Capalad, Chrizzer Ann Rose L.

STEM 11-C
1. Parmenides (560 BC-510 BC)

Parmenides was a known follower of Pythagoras, another

renowned figure in the philosophical paradigm of ancient
Greece. His poems and thoughts have always seemed to be
significantly influenced by the philosopher Xenophanes, leading
most historians to believe that he must have been his pupil.
Among the pre-Socratic philosophers (those who were in the
limelight before the time of Socrates), he is seen as one of the
most significant ones.

In his only known work, the aptly titled poem On Nature, he

tries to unravel the biggest question of all: Is it or is it not? His
attempt at deciphering this philosophical question (a rhetorical
one, some might say) leads to a rather paradoxical statement
rather than a satisfying answer. Parmenides states that
everything “that is” must have always been, since any arbitrary
“nothing” would have to come from nothing itself. And in turn,
it becomes a paradox because it is impossible to think of what
“is not,” and again, it is also impossible to think of something
that cannot be thought of. Subsequent philosophers would go on
to try and simplify these philosophical impossibilities.

2. Anaxagoras (500 BC-428 BC)

Another important figure from the pre-Socratic era, Anaxagoras

of Clazomenae was an influential philosopher and scientist who
lived and taught in Athens for almost 30 years. His
philosophical views revolved around nature itself. As was the
case with most of the philosophers in ancient Greece, his ideas
contrasted and collided with contemporary ideologies and
beliefs and this led him to face life-threatening consequences.

Anaxagoras is credited as being the first to establish a

philosophy in its entirety in Athens, a place where it would go
on to reach its peak and continue to have an impact on society
for hundreds of years to come. He devoted much of his time to
explaining nature as it is, taking the universe as an
undifferentiated mass until it was worked upon by a spiritual
component which he called “nous” meaning “mind.” He
believed that in the physical world, everything contained a part
of everything else. Nothing was pure on its own, and everything
was jumbled together in chaos. The application of nous assigns
a certain motion and meaning to this chaos.
Capalad, Chrizzer Ann Rose L.
STEM 11-C
3. Anaximander (610 BC-546 BC)

Anaximander of Miletus is the famous pupil of, and in many

ways a philosophical successor to, Thales himself. He is
credited as being the first known writer on philosophy because
the first surviving lines of Western philosophy were written by
him. He is also well known in the fields of early biology and
geography. He created the first world image of an open
universe, a move away from the notion of a closed universe,
making him the first speculative astronomer in human history.

He further extended the philosophical views of his master,

proposing an “arche” or a principle that he believed to be the
basis of the whole universe. But unlike Thales, he thought that
this basis had an “apeiron” (an unlimited substance) that acted
as a source for everything. This source acted as the prime point
of differentiation for polar opposites like hot and cold, light and
dark, and so on. Much of his work remains truncated, especially
at the hands of subsequent generations of philosophers. But he
was indeed one of the greatest minds in ancient Greece.

4. Empedocles (490 BC-430 BC)

Empedocles was one of the most important pre-Socratic era

philosophers and even more outstanding were his poems that
went on to have a great influence on later poets including the
likes of Lucretius. One of his philosophical landmarks has been
his assertion of the four-element theory of matter. It states that
all matter is basically composed of four primary elements –
earth, air, fire, and water. This became one of the earliest
theories to have been postulated on particle physics, although
some historians see it as a complex effort to negate the non-
dualism theory of Parmenides.

He simply rejected the presence of any void or empty space,

thus completely contradicting the philosophical ideology of
Parmenides. He put forth the idea of opposite motive forces
involved in the building of the world, namely love as the cause
of union, and strife as the cause of separation. He also went on
to become the first person to give an evolutionary account on
the development of species.
Capalad, Chrizzer Ann Rose L.
STEM 11-C
5. Zeno (490 BC-430 BC)

At a time when most philosophers in ancient Greece were using

reason and knowledge to interpret nature, Zeno of Elea was
devoting his time to elucidating the many puzzles and paradoxes
of motion and plurality. It is worth noting that he attempted to
explain contradictory conclusions present in the physical world
many years before the development of logic.

Zeno further expanded and defended the philosophical

ideologies established by Parmenides, which were facing much
opposition from common opinion at that time. He propounded
multiple paradoxes himself, which were debated among later
generations of philosophers. The majority of contemporary
arguments on his paradoxes were on the infinite division of time
and space, such as if there is a distance, there is also half that
distance and so on. Zeno was the first in philosophical history to
show that the concept of infinity existed.

6. Pythagoras (570 BC-495 BC)

Another pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, Pythagoras is known

far more for his theories and ideas in mathematics than in
philosophy. In fact, he is best known for the theorem in
geometry that is named after him. He is one of the most familiar
names in pre-Socratic society, yet we know surprisingly little
about him. He is credited with founding a philosophical school
that amassed a great many followers.

It was at this school that Pythagoras tried to find a mutual

harmony between real life and the practical aspects of
philosophy. His teachings were not strictly confined to what we
know as philosophy, but also included common issues like rules
on living, what daily food to eat and so on. He regarded the
world as the perfect harmony and based his teaching on how to
lead a harmonious life.
Capalad, Chrizzer Ann Rose L.
STEM 11-C
7. Socrates (469 BC-399 BC)

Socrates embarked on a whole new perspective of achieving

practical results through the application of philosophy in our
daily lives, something that was largely missing in the approach
of pre-Socratic philosophy. He openly moved away from the
relentless physical speculations that previous philosophers had
been so busy interpreting and assimilating and attempted to
establish an ethical system based on human reasoning rather
than various (and often widely debated) theological doctrines.

Instead of regurgitating ideas based solely on his individual

interpretations, he would question people relentlessly on their
beliefs, and try to find definitions of virtues by conversing with
anyone proclaiming to possess such qualities. Socrates became a
key figure and amassed numerous followers, but he also made
many enemies. Eventually, his beliefs and realistic approach to
philosophy led to his execution. But one might argue that his
philosophical martyrdom, more than anything else, turned him
into the iconic figure that he is today.

8. Plato (427 BC-347 BC)

Plato was a student of Socrates and was visibly influenced by

the philosophical approach of his master. But while Socrates
was relentlessly occupied with interpreting philosophy based on
human reasoning, Plato combined the two major approaches of
pre-Socratic metaphysics and natural theology with Socratic
ethical theology.

The foundation of Plato’s philosophy is threefold: dialects,

ethics, and physics, the central point of unison being the theory
of forms. For him, the highest of forms was that of the “good,”
which he took as the cause of being and knowledge. In physics,
he agreed with many Pythagorean views. Most of his works,
especially his most famous work The Republic, combine
various aspects of ethics, political philosophy, and metaphysics
among others, into a systematic, meaningful, and applicable
philosophy.
Capalad, Chrizzer Ann Rose L.
STEM 11-C
9. Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC)

Aristotle of Stagira was the most influential among the disciples

of Plato. His interpretation of things was more based on facts
learnt from the experience people would gain in their lives, an
approach that differed from that of his master who preferred a
perspective that was beyond the accessibility of the physical
senses. He proved to be an imaginative writer and equally
creative polymath, gradually re-writing pre-established concepts
in almost all areas of knowledge that he encountered.

At a time when human knowledge was still far too generalized,

he broke down this knowledge into distinct categories such as
ethics, biology, mathematics, and physics – a classification
pattern still used today. Aristotle is truly a key figure in ancient
Greek philosophy whose influence went on to have an impact
way beyond the bounds of ancient Greece.

10. Thales of Miletus (620 BC–546 BC)

Thales of Miletus gets the top spot on this list for representing a
pivotal point in ancient Greek philosophy from which
subsequent generations of famous thinkers, theorists, dialectics,
meta physicists, and philosophers sprouted. He is hailed among
historians as the father of ancient Greek philosophy. The
majority of Thales’ ideologies come from Aristotle, who points
to Thales as the first person to have investigated basic principles
such as the origin of matter. Thales is also said to be the founder
of the school of natural philosophy.

As a philosopher, Thales rarely confined his research to the

limited area of contemporary knowledge and was actively
engaged in understanding various aspects of knowledge such as
philosophy, mathematics, science, and geography. He is also
said to have developed a well-defined standard to theorize why
changes occur. He proposed water as the basic underlying
component of the world. Thales was highly esteemed among
ancient Greeks and his hypotheses usually added meaning and
breadth to already existing ideas on nature.
Capalad, Chrizzer Ann Rose L.
STEM 11-C
11. Heraclitus (540 BC-480 BC)

Greek philosopher remembered for his cosmology, in which fire

forms the basic material principle of an orderly universe. Little
is known about his life, and the one book he apparently wrote is
lost. His views survive in the short fragments quoted and
attributed to him by later authors.

He claims to announce an everlasting Word (Logos) according

to which all things are one, in some sense. Opposites are
necessary for life, but they are unified in a system of balanced
exchanges. The world itself consists of a law-like interchange of
elements, symbolized by fire. Thus the world is not to be
identified with any particular substance, but rather with an
ongoing process governed by a law of change. The underlying
law of nature also manifests itself as a moral law for human
beings. Heraclitus is the first Western philosopher to go beyond
physical theory in search of metaphysical foundations and moral
applications.

12. Democritus (460 BC-370 BC)

Democritus sometimes known as the "Laughing Philosopher",

was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Thrace in northern
Greece. Along with his teacher, Leucippus, he was the founder
of the Greek philosophical school of Atomism and developed
a Materialist account of the natural world.

Democritus, known in antiquity as the ‘laughing philosopher’

because of his emphasis on the value of ‘cheerfulness,’ was one
of the two founders of ancient atomist theory. He elaborated a
system originated by his teacher Leucippus into a materialist
account of the natural world. The atomists held that there are
smallest indivisible bodies from which everything else is
composed, and that these move about in an infinite void. Of the
ancient materialist accounts of the natural world which did not
rely on some kind of teleology or purpose to account for the
apparent order and regularity found in the world, atomism was
the most influential. Even its chief critic, Aristotle, praised
Democritus for arguing from sound considerations appropriate
to natural philosophy.