PHIL 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Anaximander, Rarefaction, Sleepwalking
3 May 2018
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History of Ancient Philosophy
9.07.17 Lecture Notes: Heraclitus and Parmenides
Review:
What are the principles and what are the differences between the Milesian approach to the
world and the mythographic?
Principles:
Thales: water
Anaximander: the boundless
Anaximenes: air
Differences:
- Milesians generally use observation and are more subtle with their discussion of religion
- Milesians use more a logical, step-by-step approach in talking about the world, while
mythographers use stories
- Milesian theories are falsifiable
- No agency involved in the natural world – Milesians
Heraclitus:
- Born around 540 BC
- Had some sort of hereditary kingship that he eventually gave up to his brother
- Only pre-Socratic philosopher in his time who worked in Ionia
- On Nature – recall Anaximander
- P6: from Aristotle
o The way that Heraclitus writes is very unclear
o No punctuation, multiple ways of deciding how to split up the text, which affects
your interpretation of it
- P8: the bolded part
o Word = logos – entails from story or account
▪ Transcendent truth that underlies everything else
o Perhaps Heraclitus intended this ambiguity
o Interpreting the bolded part
▪ Other people are ot ale to uderstad the trasedet truth
▪ Other e: People sleep-walking through their lives and never
encounter the truth
▪ Even when men encounter this truth, they cannot comprehend it
▪ Also shows a bit of arrogance
▪ Addresses the reader also
- P10: Message about human knowledge
- P43: Principle is fire
o Change is constant
o Condensation, rarefaction, liquefaction, evaporation
o Fate
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Document Summary
Milesians generally use observation and are more subtle with their discussion of religion. Milesians use more a logical, step-by-step approach in talking about the world, while mythographers use stories. No agency involved in the natural world milesians. Had some sort of hereditary kingship that he eventually gave up to his brother. Only pre-socratic philosopher in his time who worked in ionia. P6: from aristotle: the way that heraclitus writes is very unclear, no punctuation, multiple ways of deciding how to split up the text, which affects your interpretation of it. P8: the bolded part: (cid:862)word(cid:863) = logos entails from story or account, transcendent truth that underlies everything else, perhaps heraclitus intended this ambiguity. P47: fire constantly changing just like all things that exist. P55: coming to be and decay and perishing. P85: some believe that heraclitus presents contradictions: when the truth of one statement falsifies the other statement. P84: not contradiction, but an account of change.
