{{Short description|Greek philosophy centred in Miletus, Ionia in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE}} {{about|the ancient Greek school of thought||Ionian school (disambiguation)}}{{More citations needed|date=October 2021}} [[File:Western Asia Minor Greek Colonization.svg|thumb|200px|Greek settlements in Asia Minor. Ionia in green.]] The '''Ionian school''' of [[pre-Socratic philosophy]] refers to [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greek]] [[Philosophy|philosophers]], or a [[school of thought]], in [[Ionia]] in the 6th century BC, the first in the Western tradition. The Ionian school included such thinkers as [[Thales of Miletus]], [[Anaximander]], [[Anaximenes of Miletus]], [[Heraclitus]], [[Anaxagoras]], and [[Archelaus (philosopher)|Archelaus]].American International Encyclopedia, J.J. Little Co., New York 1954, Vol VIII This classification can be traced to the [[Doxography|doxographer]] [[Sotion]]. The doxographer [[Diogenes Laërtius]] divides pre-Socratic philosophy into the Ionian and [[Italian school (philosophy)|Italian school]].{{Cite web |last=Laks |first=André |date=May 3, 2018 |others=Daniel W. Graham |title=The Concept of Presocratic Philosophy: Its Origin, Development, and Significance |url=https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/the-concept-of-presocratic-philosophy-its-origin-development-and-significance/ |website=Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews}} The collective affinity of the Ionians was first acknowledged by [[Aristotle]] who called them '''''physiologoi''''' (φυσιολόγοι),Aristotle, ''[[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Metaphysics]]'', 986b. or [[Natural philosophy|natural philosophers]]. They are sometimes referred to as [[cosmology (metaphysics)|cosmologists]], since they studied [[Star|stars]] and [[Mathematics|maths]], gave [[Cosmogony|cosmogonies]] and were largely [[physicalism|physicalists]] who tried to explain the nature of matter. The first three philosophers (Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes) were all centred in the mercantile citySee [[Benjamin Farrington|Farrington]], ''Greek Science'', two vols, 1953. of [[Miletus]] on the [[Büyük Menderes River|Maeander River]] and are collectively referred to as the '''Milesian school'''.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VVENAQAAIAAJ|page=144|title=From Religion to Philosophy|author=Francis Cornford}}{{cite book|author=[[Herbert Ernest Cushman]]|title=A Beginner's History of Philosophy|page=22}} They sought to explain nature by finding its fundamental element called the ''arche''. They seemed to think although matter could change from one form to another, all matter had something in common that did not change. Aristotle thus characterized them as material [[Monism|monists]]. They also believed that life permeated everything in the cosmos, i.e., they were [[Hylozoism|hylozoists]].Cornford, From Religion to Philosophy, p. 7 The Milesians disagreed on what all things had in common, and did not seem to experiment to find out, but used abstract reasoning rather than [[religion]] or [[mythology]] to arrive at their positions, and are thus credited as the first philosophers. ==Thales== {{main|Thales}} [[Thales]] (Greek: Θαλῆς, ''Thalēs'') of [[Miletus]] (c. 624 – c. 546 BCE) is regarded as the earliest Western philosopher. Before him, the Greeks explained the origin and nature of the world through myths of anthropomorphic gods and heroes. Phenomena like lightning and earthquakes were attributed to the actions of the gods. By contrast, Thales attempted to find [[Metaphysical naturalism|naturalistic]] explanations of the world without referencing the supernatural. He explained earthquakes by imagining that the Earth floats on water and earthquakes occur when waves rock the Earth. Thales' most famous belief was his cosmological doctrine, which held that the world originated from water. [[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Aristotle wrote in Metaphysics]], "Thales, the founder of this school of philosophy [Ionian school], says the permanent entity is water (which is why he also propounded that the earth floats on water). Presumably he derived this assumption from seeing the nutriment of everything is moist, and that heat itself is generated from moisture and depends upon it for its existence (and that from which a thing is generated is always its first principle). He derived his assumption, then, from this; and also from the fact that the seeds of everything have a moist nature, whereas water is the first principle of the nature of moist things."{{cite book|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0052%3Abook%3D1%3Asection%3D983b|title=Aristotle, Metaphysics|chapter=Book I 983b|author=Aristotle|publisher=[[Perseus Project]]}} ==Anaximander== {{main|Anaximander}} [[Anaximander]] (Greek: Ἀναξίμανδρος, ''Anaximandros'') (c. 610 – c. 546 BCE) wrote a cosmological work, little of which remains. From the few extant fragments, we learn that he believed the beginning or first principle (''[[arche]]'', a word first found in Anaximander's writings, and which he probably invented) is an endless, unlimited mass (''[[apeiron (cosmology)|apeiron]]''), subject to neither old age nor decay, which perpetually yields fresh materials from which everything we can perceive is derived. ==Anaximenes== {{main|Anaximenes of Miletus}} [[Anaximenes of Miletus]] (Greek: Ἀναξιμένης ὁ Μιλήσιος; c. 585 – c. 528 BCE), like others in his school of thought, practiced material monism and believed that air is the ''arche''. ==Heraclitus== {{main|Heraclitus}} [[Heraclitus]] (Greek: Ἡράκλειτος, ''Hērakleitos'') of [[Ephesus]] (c. 535 – c. 475 BCE) disagreed with Thales, Anaximander, and [[Pythagoras]] about the nature of the ultimate substance and claimed instead that everything is derived from the Greek classical element fire, rather than from air, water, or earth. This led to the belief that change is real and stability illusory. For Heraclitus, "Everything flows, nothing stands still." He is famous for saying: "No man can cross the same river twice, because neither the man nor the river are the same." ==Anaxagoras== {{main|Anaxagoras}} [[Anaxagoras]] (Greek: Ἀναξαγόρας) of [[Clazomenae]] (c. 510 – c. 428 BCE) regarded material substance as an infinite multitude of imperishable primary [[Classical element|elements]], referring all generation and disappearance to mixture and separation respectively. All substance is ordered by an ordering force, the cosmic mind (''[[nous]]''). ==Archelaus== {{main|Archelaus (philosopher)}} [[Archelaus (philosopher)|Archelaus]] (Greek: Ἀρχέλαος, ''Arkhelaos'') was a Greek philosopher of the 5th century BCE, born probably in Athens. He was a pupil of Anaxagoras and is said by [[Ion of Chios]] (Diogenes Laërtius, ii. 23) to have been the teacher of [[Socrates]]. Some argue that this is probably only an attempt to connect Socrates with the Ionian school; others (e.g., Gomperz, Greek Thinkers) uphold the story. There is a similar opinion regarding the statement that Archelaus formulated certain ethical doctrines. In general, he followed Anaxagoras, but in his cosmology, he returned to the earlier Ionians. ==See also== * [[History of naturalism]] * [[Mechanism (philosophy)]] * {{slink|Thales of Miletus|Mathematics}} ==Notes== {{reflist|22em}} == Further reading == *{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Algra |first1=Keimpe |title=The beginnings of cosmology |editor-last1=Long |editor-first1=A. A. |encyclopedia =The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-44667-9 |pages=250–270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4m2GP9eJmIC |language=en}} *{{cite book |last1=Barnes |first1=Jonathan |title=Early Greek Philosophy |chapter=Diogenes of Apollonia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ooq9SnHIdxIC&pg=PA99 |date=2002 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-044815-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ooq9SnHIdxIC |language=en}} *{{cite book |last1=Graham |first1=Daniel W. |title=Explaining the Cosmos: The Ionian Tradition of Scientific Philosophy |date=6 August 2006 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-12540-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_2HuAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} *{{cite encyclopedia |last1=White|first1=Stephen A. |title=Milesian Measures: Time, Space, and Matter |editor-last1=Curd |editor-first1=Patricia |editor-last2=Graham |editor-first2=Daniel W. |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of Presocratic Philosophy |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-514687-5 |pages=353–363 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=14muxtEiBG0C |language=en}} ==External links== * {{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Ionian School of Philosophy |volume=8 |first=William |last=Turner |short=1}} * {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ionian School of Philosophy |volume=14 |pages=731–732 |short=1}} {{Greek schools of philosophy}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ionian School (Philosophy)}} [[Category:Schools and traditions in presocratic philosophy| ]] [[Category:Presocratic philosophy]] [[de:Ionische Naturphilosophie]] [[es:Escuela jónica]] [[zh:爱奥尼亚学派]]