Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Anaxarchus, Heraclitus and Parmenides

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14 ideas

26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / c. Ultimate substances
Heraclitus said sometimes everything becomes fire [Heraclitus, by Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Heraclitus claimed that from time to time everything becomes fire.
     From: report of Heraclitus (fragments/reports [c.500 BCE]) by Aristotle - Metaphysics 1067a
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / e. The One
There could be movement within one thing, as there is within water [Aristotle on Parmenides]
     Full Idea: Why does it follow from there being only one thing that it is unmoving, since, for example, water moves internally while remaining one?
     From: comment on Parmenides (fragments/reports [c.474 BCE]) by Aristotle - Physics 186a16
     A reaction: One suspects that Parmenides wasn't used to critical questions like this, and would have sharpened up his theory if it had been subjected to criticism. How big was the One? Maybe Aristotle is the real father of philosophy.
The one can't be divisible, because if it was it could be infinitely divided down to nothing [Parmenides, by Simplicius]
     Full Idea: Since the one is everywhere alike, then if it is divisible, it will be equally divisible everywhere….so let it be divided everywhere. It is obvious that nothing will remain and the whole will vanish, and so (if it is compound) it is composed of nothing.
     From: report of Parmenides (fragments/reports [c.474 BCE]) by Simplicius - On Aristotle's 'Physics' 9.139.5-
     A reaction: he is quoting Porphyry
Defenders of the One say motion needs the void - but that is not part of Being [Parmenides, by Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Defenders of the One say that there could not be motion without a void, and that void is what does not exist, and that nothing that is not belongs to being.
     From: report of Parmenides (fragments/reports [c.474 BCE]) by Aristotle - Coming-to-be and Passing-away (Gen/Corr) 325a26
     A reaction: This is why motion is an illusion, a view also supported by the paradoxes of Zeno of Elea. Aristotle goes on to give Democritus's response to this idea. Parmenides was contemplating 'void', before Democritus got to it.
The one is without any kind of motion [Parmenides]
     Full Idea: The one is without any kind of motion.
     From: Parmenides (fragments/reports [c.474 BCE]), quoted by Plato - Parmenides 139a
Reason sees reality as one, the senses see it as many [Aristotle on Parmenides]
     Full Idea: Since he is forced to be guided by appearances, he assumes that the one exists from the viewpoint of reason, but that a plurality exists from the viewpoint of the sense, and so he posits two principles and causes - hot and cold.
     From: comment on Parmenides (fragments/reports [c.474 BCE], A24) by Aristotle - Metaphysics 986b27-
     A reaction: A profound thought. Empiricists emphasies experience, and end up with fragmented reality. Reason explains experience, and in the process sees the world as unities (like objects), though a single unity is going too far.
Reality is symmetrical and balanced, like a sphere, with no reason to be greater one way rather than another [Parmenides]
     Full Idea: Since there is a spatial limit, it is complete on every side, like the mass of a well-rounded sphere, equally balanced from its centre in every direction; for it is not bound to be at all either greater or less in this direction or that.
     From: Parmenides (fragments/reports [c.474 BCE], B08 ll.?), quoted by Simplicius - On Aristotle's 'Physics' 9.145.1-
People who say that the cosmos is one forget that they must explain movement [Aristotle on Parmenides]
     Full Idea: Those who assert that the universe is one and a single nature, when they try to give the causes of generation and destruction, miss out the cause of movement.
     From: comment on Parmenides (fragments/reports [c.474 BCE]) by Aristotle - Metaphysics 988b
Reason tells us that all things are one [Heraclitus]
     Full Idea: When you have listened, not to me but to the law (logos), it is wise to agree that all things are one.
     From: Heraclitus (fragments/reports [c.500 BCE], B050), quoted by Hippolytus - Refutation of All Heresies 9.9.1
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / f. Ancient elements
Heraclitus says that at some time everything becomes fire [Heraclitus, by Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Heraclitus says that at some time everything becomes fire.
     From: report of Heraclitus (fragments/reports [c.500 BCE]) by Aristotle - Physics 204b37
     A reaction: Modern cosmology says that Heraclitus was right (pretty much). If we say 'energy' instead of 'fire' (which may be what he meant), then he is absolutely spot-on.
The sayings of Heraclitus are still correct, if we replace 'fire' with 'energy' [Heraclitus, by Heisenberg]
     Full Idea: If we replace Heraclitus's word 'fire' by the word 'energy' we can almost repeat his statements word for word from our modern point of view.
     From: report of Heraclitus (fragments/reports [c.500 BCE]) by Werner Heisenberg - Physics and Philosophy 04
     A reaction: My problem has always been that I have no idea what 'energy' is, so I'm none the wiser.
Heraclitus said fire could be transformed to create the other lower elements [Heraclitus, by Diog. Laertius]
     Full Idea: Heraclitus taught that fire when densified becomes liquid, and becoming concrete, becomes also water; again, that the water when concrete is turned to earth, and this is the road down.
     From: report of Heraclitus (fragments/reports [c.500 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 09.1.6
He taught that there are two elements, fire the maker, and earth the matter [Parmenides, by Diog. Laertius]
     Full Idea: He taught that there were two elements, fire and earth; and that one of them occupies the place of the maker, the other that of the matter.
     From: report of Parmenides (fragments/reports [c.474 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 09.Pa.2
26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 4. Source of Kinds
Logos is the source of everything, and my theories separate and explain each nature [Heraclitus]
     Full Idea: All things come into being according to this Law ('logos'), ...and I expound theories (words) and processes (actions) separating each thing according to its nature and explaining how it is made.
     From: Heraclitus (fragments/reports [c.500 BCE], B001), quoted by Sextus Empiricus - Against the Mathematicians 7.133
     A reaction: I like the fact that things are separated according to their natures (particulars!), and not that natures are somehow bestowed on individuals.