reflection, and no doubt seemed to him to obviate the difficulty of understanding how the sun can work its way underground from west to east during the night". The physician Galen explains: "Heraclitus says that the sun

258-417: A connection between the soul and the physical world, as they suggest that they are made of the same material, air. From this, Anaximenes suggested that everything, whether it be an individual soul or the entire world, operates under the same principles in which things are held together and guided by the air. In Ancient Greek , the words for wind and for soul shared a common origin. Anaximenes's philosophy

344-487: A divine explanation, they are regarded as the first philosophers in the Western world. According to Diogenes Laertius , Anaximenes lived approximately from 585 to 524 BC. Anaximenes is only known to have written one full text, which may have been a response to Anaximander's text On Nature . It was described by Theophrastus as having a "simple and economical Ionic style". Anaximenes died c.  526/525 BC . What

430-467: A dry soul is best. Heraclitus is said to have produced a single work on papyrus , which has not survived; however, over 100 fragments of this work survive in quotations by other authors. The title is unknown, but many later writers refer to this work, and works by other pre-Socratics, as On Nature . According to Diogenes Laërtius, Heraclitus deposited the book in the Artemision – one of

516-619: A likely reference to an alleged similarity to Pythagorean riddles. Timon said Heraclitus wrote his book "rather unclearly" ( ασαφεστερον ; asaphesteron ); according to Timon, this was intended to allow only the "capable" to attempt it. By the time of Cicero , this epithet became in Greek "The Dark" ( ὁ Σκοτεινός ; ho Skoteinós ) or in Latin "The Obscure" as he had spoken nimis obscurē ("too obscurely") concerning nature and had done so deliberately in order to be misunderstood. The obscurity

602-498: A model in which the qualitative traits of a substance are determined by quantitative factors. Anaximenes believed that the universe was initially made entirely of air and that liquids and solids were then produced from it through condensation. He also used air to explain the nature of the Earth and the surrounding celestial bodies. He believed in a flat Earth that emerged as one of the first things to be condensed from air. This Earth

688-487: A process of never-ending cycles. Plato and Aristotle attribute to Heraclitus a periodic destruction of the world by a great conflagration, known as ekpyrosis, which happens every Great Year – according to Plato, every 36,000 years. Heraclitus more than once describes the transformations to and from fire: Fire lives the death of earth, and air lives the death of fire; water lives the death of air, and earth that of water. The turnings of fire: first sea, and of sea half

774-406: A public fact like a proposition or formula ; like Guthrie, he views Heraclitus as a materialist, so he grants Heraclitus would not have considered these as abstract objects or immaterial things. Another possibility is the logos referred to the truth , or to the book itself. Classicist Walther Kranz translated it as " sense ". Heraclitus's logos doctrine may also be the origin of

860-460: A reflection of sunlight off of clouds, and he theorized that the various colors were caused by an interaction of light and darkness. Anaximenes's views have been interpreted as reconciling those of his two predecessors, Thales and Anaximander. Air as the arche is a limitless concept, which resembled Anaximander's theory that the arche was the abstract infinite that he called apeiron (Ancient Greek: ἄπειρον , lit. 'unlimited, 'boundless'). At

946-580: A single substance. This description came to be widely accepted in philosophy. Practitioners of Aristotelian philosophy further considered Anaximenes to be a founder of naturalism . After Aristotle, Theophrastus continued the doxography of the Milesian philosophers and other Ionians. He described Anaximenes as a natural philosopher . Other ancient philosophers who analyzed the work of Anaximenes include Simplicius , Aetius , Hippolytus, and Plutarch . Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said that Anaximenes

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1032-413: A thousand years with her voice, thanks to the god in her". Kahn characterized the main features of Heraclitus's writing as "linguistic density", meaning that single words and phrases have multiple meanings, and "resonance", meaning that expressions evoke one another. Heraclitus used literary devices like alliteration and chiasmus . Aristotle quotes part of the opening line of Heraclitus's work in

1118-541: A type of weak or reduced vowel sound Obscurity (disambiguation) Obscure means unknown or strange Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Obscure . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Obscure&oldid=1252937927 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

1204-443: A wide variety of other uses, such that Heraclitus might have a different meaning of the word for each usage in his book. Kahn has argued that Heraclitus used the word in multiple senses, whereas Guthrie has argued that there is no evidence Heraclitus used it in a way that was significantly different from that in which it was used by contemporaneous speakers of Greek. Professor Michael Stokes interprets Heraclitus's use of logos as

1290-399: Is a burning mass, kindled at its rising, and quenched at its setting." Heraclitus also believed that the Sun is as large as it looks, and said Hesiod "did not know night and day , for they are one." However, he also explained the phenomenon of day and night by if the Sun "oversteps his measures", then " Erinyes , the ministers of Justice, will find him out". Heraclitus further wrote

1376-568: Is at the same time a divine law." The Milesians before Heraclitus had a view called material monism which conceived of certain elements as the arche – Thales with water, Anaximander with apeiron , and Anaximenes with air. Since antiquity, philosophers have concluded that Heraclitus construed of fire as the arche , the ultimate reality or the fundamental element that gave rise to the other elements. Pre-Socratic scholar Eduard Zeller has argued that Heraclitus believed that heat in general and dry exhalation in particular, rather than visible fire,

1462-454: Is common, most people live as though they had an understanding peculiar to themselves." Heraclitus did not seem to like the prevailing religion of the time, criticizing the popular mystery cults , blood sacrifice , and prayer to statues. He also did not believe in funeral rites , saying "Corpses are more fit to be cast out than dung." He further criticized Homer , Hesiod , Pythagoras , Xenophanes , and Hecataeus . He endorsed

1548-493: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Heraclitus#The Obscure Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote a single work, only fragments of which have survived, catalogued under philosopher number 22 in the Diels–Kranz numbering system. Already in antiquity, his paradoxical philosophy, appreciation for wordplay , and cryptic, oracular epigrams earned him

1634-431: Is earth, half fireburst. [Earth] is liquefied as sea and measured into the same proportion as it had before it became earth. However, it is also argued by many that Heraclitus never identified fire as the arche ; rather, he only used fire to explain his notion of flux, as the basic stuff which changes or moves the most. Others conclude he used it as the physical form of logos . On yet another interpretation, Heraclitus

1720-563: Is generally accepted that Anaximenes was instructed by Anaximander, and many of their philosophical ideas are similar. While Anaximenes was the preeminent Milesian philosopher in Ancient Greece, he is often given lower importance than the others in the modern day. Anaximenes held that air could change into other forms through either rarefaction or condensation . Condensation would make the air denser, turning it into wind, clouds, water, earth, and finally stone. Rarefaction would make

1806-480: Is known about Anaximenes's philosophy is what was preserved by later philosophers, particularly Aristotle and Theophrastus . According to their writings, each philosopher of the Milesian School was a material monist who sought to discover the arche (Ancient Greek: wikt:ἀρχή , lit.   'beginning, origin'), or the one, underlying basis of all things. This is generally understood in

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1892-444: Is known of Anaximenes's life and work, as all of his original texts are lost. Historians and philosophers have reconstructed information about Anaximenes by interpreting texts about him by later writers. All three Milesian philosophers were monists who believed in a single foundational source of everything: Anaximenes believed it to be air, while Thales and Anaximander believed it to be water and an undefined infinity , respectively. It

1978-794: Is not a material monist explicating flux nor stability, but a revolutionary process philosopher who chooses fire in an attempt to say there is no arche . Fire is a symbol or metaphor for change, rather than the basic stuff which changes the most. Perspectives of this sort emphasize his statements on change such as "The way up is the way down", as well as the quote "All things are an exchange for Fire, and Fire for all things, even as wares for gold and gold for wares", which has been understood as stating that while all can be transformed into fire, not everything comes from fire, just as not everything comes from gold. While considered an ancient cosmologist , Heraclitus did not seem as interested in astronomy , meteorology , or mathematics as his predecessors. It

2064-416: Is supported by the pressure of air underneath it to keep it afloat. Anaximenes considered celestial objects to be those which had separated from the Earth. The philosophers who recorded Anaximenes's ideas disagree as to how he theorized this happened. He may have described them as evaporating or rarifying into fire. He is said to have compared the movement of the Earth, Sun, and stars to leaves floating in

2150-400: Is surmised Heraclitus believed that the earth was flat and extended infinitely in all directions. Heraclitus held all things occur according to fate . He said "Time ( Aion ) is a child playing draughts , the kingly power is a child's." It is disputed whether this means time and life is determined by rules like a game , by conflict like a game, or by arbitrary whims of the gods like

2236-562: Is tended by blows." A core concept for Heraclitus is logos , an ancient Greek word literally meaning "word, speech, discourse, or meaning ". For Heraclitus, the logos seems to designate the rational structure or ordered composition of the world. As well as the opening quote of his book, one fragment reads: "Listening not to me but to the logos , it is wise to agree ( homologein ) that all things are one." Another fragment reads: "[ hoi polloi ] ... do not know how to listen [to Logos ] or how to speak [the truth]." The word logos has

2322-457: Is that the work fell naturally into these parts when the Stoic commentators took their editions of it in hand". The Stoics divided their own philosophy into three parts: ethics, logic, and physics. The Stoic Cleanthes further divided philosophy into dialectics , rhetoric , ethics , politics, physics , and theology, and philologist Karl Deichgräber has argued the last three are the same as

2408-535: Is the central principle in Heraclitus' thought." Another of Heraclitus's famous sayings highlights the idea that the unity of opposites is also a conflict of opposites: "War is father of all and king of all; and some he manifested as gods, some as men; some he made slaves, some free"; war is a creative tension that brings things into existence. Heraclitus says further "Gods and men honour those slain in war"; "Greater deaths gain greater portions"; and "Every beast

2494-451: Is the earliest use of the concept of force . A quote about the bow shows his appreciation for wordplay: "The bow's name is life, but its work is death." Each substance contains its opposite, making for a continual circular exchange of generation, destruction, and motion that results in the stability of the world. This can be illustrated by the quote "Even the kykeon separates if it is not stirred." According to Abraham Schoener: "War

2580-523: The Phaedo , rejecting it with the argument that one's physical state does not determine their fate. In the Timaeus , Plato favorably mentions Anaximenes's theory of matter and its seven states from stone to fire. Aristotle was critical of the ideas of Anaximenes. In his Metaphysics , Aristotle characterized Anaximenes and his predecessors as monists , those who believe that all things are composed of

2666-492: The Rhetoric to outline the difficulty in punctuating Heraclitus without ambiguity; he debated whether "forever" applied to "being" or to "prove". Aristotle's successor at the lyceum Theophrastus says about Heraclitus that "some parts of his work [are] half-finished, while other parts [made] a strange medley". Theophrastus thought an inability to finish the work showed Heraclitus was melancholic. Diogenes Laërtius relays

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2752-479: The Delphic maxim to know thyself . Heraclitus has been the subject of numerous interpretations. According to scholar Daniel W. Graham, Heraclitus has been seen as a " material monist or a process philosopher ; a scientific cosmologist , a metaphysician and a religious thinker; an empiricist , a rationalist , a mystic ; a conventional thinker and a revolutionary; a developer of logic – one who denied

2838-556: The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – as a dedication. Classicist Charles Kahn states: "Down to the time of Plutarch and Clement , if not later, the little book of Heraclitus was available in its original form to any reader who chose to seek it out." Yet, by the time of Simplicius of Cilicia , a 6th-century neoplatonic philosopher, who mentions Heraclitus 32 times but never quotes from him, Heraclitus's work

2924-406: The law of non-contradiction ; the first genuine philosopher and an anti-intellectual obscurantist ". The hallmarks of Heraclitus's philosophy are the unity of opposites and change, or flux . According to Aristotle, Heraclitus was a dialetheist , or one who denies the law of noncontradiction (a law of thought or logical principle which states that something cannot be true and false at

3010-424: The theo , or divine world. Anaximenes considered air to be divine in a sense, but he did not associate it with deities or personification. He presented air as the first cause that propelled living systems, giving no indication that air itself was caused by anything. Anaximenes also likened the soul to air, describing it as something that is driven by breath and wills humans to act as they do. These beliefs draw

3096-463: The water cycle : the processes of rarefaction and condensation . He proposed that each substance is created by condensation to increase the density of air or by rarefaction to decrease it. The rarefaction process described by Anaximenes is often compared to felting . Temperature was of particular importance to Anaximenes's philosophy, and he developed an early concept of the connection between temperature and density. He believed that expanded air

3182-470: The Great . However, this date can be considered "roughly accurate" based on a fragment that references Pythagoras, Xenophanes, and Hecataeus as older contemporaries, placing him near the end of the sixth century BC. According to Diogenes Laertius, Heraclitus died covered in dung after failing to cure himself from dropsy . This may be to parody his doctrine that for souls it is death to become water, and that

3268-582: The Pre-Socratic philosophers that succeeded him, such as Heraclitus , Anaxagoras , Diogenes of Apollonia , and Xenophanes . He also provided early examples of concepts such as natural science , physical change , and scientific writing . Anaximenes was born c.  586/585 BC . Surviving information about the life of Anaximenes is limited, and it comes primarily from what was preserved by Ancient Greek philosophers, particularly Aristotle and Theophrastus . According to Theophrastus, Anaximenes

3354-681: The Sun is in charge of the seasons . On one account, Heraclitus believed the Sun and Moon were bowls containing fire, with lunar phases explained by the turning of the bowl. His study of the moon near the end of the month is contained in one of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri , a group of manuscripts found in an ancient landfill . This is the best evidence of Heraclitean astronomy. Anaximenes of Miletus Anaximenes of Miletus ( / ˌ æ n æ k ˈ s ɪ m ə ˌ n iː z / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἀναξιμένης ὁ Μιλήσιος ; c.  586/585  – c.  526/525 BC )

3440-444: The air less dense as it eventually becomes fire. Anaximenes also developed a model of the Earth, describing it as a flat disc floating atop the air while the Sun and stars are also flat and float alongside it. He described the Sun as revolving around the Earth, causing it to be obscured by higher lands during the night. As one of the Milesian philosophers, Anaximenes was one of the earliest figures to develop science. He influenced many of

3526-690: The alleged division of Heraclitus. The philosopher Paul Schuster has argued the division came from the Pinakes . Scholar Martin Litchfield West claims that while the existing fragments do not give much of an idea of the overall structure, the beginning of the discourse can probably be determined, starting with the opening lines, which are quoted by Sextus Empiricus : Of the logos being forever do men prove to be uncomprehending, both before they hear and once they have heard it. For although all things happen according to this logos they are like

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3612-445: The causes of other natural phenomena. Like Anaximander, he believed that thunder and lightning occurred when wind emerged after being trapped in a cloud. Earthquakes, he asserted, were the result of alternating drying and wetting of the earth, causing it to undergo a cycle of splitting and swelling. He was the first philosopher to attempt a scientific explanation of rainbows, and the only one to do so until Aristotle. He described them as

3698-419: The commonplace idea that the Sun went underneath the Earth, instead saying that it rotated around the Earth. Hippolytus likened it to a hat spinning around a person's head. It's unknown whether this analogy was of Hippolytus's own creation or if it was part of Anaximenes's explanation. This model of the sun's movement has been interpreted in various ways by subsequent philosophers. Anaximenes also described

3784-570: The context of a substance, though scholars have argued that this may be anachronistic by imposing the Aristotelian notion of substance theory on earlier philosophy. Anaximenes argued that the arche is air. He described several basic elements that he considered to be manifestations of air, sorting them from least dense to most dense: fire, air, wind, clouds, water, earth, and stones. Philosophers have concluded that Anaximenes seems to have based his conclusions on naturally observable phenomena in

3870-416: The development of natural science . He was the first philosopher to analogize his philosophy in practical terms, comparing the functions of the world to behaviors that can be observed in common activities. In this manner, he was also the first to liken the function of the individual to that of the world. In this case, likening the breath that defines humans to the air that defines the world. His belief that

3956-411: The doctrine of natural law . Heraclitus stated "People ought to fight to keep their law as to defend the city walls. For all human laws get nourishment from the one divine law." "Far from arguing like the latter Sophists, that the human law, because it is a conventional law, deserves to be abandoned in favor of the law of nature, Herakleitos argued that the human law partakes of the law of nature, which

4042-455: The epithets "the dark" and "the obscure". He was considered arrogant and depressed, a misanthrope who was subject to melancholia . Consequently, he became known as "the weeping philosopher" in contrast to the ancient philosopher Democritus , who was known as "the laughing philosopher". The central ideas of Heraclitus's philosophy are the unity of opposites and the concept of change . He also saw harmony and justice in strife . He viewed

4128-550: The genuine one. The river fragments (especially the second "we both are and are not") seem to suggest not only is the river constantly changing, but we do as well, perhaps commenting on existential questions about humanity and personhood. Scholars such as Reinhardt also interpreted the metaphor as illustrating what is stable, rather than the usual interpretation of illustrating change. Classicist Karl-Martin Dietz  [ de ] has said: "You will not find anything, in which

4214-416: The greatest warning against materialism". Several fragments seem to relate to the unity of opposites. For example: "The straight and the crooked path of the fuller 's comb is one and the same"; "The way up is the way down"; "Beginning and end, on a circle 's circumference, are common"; and "Thou shouldst unite things whole and things not whole, that which tends to unite and that which tends to separate,

4300-473: The harmonious and the discordant; from all things arises the one, and from the one all things." Over time, the opposites change into each other: "Mortals are immortals and immortals are mortals, the one living the others' death and dying the others' life"; "As the same thing in us is living and dead, waking and sleeping, young and old. For these things having changed around are those, and those in turn having changed around are these"; and "Cold things warm up,

4386-644: The hot cools off, wet becomes dry, dry becomes wet." It also seems they change into each other depending on one's point of view , a case of relativism or perspectivism . Heraclitus states: "Disease makes health sweet and good; hunger, satiety; toil, rest." While men drink and wash with water, fish prefer to drink saltwater, pigs prefer to wash in mud, and fowls prefer to wash in dust. " Oxen are happy when they find bitter vetches to eat" and " asses would rather have refuse than gold ." Diogenes Laërtius summarizes Heraclitus's philosophy as follows: "All things come into being by conflict of opposites, and

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4472-493: The ideas of Anaximander, only changing it so that it reflected his variety of monism. Anaximenes's philosophy was founded upon that of Anaximander, but tradition holds that he was also critical of his instructor in some areas. Anaximenes also maintained that there must be an empirical explanation for why substances change from one form to another. Anaximenes and Anaximander were similar in that they are not known to have justified why or how changes in physical things take place

4558-404: The opposites in conflict ἔρις ( eris ), " strife ", and theorized that the apparently unitary state, δίκη ( dikê ), " justice ", results in "the most beautiful harmony ", in contrast to Anaximander , who described the same as injustice. Aristotle said Heraclitus disagreed with Homer because Homer wished that strife would leave the world, which according to Heraclitus would destroy

4644-478: The original texts as they were recorded by subsequent authors. Further details of Anaximenes's life and philosophical views are obscure, as none of his work has been preserved, and he is only known through fragments and interpretations of him made by later writers and polemicists. The Anaximenes crater on the Moon is named in his honor. Early medical practice developed ideas similar to Anaximenes, proposing that air

4730-424: The other Milesian philosophers, Thales and Anaximander. These three philosophers together began what eventually became science in the Western world. In ancient Greece, the ideas of Anaximenes were well regarded in philosophy, popularized by various philosophers such as Diogenes of Apollonia , and had a greater presence than the ideas of his predecessors. The other Milesian philosophers have since overshadowed him in

4816-472: The philosophy of Stoicism . The ideas ridiculed in the Aristophanes play The Clouds originated from the ideas of Anaximander and Anaximenes. Philosophers such as Xenophanes later adopted Anaximenes's model of cosmology. Xenophanes's theory that the arche is earth and water has also been interpreted as a response to Anaximenes. Plato referenced the concept of air as the cause of thought in

4902-454: The preserved fragments; the anecdote that Heraclitus relinquished the hereditary title of "king" to his younger brother may at least imply that Heraclitus was from an aristocratic family in Ephesus. Heraclitus appears to have had little sympathy for democracy or the masses . However, it is unclear whether he was "an unconditional partisan of the rich", or if, like the sage Solon , he

4988-431: The river remains constant ... Just the fact, that there is a particular river bed, that there is a source and an estuary etc. is something, that stays identical. And this is ... the concept of a river." According to American philosopher W. V. O. Quine , the river parable illustrates that the river is a process through time. One cannot step twice into the same river-stage. Professor M. M. McCabe has argued that

5074-459: The sage Bias of Priene , who is quoted as saying "Most men are bad". He praised a man named Hermodorus as the best among the Ephesians, who he says should all kill themselves for exiling him. Heraclitus is traditionally considered to have flourished in the 69th Olympiad (504–501 BC), but this date may simply be based on a prior account synchronizing his life with the reign of Darius

5160-454: The same idea, panta chorei , or "everything moves" is ascribed to Heraclitus by Plato in the Cratylus . Since Plato, Heraclitus's theory of flux has been associated with the metaphor of a flowing river, which cannot be stepped into twice. This fragment from Heraclitus's writings has survived in three different forms: The classicist Karl Reinhardt identified the first river quote as

5246-494: The same properties governed the world at a human scale and a universal scale was eventually proven by Isaac Newton . Some of Anaximenes's writings are referenced during the Hellenistic period , but no record of those documents currently exists. Philosophers such as Heraclitus , Anaxagoras , and Diogenes of Apollonia were all directly influenced by the work of Anaximenes. Diogenes of Apollonia adapted Anaximenes's ideas to

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5332-472: The same time). Also according to Aristotle, Heraclitus was a materialist . Attempting to follow Aristotle's hylomorphic interpretation, scholar W. K. C. Guthrie interprets the distinction between flux and stability as one between matter and form . On this view, Heraclitus is a flux theorist because he is a materialist who believes matter always changes. There are no unchanging forms like with Plato or Aristotle. As one author puts it, "Plato took flux as

5418-427: The same time, air as the arche was a defined substance, which resembled the theory of Thales that the arche was water. Anaximenes adopted a similar design of a flat Earth as Thales. Both proposed that the Earth was flat and that it rested on the substance they believed made up all things; Thales described a disc on water, while Anaximenes described a disc on air. His cosmology also did not diverge significantly from

5504-457: The story that the playwright Euripides gave Socrates a copy of Heraclitus's work and asked for his opinion. Socrates replied: "The part I understand is excellent, and so too is, I dare say, the part I do not understand; but it needs a Delian diver to get to the bottom of it." Also according to Diogenes Laërtius, Timon of Phlius called Heraclitus "the Riddler" ( αἰνικτής ; ainiktēs )

5590-443: The study of philosophy. Anaximenes was the first philosopher to give an explanation for substances changing from one state to another through a physical process . He may also have been the first philosopher to write in descriptive prose rather than verse, developing a prototype of scientific writing . Only fragments of Anaximenes's writings have been preserved directly, and it is unknown how much these fragments have diverged from

5676-399: The sum of things ( τὰ ὅλα ta hola ('the whole')) flows like a stream." Classicist Jonathan Barnes states that " Panta rhei , 'everything flows' is probably the most familiar of Heraclitus's sayings, yet few modern scholars think he said it". Barnes observes that although the exact phrase was not ascribed to Heraclitus until the 6th century by Simplicius , a similar saying expressing

5762-460: The three statements on rivers should all be read as fragments from a discourse. McCabe suggests reading them as though they arose in succession. The three fragments "could be retained, and arranged in an argumentative sequence". In McCabe's reading of the fragments, Heraclitus can be read as a philosopher capable of sustained argument , rather than just aphorism . Heraclitus said "strife is justice" and "all things take place by strife". He called

5848-412: The unexperienced experiencing words and deeds such as I explain when I distinguish each thing according to its nature and declare how it is. Other men are unaware of what they do when they are awake just as they are forgetful of what they do when they are asleep. Heraclitus's style has been compared to a Sibyl , who "with raving lips uttering things mirthless, unbedizened, and unperfumed, reaches over

5934-413: The way that they do. Anaximander instead invoked metaphors of justice and retribution to describe change, and he made direct appeals to deities and the divine in support of his beliefs. Anaximenes deviated from Anaximander in both of these ideas. Anaximenes was the last of the Milesian philosophers, as Miletus was destroyed by attacking Persian forces in 494 BC. Little of his life is known relative to

6020-585: The western coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey ). In the 6th century BC, Ephesus, like other cities in Ionia , lived under the effects of both the rise of Lydia under Croesus and his overthrow by Cyrus the Great c. 547 BC. Ephesus appears to have subsequently cultivated a close relationship with the Persian Empire; during the suppression of the Ionian revolt by Darius the Great in 494 BC, Ephesus

6106-553: The wind, though he is also described as likening the stars to nails embedded in the sky. Some scholars have suggested that Anaximenes may have believed both models by distinguishing between planets and stars, which would make him the first person to do so. While the Sun is described as being a flame, Anaximenes thought it was not composed of rarefied air like the stars, but rather of Earth. According to Pseudo-Plutarch , Anaximenes thought that its burning comes not from its composition, but rather from its rapid motion. Anaximenes rejected

6192-419: The world as constantly in flux, always "becoming" but never "being". He expressed this in sayings like "Everything flows " ( Greek : πάντα ρει , panta rhei ) and "No man ever steps in the same river twice". This insistence upon change contrasts with that of the ancient philosopher Parmenides , who believed in a reality of static " being ". Heraclitus believed fire was the arche , the fundamental stuff of

6278-538: The world. In choosing an arche Heraclitus followed the Milesians before him –  Thales with water , Anaximander with apeiron ( lit.  boundless or infinite), and Anaximenes with air . Heraclitus also thought the logos ( lit.   word, discourse, or reason) gave structure to the world. Heraclitus, the son of Blyson, was from the Ionian city of Ephesus, a port on the Cayster River , on

6364-485: The world; "there would be no harmony without high and low notes, and no animals without male and female, which are opposites". It may also explain why he disagreed with the Pythagorean emphasis on harmony, but not on strife. Heraclitus suggests that the world and its various parts are kept together through the tension produced by the unity of opposites, like the string of a bow or a lyre . On one account, this

6450-491: Was "probably with the idea that it is for us to seek within ourselves, as he sought for himself and found". Heraclitus seemed to pattern his obscurity after oracles . Heraclitus did state "nature loves to hide" and "a hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one". He also stated "The lord whose oracle is in Delphi neither speaks nor conceals, but gives a sign." Heraclitus is the earliest known literary reference to

6536-403: Was "withdrawn from competing factions". Since antiquity, Heraclitus has been labeled a solitary figure and an arrogant misanthrope. The skeptic Timon of Phlius called Heraclitus a "mob-abuser" ( ochloloidoros ). Heraclitus considered himself self-taught. He criticized fools for being "put in a flutter by every word". He did not consider others incapable, but unwilling: "And though reason

6622-472: Was a Milesian philosopher who proposed that apeiron , an undefined and boundless infinity, is the origin of all things. Anaximenes and Anaximander were two of the three Milesian philosophers, along with Thales . These were all philosophers from Miletus who were the first of the Ionian School . As the earliest known figures to have developed theories regarding the material origin of the world without

6708-553: Was an Ancient Greek , Pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey ). He was the last of the three philosophers of the Milesian School , after Thales and Anaximander . These three are regarded by historians as the first philosophers of the Western world. Anaximenes is known for his belief that air is the arche , or the basic element of the universe from which all things are created. Little

6794-482: Was centered on a theory of change through ongoing cycles, defined by the movement of air. These cycles consisted of opposite forces interacting with and superseding one another. This is most prominently indicated in the weather and the seasons, which alternate between hot and cold, dry and wet, or light and dark. Anaximenes did not believe that any substance could be created or destroyed, only that it could be changed from one form to another. From this belief, he proposed

6880-531: Was so rare that it was unavailable even to Simplicius and the other scholars at the Platonic Academy in Athens. Diogenes Laërtius wrote that the book was divided into three parts: the universe , politics , and theology , but, classicists have challenged that division. Classicist John Burnet has argued that "it is not to be supposed that this division is due to [Heraclitus] himself; all we can infer

6966-453: Was spared and emerged as the dominant Greek city in Ionia. Miletus , the home to the previous philosophers, was captured and sacked. The main source for the life of Heraclitus is the doxographer Diogenes Laërtius . Although most of the information provided by Laertius is unreliable, and the ancient stories about Heraclitus are thought to be later fabrications based on interpretations of

7052-455: Was the arche . In one fragment, Heraclitus writes: This world-order ( kosmos ), the same for all, no god nor man did create, but it ever was and is and will be: ever-living fire, kindling in measures and being quenched in measures. This is the oldest extant quote using kosmos , or order, to mean the world. Heraclitus seems to say fire is the one thing eternal in the universe. From fire all things originate and all things return again in

7138-529: Was the basis of health in that it both provides life and carries disease. Anaximenes's conception of air has been likened to the atoms and subatomic particles that make up all substances through their quantitative organization. It has also been compared to the breath of life produced by God in the Old Testament . His understanding of physical properties as quantitative differences that applied at individual and universal scales became foundational ideas in

7224-425: Was the first philosopher to transfer the ideas of natural philosophy into the philosophy of consciousness. Werner Heisenberg said that the philosophy of Anaximenes caused a setback in scientific understanding, as it moved analysis away from physical properties themselves. Karl Popper suggested that Anaximenes and Anaximander developed a philosophy of rationalist critique, allowing criticism of one's teacher, that

7310-573: Was the son of Eurystratus, an associate of the philosopher Anaximander , and lived in Miletus . Anaximenes is recorded as becoming a student of Anaximander. Anaximenes was likely also taught Homeric epics , Greek mythology , and Orphism , which may have influenced his philosophy through their portrayal of the classical elements . It is considered likely that he and the other Milesian philosophers were wealthy, allowing them to dedicate time to philosophy. Anaximenes's apparent instructor, Anaximander,

7396-440: Was thinner and therefore hotter while compressed air was thicker and therefore colder—although modern science has found the opposite to be true. He derived this belief from the fact that one's breath is warm when the mouth is wide while it is cold when the air is compressed through the lips. Anaximenes further applied his concept of air as the arche to other questions. He believed in the physis , or natural world, rather than

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