Ancient Philosophy

*Ancient philosophy is
philosophy in antiquity, or
before the end of the
Roman Empire.
*It usually refers to
ancient Greek philosophy.
ANAXIMENES
GREEK
PHILOSOPHER
 ANAXIMENES
LIFE & WORK
*He was born in Miletus,
Turkey, who lived between
the years 585 and 528 BC.
*He was the son of
Eurystratos in Greek city
of Miletus, located in Ionia
(modern-day Turkey).
*The details of the life of
Anaximenes are almost
totally unknown.
*He was a key figure in
the Milesian School.
 ANAXIMENES
LIFE & WORK
*He is the third & the last
Milesian philosophers.
*Only a few sources survive
for his life and activities.
*He is considered part of
the groups of philosophers
considered presocratic,
whose thoughts focused on
the phenomena of the
nature more than in
the being.
 ANAXIMENES
LIFE & WORK
*He was a pupil and
companion of Anaximander.
*He said that the origin of
all things was infinite.
*He spent a brief period of
his life under Persian rule,
therefore, he was a witness
to the horrors of the Ionian
rebellion against Greek
occupation.
 ANAXIMENES
LIFE & WORK
*He wrote a book in
prose probably within
the same framework of
natural philosophy as
that of Anaximander.
Anaximenes speculated
on cosmology,
cosmogony and
meteorology.
 ANAXIMENES
LIFE & WORK
Cosmology - is the study
of the universe at its
largest scales, including
theories of its origins, its
dynamics and evolution,
and its future.
Cosmogony-is the
(scientific) study of the
origin of the cosmos (or
of reality itself).
 ANAXIMENES
LIFE & WORK
Meteorology - the branch
of science concerned
with the processes and
phenomena of the
atmosphere, especially
as a means of
forecasting the weather.
Anaximenes is best
known for his doctrine
that air is the source of
all things. In this way, he
differed with his
predecessors like Thales,
who held that water is the
source of all things, and
Anaximander, who
thought that all things
came from an unspecified
boundless stuff.
Theory of Air
For Anaximenes, in
contrast to Anaximander,
the source of all things
is not an indefinite and
unlimited apeiron but the
air (aer): a definite
material substance.
The air by the process of
‘rarefaction’ becomes
fire and by the process
of ‘condensation’
becomes water and
earth.
Theory of Air
Hot and cold do not have
an ontological or
material status but they
are due to rarefaction
and condensation. For
Anaximenes the earth is
flat and rides on a
cushion of air.
Theory of Air

A heavenly firmament
revolves like a felt cap
around it. The heavenly
bodies were made by
rarefaction into fire, they
are also flat and rest on
air.
The Soul

For Anaximenes, the air

is divine and causes life.
It is also the source of
life which encloses the
cosmos as well as the
first principle that is
responsible for the
maintenance of all living
organisms. The air is the
divine psychic principle
between microcosm and
macrocosm.
The Soul
As the soul (air) of an
individual organism
maintains the single
individual organism, so
the soul of the cosmos
(universal breath)
surrounds and maintains
the whole universe.
Hence Anaximenes’
cosmos is conceived as
a huge animate being
with divine origins.
Anaximenes was
the first recorded
thinker who
provided a theory
of change and
supported it with
observation.
Fragments and Testimonies
1.) (From Theophrastus)
Anaximenes, Anaximander's
colleague, said, as he did,
that there was one
underlying nature, but not,
as he did, that it was
limitless but limited,
naming it as air; and by
thinning and thickening it
makes individual objects
different.
2.) As our soul, which is
air, maintains us, so
breath and air surround
the whole world.
3.) The sun is broad and
flat, like a leaf.