Philosophers
Mortimer Adler Rogers Albritton Alexander of Aphrodisias Samuel Alexander William Alston Anaximander G.E.M.Anscombe Anselm Louise Antony Thomas Aquinas Aristotle David Armstrong Harald Atmanspacher Robert Audi Augustine J.L.Austin A.J.Ayer Alexander Bain Mark Balaguer Jeffrey Barrett William Barrett William Belsham Henri Bergson George Berkeley Isaiah Berlin Richard J. Bernstein Bernard Berofsky Robert Bishop Max Black Susanne Bobzien Emil du Bois-Reymond Hilary Bok Laurence BonJour George Boole Émile Boutroux Daniel Boyd F.H.Bradley C.D.Broad Michael Burke Lawrence Cahoone C.A.Campbell Joseph Keim Campbell Rudolf Carnap Carneades Nancy Cartwright Gregg Caruso Ernst Cassirer David Chalmers Roderick Chisholm Chrysippus Cicero Tom Clark Randolph Clarke Samuel Clarke Anthony Collins Antonella Corradini Diodorus Cronus Jonathan Dancy Donald Davidson Mario De Caro Democritus Daniel Dennett Jacques Derrida René Descartes Richard Double Fred Dretske John Dupré John Earman Laura Waddell Ekstrom Epictetus Epicurus Austin Farrer Herbert Feigl Arthur Fine John Martin Fischer Frederic Fitch Owen Flanagan Luciano Floridi Philippa Foot Alfred Fouilleé Harry Frankfurt Richard L. Franklin Bas van Fraassen Michael Frede Gottlob Frege Peter Geach Edmund Gettier Carl Ginet Alvin Goldman Gorgias Nicholas St. John Green H.Paul Grice Ian Hacking Ishtiyaque Haji Stuart Hampshire W.F.R.Hardie Sam Harris William Hasker R.M.Hare Georg W.F. Hegel Martin Heidegger Heraclitus R.E.Hobart Thomas Hobbes David Hodgson Shadsworth Hodgson Baron d'Holbach Ted Honderich Pamela Huby David Hume Ferenc Huoranszki Frank Jackson William James Lord Kames Robert Kane Immanuel Kant Tomis Kapitan Walter Kaufmann Jaegwon Kim William King Hilary Kornblith Christine Korsgaard Saul Kripke Thomas Kuhn Andrea Lavazza Christoph Lehner Keith Lehrer Gottfried Leibniz Jules Lequyer Leucippus Michael Levin Joseph Levine George Henry Lewes C.I.Lewis David Lewis Peter Lipton C. Lloyd Morgan John Locke Michael Lockwood Arthur O. Lovejoy E. Jonathan Lowe John R. Lucas Lucretius Alasdair MacIntyre Ruth Barcan Marcus Tim Maudlin James Martineau Nicholas Maxwell Storrs McCall Hugh McCann Colin McGinn Michael McKenna Brian McLaughlin John McTaggart Paul E. Meehl Uwe Meixner Alfred Mele Trenton Merricks John Stuart Mill Dickinson Miller G.E.Moore Thomas Nagel Otto Neurath Friedrich Nietzsche John Norton P.H.Nowell-Smith Robert Nozick William of Ockham Timothy O'Connor Parmenides David F. Pears Charles Sanders Peirce Derk Pereboom Steven Pinker U.T.Place Plato Karl Popper Porphyry Huw Price H.A.Prichard Protagoras Hilary Putnam Willard van Orman Quine Frank Ramsey Ayn Rand Michael Rea Thomas Reid Charles Renouvier Nicholas Rescher C.W.Rietdijk Richard Rorty Josiah Royce Bertrand Russell Paul Russell Gilbert Ryle Jean-Paul Sartre Kenneth Sayre T.M.Scanlon Moritz Schlick John Duns Scotus Arthur Schopenhauer John Searle Wilfrid Sellars David Shiang Alan Sidelle Ted Sider Henry Sidgwick Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Peter Slezak J.J.C.Smart Saul Smilansky Michael Smith Baruch Spinoza L. Susan Stebbing Isabelle Stengers George F. Stout Galen Strawson Peter Strawson Eleonore Stump Francisco Suárez Richard Taylor Kevin Timpe Mark Twain Peter Unger Peter van Inwagen Manuel Vargas John Venn Kadri Vihvelin Voltaire G.H. von Wright David Foster Wallace R. Jay Wallace W.G.Ward Ted Warfield Roy Weatherford C.F. von Weizsäcker William Whewell Alfred North Whitehead David Widerker David Wiggins Bernard Williams Timothy Williamson Ludwig Wittgenstein Susan Wolf Scientists David Albert Michael Arbib Walter Baade Bernard Baars Jeffrey Bada Leslie Ballentine Marcello Barbieri Gregory Bateson Horace Barlow John S. Bell Mara Beller Charles Bennett Ludwig von Bertalanffy Susan Blackmore Margaret Boden David Bohm Niels Bohr Ludwig Boltzmann Emile Borel Max Born Satyendra Nath Bose Walther Bothe Jean Bricmont Hans Briegel Leon Brillouin Stephen Brush Henry Thomas Buckle S. H. Burbury Melvin Calvin Donald Campbell Sadi Carnot Anthony Cashmore Eric Chaisson Gregory Chaitin Jean-Pierre Changeux Rudolf Clausius Arthur Holly Compton John Conway Jerry Coyne John Cramer Francis Crick E. P. 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Jackson William Stanley Jevons Roman Jakobson E. T. Jaynes Pascual Jordan Eric Kandel Ruth E. Kastner Stuart Kauffman Martin J. Klein William R. Klemm Christof Koch Simon Kochen Hans Kornhuber Stephen Kosslyn Daniel Koshland Ladislav Kovàč Leopold Kronecker Rolf Landauer Alfred Landé Pierre-Simon Laplace Karl Lashley David Layzer Joseph LeDoux Gerald Lettvin Gilbert Lewis Benjamin Libet David Lindley Seth Lloyd Werner Loewenstein Hendrik Lorentz Josef Loschmidt Alfred Lotka Ernst Mach Donald MacKay Henry Margenau Owen Maroney David Marr Humberto Maturana James Clerk Maxwell Ernst Mayr John McCarthy Warren McCulloch N. 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Anaximander
Anaximander of Miletus, a student of Thales, described a first principle (archē) as a sort of indefinite and unbounded moving element, the apeiron (ἄπειρον). Unlike the other presocratics, Anaximander did not name a known specific element as the origin of all matter, like water (Thales), fire (Heraclitus), or air (Anaximenes). Anaximander may have been the first natural scientist, describing principles about the creation and destruction of order as an arrangement of things in time, which are created and later perish.
We have only one major fragment of Anaximander, and a couple of important phrases. They come from Theophrastus (c. 370-290 BCE), the successor to Aristotle as head of the Peripatetic school, and Simplicius (c. 490-560 CE.), who is quoting from Theoprastus.
ἀρχὴ ... τῶν ὄντων τὸ ἄπειρον ... ἐξ ὧν δὲ ἡ γένεσίς ἐστι τοῖς οὖσι͵ καὶ τὴν φθορὰν εἰς ταῦτα γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὸ χρεών· διδόναι γὰρ αὐτὰ δίκην καὶ τίσιν ἀλλήλοις τῆς ἀδικίας κατὰ τὴν τοῦ χρόνου τάξιν. Ἀθάνατον [...] καὶ ἀνώλεθρον.Kathleen Freeman's translations are: The Non-Limited is the original material of existing things; further, the source from which existing things derive their existence is also that to which they return at their destruction, according to necessity; for they give justice and make reparation to one another for their injustice, according to the arrangement of Time. (The Non-Limited) is immortal [ἀ + θάνατον] and indestructible [ἀν + ὂλεθρον. N.B., φθορὰν is another word for destruction].Kirk and Raven translate the version given by Theophrastus as ...some other apeiron nature, from which come into being all the heavens and the world in them. And the source of coming-to-be for existing things is that into which destruction, too, happens. 'according to necessity [translating κατὰ τὸ χρεών]; for they pay penalty [translating διδόναι δίκην] and retribution to each other for their injustice according to the assessment of Time [personified as Chronos].Martin Heidegger cited this "Anaximander Fragment" as the introduction of Being (and perhaps Time?) into philosophy, after which he claims that Being (Existence itself or perhaps the noumenal Idea of Being outside space and time?) is forgotten as philosophical and scientific thought concentrates on the multitude of beings (existing things). Friedrich Nietzsche had also cited this ancient fragment in his posthumous Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks. Much of Heidegger's work and even his terminology can be traced back to Nietzsche. We can read ἀρχὴ as both beginning and principle, with its important relatives ἄρχω (of time, to begin) and ἄρχων (a ruler, king). There is no "material" obvious at the beginning of the fragment, so it is better to read ἀρχὴ as a cosmological "origin" of existing things in general, of things (τῶν ὄντων) that have "being" (τὸ ὀν). We can read ἄπειρον as without a limit (ἀ + πεῖρας), but even more deeply, see the relative πειρα as an attempt, an experiment, and as "experience." This is the root of our "empirical," from ἐν "in" + πειρα "experiment." So apeiron can mean "without experience," or, in the context of an origin, "before experience." This is then Immanuel Kant's distinction between onto-theology (discovering God from thinking about the concept alone) and cosmo-theology (discovering God based on our experiences). Anaximander's mention of χρεών is etymologically related to χρῆματα, things for which man is the measure, according to Protagoras. These are material and useful things of value (χρῆματα, or πράγματα). διδόναι δίκην ("giving justice") is a similar idiom "suffer punishment, make amends"The German translation given in the first edition of the Fragmente der Vorsokratiker of Hermann Diels (1903) translates τῶν ὄντων as Dinge. A better translation would be simple "beings" or "things that exist." Diels translates κατὰ τὸ χρεών as nach der Notwendigkeit, which is too strong, implying the determinism of the later atomists and materialists. Anfang der Dinge ist das Unendliche. Woraus aber ihnen die Geburt ist, dahin geht auch ihr Sterben nach der Notwendigkeit. Denn sie zahlen einander Strafe und Buße für ihre Ruchlosigkeit nach der Zeit Ordnung.Notwendigkeit is the strong concept of necessity that implies determinism. It was introduced in Greek thought a century later by atomists such a Leucippus. Dinge implies material "things" and not "beings" - let alone the Being" that Martin Heidegger is looking for. Leucippus said about necessity... "Nothing occurs at random, but everything for a reason and by necessity." (Leucippus, Fragment 569 - from Fr. 2 Actius I, 25, 4) οὐδὲν χρῆμα μάτην γίνεται, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἐκ λόγου τε καὶ ὑπ’ ἀνάγκηςA better translation for the idiom κατὰ τὸ χρεών· is "according to that which must be," according to what is due, or just "needed," and not the "necessity" = ἀν + ανκη of Leucippus. The χρῆμα of Leucippus and the plural χρῆματα of Protagoras are the everyday "things of which man is the measure," not Parmenides "things that exist," let alone "Being itself" In Plato, Phaedrus (255a), του χρόνου ἣ τε ἡλικἰα και τὸ χρεών, is translated in the Loeb Plato as "in time, at an age, according to destiny." In the sixth edition of the Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, now edited by Walther Kranz, we find a surprisingly different German translation, described as "in direct speech." 1. (In direkter Rede:) Anfang und Ursprung der seienden Dinge ist das Apeiron (das grenzenlos-Unbestimmbare). Woraus aber das Werden ist den seienden Dingen, in das hinein geschieht auch ihr Vergehen nach der Schuldigkeit; denn sie zahlen einander gerechte Strafe und Buße für ihre Ungerechtigkeit nach der Zeit Anordnung. 2. Das Apeiron ist ohne Alter. 3. Das Apeiron ist ohne Tod und ohne Verderben.Here Kranz inserts "seienden Dinge, "things that are, "being things"" rather than just "things." And he replaces Diels' Notwendigkeit with Schuldigkeit or Duty. The latest modern compilation of the Fragments, sixty years after the latest Diels-Kranz, is by Daniel W. Graham, a philosopher with classical training, but not a classicist. Here are full excerpts from ancient Anaximander quotations by Simplicius, via Theophrastus, by Hippolytus, and by Aristotle. Anaximander's own words are bolded. 9. Simplicius Physics 24.13-25, Theophrastus fr. 226A Fortenbaugh (A9, B1) 9 [report of the interpretation of Theophrastus:] Of those who say the source is one and in motion and boundless, Anaximander, the son of Praxiades, of Miletus, the successor and student of Thales, said the source and element of existing things was the boundless, being the first one to apply this term to the source. And he says it is neither water nor any other of the so-called elements, but some other boundless nature, from which come to be all the heavens and the world-orders in them:
Note that coming-to-be and destruction are now thought to be Simplicius' addition, as first suspected by John Burnet in the 1890's and as Heidegger knew. Even ἀρχὴ is a later term, and Graham drops it, γένεσίς, and φθορὰν
[F1] From what things existing objects come to be, into them too does their destruction take place, according to what must be: for they give recompense and pay restitution to each other for their injustice according to the ordering of time, expressing it in these rather poetic terms.
[comment by Simplicius:] It is clear that, observing the change of the four elements into each other, he did not think it appropriate to make one of them the substratum of the others, but something else besides them. And he did not derive generation from the alteration of some element, but from the separation of contraries due to everlasting motion. That is why Aristotle classified him with the followers of Anaxagoras.
10 Hippolytus Refutation 1.6.1-2 (A11, B2)
10 Anaximander, was the student of Thales. Anaximander, son of Praxiades, of Miletus. He said the source and element of existing things was a certain nature of the boundless, from which come to be the heavens and the world-order in them. [Fa] And this is everlasting and ageless [translating ἁίδιον (ἁείδιον) εῖναι καὶ ἀγήρω], and it also surrounds all the world- orders. He speaks of time as though there were a determinate period of coming to be and existing and perishing. (2) He has said the source and element of existing things is the boundless, being the first to call the source by |