Ancient Philosophers

Three influentual ancient philosophers’ ideas have been discussed in brief below. The three people discussed are:

  1. Thales
  2. Pythagoras
  3. Heraclitus

 

Thales of Miletus

Called as the First Philosopher, and the founder of the Ionian School of Science. We shall see what led to Thales getting this title.

Back in the day, Philosophy was closely interlinked with Mysticism and religion; wherein the priests had supremacy over knowledge.

Thales pursued Principle of movement fundamental to the order.

That is, Thales was the first to try and reason out the causees for observations in nature, not related with religion. This encouraged people to think in a similar manner, and to not be deceived by appearance alone.

In particular, he was interested in the material causes behind floods and earthquakes.

Water as a first principle

Thales is famous for stating that “Everything is Water”. He beleived that everything to be made of one single substance.

It is debatable whether Thales believed this literally, or only metaphorically to be understandable to the common people. This is akin to the Pancha-maha-bhoota idea which was floating around in Indian Philosophy.

He was the first to lead that a monopoly on truth by a religion or a monarch is impossible; and it can only be arrived at by understanding nature.

Thales was the first philosopher as he focused not only on the insights of nature, he also displayed interests in geometrical demonstrations and astronomical insights.

 

Pythagoras

“Intellectually the most important man that ever lived” - Bertrand Russel

Just like how Thales used water to describe nature, Pythagoras utilized numbers and mathematics. He was interested in seemingly opposite ideologies, Mysticism and Mathematics. His beliefs were influenced by Indian Philosophy, during the Conquests of Alexander.

For example, Pythogoras tried to use numbers to understand music and symphonies. His mysticism was influenced by eastern philosophy, and he believed in music as the expression of the divine.

Pythogoras was the first to:

  • try and explain nature using an intangible entity

  • utlize demonstrative deductive arguments, as such is the nature of mathematics. Although Aristotle was the one to popularize it, Pythagoras was the first to utilize them

For example, the pythagoras’ theorem can be viewed as a link between arithmetic and geometry. That is, numbers can be used to explain geometry, which is why numbers for pythagoreans is the principle of things.

Numbers for pythagoreans are the principle of things, not in a physical sense, but as a formal structure. Therefore, we can see that his ideas had a metaphysical side as well.

Contributions:

  • Deciphering inner workings and the purification of the mind, likely influenced by the Nikruti/Prakruti ideas in Indian Philosophy

  • Tried to show what cannot be seen directly using mathematics

  • Introduced the concept of self-evidence/Axioms; that is, you don’t need proof to say that a single line can pass through two points

  • Deductive Mathematical Argument, explained below

Pythagoras applied self-evidence to perspectives of moral claims. He also believed in the Law of Karma from Indian Philosophy. His moral philosophy included stuff like “Don’t steal from others”.

Axioms are self-evident/fundamental propositions.

Axiomatic Method:

  1. Step-wise deduction through application of rules
  2. Use follow-up steps to derive new propositions

This is Deductive Mathematical Argument; the conclusion follows intuitively.

 

Heraclitus

Heraclitus believed the world is in accordance with Logos and is ultimately made of fire. He also believed in a unity of opposites and harmony in the world.

Thales used a tangible substance to explain nature. Pythagoras used an intangible number to quantitatively explain nature. Heraclitus was concerned with change or becoming.

That is, for example, “If x is changing to y; can y exist without x?”

Heraclitus used Fire as the Universal Flux, the only agent of change.

  • Fire as the first principle
  • Fire is ever-living
  • Fire as a substance is mobile

He has also said that “All things are exchange of Fire, and Fire for all things, even as wares for gold and gold for wares”.

Change is original, and nothing can be lost or originated. That is, everything has originated from Fire either directly or indirectly and it is possible for them to turn back to fire again.

Ethically, his ideas can be summed up with the statement “Good and Ill are one”, similar to the idea of Yin and Yang.

He has also introduced the notion of LOGOS - The principle of divine reason / cosmic order. That is, he believed that every change followed a universal divine reasoning. This was believed by Pythagoras as well.

He also believed in a cosmic fire-soul, from where he believed every thought to originate.