Sophia (wisdom)

Philosophy is a Greek invention. It is a phenomenon. Ancient Greeks referred themselves to SOPHISTÊS, coming from SOPHIA (wisdom or knowledge). SOPHIA is an inquiry into nature that investigates the causes of everything, why it comes to be, why it perishes, and why it exists. For Greeks, SOPHIA does not have to be theoretical. If you are a mathematician, then you possess that expertise, kind of knowledge, skill. You are sophist. The same is applied to legislators, medicines, astronomers. There is a huge flexibility built into SOPHIA. Being the competing tradition of theoretical and practical knowledge, SOPHIA gave rise to philosophy. So philosophy originates from SOPHIA, an intellectual activity of ancient Greeks.

Archai (principle)

The style of the investigation of nature before Socrates is characterized by Archai ( beginnings, starting points, origins). The Presocratics were involved in the investigation of natural phenomena by searching their causes (aitia, aition). They believed that to look at causes, we should look first at principles ARCHAI (starting point). What is available at the beginning and what we have as a result is the principle ARCHE that was used to give an account of each natural thing, as well as the natural world in its entirety. In light of principles, you explain other things. It is the very first cause. Cause is not necessarily a principle, but principle is always a cause. Early Greek philosophers tended to reduce the causes and principles to the minimum possible number as they tried to explain the maximum possible number of things. They inherited this narrative character of investigation of nature from Homer and Hesiod. Thales was the first philosopher as he was the founder of this kind of philosophy. Stating that everything comes from water, he was involved in the rational investigation of nature.

Materialism

Materialism is the view that all things are coming out of material principles, such as atoms, air, earth, fire, water or self-organizing matter. Materialism may involve only one principle (Monism), or several principles (Pluralism). Some examples of materialism are atomism, Diogenes’s monism, Anaxagoras’s cosmogony etc.

Material monism

Some of the first philosophers were monists. They endorsed the view that there is one material principle from which and of which everything is made. Diogenes’s account is the best example of the style of material monism. He argued for the existence of an ARCHE of everything ” all things that are, are differentiated from the same thing and are the same thing.” Diogenes argues that everything is causally interconnected. His materialism is not a naive position but a rejection of pluralism. If the world consists of a plurality of radically different things, it becomes difficult, if not possible, to explain how these things can interact and affect one another. This argument leads to the monistic conclusion that everything there is ultimately comes from a single principle. We need one element to account for causal interaction of the mix. We are different, but we talk the same language and understand each other.

According to Diogenes, the main principle is air. It has to be intelligent to interact with each thing in order. This is God. This thing is always there, alive. It’s intelligent by definition. It’s internal. It’s self organizing principle. Everything is a form of air, which is altered through the mechanism of condensation and rarefaction. Air is an intelligent principle that is responsible for the order and perfection of the world. This is the best possible world and it does not need any improvement.

The Greek word theologia means the approach to God or the god by means of the logos. Logos is an important technical term in philosophy which means speech, account, reason, investigation. Theology is a specific creation of the Greek mind. Greek theology consists in a rational investigation of the divine whose outcome is at the beginning entirely open. It is a rational investigation of the divine without some form or religion, though it is the same thing as religion.

Atom (pluralism)

Atomism is the most powerful physical theory that explains the cosmos from the beginning without evoking intelligence. It’s a form of materialism and pluralism. Our world is one out-of-many. Many are infinite quantities of atoms that form matter in infinite combinations. Atoms are uncuttable, indivisible, colorless, tasteless. It has a size, a shape and it moves. By combining atoms you can generate infinite number of combinations, infinite number of possibilities of atom’s structure that constitutes matter. The movement of atoms is explained without recourse to reasons, motives, mind and the like. The picture is entirely mechanistic.

Matter (pluralism)

Anaxagoras believed in the existence of an unlimited number of material principles. Nothing comes to be from not being. So a body is divisible in ever-divisible parts. For instance, a piece of wood can be divided in infinitum (of the small there is no smallest, but always a smaller). In everything there is a part of everything. In every piece of wood, no matter how small it is, there is a portion of everything. Nothing is purely or entirely wood, but whatever contains the most of it is called wood. Although in a piece of wood there is everything, wood is predominant ingredient/ element / principle.

Cosmos

Early Greek philosophers attempted to provide an explanation of the world we live in on the crucial assumption that this world is a cosmos, that is an ordered world. In other words, cosmos is an arranged system of things, that are causally interconnected. Cosmogony is an account of the coming-to-be of cosmos. It is the story of the beginning. Cosmogonies can be divided into two groups: some evoke intelligence (Nous, Air), others don’t (Atomism).

Nous (Mind)

Nous, originated from the Greek world vouc, means mind or intellect. Nous is a mechanism that Anaxagoras used for the making of the cosmos. It is a key term that is used to involve intelligency for the order and perfection of the world. Nous directs and is the cause of everything. It rules everything in the cosmos. It sets in motion everything and is responsible for setting things in order. Mind caused a rotation to begin. The mechanical process of rotation caused the separating to occur. Anaxagoras believed in a cosmogonic vortex in which things were separated off and separated apart from the original mixture. Given that nous is required for there to be a cosmos (ordered), and that nous qua intelligence must be self-ruling and pure in order to be this, if it were the case that nous were just another ingredient in the original mixture, it would be in everything and everything would be in it, thus contradicting the concept of nous as pure (as the others will be in it) and thwarting its ability to have rule.

Element (materialism)

Element is a term that was used by Aristotle to refer to material principles. According to Aristotle, the first philosophers were materialists, that is to say, they thought that the principles of everything were material principles. Material principles are that from which and of which a particular thing is made. Element is normally used in reference to the letters, out of which and from which we build sentences. In a similar way, the four classical elements Water, Air, Fire, Earth are elements out of which and from which a particular thing is made. W.A.F.E. may be at the same time a cause, a principle and an element.

An example of materialism is a rational investigation of nature by Empedocles. At the more basic level there are four roots: Earth, Air, Water, Fire. They are eternal and fixed in quantity. They do not change into one another, come into existence or go out of existence. Love and Strife mix the four eternal roots to form compound and dissolve compounds into the roots. Love is the cause of unity, and Strife is the cause of separation. Given that Empedocles was committed to materialism, Love and Strife might be considered as material forces. Moreover Love and Strife are responsible for almost all changes in the cosmos (given that the roots have their own tendency to motion due to their own nature). So the four roots are inert matter and Love and Strife make them move.

Double story is a story about an internal cycle of generation: one out of many and many out of one. All the four elements plus Love as cause of unity and Strife as cause of separation are in a cycle that repeats itself. At one extreme of the cycle, Love has complete dominance. It makes total unity: the four roots are completely mixed into a single compound comprising all the material. At the other extreme, Strife has complete dominance. There is no mixture at all and the four roots are completely separated. The cycle involves two worlds, two cosmogonies – one in the period of increasing Love and one in that of increasing Strife.

One
World B (2nd Cosmogony)
Love domination		 ↑ Vortex ↓ World A (1st Cosmogony)
Strife domination
Many

Vortex is alone responsible for separation. No intelligence (Nous) is applied. So, the cosmos is not permanent but a temporary by-product of the effects of Love and Strife on the four roots. This account of the cosmos introduces the process of the creation of animals. In increasing love, as well as increasing strife, animal parts such as heads and arms are generated separately and then combined by Love into a more integrated organism. Sometimes this combination works, sometimes does not.

In conclusion, Ancient Greeks who possessed some knowledge, skill, expertise referred themeselves to sophistes. Some addressed to logic, language or teaching dishonest arguments for a debt payment (a negative aspect). Others were committed to laws of nature, practicing some skills in medicine, legislation, mathematics etc. (positive aspect). The following table will show how presocratic studies of nature were differentiated.

DiogenesAnaxagorasEmpedoclesAtomism
IntelligenceVV
Non-IntelligenceVV
PluralismVVV
MonismV
PrincipleAir,
everything is mixed		Nous,
a distinctive element from the matter		– Water
– Air
– Earth
– Fire		Atom
CosmogonyEverything is a form of Air, which is altered though the mechanism of condensation and rarefaction– Mind caused rotation of
– Matter which caused
– Vortex
in which things were separated off		Internal cycle of generation 4 elements + 2 material forces: Love and StrifeAtoms are moving and generate an infinite number of combinations
MaterialismVVVV

Bibliography:

  • A Presocratic Reader. Selected Fragments and Testimonia. Introduced by Patricia Curd. Translation by Richard D. McKirahan Jr. Second Revised Edition.