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Philosophy
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Pythagoreans
Pythagoras, the founder of this group, was less
interested in the essence of things than with the
question of the form and relation of things. As
mathematicians
they
were
interested
in
quantitative relations, which are measurable, and
they began to speculate upon the problem of the
uniformity or regularity in the world.
Numbers are the principles of things, not as being
stuff or substance but as their formal or relational
structure. Things are the copies or imitation of
numbers. (This distinction between matter and
form became central to Platonic and Aristotelian
systems of metaphysics)
Numbers are odd and even, so limited and
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Xenophanes
In Xenophanes we find the first traces of scepticism in Greek
thought.
He was a theologian who believed that God is one, eternal
and unlimited.
He was also a pantheist. Seeing oneness with God and the
forces of nature. He was interested in reducing God to the
level of the forces of nature, rather than elevating the world
to the level of the divine. He didnt resolve the
incompatibility between the One and the sensible world of
the constant changes.
Summary
Early Greek thinkers were engaged in inquiring about the
nature of Physical reality.
The underlying quest is for knowing the Substance
Change and Permanence become central problems
Instead of matter, form or number is considered to be the
basis of reality
Unity and plurality are sometimes understood as integral
but also as self-contradictory
The idea of One is equated with God and God is
equated with Nature
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