Introduction to the Presocratics.
In this series of lectures we will look at a group of Ancient Greek thinkers who lived in the sixth and fifth centuries BC.
known as the Presocratics.
The Presocratics are significant for a number of reasons, one of which being that they are widely considered the first philosophers.
In this introductory lecture we will provide some background information about the Presocratics.
Investigate the difference between mythology and philosophy and
discover why the Presocratics deserve our attention
In the following lectures we will look at the ideas of the major Presocratic thinkers in particular,
we will examine in order;
Thales,
Anaximander,
Anaximenes,
Heraclitus
Parmenide, Anaxagoras, Empedocles and Democritus.
The term "Presocratic" refers to a group of philosophers who lived prior to and during the life of Socrates.
Hence the word,
"Pre" "Socratic", meaning before Socrates.
The Presocratic thinkers were primarily interested in Metaphysics and Cosmogony.
Metaphysical questions being those concerned with the ultimate constitution of nature.
While cause mechanical questions are focused on the origins and structure of the universe.
The Presocratics posed and answered questions such as what is reality made of how, did the world as we know it begin
and is everything in flux or is there some permanent substance underlying this reality?
For a period of time Socrates was greatly interested in the metaphysical questions which concerned the Presocratics
and he studied their ideas with vigor and enthusiasm.
However, he soon became disillusioned with their ideas as he felt that the philosophical questions they devoted their attention to
had no bearing or impact on the quality of his own individual life.
This led Socrates to stop focusing on metaphysical questions
and instead directed his philosophical meditations toward determining how to live the best life possible
In doing so Socrates changed the face of Ancient Greek philosophy and
ended the Presocratic-era, which had reigned for almost 200 years,
as Aristotle noted; "It was during the life of Socrates that the investigation of nature came to a stop,
and philosophers turned their attention to a practical morality and political thought".
Or as the Roman philosopher
Cicero stated more, poetically;
However, it must be noted that this change initiated by Socrates from metaphysical to political and ethical interests is
only a generalization.
The Presocratic philosophers although primarily interested in metaphysical questions
Were also concerned with ethical ideas that is;
Ideas about how to live the good life,
for example one of the more famous Presocratics, Heraclitus,
stressed the importance of not over indulging in bodily pleasures,
and profoundly stated;
Furthermore it would also be incorrect to state that after Socrates
philosophers were no longer interested in metaphysical speculation as Plato, Socrates student
and Aristotle, Plato's student were both very interested in metaphysics,
in fact both Plato and Aristotle drew heavily on the works of the Presocratic for inspiration
in constructing their interpretations of the universe.
So why do the Presocratics deserve our attention?
For they lived over 2,000 years ago and to our modern scientific mind
it would be easy to dismiss some of their ideas as primitive and childish.
The first reason why the Presocratics deserve our attention is because the Ancient Greeks are the intellectual and cultural
ancestors of Western Civilization.
The height of Greek civilization in the sixth and fifth centuries was one of if not the most
fruitful periods of philosophy and art in the history of civilization,
and greatly influenced the course of history through the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages and into the Modern Periods.
It is often said that if one wants to understand Western Civilization one must understand the works of Plato and Aristotle,
however if one wants to truly understand the works of Plato and Aristotle,
one must understand the ideas of the Presocratics, as these early thinkers greatly influenced both men.
Laying the foundations on which these two philosophical giants built their castles of ideas.
As David Roochnik pointed out in his book "Retrieving The Ancients";
These thinkers being of course the Presocratics.
However independent of this influence on Plato and Aristotle
The Presocratics are interesting in their own right.
For as we will see they constructed fascinating philosophical systems.
Moreover while the answers they arrived at seem to us as
unscientific based on our modern conception of science and philosophy
The questions they posed were and still are extremely pertinent.
They are as Aristotle stated; "Eternal Questions".
But perhaps for more than any other reason the Presocratics deserve our attention,
because they are responsible for one of the most momentous events that has ever occurred in the history of the human species.
That being the emergence of rational thought from the confines of mythology.
It will be beneficial to examine what the difference is are between myth and reason or in other words mythology and philosophy.
Individuals in Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greek Civilization prior to the emergence of the Presocratics,
confronted and experienced the world in a very different manner than we do,
as Henri Frankfort, explained in his book "Before Philosophy";
In other words, for modern man the world is populated with both living and non-living things.
Living things are animate and have a 'personality'.
While for us non-living objects are inert inanimate and wholly devoid of individuality.
We confront this inanimate world as an 'It' as an inert object to be manipulated and utilized for our benefit.
Ancient and primitive individuals prior to the birth of Philosophy knew nothing of an inanimate world.
Everything in their world including animals, rocks, trees, rivers, the moon, stars and the sun,
were populated with spirits, gods and forces which had personalities desires and intentions of their own.
When we trip over a rock we curse ourselves for not looking where we were going and move on with our day,
when an ancient or primitive individual tripped over a rock on the other hand,
he felt that the rock was inhabited with evil spirits and forces which were out to punish and sabotage him.
Every experience of an ancient individual was felt as a confrontation with another personality.
Another being like himself, in the words of Frankfort; "Such a world was confronted as a 'Thou'".
as Frankfort explained;
The Presocratics instigated a transformation in the way human beings experienced the world,
instead of explaining events and phenomena as caused by Gods, spirits and personal forces with agendas of their own,
the Presocratics explained events in the world as the product of
impersonal and natural forces.
The shift from mythology to philosophy did not merely shift the way individuals theorize or understand the world,
but as Frankfort explained;
"It transformed the way individuals experienced the world"
Moreover prior to the Presocratics individuals attempted to explain the world by telling stories,
the stories often took the form of poems or myths.
Now these stories were not thought to be generated by the human mind alone,
but instead poets and myth-makers were thought of as requiring divine intervention in order to obtain the knowledge
they shared with their fellow humans.
Hesiod, one of the most famous Ancient Greek poets who lived approximately a hundred years before the Presocratics,
wrote that he was nothing, but a humble and lowly farmer when the Goddesses of inspiration, The Muses, daughters of Zeus
spoke to him and supplied him with knowledge regarding the creation of the universe he then converted into his famous work the "Theogony".
Ancient poets and myth-makers felt themselves to be doing nothing but channeling the knowledge given to them by the Gods.
The Preocratics transformed this view of knowledge.
Thales, a Presocratic philosopher who was born in the Anatolian city of my 
Miletus in the early seventh century BC,
and who is widely considered the first philosopher.
Made the bold leap and concluded that human mind alone, without divine assistance,
is capable of reaching into the depths of the universe and discerning it's secrets. This revolutionary change of attitude cannot be overstated.
For what this meant was that the world was beginning to be seen as orderly rather than a largely incomprehensible place,
governed by the whims of Gods and spirits.
And this belief in irregularity in the natural phenomenon, is an essential presupposition for all scientific theorizing.
Thus in many ways the Presocratics can be seen as ushering in the philosophic and scientific mind-set,
which would drastically alter the course of Western Civilization.
To conclude,
W. K. C. Guthrie nicely summarizes the importance of the Presocratics in a passage from the first volume of his series of works
on Ancient Greek philosophy,
explaining the role they played in transforming civilization.
In the Following lectures we will investigate the ideas of the individual Presocratics.
