#presocratics

[edwordsmyth]

Heraclitus

[lionofchaeronea]

"It is better for fools to be ruled than to rule." --Democritus, fr. 68B75 D-K, trans. Jonathan Barnes

[soft-eyed-hypnos]

Anaxagoras:

Also Anaxagoras:

[tompoose]

THE MILESIAN BROTHERS

THALES: everything is made of water bc clearly the nutriment of all things is moist ANAXIMANDER: that's stupid. the world is a constantly shifting balance of earth water air and fire and no one of these things could be the origin of the others. there must be a secret fifth and infinite thing that is like a god and that we don't see directly, from which all that we can observe comes ANAXIMENES: that's stupid. you do not have adequate evidence to support this theory and it's irresponsible to be making claims without grounds like that. everything is air but just at different thicknesses

[aboutanancientenquiry]

This two-part sourcebook gives the reader easy access to the language and thought of the Presocratic thinkers, making it possible either to read the texts continuously or to study them one by one along with commentary. It contains the complete fragments and a generous selection of testimonies for twenty major Presocratic thinkers including cosmologists, ontologists, and sophists, setting translations opposite Greek and Latin texts on facing pages to allow easy comparison. The texts are grouped in chapters by author in a mainly chronological order, each preceded by a brief introduction and an up-to-date bibliography, and followed by a brief commentary. Significant variant readings are noted. This edition contains new fragments and testimonies not included in the authoritative but now outdated Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. It is the first and only complete bilingual edition of the works of the Presocratic philosophers for English-speakers.

Daniel W. Graham The Texts of Early Grrek Philosophy. The Complete Fragments and Selected Testimonies of the Major Presocratics, two volumes, Cmabridge University Press 2010

This is what I read these days. Very complete and useful work.

[lindahall]

Anaxagoras of Clazomenae – Scientist of the Day

Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, a Presocratic natural philosopher, lived from about 510 BCE to around 430 BCE, so he was philosophizing about 40 years earlier than Socrates and 80 years before Plato.

read more...

[jareckiworld]

Hans Erni (1909-2015) — Thales of Miletus  [tempera on paperboard, 1976]

[recursive-rupture]

Eyes and ears are bad witnesses for men if they have souls which cannot understand their language.

Heraclitus

{pictured: Window, by Lea Ignatius}