Most important CONTRIBUTIONS of ANAXIMANDRO de Mileto

In today's class we are going to study the most important contributions of Anaximander of Mileto (610-545 a. C.), one of the most important philosophers and geographers of the classical world. In addition to being considered one of the first scientists of the West, since, among the most important contributions of him we find the development of the land chart, the measurement of equinoxes and solstices, the apeiron (the beginning of all things) or his idea of ​​evolution of living beings. If you want to know more about Anaximander's contributions, keep reading this article by a PROFESSOR.

Anaximander was born and lived in Miletus (Turkey), however, we know little about his life except that he was the son of Praxiades, who was a disciple of Thales of Miletusand continuator of his school, being a teacher of Anaximenes.

Nothing has come of his work, except data and mentions by other great thinkers such as Themistius, Aristotle, Theophrastus or Diogenes. Thanks to them, we know that he wrote a book called

About nature (the first analytical and research work of the classical world), which was the initiator of studies on biology, astrology, physics or geography, who was the first to call the universe world and who developed a rational and naturalistic view of universe.

The main contributions of Anaximander are framed within various scientific disciplines, among which stand:

The principle of ápeiron

Anaximander, as a follower of Such, defined ápeiron as the beginning of all things (arkhé = substance that is the origin of the universe), the one that governs the world, that which is indefinite, indeterminate, eternal, that which has no end and from which all things arise.

"The beginning (arche) of all things is the indeterminate (apeiron). Now, right there where there is generation for things, destruction also takes place there, according to need; in effect, they pay each other's blame and reparation for injustice, according to the order of time ".

On the other hand, it also establishes that in the apeiron everything comes out and returns (all are arise and derive from it) through a succession and cyclical fight of opposites (day-night, hot-cold, wet-dry ...). At a certain moment, one of the opponents triumphs over the other creating an unfair situation, intervening the cosmic justice to solve this injustice (first approximation to the idea of ​​Christian God). Cosmic justice will make the previously defeated opponent triumph, thus initiating the cyclical process of change that characterizes our reality.

Astronomy

Anaximander claimed that Earth was roundIt rotated on its own axis, was surrounded by sky (above and below) and was the center of the universe. The latter being a composition of three concentric rings (similar to a wheel and with openings that allow us to see the celestial bodies):

• Ring exthird: SHolds the Sun (the largest star in the universe = 27 times the diameter of the Earth, 18 times the diameter of the Moon and 9 times the size of the stars).
• Middle ring: Holds the Moon (whose light is a reflection of sunlight.
• Inner ring: Hold the stars.

Likewise, he argues that the origin of the cosmos lies in the movement of the apeiron itself, that is, in a struggle of opposites between the cold-hot / fire-air / mist elements: the air became earth by Through the condensation, everything was surrounded by several rings of fire (separated by steam) and, in turn, the earth (which was humid) was drying up due to the action of the sun.

Finally, it should be noted that for our protagonist there would not be a multiplicity of universes, but there will be a only universe/ a unit that was subject to transformations.

Geography

Within geography, two contributions stood out:

• The land card: He was one of the first to map the land surface (formed by Europe, Asia and Libya) of the world / ecumene with rivers (Nile, Phasis…) and seas (Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea). In this sense, he also pointed out that there was a progressive drop in sea level.
• Equinox measurement (night and day are equal in duration) and solstices (the duration of day and night are longer) with the gnomon, an elongated object whose projection of its shadow on a scale was used to measure the passage of time.

Biología and the origin of species

Another of Anaximander's most important contributions was that claimed that the first species arose in the water (beings covered by a shell with thorns). Later, these primordial waters were warming up and giving rise to the fish, until finally, with the progressive evaporation of water, these aquatic species jumped to the earth's crust and, little by little, the being human.

In this way, it is observed how our protagonist was one of the first to question creation from a supernatural entity. He alludes to the fact that the explanation of terrestrial, physical, biological and meteorological phenomena are found in the behavior of nature itself.

“Anaximander says that the rains are born from the steam that springs from the things that are under the Sun " Hippolyte

Anaximander says that the winds arise when the most subtle vapors of the air separate and set in motion when they come together ”. Aetius