Tag: #Natural Philosophy

Ancient

Thales: 'All Things Are Water' — Where Philosophy Began

Thales explained the world through nature, not myth, and launched the search for archē that opened both philosophy and science.

Ancient

Anaximander: 'The Principle of All Things Is the Boundless (To Apeiron)' — The First Philosopher to Surpass His Master

Anaximander criticized Thales’s “water” and proposed the Boundless (to apeiron), inaugurating abstract thought in Greek philosophy.

Ancient

Anaximenes: 'The Principle of All Things Is Air' — The Man Who Brought 'How' into Philosophy

Anaximenes named air as the archē and explained change through condensation and rarefaction, advancing early scientific method.

Ancient

Heraclitus: 'All Things Are in Flux' — The Philosopher Who Found Logos in the Heart of Opposition

Heraclitus discovered the logos (rational law) behind the ceaseless change of all things, and taught that the cosmos is governed by the unity of opposites and the transformations of fire.

Ancient

Democritus: 'Only Atoms and the Void Truly Exist' — The Philosopher Who Rebuilt the World from Particles

Democritus explained all things by means of indivisible atoms and the void, answering Parmenides' challenge while laying the groundwork for a materialist worldview that anticipated modern science.

Ancient

Aristotle: 'All Human Beings by Nature Desire to Know' — The Master of Those Who Know Who Classified and Systematised the World

Aristotle critically inherited Plato's theory of Forms and single-handedly constructed a comprehensive system spanning metaphysics, logic, ethics, natural philosophy, and politics. Through the four causes and the framework of potentiality and actuality he explained being and change, and with the doctrine of the mean and eudaimonia he laid the foundations of Western ethics.

Ancient

Epicurus: 'Pleasure Is the Beginning and End of the Good' — The Philosopher Who Dispelled Fear and Taught the Gentle Life

Epicurus inherited Democritus's atomism while placing 'pleasure' as the criterion of the good, and founded a philosophy that dispels the fear of death and dread of the gods. His thought connects deeply to modern science, utilitarianism, and existential inquiry.