Anaxagoras of Clazomenes was one of the philosophers pre-Socratic pluralists. Like these, he was trying to formulate a new theory to emergence of the entire Universe, who did not resort to mythological narratives. As he was a pluralist, as well as empedocles, Democritus and Leucipus, Anaxagoras proposed that the origin of the Universe was in various elements, not just one.
Pluralist philosophers tried to undo the quarrel, left by Parmenides, of immobility of the universe, which would never have been created. For Parmenides, there is no change, in fact, in the Universe, and movement is just an error of our perception. In this way, there was no moment of creation. For Anaxagoras, the seeds that formed the Universe and its objects arei infinite, but the Universe itself was generated from a precise moment. What was responsible for aggregating the seeds and forming everything that exists was an intelligence that the philosopher called we.
Read too:Presocratic Philosophical Schools
Life
Like other pre-Socratic thinkers, we don't have much biographical data on Anaxagoras. It is known that he was born in the city of
Clazomenes, in Jônia, where he had contact with pre-Socratic philosophy. As an adult, he took up residence in Athens, taking the Philosophy that was developing in Ionia there. Athens was already experiencing, in this period, the height of its democracy.Anaxagoras met the Greek statesman Pericles and, even though he could not participate in democratic activity because he was a foreigner, circulated through political media. However, the philosopher's thinking led him to a judgment and conviction on the charge of impiety and betrayal of the gods. Pre-Socratic philosophical theory was not firmly anchored in Greek religion. "Historically began with Anaxagoras the process that Athens brought against Philosophy and which will conclude, later, with the sentence to death of Socrates."i
His conviction may be rooted in your explanation of the occurrence of solar eclipses. Anaxagoras was the first thinker to correctly explain the occurrence of a solar eclipse, and his theory contradicted the existence of the god. Apollo, that, in the Greek mythology, was who carried the sun. His conviction forced him to run away from athena, taking up residence in the Ionian city of Lampsacos.
The Greek thinker wrote a book in prose, of which only fragments, in which he exposes his cosmological theory. Historians speculate that Anaxagoras taught Philosophy to Socrates, establishing the bridge between Ionia and Athens for the path of Western Philosophy.
See too:From Mythology to Greek Philosophy
Construction
It is known that Anaxagoras wrote a work of which only poorly preserved fragments remain. THE conservation of fragments is attributed mainly to ancient Greek simple, who lived in the 1st century d. Ç. Many passages attributed to Anaxagoras appear in dialogues platonic, like Phaedo, and in writings of Aristotle.
arche
As in the Philosophy of other pre-Socratic thinkers, the purpose of the Philosophy of Anaxagoras was to find the origin or the original element of the entire universe, without resorting to mythological cosmogonies. The philosopher did not formulate a unitary theory about origin, but postulated a pluralist theory, based on the existence of several elements. According to Anaxagoras, the origin of everything is in what he called the homeomeries, which are basically seeds (sperma, in ancient Greek).
Trying to solve the intellectual problem left by Parmenides, who claimed that the immobility of the Universe does not allowed creation or that creation would limit the Universe, Anaxagoras formulated that the origin of the Cosmos is settled in elements infinite in number and time. These elements (the seeds) have always existed and are aggregated through a force called we — an intelligence that governs everything.
Also according to this theory, all beings and objects in the world are composed by the joining of all existing homeomeries, so that everything is composed of everything. O we separates only the opposite pairs that make up the Universe, but that don't mix after they're ready, like cold and hot, wet and dry.
Know more:Carl Sagan's Cosmic Calendar
Anaxagoras and Democritus
There are echoes of Philosophy of Anaxagoras in the thought of Democritus (and, consequently, Leucippus). The thinkers of the Abdera school conceived the atoms (infinite particles) as the origin of everything. They also thought that each atom carries with it the characteristics of the objects it composes. Anaxagoras, in turn, believed that the homeomeries that make up objects have different shapes and are organized, so that everything that exists is made up of all the seeds.
The 18th-century German idealist philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich hegel enunciated the following about the relationship between Anaxagoras and Democritus:
Democritus' representation is similar to that of Anaxagoras, in that an infinitely multiple is the origin; but in it the determination of the fundamental principles appears in such a way that it contains what it was formed for is not at all the simple aspect for itself. For example, particles of flesh and gold would be principles — perfectly individualized atoms, which, through their concentration, form what appears as a figure.ii
Phrases
"All things were together, infinite at the same time in number and in smallness, because the small was also infinite."
"In each thing there is a portion of each thing."
"None of them [existing things] could be distinguished because of their smallness."
“In all things there is a portion of the us, and there are still certain things in which the we it is too.”
iKUHNEN, R. F. in all a portion of everything. In: SOUZA, J. Ç. (org.). pre-socratics. São Paulo: Nova Cultural, 1996, p. 38.
iiHEGEL, G. W. F. modern criticism. In: SOUZA, J. Ç. (org.). pre-socratics. São Paulo: Nova Cultural, 1996, p. 260.
by Francisco Porfirio
Philosophy teacher