Friday, 24 October 2014

ancient philosophy



ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
INTRODUCTION
Philosophy as a discipline started from the west in the ancient Greek world during the periods between the 6th century BC to 4th century AD (600BC-400AD). Etymologically philosophy means lover(s) of wisdom. Philosophers starting from the on set of philosophy have been trying to identify the ultimate element(s); the ultimate underlying principle or element of reality according to the ancient cosmologists.
            Anaxagoras was a pluralist and just like his predecessors has his own metaphysical and epistemological reflection to prove his points with regards to philosophy. Anaxagoras was part of the pluralists who held and believed that reality is a composition of more than one “element or entity” that is, the elements that brought about “Being and Non-Being” are numerous.
Anaxagoras was the son of Hegesibulus and was born around 500 B.C at Clazomenae. He was from Asia Minor and also was the first philosopher to settle at Athens; he was the first pre-Socratic philosopher to teach in Athens though he left Athens when he was prosecuted for impiety. Among his disciples are Pericles and Euripides. He was Anaximenes’ disciple. Anaxagoras on his reflections subjected on rigorous thinking. He was the first western philosopher to rise above the level of matter and physical entities in his postulation to the level of immaterial and spiritual ‘being’. He was the first to postulate the existence of ‘Atom’ and distinguish between material and spiritual reality. He said that the then Greek philosophers do not have a correct notion of generation and destruction. According to him nothing is totally destructible or generated but things are commingled with and dissociated from the existents. To this extent, he suggested that they better could refer to that they call generation as commingling and destruction as dissociation.
            According to Anaxagoras, nothing new comes into existence and nothing totally ceases to exist because there is no absolute generation or destruction. Here, I am going to discuss Anaxagoras’ philosophical reflection under three thematic concerns:
  1. The method and content of his philosophy.
  2. Evaluation: the merits and demerits of his philosophy.
  3. Conclusion.

THE METHOD AND CONTENT OF ANAXAGORAS’ PHILOSOPHY
Anaxagoras’ method of philosophy entails his rigorous, critical and systematic thinking about the philosophical positions of his predecessors and the cosmos in general.

ANAXAGORAS’ METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY

Anaxagoras’ philosophy is a composition or rather, consists of metaphysical and epistemological facts. It emphasises on the Elements responsible for ‘Being and Non-Being’. The metaphysical and epistemological reflections of Anaxagoras cannot be totally separated off because they are interwoven. Anaxagoras just like his predecessor Empedocus also tried to reconcile the opposed positions that Heraclitus and Parmenides propounded respectively. Empedocus’ solution to this problem of change and permanence interested Anaxagoras but did not satisfy him; so he went into a deeper reflection than Empedocus to say that the elements are not only four as Empedocus postulated but that they are innumerable. His style of reflection was not poetry but concise prose not mysticism but rigorous science.
In Anaxagoras’ metaphysical and epistemological reflections he said that the four elements; Air, Water, Fire and Earth postulated by Empedocus are combinations of several other innumerable particles. According to Anaxagoras, the particles are infinite and in the case of being infinite they are also indestructible. The combination of these particles results in things coming into existence. According to and with regards to Anaxagoras’ reflections, everything in existence is the combination of the particles of all things; there are particles of all things in everything therefore Anaxagoras claims that every substance contains a portion of every other substance.
Though things are the combination of every other particle, Anaxagoras clarified that one must dominate and that an existent is named after the particle that dominated in it. In other words a thing derives its name from the dominating particle of its constituents. “For instance, a paper is called a paper because the particle of paper dominated in it. If eventually the paper is burnt, it will turn to ash why? This is because the particle of ash is now dominating while the particle of paper dominated before.
The particles according to Anaxagoras are ‘infinitely divisible’, there can always be a smaller but there can never be a smallest. He said that matter is composed of infinite material particles with each having its own properties. From the metaphysics and epistemology of Anaxagoras, one can deduce that he tried to prove that nothing is new in existence. Everything that ever could exist already did exist. Nothing really comes into existence and also nothing really goes out of existence, they can only dominate in an element or be among the constitutive particles of an element. To this extent, Anaxagoras agreed with Parmenides on his position of permanence. In the terms of going out of existence, they don’t, rather they cease to dominate in an element. That doesn’t mean they are no longer there. This ceasing to dominate of a particle and another particle coming up to dominate entails change in the elements. So to this extent Anaxagoras agreed with Heraclitus in his position of change. There is no ultimate gap between reality and appearance; anything that can be perceived is real.
Anaxagoras also postulated that the particles combines and separates. The combination and the separating off of these particles bring about change in the particle dominating in an element. The combination of the particles and their separating off is caused by the revolution of the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, and the stars. According to Anaxagoras the principle responsible for a particle predominating is one and that he called NOUS; a Greek equivalence of mind, intelligence, consciousness or spirit. Anaxagoras’ theory of mind provides the first hint of mind-matter dualism.
According to Anaxagoras, the ‘Mind’ is distinct from other substances. It is the free source of all movement; it has the knowledge of all things in the past, in the present and in the future. It is the arranger and the cause of all things and it also brings order to all things that were to be, all things that were now and all things that will be. The ‘Mind’ is responsible for the revolution of the heavenly bodies that causes the combining and separating off of the particles. The ‘Mind’ has power over all things that have life both great and small; it has understanding of the whole of reality and it is the motivational force which brought about separation of everything out of the original mixture. Anaxagoras postulated that there is a portion of everything in everything except the mind; it is not an individual thing to be found in each object.

EVALUTIONS: MERITS OF ANAXAGORAS’ PHILOSOPHY
The merits of Anaxagoras’ philosophical reflections consists of his systematic method of clarifying the change and permanence positions of Heraclitus and Parmenides when he said there is no total coming to Being or going out of Being and this implies that things are not totally changed and when he said that a particle can cease to dominate though that doesn’t mean the particle is no longer in the constituting particles and this entails that things are not totally permanent.
            Another merit of Anaxagoras’ reflection is that after his postulation that some thing or rather a principle is responsible for the order in the cosmos and he still went on to name the principle which he said was the Nous (Mind).
            Yet another merit of Anaxagoras’ reflections is that his reflections was so rigorous that he rose from the level of matter to the level of an immaterial entity and that merited him the record of being the first western philosopher to rise above the level of matter in his reflections.

DEMERITS OF ANAXAGORAS’ PHILOSOPHY

In spite of the merits of Anaxagoras philosophical reflections above, I can still argue rationally that his reflections have some weaknesses. Anaxagoras’ was so careless in his choice and use of words that he used material qualification for the Nous (Mind) which is a non-material entity. This was when he used the words like purest, finest, and most powerful to qualify the Nous.
            Anaxagoras made a complication of his words when he said there is a particle of everything in everything except the mind. As a philosopher who knows the principles of logic, Anaxagoras supposed to know that when one means everything there should be no cause of exception. Anaxagoras did not explain critically why the Nous (Mind) is the only constituent of itself, why there are no other constitutive particles in it.
            Another demerit of Anaxagoras’ reflections is that there is a complication in his postulation; he said that the particles are infinitely divisible and he also said that everything ultimately is made up of indivisible units (atoms).

CONCLUSION

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