CLST 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Epic Cycle, Anaximander, Xenophanes
15 Jun 2018
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November 22, 2016
This is written briefly in the textbook. This is the expanded version.
Epic cycle:
- Poems that treated the events of the Trojan War, from it’s origins to the return of the
heroes to their homelands
- Prequel of the poems of Homer—Cupria: Anios’ daughters
o Almost completely lost, the poems of the Epic Cycle were composed to
complement and explain the events of the Iliad and the Odyssey
o They were especially rich of sensational events, characters with supernatural
powers **
- Enchidna was half woman and half snake – written in Hesiod
- There were stories about monsters
o But they are never the main topic of the stories
Philosophia = Philosophy
- Means “love of knowledge”
- Someone who is a philosopher is someone who wants to know more about life and loves
knowledge
- They inquire into what we would consider separate disciplines: science, theology, ethics,
epistemology, metaphysics – all at once because they were part of one universe
- Thales of Miletos c. 580 BCE
o He was considered the first philosopher who investigated the basic principles, the
question of the originating substances of matter.
o Interested in all fields of knowledge, he proposed theories to explain events **
o **
o He believed that water was the primary principle, from which all matter originates
▪ People today don’t really understand what he means by this
▪ But he considered water to be so important because water is essential to
life and water can be found in different locations, and can change its state
- Anaximander of Miletos
o Suggested that water is just one of the elements but is not responsible for all life
o He created the idea of the “Boundless” of which all things in the universe came
from. It is the origin.
o Anaximander’s Astronomy:
▪ One of his most important theories was that celestial bodies describe full
circles
▪ This suggested by observation, but it necessarily entails the concept of the
earth floating unsupported in space, which was a new and bold concept
• He believed the earth was flat
▪ Believed the sun and moon were actually rings that surrounded the earth
with holes that rotated around earth
o He also drew maps
- Anaximenes of Miletos
o Air is the primary principle
o All the elements are air at different stages of density
o Created a scale of rarefation and condensation and how that effects the elements
and creates things such as the earth, fire, water and stones.
▪ See slides for scale
- Living in the last years of the 6th c. and the beginning of the 5th, Xenophanes and
Heraclitus continue the Milesian **
o Xenophanes of Kolophon was sceptic about the statements that people make that
are apparent to be 100% true, such as the existence of gods.
▪ he considered them to be opinions rather than facts
▪ he didn’t really like the ideas of gods
• the gods commit theft, adultery
• gods are born just like men are
- Herakleitos of Ephesos c. 480 BCE
o Spoke like an oracle rather than a scientist
o He had concerns about popular religion
▪ Didn’t think that sacrificing people and animals made any sense
▪ Praying to images of gods didn’t make sense
• Undermines the religion but they could do it because they didn’t
live in a society where there was one central religion and they were
forced to follow the religion. They were okay just as they didn’t
disrupt the religions
o Believed that there is no single element that is the principle, rather the balanced
interchange between opposites
▪ The symbol of change is Fire
▪ The principle that regulates the cosmos is a rational Logos (means word)
that is possible (but difficult) for humans to come to understand
o How can we understand the cosmos?
▪ The order of the Cosmos is not immediately easy to understand based on
physical evidence, but careful and thoughtful inquiry allow the “lovers of
knowledge” to grasp how the natural **
▪ **
o The evidence that reveals the order is the interplay of opposing states and forces,
which Heraclitus points to by claims about the unity of oppposites, the ever
changing nature of the cosmos, and the role of srife in human life as well as in the
cosmos.
▪ Famous quotes:
• “the way up and the way down are one and the same”
• **
• **
- Parmenides of Elea c. 480 BCE
o Logic is the only tool to know the world, while observation is unreliable.
o It is impossible for there to be change without something coming from nothing.
Since the idea that something could come from nothing was generally agreed to
be impossible, change is impossible
o Parmenides’ logic:
▪ ‘it is’ is a truth of reason, a statement that does not need any
demonstration and observation
▪ ‘being’ is the only thing that exists: ‘nothing’ cannot exist
▪ ‘being is uncreated, indestructible and eternal, indivisible, complete
▪ Motion is impossible, because there is no place for the Being to go where
it is not already. Change is impossible.
- Zeno’s Paradoxes:
o A younger follower of Paramenides, he is known especially for his provocative
paradoxes, especially on the impossibility of motion and the falsity of the
assumption that there are many things.
o Paradox = ‘contrary to common belief’: ***
o There was a paradox of Achilles and the tortoise
▪ He was considered to be the fastest and would win but Zeno said that if
you were to give the tortoise a lead then the tortoise would win
o The Paradox of the Arrow:
▪ If time is composed of moments, in each of those moments the arrow does
not actually move. The sum of moments when the arrow is at rest cannot
be motion
o Purpose of his paradoxes:
▪ **
▪ **
- Empedokles of Akragas
o Everything in the world is produced by mixture and separation ***
- Demokritos of Abdera
o Atomic theory:
▪ Matter is made of invisible particles (atomoi) that divide and re-aggregate
and form the changing natural world.
▪ Matter cannot be divided infinetly **
The philosophers are trying to explain their world on their own terms and are trying to show
