DOING

PHILOSOP
HY
MILETUS
 MILETUS
• Fishing village
• Center of trade and commerce in
ancient Greece
• Melting pot of ideas
• It is ordinary to hear people trying
to voice out their opinion
• A place where PHILOSOPHY
started
How?
The MILESIANS

TRIUMVIRATE
 The MILESIANS

They contributed a non-mythological

account of the nature of reality
They use rational faculty together
with the ability to observe and
speculate
THALES
Father of Western
Philosophy
The fundamental substance or primary constituent of
reality is

WATER
Anaximander
Very good
Prose Writer
He was a student of Thales!

He claimed that fundamental substance of reality is the

infinite or the

APEIRON
Anaximenes
Student of
Anaximander
He claimed that fundamental substance of reality is

AIR
 Pythagoras

He claimed that fundamental substance of reality is

NUMBERS
He coined the word “Philosophy”
Heraclitus
 Heraclitus
He believes that the only
thing that is permanent
in this world is

CHANGE
The element that symbolizes change is

“FIRE”
It is also known as FLUX or becoming
Parmenides
Change?
Nope.
Nah.
Nevah.
Uh uh.
No no no…
Parmenides
The only thing that is
permanent in this
world is BEING!
Reality is made up
of one continuous
object called BEING!
He is the inspiration
of Phenomenology
and Existentialism.
Empedocles
He believed that
he was immortal!

Pluralist = fundamental
substance is made up of
4 elements; EARTH, AIR,
FIRE, WATER!
(Milesians = Monist)
Anaxagoras
There is not just
one element,
reality is made up
of MANY
ELEMENTS!
Thus, matter is
infinitely divisible!
Anaxagoras
NOUS = MIND
“greatest
strength and
power over
all things”
Anaxagoras
“All things have a
portion of
everything, while
NOUS is infinite and
is self-ruled and is
mixed with nothing,
but it is alone, itself
by itself… it has
knowledge about all
things!”
Zeno of Elea
Loyal follower of
Parmenides = BEING
Uses DIALECTICS!
1. Achilles and the tortoise
2. The arrow in flight is at rest

He is the ancient
example of the
modern day
“Pamimilosopo”
Leucippus and Democritus

The ULTIMATE
SUBSTANCE that
reality is made
of are ATOMS.
Conclusion: DOING Philosophy
Without their crude
speculations about the
fundamental substance of
reality, we might not have
started the process of
searching for knowledge
for its own sake.