The First Philosophers: Pluralists

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Pluralists will consider that there is not only one Arche, but that there is more than one. But, the most important novelty is that the Arche will no longer be the original element of the world, but the set of elements proper to the structure of matter. The question that the Arche question tries to answer is no longer what the origin of the universe is, but what the universe is made of. If we asked ourselves this question today we would say that the Arche of monistic authors would be the Big Bang, while the pluralistic Arche would be the periodic table of elements. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to discover you the first philosophers, the pluralists, so that you know them better.

Index

1. Empedocles (483-430 a C)
2. Anaxagoras (500-428 BC)
3. Democritus (460-370 BC)
4. The sophists
5. Socrates

He claims that matter is made up of four elements: earth, water, air and fire, of which all material beings are formed. It also affirms the existence of two principles that make the existence of the movement possible: Love (or forces of attraction) and hatred (or forces of repulsion) originating a temporal scheme cyclic.

At first we have the four elements united; at that moment the separation process begins, until the four elements are completely separated, starting a union process, until they are completely united, closing the circle temporary.

He will affirm that knowledge is possible since our senses have the ability to distinguish the proportion of each of the four elements in the known object differentiating an object from the the rest. A) Yes, he claims that knowledge is possible, and that this knowledge is made through sensitivity.

In this video of a PROFESSOR we discover you what is pluralist philosophy.

He considers that there are infinite principles that they would be similar to atoms of energy, which Aristotle called Homeomerias. These principles would come together to form the different material bodies and separate to undo the bodies.

The number of Homeomeries in the universe is constant, that is, they are always the same; The movement of the Homeomeries is not random but there is an intelligent entity (Nous) that moves the Homeomeries to form and undo the different material bodies.

This formulation of the Intelligence, or Nous, that intervenes in the world is the first approximation to the Christian idea of ​​God and his providence. Affirms that knowledge is possible by differentiation, and that the only valid source of knowledge is sensible knowledge. This one is not perfect, but it is the only one we have, and therefore, it is already good for us.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we discover you the monists who were also the first philosophers.

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Affirms that matter cannot be divided ad infinitum, and that is why this matter must have some basic indivisible principles, which is why he called them atoms (indivisible). He affirms that only matter exists, so that Being is matter made up of atoms, and Non-being is the empty space that allows the movement of atoms to form different bodies.

There is no chanceInstead, the universe has a series of physical laws that can be known to us. Knowledge is possible and based on sensitivity. As we can see, the thinking of pluralists, especially Democritus, is quite modern for the time in which it was raised.

However, his thought will not be the triumphant one, since the other ideological sector, headed by Pythagoras and Parmenides, will win, culminating in the thought of Plato. Democritus will have followers of the radical materialistic thought of him: Epicurus and later Lucretius in Rome, but the thought of him will be haunted being considered excessively dangerous.

The sophists are not really a philosophical school, but the fruit of a political necessity. The direct democracy of Athens made it absolutely necessary to know how to speak well in public, so wise men who dedicate themselves to teaching rhetoric and other philosophical questions will be needed. This will be the task of the Sophists, to teach Philosophy and Rhetoric. Among the Sophists, Protagoras (480-410 BC) will stand out, who will have a totally relativistic thought, thus he will affirm: Man is the measure of all things.

The other great Sophist will be Gorgias (483-380 BC) who will show the great rhetorical ability of him trying to demonstrate the next afirmations paradoxical:

• Nothing exists. If something exists, it has either never been born (absurd) or has passed from Non-being to Being (impossible). Therefore, nothing exists.
• If something exists I cannot know it. My senses are completely limited and do not allow me to know reality.
• If something exists and I can know it, I cannot explain it. The language is totally symbolic and not real, which totally prevents full communication.

The most important characteristic of sophist thought is its totally relativistic view of the world and knowledge. They will be very badly seen by later philosophers due to the vision that Socrates and Plato will have of them.

In this video we talk about Socrates and the Sophists.

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Socrates (470-399 BC) cannot actually be considered a Sophist, but has more similarities with the Sophists than with the rest of the Greek philosophical movements. He was Plato's great teacher and will be the creator of key concepts in the History of Thought such as the concept of Universal and the inductive method.

It must be said that since he did not write any work, the knowledge we have of his thinking is basically based on the books that Plato wrote in the Socratic Period, when he was still influenced by the thought of his teacher Socrates. Regarding the concept of Universal, it could be defined as the set of elements proper to a being that make it what it is. It would not be a material element, but an immaterial one, and it will be an absolutely essential concept in order to understand Plato's thought.

The authors will call the term Universal in various ways, thus Plato will call it Idea, Aristotle, Form and other essence. Closely related to this concept, we would define induction as the process of arriving at the universal concept from the knowledge of the particulars, while we would define deduction as the process of knowledge of the particular concept from the universal. It must be borne in mind that a pure deduction, to be possible requires a prior induction.

Regarding Socrates' own thought, it is necessary to first analyze his epistemological optimism, that finds an ethical motivation for knowledge, since it affirms that he who has a bad behavior does it because he does not know the difference between Good and Evil. Those who do know this difference never act badly, since virtue and knowledge coincide. That is why knowledge must be brought to everyone.

Socrates' way of teaching is the method known as Maieutics which consists in making knowledge discover by itself through dialogue, without showing the authentic Truth, making the disciple discover it by himself. Another very important aspect that will connect the thought of Socrates with Pythagoras and Plato is the idea that the soul is the authentic Self, and that it is immortal.

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