MILLETO'S ANAXIMENS THOUGHT

In this lesson from a TEACHER we explain the thought of Anaximenes of Miletus, Greek philosopher, who was a disciple of Thales and Anaximander. This thinker was born in Miletus, around 590 BC. n. e, and his father was Euristratus. Pliny the Elder in his work Natural History He says he was the first to measure the shadows to divide the days and even made a solo watch, the sciothericon.

He shares with his teacher Anaximander the idea that the beginning of all things) is infinite, but instead of the apeiron (indeterminate), he says that the substratum and end of all there is is the air. The rarefaction and condensation of the same, they are creating everything that there is. He says Anaximenes: “The beginning is infinite air, from which current, past and future things are generated, the gods and divine things, and the other things that proceed from that.”.

If you want to know more about the Anaximenes thought, keep reading this article by a TEACHER.

According Anaximenes, the air is he first principle

and the last of all things. This element undergoes a series of transformations through two processes: the rarefaction and condensation, which would be the cause of hot and cold, respectively. Thanks to the first, fire is formed, and through the second, the wind, clouds, water, earth, and finally the world originate.

“The rarefaction generates the fire, whereas the condensation, the wind, the clouds, the water, the earth and the stones; from these substances, the rest of things are created ".

Anaximenes never thought that cold and heat they were the cause of condensation and rarefaction, not the consequence.

“ All things originated from the degree of condensation or thinning of the air, due to cold and heat”

In front of Anaximander, Anaximenes he finds that the first principle or arche is not the indeterminate (Ápeiron), but a determined element: the air. Thanks to the observation of living beings, Anaximenes realizes that the phenomenon of breathing is essential for life, although the air, is for the pre-Socratic, where the soul. The air shapes the universe, unity, in the same way that the soul represents the unity of the human being.

According to Hippolytus, Anaximenes says that:

“It shows (the air) different from condensing and becoming more subtle; Well, when it dissolves in the subtlest degree, fire is generated. The winds, on the other hand, are air that condenses; and the cloud is formed from the air, by understanding; and by condensing more the water rises; and more condensed, the earth; and condensed to the maximum, the stones. From In this way, the most important things of the generation are opposite: the hot and the cold".

What is condensation and rarefaction?

From the condensation of the air, clouds are formed, then water, later earth and finally stones and minerals. The opposite process is produced by the rarefaction of the air: the stones are transformed into earth, this into water that gives rise to clouds, which then become air and finally, fire.

“ The beginning is infinite air, from which current things, past and future things, the gods and divine things, and the other things that proceed from that are generated.”

According to Anaximenes the Earth es flat "Like a leaf", and is formed thanks to the condensation from air. Well, the philosopher affirms that the stars are born from the Land, through a process of rarefaction of the air or pneuma Of the same. These celestial bodies are made of fire and circle the Earth.

Anaximenes also talks about invisible elements which are the cause of meteorites and eclipses and he thought that earthquakes take place in times of drought, since the excess humidity of the earth causes it to break down.

“TOyes as our soul, which is air, holds us together, in the same way the pneuma or air envelops the cosmos”.

This fragment of Anaximenes points to a supposed interrelation between human beings and nature, understanding the universe as a whole (holism) an idea that many share today and that would be the basis of homeopathic medicine.